Foreign tourist inflow continues to rise in Aug

Nights spent by foreign tourists at Finnish accommodation establishments continued growing, by 11.6 per cent from last year and nearly 758,000 nights were recorded for them in August 2017, according to Statistics Finland.

By contrast, the number of nights spent by resident tourists went down by 1.6 per cent and totalled slightly under 1.5 million at accommodation establishments. A total of nearly 2.3 million overnight stays were recorded at Finnish accommodation establishments in August 2017, which was 2.5 per cent more than in 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.

Good 40,000 overnight stays were recorded for visitors from the USA at Finnish accommodation establishments, which was 35.9 per cent more than in August 2016. The number of recorded nights spent by them was highest in Uusimaa, nearly 31,500.

Overnight stays recorded for British visitors increased by 24.3 per cent, and slightly under 40,000 nights were recorded for them at all accommodation establishments in August 2017. Overnight stays by British tourists also took place mainly in Uusimaa, where nearly 28,000 overnight stays were recorded for them.

The share of Uusimaa in all nights spent by foreign visitors in August rose close to 50 per cent.

Overnight stays by Dutch tourists increased by 22.9 per cent and accommodation establishments recorded good 20,000 of them. Overnight stays by Dutch visitors were more evenly divided around the country, but mainly in Uusimaa and Lapland.

The top three still remained the same in August; only the order changed. Germans were the largest group of foreign visitors with 94,000 nights spent. Their overnight stays increased by 17.8 per cent from the year before. Russians came second and nearly 90,000 overnight stays were recorded for them at Finnish accommodation establishments, which was 11.2 per cent more than one year before. Swedes came third with 81,500 nights spent, which was 2.4 per cent up on August 2016. They were followed by Chinese visitors, for whom overnight stays recorded were around 40,000, the same as for British and American tourists. The number was 12.0 per cent higher than one year before.

Nights spent by visitors from almost all the most important countries of inbound tourism to Finland increased in August. In addition to those already mentioned above, the number of nights spent by French tourists increased by 13.0 per cent and nights spent by Japanese visitors by 11.5 per cent from last year's August.

Examined by region, overnight stays increased in August most in Uusimaa, 9.9 per cent, and in Satakunta, 6.8 per cent. Overnight stays increased by five to six per cent in Pirkanmaa, Varsinais-Suomi and Etelä-Savo.

By contrast, the total number of overnight stays decreased by 10.7 per cent in North Karelia and by around eight per cent in both Kanta-Häme and Ostrobothnia.

In the whole country, overnight stays increased by 2.5 per cent from August 2016.

In August 2017, the total number of nights spent in hotels was close on 1.7 million, which was 2.9 per cent more than twelve months earlier. Overnight stays by foreign tourists increased by 13.1 per cent and hotels recorded a total of nearly 597,000 of them. The number of recorded nights spent by resident tourists at Finnish hotels was nearly 1.1 million, which was 1.9 per cent lower than one year earlier.

The occupancy rate of hotel rooms was 61.7 per cent in August. One year earlier, it was 59.5 per cent. Among the regions, the highest occupancy rates of hotel rooms were measured in Uusimaa, 79.5 per cent, and Varsinais-Suomi, 70.4 per cent. In Vantaa, the hotel room occupancy rate was 79.5 per cent and in Turku 74.9 per cent. The hotel room occupancy rate in Helsinki was 85.2 per cent.

In August 2017, the realised average price of a hotel room was EUR 101.68 per day for the whole country. Twelve months before, it was EUR 95.06.

Between January and August 2017, the number of nights spent at accommodation establishments in Finland totalled over 15 million. This was 5.2 per cent higher than in the corresponding period one year earlier.

In all, 10.5 million overnight stays were recorded for resident tourists and 4.6 million for non-resident tourists at accommodation establishments. The overnight stays of resident visitors increased by 1.3 per cent and those of non-resident visitors by 15.2 per cent from the previous year's January to August.

The number of nights spent by Russian visitors at accommodation establishments in Finland totalled nearly 587,000 in January to August 2017, which was 17.3 per cent up from the respective period of 2016. They were still the biggest country of inbound tourism to Finland.

Germans came second with 479,500 overnight stays. The figure went up by 13.9 per cent from January to August 2016. Swedes were in third position with good 449,000 overnight stays. Their overnight stays increased by 8.5 per cent. British visitors came next with 314,000 overnight stays. The increase from the corresponding period last year was 23.8 per cent.

Overnight stays by Dutch and Spanish visitors also grew strongly in January to August. Overnight stays by Dutch tourists increased by 29.8 per cent and accommodation establishments recorded 176,500 of them. Overnight stays recorded for Spanish visitors numbered nearly 99,000, which was 17.3 per cent more than in January to August 2016.

Among the most important countries of inbound tourism to Finland, overnight stays by Chinese visitors increased most in January to August 2017. The number of overnight stays by Chinese tourists rose to nearly 219,000, which was 38.5 per cent more than in the corresponding period in 2016. Overnight stays by French visitors went up to good 208,000 and 13.3 per cent more nights spent were recorded for them at accommodation establishments than in January to August 2016.