The number of visitors to accommodation establishments in Slovakia was by 20 % higher in August than in July, however, compared to the previous August, the number of visitors was by 13,6 % lower. Even in August, tourism was significantly supported mainly by domestic visitors, and only a half of the last year's numbers were represented by foreign visitors.

In August 2020, more than 684 thousand visitors were accommodated in hotels, pensions and other accommodation establishments in the SR, which was by 13,6 % less than in August 2019. A year-on-year decrease was due to continuing lower number of foreign guests, but higher number of domestic guests, which was especially reflected in selected regions. The number of domestic visitors at the level of the SR exceeded the last year's record numbers in the successful summer season of 2019, in five regions of the SR the number of domestic guests was above the level of last year's records and in three regions this growth was even more than 20%, which caused that the total number of visitors was slightly above the last year's level. Foreign clients were still missing, especially as for hotels in cities. Guests spent of more than 2 million nights in total in the establishments, their number decreased by 15,6 % year-on-year.

Last year in August, the number of visitors to hotels, pensions and other tourism establishments almost exceeded 800 thousand people. In August 2020, the number of guests thus approached the level of August 2018, when 673 000 guests were accommodated in Slovakia. The length of stay did not change year-on-year, averaging 3,1 nights.

In August, the number of visitors in the whole SR also consisted mainly of domestic tourists. Compared to the record last year, their number increased by 10,5 % to more than 515 thousand, representing 75,3 % of the total number of accommodated guests. In five of the eight regions, the number of guests was even higher than in August 2019 - in Banskobystrický (by 10,2 %), Prešovský (by 17,7 %), Žilinský (by 24 %), Košický (by 24,8 %) and Trnavsky (by 29,7 %).

However, lower number of foreign visitors continued, Slovak accommodation establishments registered only 169 thousand. In the same period last year, there were almost doubled (more than 325 thousand), which was most affected by hotels in cities.

An negative impact was most visible in Bratislavský kraj, where the total number of visitors was lower by up to 55,9 % year-on-year, but the number of foreign guests decreased by more than two thirds (by 66,6 %). The city of Bratislava itself was even worse in a decrease in the number of foreign visitors (by more than 70%), as the results of the whole region were improved by the number of popular holiday districts such as Senec and Pezinok. The eastern metropolis, Košice, also suffered from a decrease in the number of foreign visitors in August (by 65,1 %), but in contrast to the capital, this was offset by an increase in the number of domestic guests by 21,4 %, which means that the total number of visitors of Košice was only by 22,3 % lower year-on-year.

In summary, after taking into account the number of domestic and foreign guests, the number of visitors increased the most year-on-year in Žilinský kraj (by 3,6 %), mainly due to the Liptov and Orava regions; in the other two regions, Banskobystrický and Trnavský, we also saw a slight increase in the number of visitors compared to the last year. The most visited areas of Slovakia - Žilinský and Prešovský  kraj - registered more than 320 000 visitors in total. In Prešovský kraj, which has many well-known tourist attractions in its territory, the total number of visitors nevertheless decreased by 1,1 %.

These two regions also had the highest number of accommodation establishments and beds in them. In August, room capacities were used to more than 50 % here, while, for example, in Bratislavský kraj to 28,5 % and Košický kraj to 31,9 %.

Extensive travel restrictions, especially at the international level, also significantly affected the total number of visitors for the first eight months of this year. Almost 2,6 million visitors were accommodated in tourism establishments during this period, which represented a year-on-year decrease of 41 %. 71,5 % of this number were domestic visitors and 28,5 % foreigners. Year-on-year, the number of domestic visitors decreased by more than 30 % and the number of foreigners by almost 60 %.

According to the latest data, as of August 2020, a total of 4 361 accommodation establishments served tourism. There were 72,5 thousand rooms and 190,7 thousand beds. Compared to August 2019, the number of rooms decreased by 2,4 thousand (by 3,3%) and the number of beds by 6,2 thousand (by 3,2 %).