In the EU27, a clear seasonal influence on the number of nights spent in hotels and other collective tourism establishments can be observed. As would be expected, the third quarter of the year is the high season and accounted for 43% of the 2.2 billion nights spent in the EU27 in 2009, followed by the second quarter with 26% of all nights spent, while the first quarter (15%) and the fourth quarter (16%) can be considered as the low season.

One of the objectives in the Communication of the European Commission “Europe, the world’s No 1 tourist destination – a new political framework for tourism in Europe,” released in June 2010, is to encourage an extension of the tourist season as tourist activities are currently concentrated very strongly in the months of July and August. A more even distribution of tourism demand over the year would make better use of existing tourist infrastructure and staff working in the tourism sector during the low season. This information comes from two reports published by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union, which focus on seasonal patterns in the tourism sector in the EU27.

Although the size of the seasonal influence on tourism varied widely between Member States in 2009, there was in all cases a peak in tourism nights during the summer season. On the basis of the monthly data, three different groups of Member States can be distinguished: those in which the highest share of all nights spent in collective tourism accommodation in that country was recorded in July, those which had the peak month in August and those which showed no significant difference between July and August. Among the Member States having a distinct peak in July, the highest monthly shares were found in the Nordic countries of Denmark (24% of all nights spent in July) and Sweden (22%), followed by Estonia (16%) and Finland (15%). The Member States with August as the clear peak month were predominantly southern European countries, with the highest shares found in France (23% of all nights spent), Greece and Italy (both 22%) and Portugal (18%). The third group, which has a difference of 1% or less between July and August, contains twelve Member States.

In most of the Member States, the amount of nights spent in collective tourist accommodation in 2009 started to increase from May/June onwards, reached a peak in either July or August and then declined steadily, reflecting a high season of around three months. Some Member States however showed a different pattern. In Cyprus there was a extended high season, from May (10% of all nights spent) to October (11%). A similar pattern, although not as strongly pronounced, can be seen in Germany and Malta with 26.8% in July and August.. Among the Member States, only Austria had a second peak of nights spent in the winter months in 2009. Nights spent in the first quarter of the year (32% of all nights) were nearly equal to the third quarter (33%). To a lesser extent a second high season in winter can also be observed in Finland (22%) and Slovakia (21%).

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