Home > Statistics > Accommodation statistics > 2017 > May > Nights spent by foreign tourists in Finland up by 11.7 per cent in May 2017

Published: 13 July 2017

Nights spent by foreign tourists in Finland up by 11.7 per cent in May 2017

Overnight stays by foreign tourists continued increasing at Finnish accommodation establishments, by 11.7 per cent from last year and nearly 417,000 nights were recorded for them in May 2017. The number of nights spent by resident tourists went up by 3.5 per cent and totalled good 1.0 million at accommodation establishments. A total of good 1.4 million overnight stays were recorded at Finnish accommodation establishments in May 2017, which was 5.8 per cent more than in May 2016. 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 May 2017/2016, %

Overnight stays by British and French tourists increased heavily in May

More than 25,000 overnight stays were recorded for British visitors at Finnish accommodation establishments, which was 24.0 per cent higher than in May 2016. Most overnight stays for British visitors were recorded in Uusimaa, 17,600. Overnight stays recorded for French visitors increased by 33.7 per cent and totalled 12,500 in May 2017. Overnight stays by French visitors focused mainly on Uusimaa, where 6,500 overnight stays were recorded and Lapland, where 2,900 nights were spent by French tourists. The share of Uusimaa in all nights spent by foreign visitors was 58 per cent.

Growth in overnight stays by Swedish and Russian visitors continued in May

Swedes were the largest group of foreign tourists and their overnight stays increased by 15.0 per cent year-on-year. Accommodation establishments recorded 52,400 overnight stays for Swedes. Russians came second and nearly 48,000 overnight stays were recorded for them at Finnish accommodation establishments, which was 20.5 per cent more than one year before. Germans came third with nearly 35,000 nights spent, which was, however, 4.8 per cent lower than in May 2016. Visitors from Great Britain and the USA came next. In all, 16.1 per cent more overnight stays were recorded for visitors from the USA than one year ago, and they totalled close on 24,600.

Overnight visits by tourists from almost all the most important countries of inbound tourism into Finland increased in May. In addition to those mentioned above, overnight stays by Chinese visitors increased by 24.4 per cent and those of Japanese tourists by 2.4 per cent from May 2016. Among the most important countries of inbound tourism only nights spent by Estonians and Norwegians declined. Overnight stays by Estonian tourists decreased by 9.5 per cent and those by Norwegian visitors by 3.3 per cent.

Examined by region, overnight stays increased in May most in Central Finland, up by 22.4 per cent. Overnight stays increased by 15.1 per cent in South Karelia and by 12.7 per cent in Uusimaa. By contrast, the total number of overnight stays decreased, for example, in South Ostrobothnia, by 17.7 per cent, and in Päijät-Häme, by 10.0 per cent. In the whole country, overnight stays increased by 5.8 per cent from May 2016.

Change in overnight stays in May by region 2017/2016, %

Overnight stays at hotels increased by 7.2 per cent

In May 2017, the total number of nights spent in hotels was good 1.2 million, which was 7.2 per cent higher than twelve months earlier. Overnight stays by foreign tourists increased by 11.3 per cent and hotels recorded nearly 368,000 of them. Recorded nights spent by resident tourists in hotels numbered 857,000. The number was 5.5 per cent higher than in May 2016.

The occupancy rate of hotel rooms was 53.6 per cent in May. One year earlier, it was 51.4 per cent. Among the regions, the highest occupancy rates of hotel rooms were measured in Uusimaa, 72.0 per cent and in Satakunta, 63.3 per cent. In Vantaa, the hotel room occupancy rate was 74.9 per cent and in Turku, 65.2 per cent. The hotel room occupancy rate in Helsinki was 77.0 per cent.

In May 2017, the realised average price of a hotel room was EUR 100.01 per day for the whole country. Twelve months previously, it was EUR 95.33.

Hotel room occupancy rate and the monthly average price

Total number of nights spent at all accommodation establishments grew by 7 per cent in the January to May 2017 period

In January to May 2017, the number of nights spent at accommodation establishments in Finland totalled nearly 7.8 million. This was 7.0 per cent higher than in the corresponding period one year earlier. Nearly 5.3 million overnight stays were recorded for resident tourists and close on 2.5 million overnight stays were recorded for non-resident tourists. The overnight stays of resident visitors increased by 2.4 per cent and those of non-resident visitors by 18.5 per cent from January to May 2016.

The number of nights spent by Russian visitors at accommodation establishments in Finland totalled good 350,000 in January to May 2017, which was 19.8 per cent up on the respective period in 2016. They were still the biggest country of inbound tourism to Finland. Germans and Brits came next, both with around 206,000 nights spent. Overnight stays by German visitors increased by 9.0 per cent and those of British visitors by 22.4 per cent. Accommodation establishments also recorded a lot of overnight stays for Swedish and French visitors. Over 148,000 overnight stays were recorded for French tourists and nearly 182,000 for Swedish visitors. The overnight stays of visitors from France increased by 15.0 per cent and those of visitors from Sweden by 12.3 per cent year-on-year.

Among the most important countries of inbound tourism to Finland, overnight stays by Chinese visitors increased most in January to May 2017. Nights spent by Chinese visitors rose to around 103,000, which was 67.8 per cent more than in the same period in 2016. More overnight stays were, however, recorded for Dutch visitors than for Chinese visitors, nearly 119,000 overnight stays, which was 37.4 per cent more than in January to May 2016.

Change in overnight stays in January-May 2017/2016, %

Source: Accommodation Statistics. Statistics Finland

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

Director in charge: Sami Saarikivi

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Appendix tables

• Appendix table 1.1. Capacity and its utilization, May 2017 (13.7.2017)
• Appendix table 1.2. Capacity and its utilization, January-May 2017 (13.7.2017)
• Appendix table 2.1. Nights spent in all establishments, May 2017 (13.7.2017)
• Appendix table 2.2. Nights spent in all establishments, January-May 2017 (13.7.2017)
• Appendix table 3.1. Hotel capacity and capacity utilization, May 2017 (13.7.2017)
• Appendix table 3.2. Hotel capacity and capacity utilization, January-May 2017 (13.7.2017)
• Appendix table 4.1. Nights spent in hotels, May 2017 (13.7.2017)
• Appendix table 4.2. Nights spent in hotels, January-May 2017 (13.7.2017)
• Appendix table 5.1. Visitor arrivals and nights spent by country of residence, May 2017 (13.7.2017)
• Appendix table 5.2. Visitor arrivals and nights spent by country of residence, January-May 2017 (13.7.2017)
• Appendix table 6. Nights spent in all establishments, 2017 (13.7.2017)

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Updated 15.6.2017