Finns’ leisure travel abroad grows in Sep-Dec

Finnish people made more leisure trips abroad in September to December 2017 than in the autumn of the previous year, according to Statistics Finland.

Finns travelled to their favourite destination, Estonia, more often in last autumn than in the corresponding period of 2016.

The number of domestic leisure trips was equal to that in one year earlier. The number of domestic trips with paid accommodation increased, while the number of trips with free accommodation went down from that in the previous year.

In the last four months of 2017, Finnish residents aged 15 to 84 made a total of 12.7 million trips including all domestic and foreign leisure, business and professional trips. In addition to trips with overnight stay, the number also includes same-day trips abroad.

Altogether, 7.8 million domestic leisure trips with overnight stay were made in the September to December period. Of these, 5.8 million were trips with free accommodation.

Leisure trips with overnight stays at paid accommodations numbered 2.0 million with the most population destinations being Uusimaa, Pirkanmaa and Lapland. Uusimaa kept its top position as the region of travel in the last four months of 2017.

Inclusive of trips with overnight stays in the destination country, cruises and same-day trips, leisure trips abroad numbered 2.7 million in the September to December period. The number of leisure trips abroad increased compared to that in the previous year’s autumn. October was the most popular month for travelling abroad.

The number of leisure trips to Estonia increased year on year in last autumn with November being the most popular month for visiting Estonia. In turn, the number of leisure trips to Sweden went down in last autumn from that in the previous autumn. The most favoured month for travelling to Sweden in late 2017 was December.

Spain is also a long-standing favourite for Finns. Continental Spain has particularly established its place as a destination for Finnish travel, recording 150,000 trips made to the continental Spain and the Balearic Islands in September to December, which marks a 20 per cent increase year on year.

The number of trips to Eastern and Western Europe increased slightly compared to that in the previous autumn with Germany being the most popular travel destination in Western Europe.

When examining only leisure trips with overnight stay in the destination country, their number, 2.0 million, was higher in last autumn than that in autumn 2016. October was the most popular month for these trips, as then the number of trips abroad with overnight stay in the destination country was 0.6 million.

One-quarter of the trips with overnight stay in the destination country were headed to Estonia and one-fifth to a northern Mediterranean country.

In addition to leisure trips, 1.5 million domestic business or professional trips were made. Business or professional trips abroad (inclusive of trips with overnight stay in the destination country, cruises and same-day trips) numbered 0.7 million. The number of business trips both in Finland and abroad decreased from the year before.

These data were derived from Statistics Finland’s Finnish Travel survey, for which altogether 4,737 Finnish residents aged 15 to 84 were interviewed in October, November and December 2017 and in January 2018.