Heineken Study Finds Tourists Spend Nearly €2.5 Billion a Year on Its Beers in Europe

Heineken said Tuesday that a company-commissioned study found tourists in Europe spend nearly €2.5 billion a year on the brewer’s beers, as bars, pubs, cafés and tavernas increasingly shape where visitors go and how long they stay.

The Amsterdam-based company released the findings through WebWire and said the estimate comes from an economic analysis of tourism-attributable spending tied to its beer portfolio across Europe. According to Heineken, that spending equals almost two million beers bought by tourists each day and represents 7% of the company’s total supported GDP contribution in the region.

The research combines two sets of data. Heineken said consultancy Steward Redqueen analyzed the company’s economic impact in Europe using 2025 financial, procurement, employment and commercial data together with official economic statistics. That analysis covered 29 European countries, including 21 Heineken operating markets and eight export-only markets. The company also cited consumer research carried out by OnePoll between Aug. 21 and Sept. 2, 2026, based on surveys of 11,000 adults of legal drinking age in 11 markets: the United Kingdom, Portugal, Ireland, Spain, the Netherlands, Greece, Poland, Austria, Italy, Belgium and Czechia.

According to the survey results released by Heineken, 35% of respondents said they had visited a particular neighborhood specifically because of a local bar or pub. Another 20% said they had extended a trip because of one. The company said 77% of tourists visited a local pub, bar, café or taverna multiple times during their most recent European holiday.

The survey also points to a broader cultural role for hospitality venues in travel. Heineken said 73% of respondents agreed that people understand a place better after spending time where locals socialize. Another 74% said such venues create opportunities for meaningful face-to-face connection that are hard to replicate elsewhere, and 52% said they had started a conversation with someone they did not know in one of those settings.

Heineken linked those findings to Europe’s larger tourism economy, which it said attracts about €828 billion in tourism spending each year. The company argued that neighborhood venues help draw travelers beyond established tourist areas and into local communities, where they support hospitality businesses and employment while offering visitors a more direct experience of daily life.

For the beverage sector, the figures are significant because they put a value on the link between tourism, on-premise hospitality and beer demand. If the patterns described in the research hold more broadly, they could influence how brewers, bars and distributors plan marketing, venue partnerships and investment in travel-heavy cities and regions. The data may also strengthen arguments from industry groups seeking public policies that support hospitality businesses, especially in destinations where local bars and cafés are part of the visitor economy.

The company’s statement included comments from Glenn Caton, president of Europe at Heineken, who said tourism is important to Europe and that thriving pubs, bars, cafés and tavernas help make cities and neighborhoods worth visiting. He said those venues bring visitors into local communities, support jobs and businesses, and give travelers reasons to explore beyond traditional tourist routes.

Alongside the research, Heineken announced a photography project with Magnum Photos called “Europe’s Living Rooms.” The series features 11 pubs and bars across Europe and is being launched during European Beer Month. The company said the project is meant to document the people, routines and social interactions that define neighborhood venues, from after-work gatherings in London to canal-side meetings in the Netherlands and soccer crowds in Madrid.

Marine Mérindol, chief operating officer at Magnum Photos, said the photographers focused not only on the locations but also on the people and repeated rituals that give the spaces their meaning. In the company’s release, she said the work aimed to capture how local venues help people connect and how documentary photography can show a side of tourism that is often missed by visitors passing through quickly.

The announcement comes at a time when brewers and hospitality operators are paying closer attention to experience-led consumption and the value of on-premise sales. Heineken, one of the world’s largest brewers, has a portfolio of more than 340 beer and cider brands and operations in more than 70 countries. In Europe, where beer remains closely tied to local identity and social life, the company’s findings are likely to feed into a wider debate over how tourism spending is distributed and how neighborhood hospitality businesses contribute to local economies beyond direct food and drink sales.

Because the figures come from research commissioned by Heineken and released in a company statement, they should be read as company-backed estimates rather than independent public statistics. Still, the data offers a detailed look at how a major brewer is measuring the commercial and cultural importance of Europe’s hospitality venues, and how those venues may shape travel decisions in ways that reach well beyond a single drink order.