Demand for accommodation service goes up

Accommodation establishments in Finland recorded 20.3 million overnight stays in 2016, of which domestic tourists accounted for around 14.6 million and foreign tourists for 5.8 million, according to the Statistics Finland.

The foreign demand for accommodation services grew by 4.7 per cent and the domestic demand by 2.4 per cent compared with the previous year. In all, total demand for accommodation services grew by 3.1 per cent in 2016.

The previous years’ slight decrease in the demand for accommodation services turned into clear growth in 2016. Except for May and June, the demand increased in all months of the year. In April, September and November, the growth was around five per cent, in March, nearly eight per cent and in December, as much as 10 per cent compared with 2015. In May, the demand for accommodation services was on level with the previous year and in June, the demand declined by about two per cent. These figures are 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.

Russians were still the largest group of foreign tourists in Finnish accommodation establishments in 2016. Nearly 698,000 overnight stays were recorded for Russians, which was 11 per cent down on the year before. In 2016, Russian visitors accounted for 12 per cent of all overnight stays by foreign visitors, having been 14 per cent twelve months earlier. As in the previous year, overnight stays of other foreign visitors increased by around seven per cent in 2016.

Swedish, German and British visitors came next after Russians. For Swedes and Germans, the number of overnight stays was good 500,000 for both. For both countries, the number of overnight stays remained on level with the previous year. As in the previous year, British visitors’ overnight stays at Finnish accommodation establishments increased by around six per cent and almost exactly half a million overnight stays were recorded for them.

Overnight stays by French tourists numbered 250,000, which was 8.7 per cent more than in 2015. Among the most important countries of inbound tourism to Finland, the biggest growth percentages came from China and the United States. Overnight stays by Chinese tourists increased by around 27 per cent and those by American tourists by 14.4 per cent. Around 232,000 overnight stays each were recorded for these two countries at accommodation establishments. Overnight stays by Japanese tourists increased by 5.4 per cent and they had around 215,000 overnight stays in 2016. Estonians recorded good 190,000 and Norwegians 180,000 overnight stays. Overnight stays by Estonian tourists increased by 2.4 per cent, while those by Norwegian tourists decreased by nearly the same amount. In addition to China, the United States and France, tourism from the Netherlands and Italy also increased clearly in 2016.

Examined by continent, the biggest growth percentage came from Asia, where China and Japan boosted overnight stays to a growth of over 17 per cent, as overnight stays totalled 856,000. For the first time, Asia passed the Nordic countries in the number of overnight stays, from where good 845,000 overnights were recorded, as in the previous year. In total, overnight stays by tourists from EU countries went up by nearly four per cent from 2015, that is, almost 306,000. Tourism from America increased by 12.4 per cent and overnight stays grew to good 330,000. In contrast, tourism from Africa went down slightly and the recorded number of overnight stays by Africans was around 24,000 in 2016.