The number of guests in hotels and guesthouses rose again, positively affected by increased foreign interest

Although the visit rate at the tourism accommodation establishments increased year-on-year in May, accommodation providers still lacked 11% of guests from values of the touristically successful year of 2019. Almost all regions prospered year-on-year, mainly due to the higher number of foreign guests. The historic May´s records for the number of foreign visitors were registered in Žilinský and Trnavský kraj.

In May this year, 494,000 guests spent at least one night in hotels, guesthouses and other tourist accommodation establishments in Slovakia. The total number of visitors to accommodation establishments thus increased by 3.8% year-on-year. However, the number of visitors in hotels and guesthouses was still lower by nearly 11% than in the touristically successful year 2019. Guests spent more than 1.2 million nights in tourism establishments, the average length of stay in May was 2.5 nights.

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Almost two-thirds of those accommodated, i.e. 305,000 people, were domestic visitors. Their total number remained at last year's level, which was slightly, by 7% lower than in the last May before the pandemic (in 2019). At the same time, accommodation providers registered 189,000 guests from abroad in May. Their number rose more dynamically year-on-year than that of domestic guests, but it still applied that their numbers lagged significantly behind 2019, by as much as 16%.

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From a regional perspective, in 7 out of 8 regions of Slovakia, the number of visitors was comparable year-on-year or increased by up to 10%. The exception was Bratislavský kraj, which recorded a slight year-on-year decrease. However, none of the regions reached the pre-Covid May´s 2019 visit rate, the number of visitors staying in hotels and guesthouses was lower than in this period from 2 to almost 27%. The accommodation providers in Žilinský kraj approached the most the figures from five years ago.

The most visited region of the Slovak Republic was once again Bratislavský kraj, with 126,000 visitors staying there. This region has an exceptional position in terms of foreign visitors, more than half of the visitors are long-term foreigners. During May, up to 40% of foreigners who visited Slovakia went to this region.

The regions that benefit from the possibilities of mountain tourism were followed in the rankings of the regions by the following: Žilinský kraj (more than 96,000 visitors), Prešovský kraj (almost 80,000 visitors) and Banskobystrický kraj (56,000 visitors). Together, these three regions were able to attract almost half (47%) of all accommodated guests in May, of which almost three quarters were domestic visitors.

In almost all regions, the number of foreign visitors increased year-on-year. Accommodation providers enjoyed the increase in foreign clientele, from 6% in Trenčiansky kraj to 32% in the case of Žilinský kraj.

In total, in the first five months of 2024, 2.1 million visitors were accommodated in tourism establishments, which was by 3% more than in the same period last year. While the number of foreigners increased by 5%, domestic visitors increased only slightly year-on-year (1%). The total number of visitors remained below the level of 2019 values, 7% of visitors were still missing for the period January - May.