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Featured article: Tourism at regional level

Tourism is an important and fast-evolving economic factor in the European Union, occupying large numbers of small and medium-sized businesses. Its contribution to growth and employment varies widely across the EU regions. Particularly in rural regions, usually peripheral to the economic centres of their countries, tourism is often one of the main sources of income for the population and a prominent factor in creating and securing an adequate level of employment. The map gives an overview of numbers of overnight stays in the regions of Europe. It is clear that the focus of European tourism is in the Mediterranean. The Alpine regions also occupy a strong position. In addition to five countries (Italy, Spain, France, Austria and Germany) well represented in the top 20 regions, Croatia, the Netherlands, Portugal, Greece, Cyprus, the United Kingdom and the Czech Republic also have NUTS 2 regions with more than 10 million overnight stays. ...(more).