Tourism is recognised as an important contributor to Estonia’s competitiveness, exports and economic growth, in addition to being an important employment provider. Tourism is estimated to contribute 7.8% of total GDP and 4.3% of employment. In 2018, the share of tourism services for all Estonian exports was 10.2% with the share of service sector related exports amounting to 30.0%. In 2018, Estonian tourism receipts reached a new record of EUR 2.0 billion, of which international tourists generated EUR 1.5 billion, continuing the positive trend seen over recent years.
Overall, 3.2 million international tourists visited Estonia in 2018, down 0.6% on the previous year, recording 4.2 million nights. In 2018, the trend was supported by an increase in business tourism, which now makes up 23% of total inbound volumes. Top source markets for Estonia are Finland, Russia, Latvia, Germany, and Sweden. Finland is by far the largest market with 35.5% of all inbound visits and the top three (Finland, Russia and Latvia) make up 57.5%. In terms of growth markets, the United States, Russia, United Kingdom and Japan have all increased recently.
There has been a continuous and steady increase over the past decade in domestic tourism, which now accounts for 37% of nights in all means of accommodation. In 2018, domestic tourists spent 2.5 million nights, up 4.1% on 2017, and up 77.7% over the decade from 2009.
