Influx of foreign tourists continues to rise

The recent trend of increasing number of foreign tourists arriving in the country remained unchanged in May, according to Statistics Finland data.

As a result, the number of overnight stays by foreign tourists at Finnish accommodation establishments rose to 417,000 in May, posting an 11.7 per cent hike from one year ago.

The number of nights spent by resident tourists went up by 3.5 per cent and totalled at 1.0 million at the accommodation establishments.

A total of 1.4 million overnight stays were recorded at Finnish accommodation establishments in May last, which was 5.8 per cent higher than that in May last year.

More than 25,000 overnight stays were recorded for British visitors, which was 24.0 per cent higher than that in May 2016. The highest number, 17,600, overnight stays for British visitors were recorded in Uusimaa.

Overnight stays recorded for French visitors increased by 33.7 per cent and totalled at 12,500 in May 2017.

Overnight stays by French visitors focused mainly on Uusimaa, where 6,500 overnight stays were recorded, followed by Lapland, where 2,900 nights were spent by French tourists. The share of Uusimaa in all nights spent by foreign visitors was 58 per cent.

Swedes were the largest group of foreign tourists and the count of their overnight stays increased by 15.0 per cent year-on-year. Accommodation establishments recorded 52,400 overnight stays for Swedes.

Russians came second with nearly 48,000 overnight stays recorded for them at Finnish accommodation establishments, posting a 20.5 per cent rise from one year before.

Germans came third with nearly 35,000 nights spent, which, however, was 4.8 per cent lower than in May 2016. Visitors from Great Britain and the USA came next. In all, recorded overnight stays of visitors from the USA was 16.1 per cent more than one year ago, totalling to the tune of 24,600.

Examined by region, overnight stays increased in May most in Central Finland, South Karelia, and Uusimaa. In contrast, the total number of overnight stays decreased, for example, in South Ostrobothnia and Päijät-Häme.