Cyprus short-term rental bookings rebound in 2022, but still below 2019 levels

Eurostat, the statistical service of the EU, reported that during the fourth quarter of 2022 (Q4 2022), short-term rental accommodations booked through platforms like Airbnb, Booking, Expedia Group, or TripAdvisor were in high demand, with guests spending around 97 million nights in such accommodations across the EU. This is a significant increase of approximately 25% compared to the same period in 2021, and even higher than the pre-pandemic levels of Q4 2019, where approximately 88 million guest nights were recorded.

Throughout the whole of 2022, guests spent around 547 million nights in short-term rental accommodations booked through online platforms in the EU, marking a robust recovery compared to the previous year (364 million nights, a 50% increase) and even surpassing the levels seen in 2019 (512 million nights, a 7% increase).

While all 31 countries in the EU and EFTA saw a robust recovery compared to 2021, there were differences compared to the pre-pandemic levels in 2019. Cyprus, for example, had a total of 3.796 million nights booked through online platforms in 2022, indicating an increase compared to 2020 (1.352 million) and 2021 (2.685 million), but not yet reaching the pre-pandemic level of 4.241 million nights in 2019.

In 2022, Sweden, France, and Belgium had the largest increases in nights spent compared to 2019, while 14 EU member states still lagged behind. Among those countries, Czechia, Hungary, Ireland, and Estonia recorded the most prominent decreases.

During the summer of 2022 (Q3 2022 - July, August, and September), traditional coastal holiday destinations remained popular. Eurostat reported that the most popular regions for short-term rental accommodations booked through online platforms were Jadranska Hrvatska in Croatia (20 million nights), the French region of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur (11 million), and the Spanish region of Andalucía (10 million). In Cyprus, there was a total of 1.6 million nights booked during Q3 2022, and the country is considered a single region for statistical reasons on a NUTS 2 level.