Home > Statistics > Accommodation statistics > 2018 > April > Nights spent by foreign tourists in Finland up by 4.2 per cent in April 2018

Published: 7 June 2018

Nights spent by foreign tourists in Finland up by 4.2 per cent in April 2018

Number of overnight stays by foreign tourists at Finnish accommodation establishments grew slightly in April 2018. Good 372,000 nights spent were recorded for foreign visitors, which was 4.2 per cent more than twelve months earlier. By contrast, the number of nights spent by resident tourists went down by 1.2 per cent and totalled close on 1.2 million at accommodation establishments. In total, Finnish accommodation establishments recorded good 1.5 million overnight stays, which was nearly the same as in April 2017, up by just 0.1 per cent. 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 April 2018/2017, %

Russians were the largest group of foreign visitors in April

Russians made up the largest group of foreign tourists in April 2018. Finnish accommodation establishments recorded almost 49,000 overnight stays for Russian visitors, which was 12.2 per cent more than one year before. Swedish tourists came second with some 39,000 recorded overnight stays. However, this was 1.7 per cent fewer than in the year before. Visitors from Germany came third with nearly 30,500 nights spent, which was 6.3 per cent up year-on-year. British and Norwegian visitors came next. A total of good 24,000 overnight stays were recorded for British visitors, up by 5.9 per cent from the previous year. By contrast, overnight stays by Norwegian visitors decreased by 7.0 per cent from last year and almost 19,000 nights were recorded for them.

Among the most important countries of inbound tourism to Finland, overnight stays by visitors from China increased most in April. In all, 13,000 nights spent were recorded for Chinese visitors, which was 14.7 per cent more than twelve months earlier. Nearly the same number of overnight stays were recorded for visitors from the US and Estonia, 13,000 to 13,500 nights. Overnight stays by tourists from the US increased by 7.0 per cent, while those by Estonian tourists decreased by 5.1 per cent from April 2017. The biggest drops were, however, seen in overnight stays by Japanese and Spanish tourists in April 2018. Compared with April 2017, the number of nights spent by Japanese tourists decreased by 21.3 per cent and that of nights spent by Spanish tourists by 15.2 per cent.

The share of Uusimaa in all nights spent by foreign visitors was 55 per cent in April.

Good 203,000 overnight stays by foreign tourists were recorded in Uusimaa in April, which covered 55 per cent of all overnight stays by foreign tourists in Finland. Accommodation establishments in Lapland gained only a 14 per cent share of overnight stays by foreign tourists and (they) recorded good 52,000 of them. In Uusimaa, overnight stays by foreign visitors increased by 5.3 per cent and in Lapland by 4.8 per cent. The biggest groups of foreign visitors in Uusimaa were Russians, Swedes and Germans, while Lapland was clearly favoured by Norwegians. The fact that Easter was divided over two months this year also partially contributed to the 5.8 per cent decrease of resident tourists in Lapland.

Examined by region, overnight stays increased in April 2018 most in Päijät-Häme, up by 24.0 per cent. Overnight stays increased by 13.5 per cent in South Karelia and by 8.1 per cent in Ostrobothnia. In South Ostrobothnia growth amounted to 6.3 per cent and to 3.6 per cent in North Karelia. By contrast, the total number of overnight stays declined by 13.7 per cent in Kainuu and by 11.8 per cent in Etelä-Savo. Overnight stays in the whole country remained on level with the previous year.

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

Overnight stays at hotels increased by 0.8 per cent

In April 2018, the total number of nights spent at hotels was close on 1.3 million, which was 0.8 per cent more than twelve months earlier. Overnight stays by non-resident tourists increased by 3.8 per cent and hotels recorded a total of 322,000 of them. Recorded nights spent by resident tourists in hotels numbered some 954,000. The number was 0.2 per cent lower than in April 2017.

The occupancy rate of hotel rooms was 51.9 per cent in April. One year earlier, it was 49.5 per cent. Among the regions, the highest occupancy rates of hotel rooms were measured in Uusimaa, 64.2 per cent, and South Karelia, 58.0 per cent. In Vantaa, the hotel room occupancy rate was 68.9 per cent and in Lappeenranta 63.5 per cent. The hotel room occupancy rate in Helsinki was 70.1 per cent.

In April 2018, the realised average price of a hotel room was EUR 98.41 per day for the whole country. Twelve months previously it was EUR 95.55.

Hotel room occupancy rate and the monthly average price

Total number of nights spent at all accommodation establishments grew by 3.1 per cent in January to April 2018

Between January and April 2018, the number of nights spent at accommodation establishments in Finland totalled close on 6.7 million. This was 3.1 per cent higher than in the corresponding period one year earlier. Good 4.4 million overnight stays were recorded for resident tourists and 2.2 million overnight stays for non-resident tourists. The overnight stays of resident visitors increased by 1.5 per cent and those of non-resident visitors by 6.6 per cent from the previous year's corresponding period.

The number of nights spent by Russian visitors at accommodation establishments in Finland totalled almost 326,000 in January to April 2018, which was 5.4 per cent up on the respective period of 2017. They were the biggest country of inbound tourism to Finland in the first four months of 2018. British and German visitors came next with 187,000 overnight stays each. The overnight stays of British visitors increased by 3.4 per cent and those of German visitors by 7.7 per cent from the previous year's corresponding period. French tourists came fourth with nearly 156,000 overnight stays. The number was 13.4 per cent higher than in January to April 2017. Dutch visitors rose to the fifth largest group surpassing Swedes. In all, 126,000 nights were recorded for Dutch visitors and good 124,000 for Swedish tourists. Overnight stays by Dutch tourists increased by 17.5 per cent while those by Swedish tourists declined by 4.8 per cent compared with the corresponding period last year.

Among the most important countries of inbound tourism to Finland, overnight stays by Chinese and Spanish visitors increased most in January to April 2018. Nights spent by Chinese visitors rose to close on 104,000, which was 25.2 per cent more than in January to April 2017. Accommodation establishments recorded good 50,000 overnight stays for Spanish visitors, which was 22.7 per cent more than in the year before. The biggest drop came from overnight stays by Japanese visitors in the first four months. Overnight stays recorded at accommodation establishments for them totalled just under 57,000, which was 18.4 per cent fewer than in the corresponding period of the year before.

Change in overnight stays in January-April 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: Mari Ylä-Jarkko

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Appendix tables

• Appendix table 1.1. Capacity and its utilization, April 2018 (7.6.2018)
• Appendix table 1.2. Capacity and its utilization, January-April 2018 (7.6.2018)
• Appendix table 2.1. Nights spent in all establishments, April 2018 (7.6.2018)
• Appendix table 2.2. Nights spent in all establishments, January-April 2018 (7.6.2018)
• Appendix table 3.1. Hotel capacity and capacity utilization, April 2018 (7.6.2018)
• Appendix table 3.2. Hotel capacity and capacity utilization, January-April 2018 (7.6.2018)
• Appendix table 4.1. Nights spent in hotels, April 2018 (7.6.2018)
• Appendix table 4.2. Nights spent in hotels, January-April 2018 (7.6.2018)
• Appendix table 5.1. Visitor arrivals and nights spent by country of residence, April 2018 (7.6.2018)
• Appendix table 5.2. Visitor arrivals and nights spent by country of residence, January-April 2018 (7.6.2018)
• Appendix table 6. Nights spent in all establishments, 2018 (7.6.2018)

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Updated 7.6.2018