How much do European tourists spend in one night? The most "stingy" tourists come to Albania

2025-07-07 07:32:00, Ekonomi CNA

How much do European tourists spend in one night? The most "stingy"

A European spends an average of around 91 euros when traveling to another European country, according to data published by Eurostat and dating back to 2023.

For the eurozone average, this indicator increases to 93 euros. This indicator includes accommodation, food and drinks, local transport, museum tickets, recreational activities, etc.

The latest Eurostat data on average overnight spending by European tourists shows a significant increase in travel budgets in 2023, following a strong recovery in tourism across the continent. In 2022, spending was around 84 euros and in 2019 around 77 euros.

This indicator — the average spending per night on international trips — provides an important insight into the level of purchasing power of tourists visiting Albania.

Italians are the second largest group of tourists coming to Albania, after Kosovo, with about 11% of total arrivals, according to INSTAT data. Italians are labeled by market operators as the most “stingy”, who do not spend and shop for everything. Eurostat data also shows that Italians are more stingy than others in Europe. They spend an average of 78 euros per night on their trips, or 14% less than the European average. More or less at the same level are the French (79 euros), the Spanish (75 euros), and the Dutch (75 euros).

Italians continue to be loyal to Albania. In the first five months, almost 400,000 citizens from Italy entered the country (11.6% of the total), with an increase of 7.8% on an annual basis.

Rising prices are driving away stingy individual tourists

Although Italians have a reputation for being stingy, there is another category that comes to Albania that seems to choose the country for the cheap prices, which are so much advertised on social networks. Poles and Czechs are the ones who spend the least on their trips to Europe, with around 50 euros/night, almost half the European average, according to Eurostat data.

This is a group that has come to Albania through agencies, settling mainly in Golem, while those who come individually are in the south, according to tourist agencies. Poles have also been identified by operators in the country as tourists who do not spend much.

Tour operators have confirmed that foreign agencies that bring Poles have increased their guaranteed contracts in 2025 and that this summer there are expected to be more visitors who prefer to come in an organized way, but last year, a significant part of them came individually. The continuous increase in the price of packages, under the argument of costs and the depreciation of the euro, made negotiations difficult last year between agencies and hotels. At that time, tour operators said that Albania must continue to remain competitive in order to be attractive to this group of visitors who come with "all-inclusive" packages, or "meals and hotel (without drinks)". This year, Poles in individual form are more limited and according to tour operators, this is related to higher vacation costs, while some seem to prefer destinations closer to home, with Croatia being one of them, marking an 8 percent increase in this group in this country for January-May.

INSTAT data showed that the arrivals of Polish citizens in the first 5 months of this year fell by 8.6% compared to January-May 2024, with a total of 42 thousand citizens entering, or 1.4% of the total.

Budget tourists top the list of tourists in Albania. North Macedonia is the third most visited country in the first 5 months, with 308 thousand citizens (9%) of the total. Eurostat data, which refers to 2021, shows that their average spending was 37 euros per night.

Greek citizens are in fourth place with 287 thousand entries (8.3% of the total), some of which may be Albanians with Greek passports. According to Eurostat, Greeks are at the bottom of the list of spenders, being below Poles and Czechs, with 46 euros/night. For Albania, the latest data is from 2020. In that year, an Albanian traveling to Europe spent an average of 31.6 euros/night, the last in Europe.

Let's keep the Germans well.

The best tourists in the country at the moment are the Germans. According to Eurostat, they spend an average of 117 euros per night when traveling around Europe. This group has recorded a strong increase in arrivals in the first 5 months of the year in the country, with 124 thousand arrivals, an increase of 29%. For the first time, Germans are the fifth largest group of tourists in the country, with 3.5% of total arrivals.

Tour operators say that initially Germans came mainly on cultural tours, while now they are coming individually and for summer vacations, driven by the sale of direct flights to German cities.

How high-spending tourists were attracted

Austrians are the highest-spending tourists when traveling to Europe, according to Eurostat, at 155 euros per night. In Albania, they accounted for 0.6% of total arrivals for the first five months of 2025.

In second place are the Maltese (138 euros), followed by Iceland (131 euros).

The list of the biggest spenders also includes the Nordic countries, led by Norway, with 127 euros/night, and Sweden with 108 euros, reflecting high purchasing power and the tendency for higher quality travel (better accommodation, more expensive services, restaurants, etc.). The Nordics came to Albania for two consecutive years with guarantee contracts, but at the end of 2022 they withdrew as they sought quality in services.

"As long as they don't receive service, they will normally have a reaction. From what we see, there is a decline in reviews (impressions) that has come from the lack of service or the decline in its quality in accommodation structures. Another element, I think, is infrastructure. For several years, we have been lying to them about traffic, promising them solutions as promised by the institutions. This is not being resolved," the head of the Tourist Union, Rrahman Kasa, previously claimed.

General trends show that countries with developed services, high-standard accommodation and quality infrastructure attract a higher budget profile of tourists. Meanwhile, the cheapest countries are mainly seasonal tourism destinations with tourists who are not willing to pay dearly for the services they receive./ Monitor Magazine