Europe posts record hotel figures for 2011

The number of nights spent in European hotels hit a record level in 2011, figures released by the 27-member bloc revealed January 24.

In total, 1.6 billion nights were spent in European hotels last year, a growth of 3.8 percent on 2010 and a record high for nights spent by both Europeans and non-Europeans, the EU said.

The most popular places to stay in Europe remain the 'big five' economies, with Spain, Italy, Germany, France and the United Kingdom together accounting for a total of 70 percent of the total number of nights spent in the 27 nations.

Of those five countries, the number of nights spent was slightly up apart from in Italy, where the number fell by just over one percent, the EU's figures showed.

Travel by residents of the EU accounted for the majority of the nights spent in hotels, although the margin wasn't huge -- 53 percent of hotel stays were by residents, and 47 percent by non-residents.

For non-residents, the most popular destinations were Spain and Italy, while the most popular places to spend a night for residents were Germany, France and Italy.

Europe's fastest-growing destinations
Measured by increase in number of hotel nights spent, 2010-2011

1. Lithuania
2. Bulgaria
3. Estonia
4. Latvia
5. Romania