Home > Statistics > Accommodation statistics > 2015 > February > Nights spent by domestic tourists increased by 4.0 per cent in February

Published: 16 April 2015

Nights spent by domestic tourists increased by 4.0 per cent in February

The number of recorded nights spent by domestic tourists at Finnish accommodation establishments in February 2015 was close on 1.1 million, which was 4.0 per cent higher than one year ago. By contrast, overnight stays by foreign tourists decreased by 1.8 per cent and accommodation establishments recorded nearly 400,000 of them. In February 2015, the total number of nights spent in hotels was good 1.4 million, which was 2.4 per cent higher than in February 2014. 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 2015/2014, %

The steep decline in overnight stays by Russian visitors continued in February 2015. Altogether, 33,000 overnight stays were recorded for them at Finnish accommodation establishments, which was as much as 54.5 per cent lower than in February 2014. German, British and French tourists surpassed Russians as the largest groups of foreign tourists in February, leaving Russian tourists in fourth place. Nearly 43,000 nights spent were recorded for German visitors, which was 9.6 per cent more than twelve months earlier. Overnight stays recorded at accommodation establishments for British visitors totalled 42,000, which was, however, 3.0 per cent down from February 2014. French tourists were the third largest group with good 35,000 overnight stays. The growth from last year amounted to 10.7 per cent.

Nights spent by Swedish tourists increased in February and 26,000 overnight stays were recorded for them at Finnish accommodation establishments, which was 13.6 per cent more than one year before. By contrast, overnight stays recorded for Dutch visitors decreased by 2.6 from last year but still good 21,000 nights were recorded for them. The biggest growth percentages came from China and Norway. Overnight stays by Chinese tourists increased by as much as 56.5 per cent and those by Norwegian tourists by 41.4 per cent. Nights spent by Norwegians amounted almost to 14,000 and those by Chinese tourists close to 10,000. Overnight stays of visitors from the United States increased by good one-quarter and amounted to 11,000.

By region, the total number of overnight stays increased in February most in Åland, up by 24.0 per cent. The number of overnight stays grew by 12.9 per cent in Ostrobothnia and by 10.2 per cent in North Ostrobothnia. The biggest drop in overnight stays was recorded in South Savo, 14.0 per cent. In both Päijät-Häme and South Carelia the drop was 12 per cent. Overnight stays in Central Ostrobothnia fell by 11 per cent. In the whole country, overnight stays increased by 2.4 per cent from February 2014.

Change in overnight stays in December by region 2015 / 2014, %

Overnight stays in hotels increased by 3.5 per cent in February

In February 2015, the total number of nights spent in hotels was good 1.2 million, which was 3.5 per cent higher than twelve months earlier. Overnight stays by resident tourists increased by 5.2 per cent and accommodation establishments recorded nearly 893,000 of them. By contrast, the number of recorded nights spent by foreign tourists in hotels totalled close on 352,000, which was 0.6 per cent fewer than in February 2014.

The occupancy rate of hotel rooms in the whole country was 51.4 per cent in February. One year earlier, it was 49.4 per cent. Among the regions, the highest occupancy rates of hotel rooms were measured in Lapland, 62.6 per cent, and North Ostrobothnia, 57.4 per cent. In Muonio, the hotel room occupancy rate rose to 85.5 per cent and in Rovaniemi to 80.9 per cent. The hotel room occupancy rate in Helsinki was 59.2 per cent.

In February, the realised average price of a hotel room was EUR 93.91 per day for the whole country. One year earlier, it was nearly the same at EUR 93.16.

Hotel room occupancy rate and the monthly average price

Total number of nights spent at all accommodation establishments went down by 2.6 per cent in early 2015

Between January and February 2015, the number of nights spent at accommodation establishments in Finland totalled 2.7 million. This was 2.6 per cent lower than one year earlier. The number of nights spent by resident tourists increased by 3.6 per cent while that of nights spent by foreign tourists decreased by 13.4 per cent. Nearly 1.9 million overnight stays were recorded for resident tourists and 884,000 overnight stays were recorded for non-resident tourists.

Overnight stays by Russian tourists decreased throughout 2014 and the decline continued as steep also in early 2015. Between January and February, the number of nights spent by Russian visitors at accommodation establishments in Finland totalled good 212,000, which was 44.7 per cent down on the respective time period of last year. They were, however, by far, the largest group of foreign visitors in January to February, as British visitors came next with 86,000 overnight stays. Overnight stays by British tourists went up by 1.6 per cent. German visitors made up the third largest group with 75,000 overnight stays. The number of nights recorded for them was 10.3 per cent higher than in the respective time period one year earlier.

Visitors from France spent nearly 67,000 nights at accommodation establishments. Their overnight stays increased by 9.3 per cent in early 2015. Dutch and Swedish visitors spent a total of 40,000 to 50,000 nights. Overnight stays by Dutch tourists decreased by 1.9 per cent while those by Swedish tourists increased by eight per cent compared with the corresponding period last year. Overnight stays by Estonian, Swiss and Japanese visitors amounted to 29,000 to 30,000. Overnight stays by Estonian and Swiss tourists increased by three to seven per cent from the year before. By contrast, Japanese visitors spent 14.9 per cent fewer nights than last year.

Among the most important countries of inbound tourism to Finland, overnight stays by Chinese visitors increased most, or by 33.8 per cent, during the January to February period. The number of nights spent by them rose to 16,000.

Change in overnight stays in January-February 2015/2014, %

Source: Accommodation Statistics. Statistics Finland

Inquiries: Marjut Tuominen 029 551 3556, Ossi Nurmi 029 551 2984, liikenne.matkailu@stat.fi

Director in charge: Hannele Orjala

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Appendix tables

• Appendix table 1.1. Capacity and its utilization, February 2015 (16.4.2015)
• Appendix table 1.2. Capacity and its utilization, January-February 2015 (16.4.2015)
• Appendix table 2.1. Nights spend in all establishments, February 2015 (16.4.2015)
• Appendix table 2.2. Nights spend in all establishments, January-February 2015 (16.4.2015)
• Appendix table 3.1. Hotel capacity and capacity utilization, February 2015 (16.4.2015)
• Appendix table 3.2. Hotel capacity and capacity utilization, January-February 2015 (16.4.2015)
• Appendix table 4.1. Nights spend in hotels, February 2015 (16.4.2015)
• Appendix table 4.2. Nights spend in hotels, January-February 2015 (16.4.2015)
• Appendix table 5.1. Visitor arrivals and nights spend by country of residence, February 2015 (16.4.2015)
• Appendix table 5.2. Visitor arrivals and nights spend by country of residence, January-February 2015 (16.4.2015)
• Appendix table 6. Nights spend in all establishments, 2015 (16.4.2015)

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Updated 16.4.2015