Tourism in Slovakia
Slovakia recorded a total of 15 million tourists in 2018, ranking 17th in the world in absolute terms.That smaller countries regularly perform lower in a comparison of the absolute number of guests, is obvious. By putting the tourist numbers in relation to the population of Slovakia, the result is much more comparable picture: With 2.8 tourists per resident, Slovakia ranked 21st in the world. In Eastern Europe, it ranked 3rd.
Slovakia generated around 1.30 billion US Dollar in the tourism sector alone. This corresponds to 1.2 percent of its the gross domestic product and approximately 5 percent of all international tourism receipts in Eastern Europe.
A global comparison can be found here › International tourism
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Development of the tourism sector in Slovakia from 1995 to 2018
The following chart shows the number of tourist arrivals registered in Slovakia each year. Anyone who spends at least one night in the country but does not live there for more than 12 months is considered a tourist. Insofar as the survey included the purpose of the trip, business trips and other non-tourism travel purposes have already been excluded. The number of people passing through within the same day, and e.g. crew members of ships or flights are also not considered as tourists in most countries. If the same person travels in and out more than once within the same year, each visit counts again.Data in the chart are given in millions of tourists. The red line represents the average of all 10 countries in Eastern Europe.

Revenues in tourism
In 1995, tourism revenues amounted to 630.00 million USD, or about 2.4 percent of the gross national product. This corresponded to about 903,000 tourists at that time and roughly 698 USD per person. Within 25 years, the country's dependence on tourism has decreased substantially. In the last year of the survey, the revenue now amounts to 1.30 billion USD, accounting for 1.2 percent of the gross national product.
All data for Slovakia in detail
Year | Number | Receipts | % of GNP | Receipts |
---|---|---|---|---|
2018 | 15.30 m | 3.32 bn $ | 3.1 % | 217 $ |
2017 | 15.41 m | 3.02 bn $ | 3.2 % | 196 $ |
2016 | 17.38 m | 2.81 bn $ | 3.1 % | 162 $ |
2015 | 14.94 m | 2.48 bn $ | 2.8 % | 166 $ |
2014 | 11.56 m | 2.64 bn $ | 2.6 % | 229 $ |
2013 | 12.58 m | 2.70 bn $ | 2.7 % | 215 $ |
2012 | 1.53 m | 2.37 bn $ | 2.5 % | 1,548 $ |
2011 | 1.46 m | 2.52 bn $ | 2.5 % | 1,723 $ |
2010 | 1.33 m | 2.33 bn $ | 2.6 % | 1,759 $ |
2009 | 1.30 m | 2.54 bn $ | 2.8 % | 1,958 $ |
2008 | 1.77 m | 3.10 bn $ | 3.1 % | 1,752 $ |
2007 | 1.69 m | 2.35 bn $ | 2.7 % | 1,396 $ |
2006 | 1.61 m | 1.66 bn $ | 2.3 % | 1,027 $ |
2005 | 1.52 m | 1.28 bn $ | 2.0 % | 846 $ |
2004 | 1.40 m | 931.00 m $ | 1.6 % | 665 $ |
2003 | 1.39 m | 876.00 m $ | 1.9 % | 632 $ |
2002 | 1.40 m | 742.00 m $ | 2.1 % | 530 $ |
2001 | 1.22 m | 649.00 m $ | 2.1 % | 532 $ |
2000 | 1.05 m | 441.00 m $ | 1.5 % | 419 $ |
1999 | 975,000 | 465.00 m $ | 1.5 % | 477 $ |
1998 | 896,000 | 493.00 m $ | 1.7 % | 550 $ |
1997 | 814,000 | 555.00 m $ | 2.0 % | 682 $ |
1996 | 951,000 | 681.00 m $ | 2.4 % | 716 $ |
1995 | 903,000 | 630.00 m $ | 2.4 % | 698 $ |
Our data on tourist numbers, revenues and expenditures are based on information from the World Tourism Organization. However, to ensure international comparability, the data for some years or countries were manually researched and corrected if they obviously included visitors without overnight stays. In these cases, the data were taken from the official communications of the respective national tourism authorities.
The WTO additionally points out that in some countries the number of tourists is only counted at airports, in others also at border crossings or even hotels. A comprehensive and reliable indication is therefore hardly possible in any country.