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Published: 19 March 2015

Steep drop in overnight stays by foreign tourists in January 2015

Overnight stays by foreign tourists declined by as much as 20.8 per cent at Finnish accommodation establishments from last year and amounted to 489,000 in January 2015. In contrast, the number of nights spent by resident tourists increased by 2.9 per cent from the previous year and they overnighted 788,000 times at accommodation establishments. A total of nearly 1.3 million overnight stays were recorded at Finnish accommodation establishments in January 2015, which is 7.7 per cent fewer than in January 2014. 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, and youth hostels.

Change in overnight stays in January 2015/2014, %

As usual, January was the most popular month for Russian visitors measured by overnight stays at accommodation establishments. They were still by far the largest group of foreign tourists with 181,000 overnight stays, even though the amount plummeted by 41.7 per cent from January 2014. Russian visitors accounted for 37 per cent of all overnight stays by foreign visitors in January, which greatly contributed to the fact that the total number of overnight stays by foreign visitors declined by almost 21 per cent in January. In January 2014, Russian visitors accounted for 50 per cent of all overnight stays by foreign visitors.
Brits came next with 44,000 overnight stays. The number was 6.2 per cent higher than one year previously. French and German visitors came third. Accommodation establishments recorded 31,000 to 32,000 overnight stays for them. Overnight stays by French visitors increased by 6.7 per cent and those by German visitors by 11.3 per cent year-on-year.

Overnight stays by Swedish tourists numbered 23,000, which was 2.5 per cent more than in January 2014. By contrast, overnight stays recorded for Dutch visitors decreased by 0.5 per cent and totalled 18,000. The biggest growth percentages came from Italy and Spain, even though overnight stays by both groups amounted to under 10,000. The number of nights spent by Italian tourists was 18.8 per cent up and nights spent by Spanish tourists was 11.2 per cent up on January 2014.

Examined by region, overnight stays decreased in nearly all regions in January, or increased only marginally apart from the seven per cent growth in Ostrobothnia. The total number of overnight stays decreased most in the regions of South Karelia, by 26.4 per cent, and North Karelia, by nearly 22 per cent. In Päijät-Häme, overnight stays contracted by 17.4 per cent. In Kymenlaakso and South Savo, overnight stays decreased by 14 to 15 per cent.
Overnight stays in the whole country dropped by 7.7 per cent from last year.

Change in overnight stays in January by region 2015/2014, %

Overnight stays at hotels fell by 6.7 per cent

In January 2015, the total number of nights spent in hotels was 1.1 million, which was 6.7 per cent lower than twelve months earlier. Overnight stays by foreign tourists decreased by good one-fifth and hotels recorded a total of 412,000 of them. Recorded nights spent by resident tourists in hotels numbered 697,500. The number was 5.1 per cent higher than in January 2014.

The occupancy rate of hotel rooms was 44.2 per cent in January. One year earlier, it was 45.8 per cent. Among the regions, the highest occupancy rates of hotel rooms were measured in Uusimaa, 53.2 per cent, and Lapland, 48.7 per cent. In Vantaa, the hotel room occupancy rate was 60.5 per cent and in Rovaniemi 67.5 per cent. Hotel room occupancy rate in Helsinki was 57.0 per cent.

In January 2015, the realised average price of a hotel room was EUR 91.02 per day for the whole country. Twelve months previously, it was EUR 93.01.

Hotel room occupancy rate and the monthly average price

Source: Accommodation Statistics. Statistics Finland

Inquiries: Marjut Tuominen 029 551 3556, Ossi Nurmi 029 551 2984, liikenne.matkailu@stat.fi

Director in charge: Hannele Orjala

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Appendix tables

• Appendix table 1.1. Capacity and its utilization, January 2015 (19.3.2015)
• Appendix table 2.1. Nights spend in all establishments, January 2015 (19.3.2015)
• Appendix table 3.1. Hotel capacity and capacity utilization, January 2015 (19.3.2015)
• Appendix table 4.1. Nights spend in hotels, January 2015 (19.3.2015)
• Appendix table 5.1. Visitor arrivals and nights spend by country of residence, January 2015 (19.3.2015)

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Updated 19.3.2015