Home > Statistics > Accommodation statistics > 2016 > March > Nights spent by resident tourists increased by 7.2 per cent in March 2016

Published: 19 May 2016

Nights spent by resident tourists increased by 7.2 per cent in March 2016

Overnight stays by resident tourists increased by 7.2 per cent at Finnish accommodation establishments from last year and good 1.2 million nights were recorded for them in March 2016. The number of nights spent by foreign tourists grew by 1.4 per cent and totalled nearly 419,000. A total of nearly 1.7 million overnight stays were recorded at Finnish accommodation establishments in March 2016, which is 5.7 per cent more than in March 2015. 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 March 2016/2015, %

German visitors were the largest group of foreign tourists at Finnish accommodation establishments with 45,000 overnight stays in March, even though the number of nights spent decreased by 4.1 per cent from one year ago. Russian visitors came next. The decline in overnight stays by Russian visitors seemed to beter out in February but in March, their overnight stays made another steep downturn. Altogether, 36,000 overnight stays were recorded for them at Finnish accommodation establishments, which was 32.7 per cent fewer than in March 2015. Swedes came third with good 33,000 nights spent, which was 2.7 per cent more than twelve months earlier. Nearly 31,000 overnight stays at accommodation establishments were recorded for both French and British visitors. Nights spent by French tourists went up by 12.2 per cent whereas those spent by British visitors fell by 2.2 per cent from last year.

Overnight stays by Dutch tourists rose to nearly 19,000, which was 10.7 per cent up on March 2015. However, the biggest growth percentages came from Spain and Switzerland. Overnight stays by Spanish visitors increased by as much as 67.9 per cent and those by Swiss tourists by 32.2 per cent year-on-year. Nights spent by Spaniards amounted almost to 12,000 and those by Swiss tourists to 13,000. Overnight stays by Chinese tourists increased by close on one-fifth and accommodation establishments recorded nearly 10,000 of them.

Among the most important countries of inbound tourism to Finland, overnight stays by Norwegian and Estonian visitors also decreased in March 2016. Altogether, 15,000 to 16,000 overnight stays were recorded for them, which was six to eight per cent lower than one year before.

By region, the total number of overnight stays increased in March most in Lapland, up by 14.7 per cent. In Central Finland, growth amounted to 13.8 per cent. In Kainuu, overnight stays increased by 10.5 per cent and in both Pohjois-Savo and North Ostrobothnia by around nine per cent each. The biggest drop in overnight stays was recorded in North Karelia, 20.9 per cent. In Kymenlaakso, overnight stays decreased by one-fifth from last year. In the whole country, overnight stays increased by 5.7 per cent from March 2015.

Change in overnight stays in March by region 2016 / 2015, %

Overnight stays in hotels increased by 5.3 per cent in March

In March 2016, the total number of nights spent in hotels was 1.4 million, which was 5.3 per cent higher than twelve months earlier. The number of nights spent by resident tourists grew by 6.1 per cent and that of nights spent by foreign tourists by 3.4 per cent year-on-year. Hotels recorded good one million overnight stays for resident tourists and close on 400,000 overnight stays for non-resident tourists.

The occupancy rate of hotel rooms in the whole country was 53.5 per cent in March. One year earlier, it was 52.7 per cent. Examined by region, the highest hotel room occupancy rates were recorded in Lapland, 67.1 per cent, and Kainuu, 62.6 per cent. In Kittilä and Kolari, the occupancy rate of hotel rooms rose to above 80 per cent and in Rovaniemi to 71.6 per cent. In Sotkamo, the occupancy rate of hotel rooms was measured to be 78.1 per cent. The hotel room occupancy rate in Helsinki was 63.5 per cent.

In March, the realised average price of a hotel room was EUR 96.52 per day for the whole country. Twelve months previously, it was EUR 95.34.

Hotel room occupancy rate and the monthly average price

Total number of nights spent at all accommodation establishments went up by 2.7 per cent in the January to March period

Between January and March 2016, the number of nights spent at accommodation establishments in Finland totalled 4.4 million. This was 2.7 per cent higher than in the corresponding period one year earlier. The number of nights spent by foreign tourists increased by 6.6 per cent and that of nights spent by domestic tourists by one per cent. In total, 3 million overnight stays were recorded for resident tourists and close on 1.4 million overnight stays were recorded for non-resident tourists.

Excluding Russia, nights spent at Finnish accommodation establishments by visitors from the most important countries of inbound tourism to Finland increased in the January to March period of 2016. A favourable February, when it seemed that the drop in overnight stays by Russian visitors had halted, alleviated the decrease in overnight stays by Russian visitors. Between January and March, the number of nights spent by Russian visitors at accommodation establishments in Finland totalled 217,000, which was still 17.9 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 126,000 overnight stays. Overnight stays of Germans went up by 3.3 per cent. Britons were third with 124,000 nights spent. The number of nights recorded for them was 5.5 per cent higher than in the respective period one year earlier.

Visitors from France spent 109,000 nights at accommodation establishments. Their overnight stays increased by 14.4 per cent in the first quarter. Nights spent by visitors from Sweden numbered 83,000, which was 1.3 per cent more than in the same period twelve months earlier. Overnight stays by Dutch tourists increased by as much as 21.5 per and they spent 68,500 nights at Finnish accommodation establishments. A total of 50,600 overnight stays were recorded for Japanese visitors, which was 11.6 per cent more than in 2015. Swiss and Estonian tourists spent 45,000 to 48,000 nights at Finnish accommodation establishments. The overnight stays of visitors from Switzerland increased by 18.2 per cent and those of visitors from Estonia by 2.2 per cent from the previous year's corresponding period.

Among the most important countries of inbound tourism to Finland, overnight stays by Chinese and Spanish visitors increased most, or by 36 per cent each, during the January to March period. The number of overnight stays by Chinese tourists grew to good 33,000 and those by Spanish visitors to 26,500.

Change in overnight stays in January-March 2016/2015, %

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, March 2016 (19.5.2016)
• Appendix table 1.2. Capacity and its utilization, January-March 2016 (19.5.2016)
• Appendix table 2.1. Nights spent in all establishments, March 2016 (19.5.2016)
• Appendix table 2.2. Nights spent in all establishments, January-March 2016 (19.5.2016)
• Appendix table 3.1. Hotel capacity and capacity utilization, March 2016 (19.5.2016)
• Appendix table 3.2. Hotel capacity and capacity utilization, January-March 2016 (19.5.2016)
• Appendix table 4.1. Nights spent in hotels, March 2016 (19.5.2016)
• Appendix table 4.2. Nights spent in hotels, January-March 2016 (19.5.2016)
• Appendix table 5.1. Visitor arrivals and nights spent by country of residence, March 2016 (19.5.2016)
• Appendix table 5.2. Visitor arrivals and nights spent by country of residence, January-March 2016 (19.5.2016)
• Appendix table 6. Nights spent in all establishments, 2016 (19.5.2016)

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Updated 19.5.2016