Home > Statistics > Accommodation statistics > 2018 > February > Nights spent by foreign tourists in Finland up by 6.7 per cent in February 2018

Published: 12 April 2018

Nights spent by foreign tourists in Finland up by 6.7 per cent in February 2018

Nights spent by foreign tourists at Finnish accommodation establishments continued to grow, by 6.7 per cent from last year, and 600,000 nights were recorded for them in February 2018. The number of nights spent by resident tourists went up by 2.7 per cent and totalled almost 1.1 million at accommodation establishments. A total of close on 1.7 million overnight stays were recorded at Finnish accommodation establishments in February 2018, which was 4.1 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 February 2018/2017, %

Biggest growth percentages came from overnight stays by Chinese and Spanish tourists in February 2018

Among the most important countries of inbound tourism to Finland, overnight stays by Chinese and Spanish visitors increased most in February 2018. Nearly 44,500 overnight stays were recorded for Chinese visitors at Finnish accommodation establishments, which was as much as 76.7 per cent more than in February 2017. Most overnight stays by Chinese visitors, 22,600, were recorded in Lapland, which was 53.1 per cent more than one year before. Overnight stays in Uusimaa by Chinese visitors increased by as much as 88.4 per cent and accommodation establishments in Uusimaa recorded 16,300 nights. Overnight stays recorded for Spanish visitors increased by 36.2 per cent and totalled good 11,600 in February 2018. Overnight stays by Spanish tourists took place almost completely in Lapland and Uusimaa. In both regions, good 4,900 overnight stays were recorded for visitors from Spain. The share of Lapland in all nights spent by foreign visitors was close on 45 per cent and the share of Uusimaa was 32 per cent.

British visitor were the largest group of foreign tourists in February in the whole country

British visitors made up the largest group of foreign tourists in February 2018. Finnish accommodation establishments recorded 61,600 overnight stays for British visitors, which was 1.1 per cent more than one year before. Germans came second with good 56,600 overnight stays. The growth from the year before amounted to 8.0 per cent. French and Russian visitors came next. Altogether, 53,600 nights spent were recorded for French visitors, which was 12.8 per cent more than twelve months earlier. By contrast, the overnight stays of Russian tourists decreased by 16.3 per cent from the year before and amounted to close on 47,000 nights. Overnight stays by Dutch tourists increased by 10.0 per cent and nearly 41,500 nights spent were recorded for them in February 2018, which made them the sixth largest group of tourists after the Chinese.

Examined by region, overnight stays increased in February 2018 most in South Ostrobothnia, up by 21.7 per cent. Overnight stays increased by 11.3 per cent in Kainuu and by 9.2 per cent in North Karelia. Overnight stays grew by some eight per cent in both Lapland and Åland. By contrast, the total number of overnight stays decreased in Kymenlaakso, by 21.8 per cent, and in Etelä-Savo, by 14.9 per cent. In the whole country, overnight stays increased by 4.1 per cent from February 2017.

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

Overnight stays at hotels increased by 3.6 per cent

In February 2018, the total number of nights spent in hotels was 1.4 million, which was 3.6 per cent more than twelve months earlier. Overnight stays by non-resident tourists increased by 5.6 per cent and hotels recorded good 500,000 of them. Recorded nights spent by resident tourists in hotels numbered 900,000. The number was 2.5 per cent higher than in February 2017.

The occupancy rate of hotel rooms was 56.4 per cent in February. One year earlier, it was 55.2 per cent. Examined by region, the highest hotel room occupancy rates were recorded in Lapland, 73.5 per cent, and Uusimaa, 63.7 per cent. In Rovaniemi, the hotel room occupancy rate rose to 86.0 per cent and in Kittilä to 86.2 per cent. In Vantaa, the occupancy rate of hotel rooms was measured to be 71.3 per cent. The hotel room occupancy rate in Helsinki was 69.0 per cent.

In February 2018, the realised average price of a hotel room was EUR 106.69 per day for the whole country. Twelve months previously, it was EUR 102.03.

Hotel room occupancy rate and the monthly average price

Total number of nights spent at all accommodation establishments grew by 3.8 per cent in early 2018

Between January and February 2018, the number of nights spent at accommodation establishments in Finland totalled 3.2 million. This was 3.8 per cent higher than in the corresponding period one year earlier. Good 1.9 million overnight stays were recorded for resident tourists and nearly 1.3 million (overnight stays) for non-resident tourists. The overnight stays of resident visitors increased by 1.8 per cent and those of non-resident visitors by 7.0 per cent from the previous year's corresponding period.

The number of nights recorded for Russian visitors at accommodation establishments in Finland totalled 211,000 in January to February 2018, which was nearly the same number as in the respective period of 2017. The decrease amounted to only 0.1 per cent. However, they were the biggest country of inbound tourism to Finland in early 2018. British visitors came next with close on 126,500 overnight stays. Overnight stays by British tourists went up by 2.7 per cent. French tourists came third with some 103,000 overnight stays. The number was 14.6 per cent higher than in January to February 2017. Accommodation establishments also recorded plenty of overnight stays by Germans and Dutch visitors. Good 99,000 overnight stays were recorded for Germans tourists and 83,000 for Dutch visitors. The overnight stays of visitors from Germany increased by 5.4 per cent and those of visitors from Holland by 13.2 per cent from the previous year's corresponding period.

Among the most important countries of inbound tourism to Finland, overnight stays by Chinese visitors increased most in early 2018. Nights spent by Chinese visitors rose to close on 71,000, which was 32.0 per cent more than in January to February 2017. Next to the above mentioned countries, Chinese visitors rose to the sixth largest group and left Swedes behind, for whom good 52,000 overnight stays were recorded in early 2018. Overnight stays by Swedes grew by 1.1 per cent.

Change in overnight stays in January-February 2018/2017, %

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

Publication in pdf-format (354.5 kB)

Tables

Tables in databases

Pick the data you need into tables, view the data as graphs, or download the data for your use.

• Database tables and their variables
• Archived tables

Appendix tables

• Appendix table 1.1. Capacity and its utilization, February 2018 (12.4.2018)
• Appendix table 1.2. Capacity and its utilization, January-February 2018 (12.4.2018)
• Appendix table 2.1. Nights spent in all establishments, February 2018 (12.4.2018)
• Appendix table 2.2. Nights spent in all establishments, January-February 2018 (12.4.2018)
• Appendix table 3.1. Hotel capacity and capacity utilization, February 2018 (12.4.2018)
• Appendix table 3.2. Hotel capacity and capacity utilization, January-February 2018 (12.4.2018)
• Appendix table 4.1. Nights spent in hotels, February 2018 (12.4.2018)
• Appendix table 4.2. Nights spent in hotels, January-February 2018 (12.4.2018)
• Appendix table 5.1. Visitor arrivals and nights spent by country of residence, February 2018 (12.4.2018)
• Appendix table 5.2. Visitor arrivals and nights spent by country of residence, January-February 2018 (12.4.2018)
• Appendix table 6. Nights spent in all establishments, 2018 (12.4.2018)

---

Updated 12.4.2018