The number of people staying at hotels and guest houses in Slovakia rose by almost 17 percent year-on-year (y-o-y) in September, the Statistics Office reported on Wednesday.
However, the figure was still some 25 percent lower than the year before the pandemic. The overall y-o-y growth mainly resulted from a higher number of foreign guests, who made up 26 percent of the total clientele. Although this share is the highest since the beginning of the pandemic, the number of foreign visitors was still low, not even reaching half the figure seen in September 2019.
Almost 441,000 people stayed in accommodation facilities in Slovakia in September 2021. The number of foreign visitors grew by 45 percent y-o-y, while the number of Slovak visitors went up by 9 percent. However, last year being a tough one owing to the pandemic, the comparison base was low. The figure for this September was equal to some 75 percent of that posted in the same month before the pandemic.
Tourists spent almost 1.2 million nights in accommodation facilities in September, up 6.8 percent y-o-y. For comparison, tourists spent 1.5 million nights in Slovak hotels and guest houses in September 2019.
The number of domestic tourists amounted to 325,000, making up 73.8 percent of the total clientele of accommodation facilities in September. A total of 116,000 foreigners made use of the services of Slovak hotels and guest houses in September, accounting for 26.2 percent of the total clientele.
Meanwhile, 2.24 million visitors were accommodated in hotels, guest houses and other accommodation facilities in Slovakia between January and September, down 24.2 percent y-o-y and 55 percent as compared to the same period in 2019. The number of foreign clients fell by 78 percent as compared to the first nine months of 2019.
