Home > Statistics > Accommodation statistics > 2015 > March > Nights spent by foreign tourists in Finland down by 9.2 per cent in March

Published: 13 May 2015

Nights spent by foreign tourists in Finland down by 9.2 per cent in March

The number of recorded nights spent by foreign tourists at Finnish accommodation establishments in March 2015 was 415,000, which was 9.2 per cent lower than one year earlier. Overnight stays by resident tourists also decreased by 0.5 per cent and totalled nearly 1.2 million. In March 2015, the total number of nights spent at all accommodation establishments was almost 1.6 million, which was 2.9 per cent lower than in March 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 March 2015/2014, %

The steep decline in overnight stays by Russian visitors continued in March 2015. Altogether, 55,000 overnight stays were recorded for them at Finnish accommodation establishments, which was 49.7 per cent lower than in March 2014. Russians did, however, grab the top spot as the largest group of foreign tourists again in March, leaving Germans in the second position. Nearly 47,000 nights spent were recorded for German visitors, which was 4.5 per cent more than twelve months earlier. Swedish tourists came third with 32,000 overnight stays at accommodation establishments, which was 5.5 per cent more than in March 2014. British visitors came next with good 31,000 overnight stays. The growth from last year amounted to 3.5 per cent.

Overnight stays by French visitors increased slightly in March and Finnish accommodation establishments recorded nearly 28,000 overnight stays for them, which was 1.3 per cent more than one year before. Visitors from Norway, the Netherlands and Estonia spent between 17,000 and 18,000 nights each. Overnight stays by Norwegian tourists declined by 1.2 per cent and those by Dutch tourists by 8.8 per cent year-on-year, while overnight stays by Estonian tourists increased by seven per cent. Among the most important countries of inbound tourism to Finland, the biggest decrease, in addition to Russians, was recorded for Japanese tourists, who spent 15,000 nights at Finnish accommodation establishments. The number was 15.1 per cent lower than in March 2014.

By region, the total number of overnight stays increased in March most in Ostrobothnia, up by 10.6 per cent. The number of overnight stays grew by 8.8 per cent in Åland and by 8.1 per cent in Central Ostrobothnia. The biggest drop in overnight stays was recorded in South Karelia, 23.4 per cent. In Päijät-Häme, overnight stays decreased by 11 per cent, and in Kymenlaakso and Central Finland the decline amounted to ten per cent in each. In the whole country, overnight stays decreased by 2.9 per cent from March 2014.

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

Nights spent in hotels decreased by 2.4 per cent in March

In March 2015, the total number of nights spent in hotels was good 1.3 million, which was 2.4 per cent lower than twelve months earlier. Overnight stays by resident tourists remained on level with March 2014 and hotels recorded nearly 955,000 of them. By contrast, the number of recorded nights spent by foreign tourists in hotels totalled close on 366,000, which was 8.6 per cent fewer than in March 2014.

The occupancy rate of hotel rooms in the whole country was 52.5 per cent in March. One year earlier, it was exactly the same. Among the regions, the highest occupancy rates of hotel rooms were measured in Lapland, 63.7 per cent, and North Karelia, 61.6 per cent. In Kittilä, the hotel room occupancy rate rose to 81.0 per cent and in Joensuu to 78.8 per cent. The hotel room occupancy rate in Helsinki was 62.5 per cent.

In March, the realised average price of a hotel room was EUR 95.31 per day for the whole country. Twelve months previously, it was EUR 94.96.

Hotel room occupancy rate and the monthly average price

Total number of nights spent at all accommodation establishments fell by 2.8 per cent in January to March

Between January and March 2015, the number of nights spent at accommodation establishments in Finland totalled 4.3 million. This was 2.8 per cent lower than one year earlier. The number of nights spent by resident tourists increased by 1.9 per cent while that of nights spent by foreign tourists decreased by 12.1 per cent. Nearly three million overnight stays were recorded for resident tourists and 1.3 million for non-resident tourists (at accommodation establishments).

March did not bring any change to the drop of overnight stays by Russian visitors. Between January and March, the number of nights spent by Russian visitors at accommodation establishments in Finland totalled good 266,000, which was 46 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 March, as German visitors came next with 121,500 overnight stays. Overnight stays of Germans went up by 7.6 per cent. British visitors came third with nearly 118,000 overnight stays. The number of nights recorded for them was 2.1 per cent higher than in the respective time period one year earlier.

Visitors from France spent nearly 96,000 nights at accommodation establishments. Their overnight stays increased by 8.4 per cent in January to March. Swedish visitors spent nearly 82,000 nights and Dutch visitors almost 57,000 nights at accommodation establishments. Overnight stays of Swedish visitors increased by 7.1 per cent whereas those of Dutch visitors decreased by 4.2 per cent from the corresponding period last year. Overnight stays by Japanese tourists decreased by 15.1 per cent just like in March, and good 45,000 overnight stays were recorded for them at Finnish accommodation establishments.

Among the most important countries of inbound tourism to Finland, overnight stays by Chinese visitors increased most, or by 30.8 per cent, during the January to March period. The number of nights spent by them rose to good 24,000, which despite the drop in overnight stays by Japanese visitors, partially contributed to the 5.9 per cent increase in overnight stays by Asians.

Change in overnight stays in January-March 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, March 2015 (13.5.2015)
• Appendix table 1.2. Capacity and its utilization, January-March 2015 (13.5.2015)
• Appendix table 2.1. Nights spend in all establishments, March 2015 (13.5.2015)
• Appendix table 2.2. Nights spend in all establishments, January-March 2015 (13.5.2015)
• Appendix table 3.1. Hotel capacity and capacity utilization, March 2015 (13.5.2015)
• Appendix table 3.2. Hotel capacity and capacity utilization, January-March 2015 (13.5.2015)
• Appendix table 4.1. Nights spend in hotels, March 2015 (13.5.2015)
• Appendix table 4.2. Nights spend in hotels, January-March 2015 (13.5.2015)
• Appendix table 5.1. Visitor arrivals and nights spend by country of residence, March 2015 (13.5.2015)
• Appendix table 5.2. Visitor arrivals and nights spend by country of residence, January-March 2015 (13.5.2015)
• Appendix table 6. Nights spend in all establishments, 2015 (13.5.2015)

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Updated 13.5.2015