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Published: 1 June 2012

Foreign demand for accommodation services grew by ten per cent in 2011

In 2011, the demand for accommodation services grew by four per cent from the previous year. The number of overnight stays exceeded the level prior to the economic downturn of 2009. In deviation from the year before the engine behind the growth was increased foreign demand. Overnight stays by foreign tourists increased by 10 per cent at the same time as the growth in overnight stays by domestic tourists remained at moderate two per cent. In 2011, accommodation establishments in Finland recorded a total of 20.0 million overnight stays, of which domestic tourists accounted for 14.5 million and foreign tourists for the remaining 5.5 million.

Year-on-year changes in nights spent (%) by month 2011–2010

Nights spent by Russian visitors in strong growth

Nights spent at accommodation establishments by visitors from nearly all the most important countries of inbound tourism into Finland increased in 2011. The strongest growth was seen in overnight stays by Russian visitors as accommodation establishment recorded over one million of them, which is 22 per cent more than in the year before. Russian visitors accounted for good 23 per cent of all overnight stays by foreign visitors. Nights spent by Spanish visitors increased by 14 per cent from the previous year, and those by visitors from Estonia, Denmark, Norway, Italy and Switzerland by between 9 and 11 per cent. Overnight stays of visitors from the USA increased by 13 per cent from the previous year. Nights spent by British visitors continued the declining trend that started in 2009, and now decreased by four per cent from the previous year.

Overnight stays of visitors from EU countries grew by five per cent in all. The growth of 13 per cent in nights spent by visitors from Asia was also noteworthy. Overnight stays recorded for Japanese visitors increased by seven per cent and those for Chinese visitors by as much as 19 per cent from the previous year.

Change in overnight stays 2011 / 2010, %

Overnight stays at hotels numbered 16 million

Overnight stays at hotels increased by four per cent from the previous year. Hotels recorded 4.6 million overnight stays, or 10 per cent more than in the year before, for foreign tourists. The total number of overnight stays recorded for domestic tourists was 11.3 million, which is two per cent up on the year before.

Hotel room occupancy rate improved by 1.6 percentage points from the pre-vious year and reached 52.9 per cent in 2011. At the same time, the average hotel room price started to go up again after a break of three years. The average price of a hotel room was EUR 88, having been under EUR 86 in the year before.

Hotel room occupancy rate and the monthly average price

Regional variations in concentration of overnight stays

Over 10 per cent growth in overnight stays was achieved in the regions of Etelä-Savo, South Karelia and South Ostrobothnia in 2011. In absolute numbers, overnight stays increased most in Uusimaa were they totalled 0.3 million more than one year earlier. Overnight stays decreases by between four to six per cent in the regions of Satakunta, Pohjois-Savo, Central Finland, Central Ostrobothnia and Kainuu.

Foreign visitors accounted for nearly one-half of all nights spent in South Karelia, and for 45 per cent in Uusimaa, 38 per cent in Lapland and 28 per cent in Kymenlaakso. In other regions of Finnish mainland, one night in five at most was spent by a foreign visitor.

Among the large towns, the growth in nights spent ranged from five to eight per cent in Helsinki, Turku and Vantaa. In Espoo, overnight stays went up by 29 per cent from the previous year thanks to grown accommodation capacity.

Change in overnight stays by region 2011/2010,%

Receipts grew more strongly than expenditure in tourism

The travel account calculated as the difference between tourism receipts and tourism expenditure was EUR 665 million in deficit in 2011. However, the deficit contracted by 34 per cent from the previous year as receipts grew faster than expenditure.

In 2011, the total amount foreign tourists spent on goods and services in Finland was EUR 2.8 billion, which was 26 per cent more than in the previous year. The share of Russian visitors of the tourism receipts was 41 per cent, having been 31 per cent one year earlier. The share of EU countries was 43 per cent and that of other countries 15 per cent.

In 2011, Finnish tourists spent abroad a total of EUR 3.4 billion on services and purchases, which is seven per cent more than one year earlier.

Finnish visitors spent EUR 0.5 billion in Estonia, EUR 0.4 billion in Spain and EUR 0.3 billion in Sweden. In other EU countries Finnish visitors spent a total of EUR 1.3 billion and in countries outside the EU a total of EUR 0.9 billion.

Balance of payments, travel 2001 - 2011

Source: Accommodation Statistics 2012. Statistics Finland

Inquiries: Ossi Nurmi 09 1734 2984, liikenne.matkailu@stat.fi

Director in charge: Hannele Orjala

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Appendix tables

• Appendix table 1. Capacity and its utilization, 2011 (1.6.2012)
• Appendix table 2. Nights spend in all establishments, 2011 (1.6.2012)
• Appendix table 3. Hotel capacity and capacity utilization, 2011 (1.6.2012)
• Appendix table 4. Nights spend in hotels, 2011 (1.6.2012)
• Appendix table 5. Visitor arrivals and nights spend by country of residence, 2011 (1.6.2012)
• Appendix table 6. Nights spend in all establishments, 2011 (1.6.2012)
• Appendix table 7. Nights spent by non-residents and annual change, 2011 (%) (1.6.2012)
• Appendix table 8. Capacity and its utilization by type of accommodation establishments, 2011 (1.6.2012)
• Appendix table 8.1 Capacity and its utilization by type of accommodation establishments, May-September 2011 (1.6.2012)
• Appendix table 9. Balance of payments, travel 2001 - 2011 (1.6.2012)

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Updated 1.6.2012