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Concepts and definitions

Accommodation capacity

Accommodation capacity consists of bedrooms and bed-places in accommodation establishments. A bedroom is a unit formed by one room or groups of rooms constituting an indivisible rental whole in an accommodation establishment (e.g. hotel) or a dwelling. A caravan pitch (provided with electric socket) equates to one accommodating unit.

A bed-place refers to a sleeping place for one person set up in an establishment. The number of bed-places indicates how many persons can be accommodated in an establishment at the same time. A bed-place applies to a single bed. A double bed is counted as two bed-places. For one caravan pitch 4 bed-places are counted.

Accommodation establishment

An accommodation establishment is an establishment (local kind-of-activity unit) providing overnight lodging for holiday spenders and other travellers in rooms or some other units. In the accommodation statistics of Statistics Finland, accommodation establishments are classified according to the standard industrial classification (TOL 2008) into hotels and similar establishments (guest houses), youth hostels, holiday villages and camping sites.

Arrival in accommodation establishment

In tourism statistics, an "arrival" is a statistical unit used to measure the volume of tourist/visitor flows. In accommodation statistics, arrivals refer to guest arrivals in accommodation establishments who check in to spend one or more nights in the establishment. 'Arrivals' also indicate the demand for accommodation services measured by the number of customers.

In the Border Interview survey (Frontier survey) or statistics collected by Frontier Guard officers, an 'arrival' refers to a visitor arrival at the national borders.

Bed-place

The number of bed-places in an establishment or dwelling is determined by the number of persons who can stay overnight in beds set up in the establishment, ignoring any extra beds that may be set up by customer request. The term bed-place applies to a single bed. A double bed is counted as two bed-places. This unit serves to measure the capacity of any type of accommodation (e.g. one caravan pitch counts as 4 bed-places).

In the Finnish accommodation statistics extra beds are often firm fixtures of accommodation facilities, especially when the accommodation unit is a cottage (chalet, bungalow). In these cases the capacity is usually given by the number of accommodated persons, e.g. 4+2 persons.

Bed-place occupancy rate

The net occupancy rate of bed-places in one month is obtained by dividing the total overnight stays by the number of bed-places on offer and the number of days when the bed-places are actually available for use (net of seasonal or other temporary closures for decoration, etc.) for the same group of establishments.

The gross occupancy rate of bed-places in one month is obtained by dividing the total overnight stays by the number of bed-places and the number of days in the corresponding month (sometimes termed bed-nights) for the same group of establishments.

Business trip

The category of business and professional trips comprises all business and professional activities outside the usual environment. The visitor takes the professional trip because of requirements related to his/her occupation or the economic activity of the production unit for which he/she works. This category includes sales to foreign enterprises, attending meetings, conferences or congresses, trade fairs and exhibitions, employer incentive tours, etc. Usually it is the employer who pays the costs for business trip.

In the Finnish Travel survey this category of trips goes under the heading 'Business/conference'.

Caravan pitch

Camp sites let pitches for tents, caravans, mobile homes and similar shelter to tourists who want to stay on a "touring" pitch for only a couple of consecutive days or weeks, as well as to people who want to hire a "fixed" pitch for a season or a year.

In the Finnish Accommodation statistics, only pitches provided with electric sockets are counted in the accommodation capacity corresponding to one lodging unit. In the EU and other international tourism statistics 4 bed-places are counted per one pitch. Besides camp sites hotels and other accommodation establishments (e.g. holiday villages) may have caravan pitches provided with sockets which are also counted in the accommodation capacity in Finland.

Country of residence

For the purpose of tourism statistics, country of residence is defined as the country where a person has lived for most of the past 12 months. Tourists are defined as non-residents/residents according to the country of residence, and not to the nationality.

Domestic tourism

Domestic tourism comprises the activities of residents of a given country travelling to and staying in places inside their residential country, but outside their usual environment for not more than 12 consecutive months for leisure, business or other purposes.

Hotel room

A bedroom is a unit formed by one room or group of rooms constituting an indivisible rental whole in an accommodation establishment (e.g. a hotel) or dwelling. Rooms may be single, double or multiple depending on whether they are equipped permanently to sleep one, two or several people. Apartments are a special type of room. They consist of one or more rooms and have a kitchen unit and own bathroom and toilet. Cabins, cottages, huts, bungalows, villas and summerhouses can be treated like bedrooms and apartments, i.e. to be let as a single unit.

