City Travel Report by CityDNA 2024-2025: A New Era of Recalibration for European City Tourism
The City Travel Report by CityDNA 2024–2025 marks a pivotal moment for Europe’s urban destinations. Stabilisation replaces recovery as European city destinations adapt to a shifting tourism landscape. Based on benchmarking insights from 128 cities, the 21st edition of the report reveals that growth is moderating—average bednight growth slowed to 5.8% in 2024, down from 13.7% in 2023—signalling that city tourism is no longer rebounding, but recalibrating.
“This year’s report signals a new phase for city tourism in Europe,” said Barbara Jamison-Woods, President of City Destinations Alliance. “Growth is no longer the only metric. City destinations are now called upon to define success in terms of value, sustainability, and shared prosperity. This shift demands evidence-based strategies and stronger alignment between urban and national tourism agendas.”
The CityDNA Report 2024–2025 confirms the continued dominance of London, Paris, and Istanbul in terms of total bednights. Yet the dynamics are evolving: Milan (+28.1%), Florence (+16.6%), and Vienna (+9.1%) posted the most notable increases among the top 20 cities. Overall, 107 of the 128 cities analysed experienced growth.
International source markets performed unevenly: single-digit growth was recorded from Russia, the UK, Germany, France, Spain, and Italy, while double-digit growth came from the United States, Japan, and China, reaffirming their strategic relevance for European destinations.
However, the report highlights a critical trend: national-level tourism outpaced urban tourism in 2024. International bednights grew by 12.2% in EU nations and the UK, compared to 7.9% in cities. Total bednight volumes also grew faster in other regions (7.6%) than in cities (5.2%). These gaps call for a strategic rebalancing and closer coordination between tourism stakeholders in ensuring sustainable, equitable growth across all levels.
“City tourism remains the most dynamic segment of the tourism economy, but it must now compete on the basis of resilience and innovation,” noted Prof. Karl Wöber, President of Modul University Vienna and Scientific Partner of the report. “The data shows stabilisation, but also signals emerging structural challenges that demand sophisticated destination management and long-term planning.”
Additional key findings include:
- Bed capacity in cities increased by 5.5% in 2024, with Florence (+35.7%) and Barcelona (+33.4%) experiencing the highest average growth rate between 2020 and 2024.
- Bed occupancy reached a benchmark average of 48.8%, up from 46.8% in 2023.
- Transport-related CO₂ emissions from tourist travel to cities rose by 3.3%, with 13 out of 59 cities managing to reduce per-tourist CO₂ levels.
These results arrive against the backdrop of continued geopolitical instability, inflation, and mounting climate concerns. Yet, they also reflect how cities are shifting from short-term recovery measures to longer-term recalibration strategies that prioritise resilience, sustainability, and visitor value. Sustainability is a journey for destinations, and the recent VivaCITY Whitepaper: The Score is not the Story reflects that while 91% of the cities have embedded sustainability within their overall city strategy, only 70% have done so in their DMO strategy.
The full report offers in-depth analysis and visualisations to support strategic decision-making by destination marketing and management organisations. As Barbara Jamison–Woods concludes: “The City Travel Report by CityDNA is not just a benchmark—it is a blueprint for building a smarter, more balanced and future-fit visitor economy in Europe’s cities.”
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Order your copy of the City Travel Report by CityDNA 2024-2025 Light Package
Including comprehensive city tourism benchmarks for 128 destinations in Europe; factors that influenced tourism in 2023; visualisation of City Tourism Trends 2024, total and international figures and analysis of 9 markets based on forecasts of changes in market volumes, CO2 emissions, and much more!
Order your copy of the City Travel Report by CityDNA 2024-2025 Professional Package
The Professional Package includes the elements stated in the City Travel Report by CityDNA Light Package + the complete dataset (Excel and PowerPoint files as a tool-kit for your analysis and presentations).
CityDNA members, receive a FREE copy of the full Report and database on CityDNA Intranet!
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About City Destinations Alliance (CityDNA)
We are a knowledge sharing network for cities and urban regions collaborating to maximise the potential of the visitor economy. Our vision is for all cities in Europe to flourish as great places to live, work, meet and explore. As a community of professionals, our promise to each other is to always be curious and forward thinking, share our inspiration and continued learnings.
For more information and pictures, please contact:
Bénédicte Lack, press@citydna.eu, +33 380 56 02 03
citydestinationsalliance.eu