Home > Statistics > Accommodation statistics > 2018 > November > Nights spent by foreign tourists in Finland on level with the previous year in November 2018

Published: 10 January 2019

Nights spent by foreign tourists in Finland on level with the previous year in November 2018

The number of nights spent by foreign tourists in Finland remained on level with 2017 in November 2018. Nearly 435,000 overnight stays were recorded for them at Finnish accommodation establishments, which was only 0.4 per cent more than one year before. The number of nights spent by resident tourists went up by 2.0 per cent and totalled good one million at accommodation establishments. A total of nearly 1.5 million overnight stays were recorded at Finnish accommodation establishments, which was 1.5 per cent more than in November 2017. 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 November 2018/2017, %

Great Britain beat Sweden to become the third biggest country of inbound tourism in November 2018

Russia, Sweden and Germany have varied their order in the top monthly in 2018, but have clearly stood out from other countries. In November, visitors from Great Britain beat the Swedes and came third. Russians were, however, by far the largest group of foreign tourists with 60,500 overnight stays. Their overnight stays at accommodation establishments increased by 1.1 per cent from the year before. Germans came second and a total of nearly 34,000 overnight stays at Finnish accommodation establishments were recorded for them. The figure was 4.5 per cent higher than one year previously. British and Swedish visitors came next with around 33,000 overnight stays each. Overnight stays of British visitors increased by 13.7 per cent whereas those of Swedish visitors decreased by 5.9 per cent from the previous year.

Overnight stays by tourists from Asia increased most in November

Finnish accommodation establishments recorded close on 21,000 overnight stays for Chinese visitors and good 18,000 overnight stays for Japanese visitors. Overnight stays by Chinese tourists increased by as much as 33.0 per cent and those by Japanese visitors by 18.6 per cent from November 2017. In addition to Japanese visitors, visitors from the United States and Estonia reached around 18,000 overnight stays. Overnight stays by visitors from the United States increased by 13.5 per cent, while overnight stays by Estonian visitors decreased by 2.5 per cent compared to November 2017.

The biggest decreases in overnight stays among the most important countries of inbound tourism to Finland came from the Netherlands and Switzerland in November 2018. Overnight stays by visitors from the Netherlands decreased by 14.5 per cent and overnight stays by visitors from Switzerland by 12.3 per cent compared to November of the previous year. Overnight stays recorded for Dutch visitors at accommodation establishments numbered close on 9,000, while overnight stays by Swiss tourists stood at just under 7,000.

Examined by region, the total number of overnight stays increased in November most in Päijät-Häme, up by 25.4 per cent. In Central Finland, overnight stays grew by 18.4 per cent and in Kainuu by 11.1 per cent. By contrast, the total number of overnight stays decreased in Kanta-Häme by 11.5 per cent and in both Varsinais-Suomi and Satakunta by around eight per cent. In the whole country, the number of overnight stays increased in total by 1.5 per cent from November 2017.

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

Overnight stays at hotels increased by 2.0 per cent in November

In November 2018, the total number of nights spent in hotels was 1.3 million, which was 2.0 per cent higher than twelve months earlier. Overnight stays by foreign tourists increased by 1.3 per cent and hotels recorded slightly under 387,000 of them. Overnight stays by resident tourists increased by 2.3 per cent from the year before and around 922,000 overnight stays were recorded for them in November 2018.

The occupancy rate of hotel rooms was 54.9 per cent in November. One year earlier, it was 55.8 per cent. Among the regions, the highest occupancy rates of hotel rooms were measured in Uusimaa, 72.5 per cent, and Pirkanmaa, 58.7 per cent. In Vantaa, the hotel room occupancy rate was 71.8 per cent and in Tampere 65.6 per cent. The hotel room occupancy rate in Helsinki was 80.3 per cent.

In November 2018, the realised average price of a hotel room was EUR 105.84 per day for the whole country. Twelve months previously, it was EUR 104.05.

Hotel room occupancy rate and the monthly average price

Total number of nights spent at all accommodation establishments went up by 1.3 per cent in January to November 2018

Between January and November 2018, the number of nights spent at accommodation establishments in Finland totalled nearly 20.5 million. This was 1.3 per cent more than in the corresponding period one year earlier. Good 14.4 million overnight stays were recorded for resident tourists and six million overnight stays for non-resident tourists. The overnight stays of resident visitors increased by 1.6 per cent and those of non-resident visitors by 0.6 per cent from the previous year's corresponding period.

Russians were still by far in the lead. The number of overnight stays recorded for them at accommodation establishments in Finland was 741,000 in January to November 2018, which was almost the same number as in the respective period of 2017, up by just 0.4 per cent. Germans came next. The number of nights spent by Germans remained on level with the previous year, up by just 0.1 per cent and accommodation establishments recorded a total of almost 588,000 overnight stays for them. Swedish visitors came third with good 532,000 overnight stays. However, their number was 6.7 per cent lower than in January to November 2017. British tourists continued in fourth place and accommodation establishments recorded good 386,000 overnight stays for them, which was 1.6 per cent down on the respective period of the previous year. Chinese visitors kept their fifth position and nearly 301,000 nights were recorded for them. The figure was 5.7 per cent higher than in the corresponding period one year previously.

Among the most important countries of inbound tourism to Finland, overnight stays by Dutch and Spanish visitors increased most in January to November 2018. Nights spent by Dutch visitors numbered almost 225,000, which was 7.9 per cent more than in the same period twelve months earlier. Close on 139,000 overnight stays were recorded for Spanish tourists. The number was 6.8 per cent higher than in January to November 2017. The biggest drop came still from overnight stays by Japanese visitors. They spent close on 198,000 nights at accommodation establishments, which was 10.8 per cent down on the same period twelve months earlier.

Change in overnight stays in January-November 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, November 2018 (10.1.2019)
• Appendix table 1.2. Capacity and its utilization, January-November 2018 (10.1.2019)
• Appendix table 2.1. Nights spent in all establishments, November 2018 (10.1.2019)
• Appendix table 2.2. Nights spent in all establishments, January-November 2018 (10.1.2019)
• Appendix table 3.1. Hotel capacity and capacity utilization, November 2018 (10.1.2019)
• Appendix table 3.2. Hotel capacity and capacity utilization, January-November 2018 (10.1.2019)
• Appendix table 4.1. Nights spent in hotels, November 2018 (10.1.2019)
• Appendix table 4.2. Nights spent in hotels, January-November 2018 (10.1.2019)
• Appendix table 5.1. Visitor arrivals and nights spent by country of residence, November 2018 (10.1.2019)
• Appendix table 5.2. Visitor arrivals and nights spent by country of residence, January-November 2018 (10.1.2019)
• Appendix table 6. Nights spent in all establishments, 2018 (10.1.2019)

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Updated 10.1.2019