City Destinations Alliance (CityDNA), the leading network of city tourism organizations in Europe, just launched the 20th edition of the “City Travel Report”. It is the main source of information for city tourism statistics today. Modul University Vienna is the scientific partner in producing and further developing the report, which includes the latest insights about the performance of European cities.

The City Travel Report illustrates the structure and main trends in city tourism for 117 European cities between 2019 and 2023. Detailed analyses feature major developments concerning bed supply, occupancy, CO2 emissions, short-term rentals, and tourism densities of European cities. In addition, the report includes detailed information about the performance of the top nine European source markets. The results of the City Travel Report show that European city tourism continues the path of recovery despite challenges like conflicts and climate change persisting. The following infographic highlights the main results for 2023:

© City Destinations Alliance (CityDNA)

Due to further recovery in total bednights experienced by the cities included in the City Travel Report, an average growth rate of 13.7% over all cities could be achieved in 2023. Compared to the previous year’s rate of +79.6%, it suggests a stabilization of city tourism after the pandemic. This development is due to positive increases in bednights in 114 out of 117 analyzed cities in 2023. The average growth rate in bed capacity for the cities was 4.6% in 2023. Regarding bed occupancy, the benchmark average in 2023 was 46.8%, in comparison to 43.1% in 2022.

Despite the immense impact of the pandemic over the past few years, European city tourism managed to continue the recovery path in 2023 – thereby proving to be a very dynamic sector. The average annual growth rate in international bednights was higher in the CityDNA Report cities (19.6%) than in the EU 27 nations and United Kingdom (13.8%). Moreover, cities recorded more than twice the growth rate in total bednights compared to 2022 than other regions (15.5% vs 7.2%). The top performing cities for the year 2023, in terms of total bednights, were London and Paris, followed by Istanbul on rank three and Berlin and Rome on rank four and five, respectively.

Considering the nine central source markets in 2023, all except for the Russian one showed increased growth in demand. China (144.0%) and Japan (128.8%) experienced the strongest increases. The United States was the top performing source market, followed by Germany and the United Kingdom.

Annual tourism density in the cities included in the report was determined to be 10.25 bednights per citizen in 2023. Summer was the busiest season, as in the pre-pandemic years, with an average of 3.29 bednights per citizen, followed by fall (average density = 2.35).

In line with the sustainability strategies, the City Travel Report continues with estimations of transport-related CO2 emissions caused by city tourism. Upon inspection of CO2 emissions caused by tourists traveling to and from the cities, average nominal value for total CO2 in 2023 was at 776,678 tons. 

Thanks to CityDNA’s partnership with Lighthouse (formerly Transparent), this year’s report additionally includes insights into the supply and demand of short-term rentals. In Europe, this market experienced substantial growth in 2023. In the 114 analyzed cities, the number of beds grew faster than that of properties, which indicates a tendency towards larger units in this segment. Most cities experienced an increase in average daily rate, which was offset by a decrease in occupancy – mostly due to a surge in the supply of short-term rentals.

The City Travel Report can be purchased in two different versions. The light package including the report costs € 490. The professional package including the report and full data file costs € 990. The City Travel Report (in English) can be purchased following this link. For all CityDNA members it is available free of charge. City Destinations Alliance has opened membership beyond cities, inviting also regional and national tourist boards to become affiliate members.

For further information, please contact the CityDNA Head Office directly or visit their website to order the report:

E-Mail: headoffice@citydna.eu

Web: https://citydestinationsalliance.eu