Home > Statistics > Accommodation statistics > 2013 > February > Nights spent by foreign tourists in Finland down by 2.5 per cent in February 2013

Published: 18 April 2013

Nights spent by foreign tourists in Finland down by 2.5 per cent in February 2013

The number of recorded nights spent by foreign tourists at Finnish accommodation establishments in February 2013 was 421,000, which was 2.5 per cent fewer than in February 2012. The number of nights spent by resident tourists went down by 1.2 per cent and totalled one million overnight stays. The total number of overnight stays decreased by 1.6 per cent from the year before. Accommodation establishments recorded a total of 1.4 million of them in February 2013. These figures are preliminary data from Statistics Finland’s statistics on accommodation establishments and they have been collected from accommodation establishments with at least 20 beds or caravan pitches with electricity connection, and youth hostels.

Change in overnight stays in February 2013/2012, %

Russians and Britons were the largest groups of foreign tourists in February 2013. Accommodation establishments recorded 81,000 overnight stays for Russian tourists and 50,000 overnight stays for British tourists. Overnight stays by Russians were close to last year's level, 0.7 per cent increase, while the overnight stays by Britons increased heavily by 13.1 per cent from last year. Visitors from Germany came third with 40,000 nights spent, which was, however, 7.5 per cent less than one year ago. The number of nights spent by French tourists went down by 8.1 per cent from February 2012 and totalled nearly 33,000. Swedish, Dutch and Japanese tourists all spent around 24,000 nights at Finnish accommodation establishments in February. Nights spent by Swedish tourists went down by 9.1 per cent whereas those spent by Dutch tourists went up by 0.9 per cent. The biggest increase was seen in overnight stays by Spanish tourists, 30.2 per cent, Japanese tourists, 20.4 per cent and Norwegian tourists, 17.5 per cent. By contrast, among other major tourist countries the amount of overnight stays by Estonian tourists decreased most. Overnight stays recorded for them at accommodation establishments numbered 15,000, which was 30.6 per cent less than in February 2012.

By region, the total number of overnight stays increased most in February 2013 in Åland, up by 13.7 per cent. The number of overnight stays grew by 12.8 per cent in Etelä-Savo and by 12.2 per cent in Kymenlaakso. Overnight stays decreased most in North Karelia, by 19.7 per cent, and in Ostrobothnia, by 14.6 per cent. Overnight stays in the whole country dropped by 1.6 per cent from last year.

Change in overnight stays in February by region 2013 / 2012, %

Nights spent in hotels decreased by 2.7 per cent in February 2013

In February 2013, the total number of nights spent in hotels was good 1.2 million, which was 2.7 per cent fewer than twelve months earlier. Overnight stays by foreign tourists decreased by 3.9 per cent and hotels recorded a total of 370,000 of them. Recorded nights spent by resident tourists in hotels numbered just under 858,000. The number was 2.2 per cent lower than in February 2012.

The occupancy rate of hotel rooms was 50.3 per cent in February. One year earlier, it was 52.3 per cent. Examined by region, the highest hotel room occupancy rates were recorded in Lapland, 61.0 per cent, and Uusimaa, 55.9 per cent. In Rovaniemi, the hotel room occupancy rate was 76.6 per cent and in Vantaa 69.1 per cent. Hotel room occupancy rate in Helsinki was 59.8 per cent.

In February 2013, the realised average price of a hotel room was EUR 91.50 per day for the whole country. Twelve months previously it was EUR 92.25.

Hotel room occupancy rate and the monthly average price

Total number of nights spent at all accommodation establishments fell by 2.2 per cent in January to February 2013

Over the January-February period of 2013, the number of nights spent at accommodation establishments in Finland totalled nearly 2.8 million, which was 2.2 per cent fewer than in the same period of last year. Nights spent by resident tourists decreased by 2.4 per cent and accommodation establishments recorded a total of nearly 1.8 million of them. Overnight stays by foreign tourists numbered good one million, which was 1.8 per cent less than in January to February 2012.

Accommodation establishments recorded 393,000 million overnight stays for Russians and, as usual, they were by far the largest group of foreign visitors in January-February 2013. Their overnight stays did, however, decrease by 2.3 per cent form the respective time period of last year. British and German visitors came next. Overnight stays recorded for British visitors increased by 14.2 per cent year-on-year and totalled good 95,000. Germans spent nearly 72,000 nights at Finnish accommodation establishments which was 3.7 per cent fewer than in the respective time period of last year. Nearly 63,000 nights spent were recorded for French visitors, which was 2.2 per cent more than twelve months earlier. Swedish, Dutch and Japanese tourists all spent over 40,000 nights in January-February 2013. Overnight stays by Japanese visitors increased heavily by 15.1 per cent and those by Dutch visitors by a moderate 3.2 per cent. By contrast, Swedish tourists spent 6.7 per cent fewer nights than in the first two months of last year. In January-February, nights spent decreased most for Estonian tourists, by 25.9 per cent and 30,000 overnight stays were recorded for them. Among other major tourist countries the amount of overnight stays by Spanish tourists increased most, by 20.8 per cent and good 14,000 overnight stays were recorded for them.

Change in overnight stays in January-February 2013/2012, %

Source: Accommodation Statistics. Statistics Finland

Inquiries: Marjut Tuominen 09 1734 3556, Merja Rönkä 09 1734 3209, liikenne.matkailu@stat.fi

Director in charge: Hannele Orjala

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Appendix tables

• Appendix table 1.1. Capacity and its utilization, February 2013 (18.4.2013)
• Appendix table 1.2. Capacity and its utilization, January-February 2013 (18.4.2013)
• Appendix table 2.1. Nights spend in all establishments, February 2013 (18.4.2013)
• Appendix table 2.2. Nights spend in all establishments, January-February 2013 (18.4.2013)
• Appendix table 3.1. Hotel capacity and capacity utilization, February 2013 (18.4.2013)
• Appendix table 3.2. Hotel capacity and capacity utilization, January-February 2013 (18.4.2013)
• Appendix table 4.1. Nights spend in hotels, February 2013 (18.4.2013)
• Appendix table 4.2. Nights spend in hotels, January-February 2013 (18.4.2013)
• Appendix table 5.1. Visitor arrivals and nights spend by country of residence, February 2013 (18.4.2013)
• Appendix table 5.2. Visitor arrivals and nights spend by country of residence, January-February 2013 (18.4.2013)
• Appendix table 6. Nights spend in all establishments, 2013 (18.4.2013)

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Updated 18.4.2013