Night stays by foreign tourists up by 12% in June

Nights spent by foreign tourists at Finnish accommodation establishments continued growing, by 12.1 per cent in June this year compared to the corresponding period of last year, according to Statistics Finland.

Nearly 602,000 nights were recorded for them in June 2017.

The number of nights spent by resident tourists also went up by 3.0 per cent and totalled slightly under 1.5 million.

A total of nearly 2.1 million overnight stays were recorded at Finnish accommodation establishments in June 2017, which was 5.5 per cent more than in June 2016.

Nearly 35,000 overnight stays were recorded for British visitors at Finnish accommodation establishments, which was 26.4 per cent more than in June 2016. The number of recorded nights spent by British visitors was highest in Uusimaa, nearly 24,000.

Overnight stays recorded for Spanish visitors increased by 41.1 per cent, and good 12,000 nights were recorded for them at accommodation establishments in June 2017.

Overnight stays by Spanish tourists took place mainly in Uusimaa, where slightly under 9,000 overnight stays were recorded for them. In all, the share of Uusimaa in all overnight stays by foreign tourists was 53 per cent.

Germans were the largest group of foreign visitors with 82,500 nights spent. Their overnight stays increased by 19.2 per cent from the year before. Swedes were the second biggest group and nearly 63,000 overnight stays were recorded for them, which was 9.8 per cent more than one year before. Russians came third with good 54,000 nights spent, which was 11.8 per cent up on June 2016. Visitors from China and the United States came next with around 36,000 recorded overnight stays each. Overnight stays by Chinese tourists grew by 23.7 per cent, while those by visitors from the United States decreased by 8.7 per cent from the year before.

Nights spent by visitors from almost all the most important countries of inbound tourism to Finland increased in June. In addition to those mentioned above, the number of overnight stays by Italians grew by 21.9 per cent from the year before. Apart from visitors from the United States, overnight stays from the most important countries of tourism decreased for only Estonian and Swiss tourists.

Overnight stays by Estonian tourists went down by 8.8 per cent and those by Swiss visitors by 4.1 per cent.

Examined by region, overnight stays in June increased most in South Karelia, up by 22.3 per cent. Overnight stays increased by 18 per cent in both Päijät-Häme and Satakunta. In contrast, the total number of overnight stays decreased in Kanta-Häme, by 15.3 per cent, and in Central Ostrobothnia, by 12.7 per cent. In the whole country, overnight stays increased by 5.5 per cent from June 2016.