Key Takeaways
- New report shows hotels account for almost 80% of guest nights in the EU
- Fewer homes, more hotels, some city districts now have three hotel rooms for every five residents, housing construction nears a decade low
- Hotel guests flock to the same hotspots, majority of Airbnb guest nights are outside of cities
- More guests and soaring hotel prices, overtourism is getting worse where Airbnb is restricted
Airbnb has today called on city leaders to tackle the overwhelming impact of hotels on driving overtourism in the ten most visited cities in the European Union (EU).
The call comes as a new Airbnb report released today highlights how overtourism in the EU is driven by hotels, which accounted for almost 80 percent of guest nights across the bloc in 2023 and 2024. It also shows that between 2021 and 2023, guest nights in the EU’s ten most visited cities increased by over 200 million – or 2.5x – with hotels accounting for 75 percent of this growth.
If cities are serious about easing overtourism, they must address the overwhelming impact of hotels. Europe needs more homes – not hotels – yet cities are building more hotels as the construction of housing in the region nears a decade low. Theo Yedinsky, Airbnb’s Vice President of Public Policy
The new report ‘Overtourism in the EU’ is based on official data from Eurostat and the World Tourism Organisation, as well as industry and Airbnb data. It shows that:
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Overtourism is overwhelmingly driven by hotels.
- In 2024, a record-breaking 3 billion tourist nights were spent in hotels and other similar accommodations in EU destinations.
- Hotels and other similar accommodations accounted for almost 80% of guest nights in the EU.
- As EU tourism recovered from Covid, total guest nights in the EU’s 10 most popular cities grew by over 200 million – or 2.5x – between 2021 and 2023 alone. Hotels and other similar accommodations accounted for more than 75% of the increase.
- Across these EU cities in 2023, hotels accounted for five times more guest nights than Airbnb.
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Cities need more homes – not hotels.
- Hotel accommodation is overwhelmingly located in city centers.
- Central Amsterdam has 15x more hotel rooms or similar accommodations than Airbnb listings. There are approximately seven hotel beds for each short-term rental bed in Barcelona’s Old Town.
- Close to 40,000 hotel rooms were opened in Europe in 2024 alone.
- At the end of 2024, nearly 250,000 hotel rooms were either under construction or in the planning phases across Europe.
- In some EU city districts – like Praha 1 in Prague and Santo Antonio in Lisbon – there are now approximately three hotel rooms per five local residents.
- In Spain alone, authorities have approved 800+ new hotel projects, adding 75,000 new hotel rooms across the country by 2026.
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Airbnb offers a different way to travel that spreads guests and benefits to more communities.
- Guests use Airbnb to escape tourist traps and discover new destina