Home > Statistics > Accommodation statistics > 2019 > February > Nights spent by foreign tourists in Finland up by 0.7 per cent in February 2019

Published: 29 March 2019

Nights spent by foreign tourists in Finland up by 0.7 per cent in February 2019

Overnight stays by foreign tourists increased by 0.7 per cent at Finnish accommodation establishments from last year and close on 603,000 nights were recorded for them in February 2019. Overnight stays by resident tourists increased by 3.5 per cent and accommodation establishments recorded good 1.1 million of them. Good 1.7 million overnight stays were recorded at Finnish accommodation establishments in February 2019, which was 2.5 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 2019/2018, %

Biggest growth percentages came from overnight stays by visitors from France and the United States in February 2019

Nearly 62,000 overnight stays were recorded for French visitors at Finnish accommodation establishments, which was 15.3 per cent more than in February 2018. Overnight stays of tourists from the United States increased by 14.8 per cent, but their number of overnight stays was considerably lower, around 16,000 nights. Overnight stays by French visitors were recorded most in accommodation establishments in Lapland, good 49,000, while overnight stays by visitors from the United States were mostly focused on Uusimaa and totalled nearly 9,800. The number of overnight stays by visitors from Asian countries was 117,500 in the whole country, which was 4.8 per cent more than one year before. Of these, the share of Chinese visitors was 46,500 nights. Overnight stays by Asians increased in Lapland by 9.2 per cent and nearly 66,000 nights were recorded, while in Uusimaa, overnight stays by Asians went down by one per cent and close on 46,000 nights were recorded for them. The total number of recorded nights spent by foreign tourists at accommodation establishments in Lapland was 283,000 and in Uusimaa good 180,000. In February 2019, the number of nights spent by foreign tourists increased in Lapland by 5.8 per cent, while overnight stays by foreign visitors went down in Uusimaa by 3.4 per cent from the year before. The share of Lapland in all foreign nights spent was close on 47 per cent and the share of Uusimaa was 30 per cent.

German and British visitors were the largest groups of foreign tourists in February in the whole country

Accommodation establishments in Finland recorded around 63,000 overnight stays for both German and British visitors. Nights spent by German tourists went up by 11.0 per cent whereas those spent by British visitors fell by nearly one per cent from last year. However, they were the biggest groups of foreign tourists in February 2019. The above-mentioned French visitors took the third place and the Chinese tourists came fourth. Dutch tourists outdid Russians by good 44,000 overnight stays. Nights spent by visitors from China and the Netherlands increased by five to six per cent from twelve months back. Around 39,000 overnight stays were recorded for Russians at accommodation establishments, which dropped them to the sixth place. Overnight stays by Russian visitors turned to a decline of around 10 per cent in December 2018 and the same trend continued in January 2019. In February, as many as 15.5 per cent fewer overnight stays were recorded for Russians than in February 2018. .

The biggest decreases were in overnight stays of Norwegian and Spanish visitors in February. Overnight stays by Norwegian visitors went down by good one fifth and those by Spanish visitors by one fifth from a year earlier. Among the most important countries of inbound tourism to Finland, overnight stays by visitors from Sweden and Japan have been falling almost throughout last year and still decreased in February 2019. Slightly under 24,600 overnight stays were recorded for Swedes at Finnish accommodation establishments, which was 1.8 per cent lower than one year before. Overnight stays recorded for Japanese visitors numbered almost 18,000, which was 9.5 per cent lower than in February 2018.

Examined by region, overnight stays increased in February most in Kymenlaakso, up by 13.5 per cent. Overnight stays increased by 8.8 per cent in Päijät-Häme and by 7.9 per cent in South Karelia. By contrast, the total number of overnight stays decreased in Åland, by 14.5 per cent, and in South Ostrobothnia, by 12.0 per cent. In the whole country, overnight stays increased by 2.5 per cent from February 2018.

Change in overnight stays in February by region 2019/2018, %

Overnight stays in hotels increased by 3.1 per cent

In February 2019, the total number of nights spent at hotels was close on 1.5 million, which was 3.1 per cent more than twelve months earlier. Overnight stays by foreign tourists increased by 1.2 per cent and hotels recorded a total of nearly 513,000 of them. Recorded nights spent by resident tourists in hotels numbered some 940,000. The number was 4.2 per cent higher than in February 2018.

The occupancy rate of hotel rooms was 56.3 per cent in February. One year earlier, it was exactly the same, 56.3 per cent. Among the regions, the highest occupancy rates of hotel rooms were measured in Lapland, 72.9 per cent, and North Ostrobothnia, 62.6 per cent. In Rovaniemi, the hotel room occupancy rate rose to 81.9 per cent and in Oulu to 71.5 per cent. The hotel room occupancy rate in Helsinki was 67.0 per cent.

In February 2019, the realised average price of a hotel room was EUR 109.11 per day for the whole country. Twelve months previously, it was EUR 106.93.

Hotel room occupancy rate and the monthly average price

Total number of nights spent at all accommodation establishments grew by 2.2 per cent in early 2019

In January and February 2019, the number of nights spent at accommodation establishments in Finland totalled nearly 3.3 million. This was 2.2 per cent higher than in the corresponding period one year earlier. In total, two million overnight stays were recorded for resident tourists and close on 1.3 million for non-resident tourists. The overnight stays of resident visitors increased by 3.0 per cent and those of non-resident visitors by one per cent from the previous year's corresponding period.

The number of nights spent by Russian visitors at accommodation establishments in Finland totalled good 185,000 in January to February 2019, which was 12.0 per cent down from the respective period of 2018. However, they were the biggest country of inbound tourism to Finland in early 2019. British visitors came next with 128,000 overnight stays. The number of their overnight stays was almost the same as one year before, up by just 0.3 per cent. French tourists came third with nearly 119,000 overnight stays. The number was 15.4 per cent higher than in January to February 2018. Accommodation establishments also recorded plenty of overnight stays for German and Chinese visitors. Good 109,000 overnight stays were recorded for German tourists and nearly 85,000 for Chinese visitors. The overnight stays of German visitors increased by 9.7 per cent and those of Chinese tourists by 19.9 per cent from the previous year's corresponding period.

In addition to the above-mentioned French and Chinese visitors, the biggest growth percentage among the most important countries of inbound tourism to Finland derived from overnight stays by visitors from the United States. By contrast, overnight stays by Norwegian and Japanese tourists went down by eight to nine per cent in the first two months of 2019.

Change in overnight stays in January-February 2019/2018, %

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, February 2019 (29.3.2019)
• Appendix table 1.2. Capacity and its utilization, January-February 2019 (29.3.2019)
• Appendix table 2.1. Nights spent in all establishments, February 2019 (29.3.2019)
• Appendix table 2.2. Nights spent in all establishments, January-February 2019 (29.3.2019)
• Appendix table 3.1. Hotel capacity and capacity utilization, February 2019 (29.3.2019)
• Appendix table 3.2. Hotel capacity and capacity utilization, January-February 2019 (29.3.2019)
• Appendix table 4.1. Nights spent in hotels, February 2019 (29.3.2019)
• Appendix table 4.2. Nights spent in hotels, January-February 2019 (29.3.2019)
• Appendix table 5.1. Visitor arrivals and nights spent by country of residence, February 2019 (29.3.2019)
• Appendix table 5.2. Visitor arrivals and nights spent by country of residence, January-February 2019 (29.3.2019)
• Appendix table 6. Nights spent in all establishments, 2019 (29.3.2019)

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Updated 29.3.2019