Nights spent by foreign tourists grow by 17.7% in Feb

The number of foreign tourists staying in the accommodation facilities in the country increased significantly in February this year.

According to the Statistics Finland, the overnight stays by foreign tourists continued increasing strongly and increased by 17.7 per cent from last year.

About 543,000 nights were recorded for them in February 2017, said Statistics Finland.

The number of nights spent by resident tourists went up by 1.5 per cent and totalled good one million at accommodation establishments. A total of nearly 1.6 million overnight stays were recorded at Finnish accommodation establishments in February 2017, which was 6.6 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.

The biggest growth percentages came from overnight stays by Russian and Chinese tourists in February 2017. A good 55,500 overnight stays were recorded for Russian visitors at Finnish accommodation establishments, which was as much as 72.4 per cent higher than in February 2016. Most overnight stays for Russians were recorded in Uusimaa, close on 17,600 nights and in South Karelia, 14,200 nights. Overnight stays recorded for Chinese visitors increased by 67.9 per cent and totalled good 24,500 in February 2017. Overnight stays by Chinese tourists mainly focused on Lapland, 14,600 nights and Uusimaa, where their overnight stays amounted to 8,300. The share of Lapland in all nights spent was close on 45 per cent and the share of Uusimaa was 28 per cent.

Overnight stays recorded for British visitors increased by 30.4 per cent year-on-year and accommodation establishments recorded nearly 60,300 overnight stays for them. They were the largest group of foreign tourists in February 2017. Russian tourists came second with good 55,500 overnight stays. German and French visitors came next. Altogether, 51,500 nights spent were recorded for German visitors, which was 11.3 per cent more than twelve months earlier. Overnight stays by French visitors increased by 5.5 per cent year-on-year and amounted to 46,000. Overnight stays by Dutch tourists increased by 26.0 per cent and nearly 36,000 nights spent were recorded for them in February 2017, which made them the fifth largest group of tourists.

Large international events heavily boosted overnight stays by foreign visitors in February. Overnight visits by tourists from all the most important countries of inbound tourism into Finland increased in February apart from Japan, Estonia and Norway. Overnight stays by Japanese tourists decreased by ten per cent and those by Estonian and Norwegian tourists by around three per cent each.

Examined by region, overnight stays increased in February most in South Karelia, up by 28.9 per cent. Overnight stays increased by 24.1 per cent in Kymenlaakso and by 13.4 per cent in Lapland. In Uusimaa, growth amounted to ten per cent. By contrast, the total number of overnight stays decreased in Satakunta, by 7.8 per cent, and in South Ostrobothnia, by 5.3 per cent. In the whole country, overnight stays increased by 6.6 per cent from February 2016.

In February 2017, the total number of nights spent in hotels was good 1.3 million, which was 4.5 per cent more than twelve months earlier. Overnight stays by foreign tourists increased by 14.2 per cent and hotels recorded a total of nearly 470,000 of them. Recorded nights spent by resident tourists in hotels numbered 865,000. The number was 0.2 per cent lower than in February 2016.

The occupancy rate of hotel rooms was 55.0 per cent in February. One year earlier, it was 53.8 per cent. Examined by region, the highest hotel room occupancy rates were recorded in Lapland, 73.4 per cent, and Uusimaa, 58.1 per cent. In Rovaniemi, the hotel room occupancy rate rose to 88.3 per cent and in Kittilä to 87.6 per cent. In Vantaa, the occupancy rate of hotel rooms was measured to be 66.1 per cent. The hotel room occupancy rate in Helsinki was 60.9 per cent.

In February 2017, the realised average price of a hotel room was EUR 101.61 per day for the whole country. Twelve months previously, it was EUR 96.91.

In January to February 2017, the number of nights spent at accommodation establishments in Finland totalled good three million. This was 8.6 per cent higher than in the corresponding period one year earlier. Nearly 1.9 million overnight stays were recorded for resident tourists and nearly 1.2 million overnight stays for non-resident tourists. The overnight stays of resident visitors increased by 3.4 per cent and those of non-resident visitors by 18.1 per cent from the previous year's corresponding period.

The number of nights spent by Russian visitors at accommodation establishments in Finland totalled close on 211,000 in January to February 2017, which was 14.4 per cent up on the respective period of last year. They were the biggest country of inbound tourism to Finland in early 2017. British visitors came next with good 122,000 overnight stays. Overnight stays by British tourists went up by 28.8 per cent. Germans were in the third position with around 92,500 overnight stays. The number was 13.9 per cent higher than in January to February 2016. Accommodation establishments also recorded a lot of overnight stays for French and Dutch visitors. Altogether, 88,500 overnight stays were recorded for French tourists and nearly 71,000 for Dutch visitors. The overnight stays of French visitors increased by 12.1 per cent and those of Dutch visitors by as much as 42.6 per cent from the previous year's corresponding period.

Among the most important countries of inbound tourism to Finland, overnight stays by Chinese visitors increased most in early 2017. Nights spent by Chinese visitors rose to close on 53,000, which was a staggering 107.6 per cent more than in January to February 2016. Chinese surpassed Swedes for whom close on 51,000 overnight stays were recorded in early 2017. Overnight stays by Swedish visitors grew by nearly one per cent.