Leisure trip

A leisure trip refers to the purpose and motive of a visit. Trips (visits) for leisure, recreation and holiday purposes outside the usual environment are mainly undertaken for relaxation. It is the visitor who decides to take the tourist trip as an activity unconnected with his/her occupation, and the trip is usually financed out of household funds.

In the Finnish travel survey all trips that do not come under the category of 'Business/congress trips' are considered leisure trips. This category covers trips to own holiday home, visits to friends and relatives, as well as leisure cruises and same-day visits.

Overnight stay

In the tourism statistics of the EU (Eurostat) an overnight stay is a statistical unit to measure both the volume of tourism, e.g. duration of stay on the supply side and duration of trip on the demand side. Number of nights spent (duration of stay) either in collective or private accommodation refers to the time spent during a visit measured from the standpoint of the receiving country or place.

On the other hand, the number of nights spent during a trip (duration of trip) measures the time a traveller spends away from home. In the tourism demand statistics (the Finnish Travel survey), the duration of a trip is classified by the number of nights spent into two main categories: short trips including 1-3 nights, and long trips including 4 or more nights. Overnight travelling by boat/ferry, train or other vehicle is included in the total number of nights spent during the trip. As regards tourism statistics, the maximum duration of stay in the destination place/country is 12 consecutive months.

Price per overnight

In the accommodation statistics of Statistics Finland price per overnight indicates the average price per overnight stay (VAT included), i.e. the average price a customer has paid for one night spent in an accommodation establishment.

Reason for trip

Purpose of visit refers to the motivation of the trip, the reason in the absence of which the trip would not have taken place. If a trip has more than one purpose (e.g. combined business and holiday trip) the main purpose of visit refers to the reason in the absence of which the trip would not have taken place or the given destination would not have been visited.

Room occupancy rate

Room occupancy rate indicates the ratio between occupied rooms and available rooms. Two variables of room occupancy are used in tourism statistics: net occupancy rate and gross occupancy rate. Net occupancy rate is obtained by dividing the number of rooms occupied by the number of rooms actually available in a given month, net of seasonal or other temporary closures. Gross occupancy rate is calculated by dividing the number of rooms occupied in a given month by the total number of rooms, irrespective whether the rooms are actually available or not.

Room price

In Statistics Finland's accommodation statistics, room price (room rate) indicates the average price (incl. VAT) per occupied room per day, i.e. the average price a customer has paid for a room for an overnight stay. The average room rate is calculated by dividing the sales revenue from sold rooms (VAT included) by the number of occupied rooms.

Tourism

Tourism comprises the activities of persons travelling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than 12 consecutive months for leisure, business and other purposes.

Tourist

A tourist (overnight visitor) is a visitor who stays at least one night in a collective or private accommodation in the place visited. An international tourist is an international visitor who stays at least one night in the country visited. A domestic tourist refers to a domestic visitor who stays at least one night in the place visited.

A visitor who does not spent one night during the trip is called same-day visitor.

Tourist accommodation

Tourist accommodation refers to any facility that regularly or occasionally provides overnight accommodation for tourists. Accommodation can be chargeable or free.

Type of accommodation

Mode of accommodation refers to different means of lodging. In the accommodation statistics of Statistics Finland, overnight stays are broken down by means of lodging into the following groups: 1) room, cottage, chalet, bungalow 2) caravan, travel trailer, camper and 3) tent or other.

As mode of accommodation, lodging in cottages (chalets, bungalows) provided by hotels, holiday villages and camping sites is equivalent to lodging in rooms.

Type of accommodation establishment

In the accommodation statistics of Statistics Finland, accommodation establishments (hotels and similar establishments, tourist camping sites, holiday villages, youth hostels) are classified by certain characteristics to some 20 groups. The classification is informal and characterises the activity of an establishment. For instance, hotels are classified by type into the following groupings: conference/business hotels, spa hotels, summer hotels, resort hotels, estate hotels, residential hotels and motels.

Use of capacity

Use of accommodation capacity is measured by room and bed-place occupancy rates. Room occupancy rate is calculated by dividing the total number of rooms used in a given month by the number of rooms actually available for that month. The occupancy rate of bed-places is calculated by dividing the number of nights spent in a given month by the total number of available bed-places.