Visit of foreign tourists ups by 12.3% in October

Nights spent by foreign tourists at Finnish accommodation establishments continued to grow and in October the increase was 12.3 per cent compared to the stipulated period of last year.

About 356,000 nights were recorded for them in October 2017 and the number of nights spent by resident tourists remained on level with last year; up by just 0.3 per cent, according to Statistics Finland.

A total of nearly 1.5 million overnight stays were recorded at Finnish accommodation establishments in October 2017, which was 2.9 per cent more than one year earlier.

Russia, Sweden and Germany were the countries with the largest number of inbound tourism to Finland in October.

The top three continued strong in October, only the order changes. Russians were the largest group of foreign tourists with their 39,000 overnight stays.

The overnight stays increased by 13.8 per cent from the year before. Swedes were the second biggest group and 37,000 overnight stays were recorded for them at Finnish accommodation establishments, which was 16.4 per cent more than one year before. German tourists came third with good 28,000 overnight stays. The number of overnight stays by Germans increased by 12.3 per cent. British visitors came fourth, with 20,000 nights recorded, the figure being 14.7 per cent higher than one year previously.

Nights spent by visitors from all the most important countries of inbound tourism to Finland increased in October.

Over 17,500 overnight stays were recorded for both Chinese and Japanese tourists at accommodation establishments. Overnight stays by Chinese tourists increased by 15.8 per cent from last year and those by Japanese tourists by 8.6 per cent. Over 15,000 overnight stays were recorded for visitors from the United States and Estonia.

Overnight stays by tourists from the United States increased by 10 per cent while those by Estonian tourists grew by just 0.6 per cent compared with October 2016. Norwegians stayed nearly 12,000 nights at accommodation establishments, which was 4.3 per cent more than last year.

By region, the total number of overnight stays increased most in October in the regions of Kymenlaakso, up by 28.4 per cent, and Åland, up by 25.7 per cent. Overnight stays increased by 13.5 per cent in Satakunta and by 8.4 per cent in Lapland. In contrast, the total number of overnight stays decreased in Päijät-Häme, Etelä-Savo and Kainuu, by around eight per cent in each. In the whole country, overnight stays increased by 2.9 per cent from October 2016.