Last year, 2,38 million foreign tourists arrived in Lithuania - 1 percent less than in 2023 (2,4 million) and 17 percent less than before the Covid pandemic in 2019 (2,87 million).
Tourists The country spent 966,6 million euros last year - 1 percent more than last year, but 1 percent less than in 2019, the State Data Agency announced on Friday.
The number of overnight stays by tourists decreased by 3,7 percent per year to 9,5 million, and by 6 percent over 19 years. Last year, they stayed for an average of four nights.
"The situation is not so joyful (…). Travelers' habits have changed - trips are more often organized individually, in smaller groups (…), so perhaps some post-pandemic shadows remain, although statistical data shows that it is gradually recovering," Milda Plepytė-Rainienė, executive director of the Lithuanian Tourism Association, said at a press conference on Friday.
According to her, it is noticeable that tourists coming to Lithuania are less and less concerned about geopolitical unrest.
According to the State Data Agency, the largest number of tourists last year came from Latvia (412,8 thousand trips), Poland (351,1 thousand), Germany (242,8 thousand), Estonia (156,1 thousand), Belarus (154,3 thousand), and the United Kingdom (100,4 thousand).
Foreigners most often visited Vilnius (38%), Beautiful (21 percent), Klaipėda (10 percent), Palanga (7 percent).
Outbound tourism grew
At the same time, outbound tourism from Lithuania was growing - the number of such trips increased by 6 percent last year to 2,28 million, the number of overnight stays by 7 percent to 15,9 million.
Lithuanian tourists mainly went to Turkey (233 thousand), Latvia (227,7 thousand), Poland (184,6 thousand), the United Kingdom (171,7 thousand), Germany (151,1 thousand), and Norway (119,4 thousand).
The number of domestic tourist trips also grew - last year there were 4,6 million, or 18 percent more than in 2023, overnight stays increased by 20 percent to 10,6 million. Domestic travelers spent an average of 111,7 million euros - 2,1 percent more.
Author Aurimas Ragelis
