After several dispiriting years of pandemic-related travel restrictions, tourism in Europe is back in full swing and booming more than ever this summer. With the revival of this important economic sector, local businesses in tourism-focused industries such as dining and hotels are experiencing significant growth. The European Travel Commission estimates that tourists will contribute a record €800 billion to Europe’s economy this year—a 37 percent increase over pre-pandemic levels.

While the surge in visitors is not without controversy for the countries hosting them, the influx of tourists is undeniably revitalizing the tourism sector in ever-popular destinations such as London, Paris, and Rome, as well as emerging hotspots in southern and eastern Europe. 

This raises the question: what does the economic boom look like on the ground? By analyzing our Point-of-Interest (POI) data, we’ve uncovered trends in business growth across the region, particularly in Paris. The city is currently welcoming athletes, their families, and fans from around the world for this year’s Summer Olympic Games. 

Regional Trends To Watch

The highest growth percentages in the total number of business locations since 2023 paint an interesting and dynamic picture of recovery. Which regions ended up at the top of the lists? For our analysis, we categorized European nations as follows:

• Northern Europe: Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, United Kingdom, Ireland
• Western Europe: Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Monaco, Netherlands, Switzerland
• Southern Europe: Andorra, Italy, Malta, Portugal, San Marino, Spain, Vatican City
• Eastern Europe: Belarus, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Moldova, Poland, Slovakia, Ukraine
• Southeastern Europe: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia

Across Europe, three regions lead in the growth of new restaurant and bar openings: Western Europe, Eastern Europe, and Southeastern Europe. This surge likely reflects tourists’ desire for diverse culinary experiences while traveling abroad. These same three regions also top the list for new bar openings, highlighting their vibrant nightlife and social scenes, which attract both locals and tourists.

In the travel sector, including hotels and tourism agencies, the most significant growth has occurred in Western Europe, Southern Europe, and Southeastern Europe, demonstrating a strong rebound in the hospitality industry. The influx of tourists to these regions has also driven the highest growth in transportation, underscoring the need for efficient and expanded transit options for visitors. 

As for shopping, new retail businesses have flourished in Western Europe, Southeastern Europe, and Southern Europe, driven by increased tourist spending. The entertainment and recreation sector has experienced the highest growth in Western Europe, Southern Europe, and the Nordics, reflecting a higher demand for a variety of leisure activities in those areas.

Hot-Off-the-Press Country Trends

What does the data tell us about the tourism recovery landscape at the country level and its impact on local economies? Let’s examine the growth of tourism-focused businesses across various European nations.

If you’re curious about the latest trends in the European dining and bar scenes, Serbia, Italy, and the Netherlands are leading in new restaurant openings, followed closely by Ukraine, Germany, and France. Serbia, Italy, and the Netherlands are at the top for new bar openings, with Belgium, Ukraine, and France seeing significant growth in places to enjoy a drink with friends and locals. 

As expected, the enormously popular tourist destinations like Italy, France, and Greece are at the forefront of travel-related business growth. Italy and Serbia lead in the transportation sector’s growth, followed by Belgium, the Netherlands, and Greece.

Retail business growth has been most notable in Serbia, the Netherlands, and Italy, followed by France and Germany, where tourists’ shopping habits are undeniably contributing to the sector’s expansion. Finland, the Netherlands, and France lead in entertainment and recreation business growth, with Italy and Serbia also seeing increases. These countries, already popular with tourists, are enhancing their appeal by offering a wide range of recreational activities to tourists.

Where to Find the Most Bars and Restaurants

For travelers seeking the most diverse and vibrant bar scenes in Europe, Italy, Spain, and France are top destinations for raising a glass, followed closely by the United Kingdom and Germany. If dining out is a top priority while on vacation, Germany, France, and Italy offer the most restaurant options, while Spain and the United Kingdom are next in offering visitors a rich array of culinary options.

Spotlight on Paris

Paris is in full hosting mode for the 2024 Summer Olympics, which is already having a significant impact on tourism-related sectors.

Out of all the travel POIs, which pinpoint businesses such as lodging and travel agencies, 9 percent have opened since 2023, marking the highest number of recent openings in any category. The transportation sector has also seen substantial growth, with 7 percent of new openings in relation to other categories, reflecting preparations for the influx of visitors for the Games. Dining establishments have seen 5 percent of openings relative to other areas, and the number of bars has accounted for 4 percent of new openings, giving visitors more options for meals, aperitifs, or late-night celebrations of Olympic victories. Finally, Paris’s retail footprint accounted for 6 percent of openings, as the city strives to meet tourists’ insatiable appetite for shopping in the City of Light.

