Even during 2024, the number of visitors to Slovak hotels and guesthouses did not exceed 6 million guests as before Covid

The fifth year of the tourism's struggling with the effects of the pandemic brought the second highest number of visitors to accommodation establishments in history, but it was still by half a million guests less than in the records from 2019.  More than a million visitors stayed in Bratislavský, Žilinský and Prešovský kraj. Žilinský kraj approached the most the record visit rate from 2019.

In December of last year, 409 000 guests visited tourist accommodation establishments in Slovakia. The achieved visit rate exceeded the figures from the corresponding period in 2023 by almost a tenth. Compared to December, the most successful year for tourism in 2019, only less than 6% of guests were missing from hotels and guesthouses, which in absolute numbers represented less than 26 000 visitors. In the last month of 2024, guests spent more than 925 000 nights in hotels and guesthouses, the average length of stay was 2.3 nights.

Domestic visitors made up almost two-thirds of the number of guests staying in December. Their total number increased by more than 7% year-on-year and reached 256 thousand accommodated. Foreign guests increased by 14% compared to last year, 153 000 foreigners used accommodation establishments in Slovakia.

Development of tourism in the SR regions in December 2024

The last month of 2024 brought a year-on-year increase in visitors in six SR regions ranging from 3.3% to 23.5%. The highest year-on-year increase was achieved by Banskobystrický and Košický kraj (both exceeding 23%). Žilinský and Prešovský kraj even slightly exceeded the visit rate values from December 2019. At the same time, 2 regions recorded a decrease of up to 5%, namely Trnavský and Trenčiansky kraj.

The most visited region of Slovakia was Bratislavský kraj with 118 000 guests. This region attracted almost 50% of all foreigners. In the rankings of regional attendance, the regions were as follows: Žilinský (90 000 visitors), Prešovský (76 000 guests) and Banskobystrický kraj (45 000 visitors).

Tourism development for 2024

Tourism establishments in Slovakia were visited by 5.9 million guests in 2024, their number increased by 3% year-on-year. Slovak hotels, guesthouses and other accommodation establishments have not overcome its effects even in the fifth year since the outbreak of the pandemic and have not reached the values of the historically¹⁾ most successful year of 2019, when the number of guests exceeded 6.4 million people. To these values, accommodation providers currently lack 8% (516 thousand) guests. The year 2024 was thus historically¹⁾ the second most successful.

Still, almost two-thirds (3.8 million guests) of the total number of visitors were domestic tourists, and one-third (almost 2.2 million guests) were foreign guests. Both values increased slightly year-on-year, and the domestic clientele approached the most the records from 2019. For the fifth consecutive year, the total number of visitors has been decimated by lower interest from abroad, almost 310 000 (13%) guests were still missing from the values of 2019.

The positive year-on-year development was also manifested at the regional level, in all eight regions the number of guests increased year-on-year (up to 8%) and new post-Covid records were achieved for both domestic and foreign visitors. The only exception was Žilinský kraj, which on the one hand achieved the historically¹⁾ highest number of foreign guests (more than in 2019), but the number of domestic visitors, as in the only one of the eight regions, decreased year-on-year.

The most visited regions in 2024 were Bratislavský and Žilinský kraj (more than 2.7 million tourists in total). Prešovský kraj also exceeded the million mark in the number of visitors. The individual regions differed in the degree of lagging behind the historically¹⁾ most successful values, more than 10% of guests were still absent in Bratislavský, Trenčiansky, Nitriansky and Banskobystrický kraj. On the contrary, Žilinský and Prešovský kraj approached the most the values from 2019, they were already missing less than 4% of guests.