Home > Statistics > Finnish Travel > 2007 > Finnish residents made 32 million leasure trips in 2007

Published: 4 July 2008

Finnish residents made 32 million leasure trips in 2007

During 2007, Finnish residents made altogether 32 million leisure trips, of which five million were made abroad. Leisure trips abroad with at least one overnight stay in the destination country numbered 3.2 million, which is three per cent more than in the year before. Leisure cruises with overnight stays on board only numbered 1.3 million, which is 13 per cent less than in the previous year. As in the year before, good 0.5 million same-day leisure trips were additionally made abroad. Leisure trips in Finland during which some paid accommodation was used numbered 4.9 million. Their number was unchanged from the year before. Trips made in Finland to own free-time residence or to visit relatives or friends totalled 22.1 million, in other words a couple of million more that in the previous year. These data derive from Statistics Finland's Finnish Travel Survey for which 19,710 people resident in Finland and aged 15 to 74 were interviewed.

By far the highest number of leisure trips involving overnight stay in the destination country were again made to Estonia in 2007. The next favourites were Spain and Sweden. Greece was the fourth and Italy the fifth most popular. Italy's rise among the top five and Russia's fall from the fourth to the eighth place were new compared to previous years. At the same time Greece improved its position by one place. Altogether 53 per cent, or 1.7 million, of the leisure trips that included staying overnight in the destination country were made to these countries. As in the past few years, the destination of good one-half of the trips to Spain were the Canary Islands.

The most popular long-distance destination by far was again Thailand to where 128,000 leisure trips were made. The growth from the previous year was good 40 per cent. The second most popular long-distance destination was the United States to where 55,000 leisure trips were made. The number of trips made to the United States went up by around one-fifth from the previous year.

The number of leisure cruises fell by 13 per cent from the year before in 2007. Such trips numbered 1.3 million. The number was approximately 200,000 lower than one year previously. During a cruise overnight is spend on board only, although a visit ashore can be made but without staying overnight. In all, 857,000 cruises were made to Sweden and 422,000 to Estonia. Leisure cruises to Sweden decreased by seven per cent and those to Estonia by good one-fifth from the year before.

In addition, Finnish residents made 553,000 same-day leisure trips abroad (incl. same-day cruises) during 2007. A total of 374,000 same-day trips were made to Estonia and 122,000 to Sweden.

Finnish residents' favourite countries of destination for leisure trips with overnight stays in 2007 and compared to 2006

In 2007, 4.9 million leisure trips were made in Finland during which paid accommodation services, such as hotels, camping sites or rented cottages were used. The number was unchanged from the previous year. The most popular destination regions were Lapland and Uusimaa. Approximately 650,000 trips with overnight stays at paid accommodation were made to both of these.

Almost one-fifth, or 930,000, of the leisure trips in Finland which included overnight stays in paid accommodation were made in July and 620,000 in August. Over 40 per cent of the 5.2 million or so trips to own free-time residence were made in June-August. Good one-third of the trips to visit relatives or friends were made in the summer months. Thirteen per cent of the total of five million trips abroad were made in July.

Source: Finnish Travel Survey. Statistics Finland

Inquiries: Ms Ritva Tikkanen +358 9 1734 3300 and Mr Lauri Manninen +358 9 1734 3260, liikenne.matkailu@stat.fi

Director in charge: Ms Hannele Orjala

Tables

Tables in databases

Pick the data you need into tables, view the data as graphs, or download the data for your use.

• Database tables and their variables
• Archived tables

---

Last updated 4.7.2008