Eurostat: Latvian residents made more than 5 million trips last year

Latvian residents recorded more than 5 million travel trips last year, crossing that threshold for the only time in the past decade, as newly released data from Eurostat and reported by eng.lsm.lv outlines a broader European rebound in personal and professional mobility.

European Union Travel Reaches 1.2 Billion Trips in 2025

Across the European Union, residents completed 1.20 billion personal and professional trips in 2025, representing a 1.4 percent increase or 17 million more journeys compared to 2024, according to Eurostat figures published today. Domestic travel accounted for the lion’s share of that movement, with 848 million trips making up 70 percent of the total.

Another 264 million trips, or 22 percent, were directed to other EU member states. Altogether, 92 percent of all trips undertaken by residents within the bloc remained inside EU borders. Journeys with destinations outside the EU comprised just 8 percent of the total volume, with fewer than half of those venturing beyond the wider European continent.

Travel preferences varied sharply by member state. Romania registered the highest proportion of domestic travel at 89 percent, closely followed by Spain at 87 percent, and Greece, France, and Portugal each at 85 percent. Conversely, Luxembourg recorded a domestic travel share of only 5 percent, followed by Belgium at 29 percent and Malta at 32 percent.

Latvia positioned itself near the midpoint of the continental spectrum. Roughly 65 percent of all journeys undertaken by Latvians remained within domestic borders, while the remaining share involved international travel.

Latvian Travel Appetite Grows

The appetite for travel among Latvian residents climbed throughout the year, culminating in a total exceeding 5 million trips. This milestone marks the only time in a decade such a volume was recorded for the country. While domestic getaways continued to outpace outbound travel in sheer volume, the economic impact of international trips revealed a distinct financial footprint across the bloc.

Total European expenditure favored foreign travel over domestic vacations. EU residents spent 266.2 billion euros on domestic trips in 2025, compared to 379.4 billion euros spent on trips abroad. Accommodation and transport formed the primary expenses in both categories.

For domestic trips, accommodation accounted for 34 percent of spending, totaling 90.3 billion euros, while transport represented 21 percent, or 56.0 billion euros. Foreign trips commanded higher absolute spending figures, with accommodation claiming 35 percent at 131.3 billion euros and transport representing 32 percent at 121.5 billion euros.

Broader Regional Trends Highlighted Across Europe

Parallel reporting from other member states illustrates how distinct populations contributed to the broader European travel recovery. That figure represented a 13.3 percent increase from the 3,366,862 trips recorded in 2024.

This consistent upward trajectory mirrors the wider European expansion documented by Eurostat, where total trips rose from 874 million in 2021 to 1.21 billion by the close of 2025.