The new report on short-term tourist trends in the European Union with interesting data such as EU accommodation establishments recorded more than 3,000 million overnight stays per year in 2017, half of which of internal tourists (residents) and half international. For UNWTO Secretary-General, Zurab Pololikashvili, "the sustained growth of tourism has been essential in the economic recovery of many countries in Europe and around the world, contributing to the creation of employment, economic growth and a balance of payments healthy".

A situation that has been reflected in the report on short-term tourism trends of the European Union, prepared by the UNWTO in cooperation with the European Commission. Preliminary data from 2017 are drawn from this study, such as the visit of 538 million international tourists, 40% of the world total, and the more than 3,000 million overnight stays per year. The EU has enjoyed continued growth in the number of international arrivals since the global economic crisis of 2009, with annual growth rates of over 4% in the last five years.

In 2016, the EU countries obtained 342,000 million euros in international tourism revenues (31% of the world total), which makes a significant contribution to their balance of payments: As EU destinations earn more in income from international tourism of what EU residents spend on international tourism (315,000 million euros), the EU consequently obtains a surplus of 27,000 million euros in the tourism trade balance.

In the EU, more than two million companies operate mainly or partially in tourism, most of which are small and medium-sized enterprises, which employ approximately 12 million people. For the individual economies of the EU, the direct contribution of tourism to GDP reaches 11%. On the other hand, international passenger transport (non-residents) has generated, according to estimates, another 67,000 million euros, with the result of total benefits for exports of international tourism of 409,000 million euros. This means 6% of exports of goods and services from the EU, which makes tourism the fourth largest category of exports, after chemicals, the automotive industry and the food industry.