Home > Statistics > Accommodation statistics > 2015 > December > Nights spent by foreign tourists in Finland up by 10.4 per cent in December

Published: 18 February 2016

Nights spent by foreign tourists in Finland up by 10.4 per cent in December

Corrected on 18 February 2016 . The corrections are indicated in red.

The number of recorded nights spent by foreign tourists at Finnish accommodation establishments in December 2015 was nearly 553,000, which was 10.4 per cent more than in December 2014. Overnight stays by resident tourists increased by 4.7 per cent and accommodation establishments recorded nearly 836,000 of them. The total number of nights spent at accommodation establishments rose to almost 1.4 million, which was 6.9 per cent higher than in the year before. 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.

Change in overnight stays in December 2015/2014, %

The World Junior Championship in ice hockey in Helsinki swelled the number of overnight stays by foreign tourists in December 2015. With the exception of Russia, overnight stays by tourists from all known ice hockey countries increased in December. Overnight stays by Russians decreased by only good one-fifth from December 2014. Overnight stays by Swiss and Austrian tourists went up by around one-fifth from the previous year and the number of overnight stays by visitors from the American continent, from both the United States and Canada, grew strongly. The effect of the tournament was particularly visible in Uusimaa and Pirkanmaa. In Uusimaa, overnight stays by foreign visitors increased by 24.8 per cent and those by resident tourists by 12.6 per cent. In Pirkanmaa, overnight stays by foreign visitors grew by 74.0 per cent. In all, 374,000 nights spent were recorded at accommodation establishments in Uusimaa, which was 17.7 per cent more than twelve months earlier. Overnight stays in Pirkanmaa went up by 12.0 per cent.

In addition to the World Junior Championship tournament, Christmas travel to Lapland increased the number of foreign tourists. Good 264,000 overnight stays were recorded for them at accommodation establishments in Lapland, which was 10.3 per cent more than one year before. British visitors had good 123,000 overnight stays at accommodation establishments in Lapland, which was 9.3 per cent up on one year before. Of the Mediterranean countries, overnight stays by French, Spanish and Italian visitors were also directed to Lapland. French visitors had good 25,000 overnight stays, Spanish visitors nearly 11,000 and Italians around 8,000 overnightings at accommodation establishments in Lapland.

In the whole country, British visitors were the biggest foreign tourist group in December with nearly 148,000 overnight stays. The number was 8.8 per cent higher than in December 2014. Russian visitors came next with 59,000 overnight stays and Germans were third with good 32,000 overnightings. Overnight stays by German tourists increased by 12.5 per cent from the previous year. Among the most important countries of inbound tourism to Finland, overnight stays by Chinese visitors increased most, by 34.0 per cent. Good 13,000 overnight stays at Finnish accommodation establishments were recorded for them.

By region, the total number of overnight stays increased in December most in Uusimaa, up by 17.7 per cent. The number of overnight stays grew by 12.0 per cent in Pirkanmaa and by 8.5 per cent in Lapland. The biggest decreases in overnight stays were recorded in Åland, 16.0 per cent, and in Kainuu, 12.4 per cent, and in Kymenlaakso, 11.0 per cent. In the whole country, overnight stays increased by 6.9 per cent from December 2014.

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

Overnight stays in hotels increased by 9.0 per cent

In December 2015, the total number of nights spent in hotels was good 1.2 million, which was 9.0 per cent higher than twelve months earlier. Overnight stays by resident tourists increased by 6.4 per cent from the year before and hotels recorded a total of good 712,000 of them in December 2015. Overnight stays by foreign tourists increased by 13.0 per cent and accommodation establishments recorded nearly 495,000 of them.

The occupancy rate of hotel rooms in the whole country was 46.8 per cent in December. One year earlier, it was 42.5 per cent. Examined by region, the highest hotel room occupancy rate was recorded in Lapland, 64.4 per cent, and Uusimaa reached an occupancy rate of 56.3 per cent. In North Ostrobothnia, 48.2 per cent of hotel rooms were in use. In Rovaniemi, the hotel room occupancy rate rose to 83.4 per cent and in Kittilä to 70.2 per cent. The hotel room occupancy rate in Helsinki was 62.7 per cent.

In December, the realised average price of a hotel room was EUR 96.06 per day for the whole country. Twelve months previously, it was EUR 93.83.

Hotel room occupancy rate and the monthly average price

Overnight stays at all accommodation establishments remained on level with the previous year in 2015

Between January and December 2015, the number of nights spent at accommodation establishments in Finland totalled good 19.7 million. The number was almost the same as in the corresponding period of the year before; it went down by just 0.2 per cent. ompared to the January to December period of 2014, the number of nights spent by resident tourists increased by 1.2 per cent and that of nights spent by foreign tourists decreased by 3.6 per cent. Good 14.2 million overnight stays were recorded for resident tourists and 5.5 million for non-resident tourists at all accommodation establishments.

Between January and December, the number of nights spent by Russian visitors at accommodation establishments in Finland totalled close on 783,000, which was 41.6 per cent down on the respective time period of the previous year. Russians still kept their position as the largest group of foreign visitors in 2015, while Swedish visitors came next with close on 550,000 overnight stays. Overnight stays of Swedes went up by 2.9 per cent. Good 543,000 overnight stays were recorded for German visitors and nearly 472,000 for British tourists in January to December. The overnight stays of visitors from Germany increased by 8.6 per cent and those of visitors from Great Britain by 5.5 per cent from the previous year's corresponding period.

In January to December, overnight stays by French tourists numbered good 228,000, up by 6.1 per cent from the corresponding period of the previous year. In all, 203,000 overnight stays were recorded at accommodation establishments for Japanese visitors and nearly 202,000 for ones from the United States. Overnight stays by Japanese tourists increased by 5.9 per cent, while those by tourists from the United States decreased by 1.1 per cent from the corresponding period of 2014.

Among the most important countries of inbound tourism to Finland, overnight stays by Chinese visitors increased most, or by 41.2 per cent, in 2015. The number of overnight stays by Chinese visitors rose to nearly 182,000. The number of overnight stays by visitors from Switzerland has also increased strongly and was nearly 159,000, which was 21.2 per cent more than in 2014.

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

Source: Accommodation Statistics. Statistics Finland

Inquiries: Marjut Tuominen 029 551 3556, Kari Keränen 029 551 3208, liikenne.matkailu@stat.fi

Director in charge: Mari Ylä-Jarkko

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Appendix tables

• Appendix table 1.1. Capacity and its utilization, December 2015 (18.2.2016)
• Appendix table 1.2. Capacity and its utilization, January-December 2015 (18.2.2016)
• Appendix table 2.1. Nights spend in all establishments, December 2015 (18.2.2016)
• Appendix table 2.2. Nights spend in all establishments, January-December 2015 (18.2.2016)
• Appendix table 3.1. Hotel capacity and capacity utilization, December 2015 (18.2.2016)
• Appendix table 3.2. Hotel capacity and capacity utilization, January-December 2015 (18.2.2016)
• Appendix table 4.1. Nights spend in hotels, December 2015 (18.2.2016)
• Appendix table 4.2. Nights spend in hotels, January-December 2015 (18.2.2016)
• Appendix table 5.1. Visitor arrivals and nights spend by country of residence, December 2015 (18.2.2016)
• Appendix table 5.2. Visitor arrivals and nights spend by country of residence, January-December 2015 (18.2.2016)
• Appendix table 6. Nights spend in all establishments, 2015 (18.2.2016)

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Updated 18.2.2016