Number of Hotel and Guest-house Visitors Up by 7.6 percent Y-o-Y in May 2026

Bratislava, 13 July (TASR) - The number of people staying in tourist accommodation facilities in Slovakia rose by 7.6 percent year-on-year (y-o-y) to 576,000 in May 2026, the Statistics Office reported on Monday, adding that this was the highest-ever number for May, exceeding the record set in May 2019 by 4.3 percent. Domestic clientele with 352,000 guests continued to make up two-thirds of the total number, up by nearly 4.5 percent y-o-y. This was also the highest-ever figure for May, surpassing the previous record set in May of last year by 15,000 guests. The growing interest among foreign visitors also continued in May, when the number of foreign clientele amounted to 224,000, up by 12.8 percent y-o-y, but still shy of the pre-pandemic record set in May 2019. Guests from the Czech Republic were the most conspicuous among the foreign visitors, making up 27.8 percent of them (62,000 tourists), followed by visitors from Poland, with a 13.8 percent-share (nearly 31,000 tourists). Visitors spent nearly 1.4 million nights in Slovakia, up 4.4 percent y-o-y. The number of nights fell short of the record set in 2019 by 4.5 percent. Visitors spent 2.4 nights in Slovakia on average in May. A higher number of visitors y-o-y was recorded by seven of the eight Slovak regions, ranging from 4 percent in Nitra region to 19 percent in Trencin region. Only Banska Bystrica region saw a slight drop (of 0.5 percent). The most-frequently visited region was Bratislava region, posting 151,000 guests in May, followed by Zilina region (112,000 visitors) and Presov region (92,000). These three regions together accounted for 62 percent of the total visitor numbers in Slovakia in May. Along with Trnava, Trencin and Kosice regions, they all posted the highest-ever numbers for May. Bratislava region remained the only one where the majority of those accommodated were foreign tourists. In the first five months of 2026, 2.4 million tourists were accommodated in tourism facilities in Slovakia, up by 9.1 percent y-o-y. This number was 7.8 percent higher than the one seen in the same period before the pandemic (in 2019). The number of foreign clientele went up by nearly 15 percent, rising faster y-o-y than domestic tourism, which increased by almost 6 percent. jrg/df