Home > Statistics > Finnish Travel > 2009 > Finnish residents’ leisure trips increased and business travelling declined in 2009

Published: 2 July 2010

Finnish residents’ leisure trips increased and business travelling declined in 2009

In 2009 Finnish residents’ travelling abroad increased more strongly than in the previous years and eight per cent more leisure trips with overnight stays in the destination country were made than in 2008. More leisure trips with paid accommodation were also made in Finland than the year before and their number rose by three per cent. Business trips abroad declined in all by over one fifth and business trips in Finland by 12 per cent. These data derive from Statistics Finland’s Finnish Travel Survey for which 19,038 people aged 15 to 74 permanently resident in Finland were interviewed.

Figure 1. Finnish travel 2000–2009

Finnish residents aged 15 to 74 made over 2009 a total of 36.8 million trips with overnight stays, when included are leisure trips in Finland and abroad and business and professional trips. The major part of trips including overnight stay, over 22 million, were trips to own free-time residences and visits to relatives and friends. In addition to overnight trips, Finnish residents made nearly 900,000 same-day trips abroad. Same-day trips in Finland were excluded from the survey.

Leisure trips abroad

In 2009, the number of leisure trips abroad with at least one overnight stay in the destination country was 3.6 million. Eight per cent more leisure trips were made abroad than in the previous year. The number was up by 267,000 trips. Over this decade only in 2004 the number of trips has grown more than now.

The most popular destinations of leisure trips abroad remained the same as in the previous years. The highest numbers of trips were made to Estonia. Every fifth leisure trip with overnight stay in the destination country went to Estonia, i.e. 718,000 trips. The second highest number of trips were destined to Spain, 390,000. Over one half of trips to Spain, i.e. 208,000, were made to the Canary Islands. The third most popular destination was Sweden with 378,000 trips.

As in two previous years, the ten most popular destination countries also included Italy, Germany, Greece, the United Kingdom, Russia, Thailand and France, only the order being slightly different over these years.

In 2009 travelling increased most to the United Kingdom and Turkey and to Sweden and Germany. The number of leisure trips made to Bulgaria and Cyprus fell most from 2008. The number of trips to Estonia and Spain (incl. the Canary Islands) remained unchanged.

In 2009, 42 per cent of leisure trips with overnight stays in the destination country, that is, 1.5 million trips, were package tours bought from travel agencies including at least travel to the destination and accommodation. At the beginning of this decade still more than one half, 55 per cent, were package tours.

Figure 2. Finnish residents’ favourite destination countries for leisure trips with overnight stays in 2009 and compared with 2008

In addition to leisure trips with overnight stay in the destination country, Finnish residents made in 2009 nearly 1.3 leisure cruises, or the same number as in the last two years. Cruises are trips that include overnights on board only; visits can be made on shore but without overnight stays there. Around 70 per cent of leisure cruises, i.e. 868,000, were destined to Sweden. A total of 389,000 leisure cruises were made to Estonia.

In addition, Finnish residents made 739,000 same-day leisure trips abroad (incl. same-day cruises) during 2009. The number of these trips rose by over one quarter from 2008. A total of 530,000 same-day trips were made to Estonia and 148,000 to Sweden.

During 2009 Finnish residents aged 15 to 74 made a total of 5.6 million leisure trips abroad. Twenty-nine per cent of them were destined to Estonia, 25 per cent to Sweden and seven per cent to other neighbouring areas (Russia, Norway, Denmark, Latvia and Lithuania). In all, 3.4 million leisure trips were made to the neighbouring areas.

Leisure trips in Finland

In 2009, 5.2 million such leisure trips were made in Finland during which paid accommodation services, such as hotels, camping sites or rented cottages were used. The number rose by three per cent, or by 147,000 trips, compared with 2008.

