Influx of foreign tourists continues to rise

Nights spent by foreign tourists at Finnish accommodation establishments continued growing in September this year compared to the stipulated period of the previous year, according to the Statistics Finland.

The number of nights spent by resident tourists went up by 1.7 per cent and totalled good 1.2 million at accommodation establishments.

A total of 1.7 million overnight stays were recorded at Finnish accommodation establishments in September 2017, which was 4.2 per cent more than one year earlier.

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.

Nearly 30,000 overnight stays were recorded for Chinese visitors at Finnish accommodation establishments, which was 25.3 per cent more than in September 2016. The number of recorded nights spent by them was highest in Uusimaa, around 24,000.

Overnight stays by visitors from the USA increased by one-fifth and accommodation establishments recorded good 27,000 nights spent for them in September 2017.

Overnight stays by tourists from the USA also took place mainly in Uusimaa, where 21,500 overnight stays were recorded for them.

Overnight stays by British tourists increased by 22.7 per cent and accommodation establishments recorded good 25,000 of them. The share of Uusimaa in all nights spent by British visitors was over 70 per cent. The share of Uusimaa in all nights spent by foreign visitors in September rose close to 58 per cent.

The top three continued strong in September; only the order changed. Swedish tourists were the largest group of foreign visitors with close on 50,000 nights spent. Their overnight stays increased by 5.5 per cent from the year before.

Russians came second and 43,000 overnight stays were recorded for them at Finnish accommodation establishments, which was 9.0 per cent more than one year before.

Germans came third with close on 41,000 overnight stays. Overnight stays by German visitors grew most in September, by as much as 26.9 per cent. Chinese visitors were fourth and Japanese tourists fifth, for whom over 28,000 overnight stays were recorded. The number was 8.2 per cent higher than one year previously.

Nights spent by visitors from almost all the most important countries of inbound tourism to Finland increased in September. In addition to those already mentioned above, the number of nights spent by Spanish tourists increased by 18.3 per cent and nights spent by French visitors by 15.5 per cent from September 2016. Only overnight stays by Norwegian visitors declined by 2.7 per cent in September 2017 and those by Estonian tourists remained on the same level as in September 2016.