Finns make fewer leisure trips abroad in Q3 last year

Finns made fewer leisure trips abroad in September to December 2018 than the stipulated period of previous year, according to Statistics Finland.

In the last four months of 2018, Finnish residents aged 15 to 84 made 17.9 million trips, when domestic and foreign leisure trips, as well as business and professional trips are included.

Inclusive of trips with overnight stay in the destination country, cruises and same-day trips, leisure trips abroad numbered 2.5 million in the September to December period.

The number of leisure trips abroad decreased compared to the previous year's autumn. October was the most popular month for travelling, when leisure trips were made abroad.

A total of 7.8 million domestic leisure trips with overnight stay were made in the September to December period. Of these, 5.9 million were trips with free accommodation.

Leisure trips to Estonia decreased clearly from the previous year’s autumn. November was the most popular month of the period to visit Estonia.

Leisure trips to Sweden also decreased from the previous year’s autumn. The most favoured month for travelling to Sweden in late 2018 was October.

Leisure trips to Spain and the Canary Islands, however, were increased in late 2018 and a total of 0.3 million trips were made.

The number of trips to Eastern and Western Europe increased slightly compared with the previous year's autumn. Germany was the most popular travel destination in Western Europe.

When examining only leisure trips with overnight stay in the destination country, their number was the same as in the previous year's September to December, 2.0 million. 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.

Of the trips with overnight stay in the destination country, only every fifth trip was headed to Estonia towards the end of the year. In the previous year, every fourth leisure trip with overnight stay in the destination country was still headed to Estonia.

In turn, at the end of the year as many as every third leisure trip with overnight stay in the destination country was headed to Southern Europe and the Eastern Mediterranean, while in the previous year’s September to October it was only every fourth trip.

In addition to leisure trips, 1.3 million business and professional trips with overnight stay were made in Finland during the latter part of the year. Business or professional trips abroad (inclusive of trips with overnight stay in the destination country, cruises and same-day trips) numbered 0.8 million. Domestic business trips increased clearly from the previous year, whereas business trips abroad remained unchanged.

Finnish residents made 25.7 million various leisure trips with overnight stay in Finland. In total, 6.8 million of the trips were trips with paid accommodation and 18.9 million with free accommodation.

The most popular regions were Uusimaa, Pirkanmaa, North Ostrobothnia and Southwest Finland.

Leisure trips in both Finland and abroad decreased slightly from 2017.

Leisure trips with overnight stay at paid accommodation numbered 1.8 million and their most popular destinations were Uusimaa, Lapland and Pirkanmaa. Uusimaa kept its top position as the region of travel in the last four months of the year.