Home > Statistics > Accommodation statistics > 2018 > January > Nights spent by foreign tourists in Finland grew by 6.6 per cent in January 2018

Published: 8 March 2018

Nights spent by foreign tourists in Finland grew by 6.6 per cent in January 2018

Corrected on 8 March 2018. The corrected number is indicated in red.

Overnight stays by foreign tourists increased by 6.6 per cent at Finnish accommodation establishments from last year and nearly 670,000 nights were recorded for them in January 2018. Overnight stays by domestic tourists were nearly on level with the previous year, up by just 0.5 per cent. A total of 853,000 overnight stays were recorded for them. Good 1.5 million overnight stays were recorded at Finnish accommodation establishments in January 2018, which was 3.1 per cent more than one year earlier. 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 January 2018/2017, %

The target group of the accommodation statistics has been reviewed and a few accommodation establishments operating in the industries of hotels and hostels were added to it starting from data concerning January 2017. The effect of the review is around 2.5 per cent of the total number of overnight stays from 2017 onwards. Because of the review, the data starting from 2017 are not fully comparable with those for earlier years. The data for January 2018 are comparable with the data for January 2017.

Accommodation establishments in Lapland and Uusimaa collected 70 per cent of overnight stays by foreign tourists in January 2018.

The number of recorded nights spent by foreign tourists at accommodation establishments in Lapland was nearly 254,000 and in Uusimaa close on 215,000. In January 2018, overnight stays by foreign tourists increased by 5.9 per cent in Lapland and by 13.6 per cent in Uusimaa. The number of overnight stays recorded for visitors from Asian countries were almost equal in both regions; 37,000 to 38,000 nights. In Lapland, overnight stays by Asians turned to a decline of 13.8 per cent, while in Uusimaa, overnight stays by Asians grew by 11.1 per cent. In addition to Asians, nearly as many overnight stays were recorded for French and British visitors. Overnight stays by French visitors increased by 15.5 per cent and those by British visitors by 6.0 per cent from last year. The number of overnight stays recorded in Uusimaa was highest for Russians, good 44,000 nights, growing by as much as 23.3 per cent. In addition to Russian and Asian visitors, overnight stays were recorded in Uusimaa third most for Swedish tourists. Swedes stayed 15,500 nights and their overnight stays increased by 12.5 per cent year-on-year.

Russians were by far the largest group of foreign tourists in the whole country in January

January has typically been the most popular month for Russian visitors measured by overnight stays at accommodation establishments. This trend continued in 2018 and they were still by far the biggest group of foreign tourists with 164,000 overnight stays. Overnight stays by Russian visitors increased by 5.7 per cent from last year and their share of all overnight stays by foreign tourists was 24.5 per cent in January 2018. British tourists came second with almost 65,000 recorded overnight stays. The number was 4.0 per cent higher than one year previously. French, German and Dutch visitors came next. Good 49,000 nights were recorded for French visitors, which was 16.2 per cent more than in January 2017. Accommodation establishments recorded around 42,000 overnight stays for both German and Dutch visitors. Overnight stays by Germans increased by 2.0 per cent and those by Dutch visitors by 13.7 per cent year-on-year.

The next largest groups were Swedish and Chinese visitors with about 27,000 overnight stays each. Overnight stays of Swedes went up by 11.2 per cent, whereas the prolonged growth of overnight stays by Chinese visitors turned to a decline of 6.9 per cent. In addition to Chinese visitors, overnight stays among the most important countries of inbound tourism to Finland also decreased for Japanese tourists by 7.0 per cent from last year and for Italian visitors by 3.7 per cent. The biggest growth percentage came from the United States in January; 20.7 per cent. Good 14,000 overnight stays were recorded for them at Finnish accommodation establishments in January 2018.

Examined by region, overnight stays increased in January most in Kanta-Häme, 21.5 per cent. Overnight stays in Satakunta increased by 18.6 per cent and in Åland by 17.2 per cent. A growth rate of 13.3 per cent was recorded in North Karelia. In contrast, the total number of overnight stays decreased most in Etelä-Savo, by 14.4 per cent, and in Central Finland, by 6.2 per cent. In the whole country, overnight stays increased by 3.1 per cent from January 2017.

Change in overnight stays in January by region 2018/2017, %

Overnight stays at hotels increased by 2.9 per cent

In January 2018, the total number of nights spent at hotels was close on 1.3 million, which was 2.9 per cent more than twelve months earlier. Overnight stays by non-resident tourists increased by 5.9 per cent and hotels recorded a total of 561,000 of them. Recorded nights spent by resident tourists in hotels numbered 737,500. The number was 0.7 per cent higher than in January 2017.

The occupancy rate of hotel rooms was 50.0 per cent in January. One year earlier, it was 48.5 per cent. Among the regions, the highest occupancy rates of hotel rooms were measured in Uusimaa, 60.8 per cent, and Lapland, 60.0 per cent. In Rovaniemi, the hotel room occupancy rate rose to 76.6 per cent and in Kittilä to 74.8 per cent. In Vantaa, the occupancy rate of hotel rooms was measured to be 69.8 per cent. The hotel room occupancy rate in Helsinki was 64.8 per cent.

In January 2018, the realised average price of a hotel room was EUR 103.64 per day for the whole country. Twelve months previously, it was EUR 97.72.

Hotel room occupancy rate and the monthly average price

Source: Accommodation Statistics. Statistics Finland

Inquiries: Marjut Tuominen 029 551 3556, 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, January 2018 (8.3.2018)
• Appendix table 2.1. Nights spent in all establishments, January 2018 (8.3.2018)
• Appendix table 3.1. Hotel capacity and capacity utilization, January 2018 (8.3.2018)
• Appendix table 4.1. Nights spent in hotels, January 2018 (8.3.2018)
• Appendix table 5.1. Visitor arrivals and nights spent by country of residence, January 2018 (8.3.2018)

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Updated 8.3.2018