“Goal Met” of 1 Million Tourists by August: 986,259 Guests, but Growth Fell to 3% — and How Much Money Actually Stays Is Not Published
On October 16 Mickoski announced the goal of 1 million tourists and nearly 3 million overnight stays is almost met; State Statistical Office data show growth of 3.0% for tourists and 3.7% for overnight stays.
Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski on October 16 commented on State Statistical Office (SSO) data and said the Government’s 2026 goal, about 1 million tourists and nearly 3 million overnight stays, is almost reached by August, ahead of schedule. According to him, foreign tourists rose 11.1%, overnight stays more than 20% and airport passenger traffic about 30%, which he credited to promotion of the tourism potential and a new agreement with travel agencies.
Racin, using SSO data, gives a different picture. Through August there were 986,259 tourists and 2,694,977 overnight stays, growth of 3.0% and 3.7% against the same period last year, when tourist growth was 6.8%. In August alone there were 244,513 tourists, about 8.1% more than 226,179 in August 2025. Racin adds that Macedonia had already exceeded 1 million tourists in earlier full years, so the number itself is not a new record.
The figures measure different things. According to Racin, in August foreigners were 53.6% of arrivals but only 29.2% of overnight stays, averaging about 2.1 nights, against about 5.8 nights for domestic tourists. The 30% rise in airport traffic includes Macedonian citizens traveling abroad and business travelers, so it does not prove growth in foreign tourists. Data on tourist spending is not published; foreign-exchange inflow from tourism was $598.5 million in 2023, and the target for 2025 was $600 million. So the “goal met” shows how many people registered, not how much money stayed.
MKNews Hub · Macedonia · October 17, 2026
