Foreign tourist inflow slides by 2.8% in April

Overnight stays by foreign tourists decreased by 2.8 per cent at Finnish accommodation establishments in April this year compared to the number of overnight stays recorded in April 2018, according to Statistics Finland.

A total of 0.36 million overnight stays were recorded for non-resident tourists in April, 2019.

Meanwhile, overnight stays by resident tourists increased by 5.0 per cent from last year and 1.23 million nights were recorded for them in April 2019.

Among non-resident tourists, overnight stays by tourists from the U.S. increased most in absolute numbers. Overnight stays by tourists from the U.S. grew by 4,900 nights, which was 38 per cent more than one year earlier. The biggest drop was seen in overnight stays by Russians. Overnight stays by Russians decreased by 7,600 nights, which was 16 per cent less than in April 2018.

However, the biggest group of non-resident tourists in April was Russians with 41,500 overnight stays. The second largest group was Swedes with 38,800 overnight stays. Germans with 27,800 overnight stays came third and tourists from Britain came fourth with 20,800 overnight stays. The fifth largest group was tourists from the U.S. (17,900 nights), sixth was Norwegians (17,700 nights), seventh Estonian tourists (15,700 nights) and eight Chinese tourists (14,100 nights).

Examined by region, overnight stays increased most in relative terms in Kainuu by 16 per cent, and second most in South Savo by 11 per cent. By contrast, the overall number of overnight stays decreased most in relative terms in South Karelia by 13 per cent and second most in Satakunta by 10 per cent.

In April, the total number of nights spent in hotels was 1.32 million, which was 3.1 per cent more than twelve months earlier.

Overnight stays by foreign tourists decreased by 1.5 per cent and hotels recorded a total of 0.31 million of them. Recorded nights spent by resident tourists in hotels numbered 1.00 million. The number was 4.7 per cent higher than in April 2018.

In 2019 April, the realised average price of a hotel room was EUR 98.99 per day for the whole country. Twelve months earlier, it was EUR 98.07.