The most popular destination regions for trips including paid accommodation were Uusimaa, Lapland, North Ostrobothnia and Pirkanmaa. A total of 860,000 trips were made to Uusimaa, that is, 16 per cent of all trips. The share of Lapland was around 12 per cent, similarly as that of North Ostrobothnia. Around every tenth trip was made to the region of Pirkanmaa.

The number of trips with overnight stays in paid accommodation was 14.8 million, of which 6.6 million in hotels and 3.9 million in rented cottages. Overnight stays in hotels increased by four per cent and in rented free-time residences by three per cent from 2008.

In addition to trips with overnights in paid accommodation, 5.4 million trips were made in Finland to own free-time residences and 16.9 million overnight visits to relatives or friends. The total number of these trips was unchanged from 2008.

In 2009 the highest number of trips to free-time residences was made to South Savo, 680,000 trips, and the next highest to Varsinais-Suomi, 540,000. Of visits to friends or relatives 2.6 million were made to Uusimaa and 1.8 million to Varsinais-Suomi.

Business trips in Finland and abroad

In 2009 Finnish residents made a total of 4.6 million business or professional trips. A total of 3.5 million business trips with overnight stays were made in Finland. In all, 1.1 million business trips were made abroad, when work-related cruises and same-day trips are also included.

In 2009 the number of business trips in Finland fell by 12 per cent, or by 460,000 trips, from one year before. Both in the second and third quarters around 200,000 fewer domestic business trips were made than during the corresponding quarters in 2008. The number of business trips in Finland fell most in September, when 145,000 fewer business trips were made than in September 2008.

In 2009, 877,000 business and professional trips including overnight stays in the destination country were made abroad. The number of business trips abroad went down by 23 per cent from 2008. Business trips abroad declined by a total of 269,000 trips, one half of which took place in the second quarter.

Forty-five per cent of business trips with overnight stays in the destination country, or 390,000 trips, were headed to the neighbouring areas. By far the highest number of business trips were made to Sweden, 167,000 trips, followed by Germany and Estonia, both with around 95,000 business trips. In all, about 100,000 business trips were made to Asia, the American continent and Africa.

During 2009, the number of work-related same-day trips was 122,000, which is nearly the same as in 2008. A total of 97,000 work-related cruises were made abroad, which is 17 per cent less than in 2008.

Persons having travelled

The data on persons having travelled were obtained by an inquiry made in connection with the Labour Force Survey. The inquiry is very concise and in addition to personal background information it only includes questions on whether the target person has made certain types of trips during the survey year. The data for 2009 are based on 1,815 interviews.

The number of persons having travelled has remained fairly stable from one year to the next.

During 2009, 3.6 million, or 89 per cent of Finnish residents aged 15 to 74, made at least one trip including an overnight stay. Included are all domestic and outbound trips, as well as trips to free-time residences, visits to friends and relatives, and business trips.

During 2009, 1.8 million Finnish residents aged 15 to 74 made at least one leisure trip in Finland with paid accommodation. This is 46 per cent of all those belonging to the age group. Nearly as many made at least one such leisure trip abroad including overnight stay in the destination country.

Nearly 0.9 million persons, or slightly more than every fifth Finnish resident aged 15 to 74, made a business trip with overnight stay in Finland or a business trip abroad with overnight stay in the destination country.

Notes to the appendix tables

[..] Data not available or too uncertain for presentation.
[  ] No observations in the survey.

In some tables the sums do not amount to the totals shown because of rounding.

Source: Finnish Travel, Statistics Finland

Inquiries: Ritva Tikkanen (09) 1734 3300, liikenne.matkailu@stat.fi

Director in charge: Hannele Orjala

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Appendix tables

• Appendix table 1. Overnight trips by Finnish residents aged 15 to 74 in 2004 - 2009 (2.7.2010)
• Appendix table 2. Finnish residents' leisure and business trips abroad with at least one overnight stay in the destination country in 2004 and 2009 (2.7.2010)
• Appendix table 3. Finnish residents' trips abroad by destination country in 2009 (2.7.2010)

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Updated 2.7.2010