Home > Statistics > Accommodation statistics > 2019 > September > Nights spent by foreign tourists in Finland up by 9 per cent in September 2019

Published: 31 October 2019

Nights spent by foreign tourists in Finland up by 9 per cent in September 2019

Overnight stays by resident tourists at Finnish accommodation establishments increased by 2.0 per cent from last year and 1.3 million nights were recorded for them in September 2019. Overnight stays by foreign tourists increased by 9.0 per cent and 0.51 million overnight stays were recorded for non-resident tourists. Finnish accommodation establishments recorded a total of 1.8 million overnight stays, which was 3.9 per cent more than one year before. 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 September 2019/2018, %

Overnight stays by Italians increased most in September 2019

Among the most important countries of inbound tourism to Finland, overnight stays by Italians increased most in absolute numbers, by 3,600 nights. This was 38.0 per cent higher than in the year before. The biggest drop was seen in overnight stays by Swedes, down by 1,400 nights. Their overnight stays were 3.1 per cent down on September 2018.

The biggest group of non-resident tourists were Swedes with 44,600 overnight stays. The second largest group was Russians with 42,300 overnight stays. The third largest group was Germans with 41,800 overnight stays, and fourth were Chinese with 32,500 overnight stays. The fifth largest group were tourists from the United States (28,900 nights), sixth was British visitors (26,300 nights), seventh Japanese tourists (25,200 nights) and eight Estonian visitors (19,300 nights).

In Uusimaa, overnight stays by non-resident tourists increased by 12 per cent in September 2019

Examined by region, overnight stays increased most in relative terms in Central Ostrobothnia, by 24.2 per cent, and second most in Southwest Finland, by 16.5 per cent. By contrast, the overall number of overnight stays decreased most in relative terms Satakunta, by 6.0 per cent, and second most in Kymenlaakso, by 5.7 per cent.

Accommodation establishments in Uusimaa recorded 308,000 overnight stays by non-resident tourists and accommodation establishments in Lapland 31,000. Overnight stays by non-resident tourists increased by 11.6 per cent in Uusimaa and by 0.7 per cent in Lapland from one year ago. The share of Uusimaa in all overnight stays by foreign visitors was 61 per cent and that of Lapland six per cent.

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

Overnight stays in hotels increased by four per cent in September 2019

The total number of nights spent in hotels was 1.45 million, which was 3.5 per cent more than twelve months earlier. Overnight stays by foreign tourists increased by 7.0 per cent and hotels recorded a total of 417,000 overnight stays for them. Recorded nights spent by resident tourists in hotels numbered 1.04 million. The number was 2.1 per cent higher than September 2018.

Among the regions, the highest occupancy rates of hotel rooms were measured in Uusimaa, 76.9 per cent, and Southwest Finland, 68.6 per cent. In Helsinki, the hotel room occupancy rate was 82.6 per cent, 63.1 per cent in Tampere, 77.8 per cent in Turku, 76.0 per cent in Oulu and 41.3 per cent in Rovaniemi.

In September 2019, the realised average price of a hotel room was EUR 114.39 per day for the whole country. Twelve months earlier, it was EUR 102.60. There was a total of 54,509 hotel rooms available in Finland, which was 775 more than in September 2018.

Hotel room occupancy rate and the monthly average price

Total number of nights spent grew by 3.5 per cent in January to September 2019

In January to September 2019, a total of 18.04 million nights were spent in Finnish accommodation establishments. This was 3.5 per cent higher than in the corresponding period one year earlier. In all, 12.69 million overnight stays were recorded for resident tourists and 5.35 million for non-resident tourists. The number of nights spent by resident tourists increased by 3.9 per cent and nights spent by non-resident tourists by 2.4 per cent from the previous year.

Among the most important countries of inbound tourism to Finland, overnight stays by Chinese increased most in absolute numbers, by 38,700 nights. This was 14.9 per cent higher than in the year before. The biggest drop was seen in overnight stays by Russians, down by 9,600 nights. Their overnight stays were 1.5 per cent down on January to September 2018.

The biggest group of non-resident tourists were Russians with 637,000 overnight stays. The second largest group was Germans with 545,000 overnight stays. The third largest group was Swedes with 464,000 overnight stays, and fourth were Britons with 327,000 overnight stays. The fifth largest group was Chinese tourists (299,000 nights), sixth was French tourists (267,000 nights), seventh visitors from the United States (250,000 nights) and eight was Dutch tourists (218,000 nights).

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

Source: Accommodation Statistics. Statistics Finland

Inquiries: Ossi Nurmi 029 551 2984, Sofia Pitkänen 029 551 3037, liikenne.matkailu@stat.fi

Director in charge: Mari Ylä-Jarkko

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Appendix tables

• Appendix table 1.1. Capacity and its utilization, September 2019 (31.10.2019)
• Appendix table 1.2. Capacity and its utilization, January-September 2019 (31.10.2019)
• Appendix table 2.1. Nights spent in all establishments, September 2019 (31.10.2019)
• Appendix table 2.2. Nights spent in all establishments, January-September 2019 (31.10.2019)
• Appendix table 3.1. Hotel capacity and capacity utilization, September 2019 (31.10.2019)
• Appendix table 3.2. Hotel capacity and capacity utilization, January-September 2019 (31.10.2019)
• Appendix table 4.1. Nights spent in hotels, September 2019 (31.10.2019)
• Appendix table 4.2. Nights spent in hotels, January-September 2019 (31.10.2019)
• Appendix table 5.1. Visitor arrivals and nights spent by country of residence, September 2019 (31.10.2019)
• Appendix table 5.2. Visitor arrivals and nights spent by country of residence, January-September 2019 (31.10.2019)
• Appendix table 6. Nights spent in all establishments, 2019 (31.10.2019)

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Updated 31.10.2019