A Glimpse into the Future

As the data clearly shows, the resurgence of European travel is fueling significant growth across multiple tourism-related business sectors. The increase in business locations, particularly in dining, bars, travel, transportation, retail, and entertainment and recreation, highlights these industries’ ability to bounce back and thrive after extremely challenging times.

Paris, with its preparations for the Summer Olympics now coming to fruition, provides an excellent example of how major events like the Games can accelerate growth in tourism-adjacent businesses. These trends not only reflect the current state of the tourism industry in Europe, but also indicate a future where travel and tourism continue to play a vital role in Europe’s economic landscape. As the tourism sector evolves, paying attention to these trends will become increasingly important, providing crucial insights into where people are headed and how businesses can adapt to meet their needs.

By Geoff Michener, CEO and founder, dataplor

Today marks a significant milestone in dataplor’s journey—we have successfully closed our $10.6M Series A funding round led by Spark Capital, a pivotal step as we continue our mission to deliver the most accurate Point of Interest (POI) data available, empowering enterprises to make better decisions and drive growth across global markets.

From the outset, dataplor was built on the belief that accurate, reliable, and privacy-first location data was missing from the global market. We aim to help companies uncover hidden opportunities and build stronger relationships within the worldwide business community.  Estimates show bad data costs the market nearly $7 trillion annually. Many providers claim to offer comprehensive global coverage but lack the expertise and verification measures to deliver highly accurate datasets. This problem is particularly pronounced in developing countries, where up to 70% to 90% of international location data contains inaccuracies.

Building the infrastructure to curate an accurate, global dataset

Even from the earliest days of our first Minimally Viable Product (MVP), we’ve seen the value that international POI data can unlock for businesses, and our approach of including humans in the loop has been validated each step of the way. Building a robust product and team was critical in our early growth. We also found our sweet spot of using both technology—AI algorithms for gathering data, de-duping it, finding errors, etc.—and expert human validators as the key to building accurate data at scale. Creating the infrastructure for scaling this global product could not have been done without the collective effort of the dataplor team’s diverse talents and dedication. As we continued to see interest from customers and drew support from early investors, we grew our business. Now, we’ve curated a dataset that encompasses over 300 million POI records across more than 200 countries and territories and counting. 

Our unique approach ensures that our datasets are highly accurate, complete, and continually updated in real time. We have developed an industry-leading quality control system that combines hundreds of sources, reviewed by our in-house data scientists and analysts. dataplor is used by strategic decision-makers in retail, mapping, consumer packaged goods, and quick-service restaurants, among other growing industries. We count dozens of Fortune 500 brands among our customer base, and we envision this funding carrying our work to new heights.

Maximizing humans in the loop

Uncovering data and intelligence is a profoundly human exercise. However, empowering the hundreds of dedicated individuals contributing to our data verification efforts requires blending their expertise with the right technology. As dataplor continues to grow, our commitment to delivering superior global data remains unshaken. We achieve this by bringing together a world-class team of data specialists. Our team is dedicated to consistently providing exceptional products and experiences, driven by their expertise and adaptability, to meet the needs of our valued customers. The dataplor team’s collaborative mindset and innovation have been crucial in blending advanced AI with human insight to refine our data accuracy. As we expand, we aim to continue recruiting smart and innovative individuals who can contribute to our growth.

We invested early in using machine learning to efficiently process billions of data points, map patterns, and break down information so it’s most useful for our customer base. Our deep learning technology gives global location intelligence to any brand worldwide, opening a new perspective to assessing brand performance and new opportunities. Our funding empowers us to continue investments in new technologies that will scale the work of our human intelligence gatherers and analysts.

Future growth with a privacy-first approach

We’ve taken pride in launching and scaling a platform with efficiency. But even as we scale, our commitment to a privacy-first approach remains unwavering. In an era where data privacy is increasingly under the spotlight, we believe it is not only possible but essential to collect and utilize data responsibly. 

At dataplor, we don’t utilize any personally identifiable information (PII) in our data collection practices. Our datasets are sourced through direct contact with a place, or through publicly available data, without using PII or engaging in individual tracking through phones, apps, or other devices. This approach aligns with our ethos and also benefits our customers by ensuring they don’t have any legal or regulatory challenges from using data that breaches privacy best practices.

A future of superior location intelligence

I’m thankful for the leadership of Alex Finkelstein at Spark Capital, Quest Venture Partners, Acronym Venture Capital, Circadian Ventures, Two Lanterns Venture Partners, APA Venture Partners, and ffVC for leading this round. This key milestone was only possible because of our team’s commitment and dynamism; I look forward to seeing the new challenges we take on together. 

With this new funding, we’re poised to explore new frontiers, tackle bigger challenges, and deliver even greater value to our customers. We’re thrilled about the new opportunities ahead.