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Published: 8 June 2016

Finnish residents' trips to Continental Spain increased in January to April 2016

According to Statistics Finland's preliminary data, Finnish residents travelled in Finland slightly less in the first four months of 2016 than in last year's spring. Three per cent fewer domestic trips with paid accommodation were made than one year earlier. Of Finnish destinations, Lapland fell and Uusimaa grew in popularity. Leisure trips abroad also declined when compared to the corresponding period last year. Increasingly more of the Finns who travelled abroad in the first four months of the year made trips to conventional travel destinations, Spain or Thailand.

Finns' leisure trips in January to April 2003 to 2016*

Finns' leisure trips in January to April 2003 to 2016*

In the first four months of 2016, Finnish residents aged 15 to 84 made 11.1 million trips when all domestic and foreign leisure trips, as well as business and professional trips are included. In addition to trips with overnight stay, the number also includes same-day trips abroad.

Altogether, 6.8 million domestic leisure trips with overnight stay were made in the January to April period. Of these, 5.1 million were trips with free accommodation. Trips with overnight stay at paid accommodation numbered 1.8 million and their most popular destinations were located in Uusimaa, North Ostrobothnia, Lapland and Pirkanmaa. The number of trips with paid accommodation recorded in the statistics was three per cent lower than in January to April of the previous year. However, the number of trips to Uusimaa increased by eight per cent. Trips to North Ostrobothnia remained on level with the year before and the number of trips to Pirkanmaa went down by 20 per cent and those to Lapland by 15 per cent.

Easter was in March this year, which was the most popular month for travelling in Finland in the early part of the year, as then 547,000 tips with paid overnight were made. Of the trips in March, 20 per cent were made to North Ostrobothnia and 12 per cent to Lapland.

At paid accommodation, a tourist stays at a rented cottage, hotel or campsite. In these leisure trips, overnight stays were mainly in hotels. The number of hotel stays was 2.5 million, which is 52 per cent of paid accommodation. Rented cottages are also very popular in late winter. The number of stays at rented cottages was 1.9 million, which is 40 per cent of all paid accommodation.

Inclusive of trips with overnight stay in the destination country, cruises and same-day trips, leisure trips abroad numbered 2.3 million in the January to April period. A total of 1,685,000 leisure trips abroad included overnight stay in the destination country. In January to April, 394,000 cruises with overnight stay on board only were made. Same-day trips abroad numbered 257,000 in January to April. Of these, good one-half were day cruises to Estonia.

During the first four months of the year, leisure trips to our neighbouring countries numbered 588,000 to Estonia and 484,000 to Sweden. The number of trips to Sweden with overnight stay in the destination country stayed at the same level as one year ago. Cruises went down slightly, but day trips to Sweden increased. Estonia is the number one favourite for Finns all the year round. Overnight cruises to Estonia increased from the corresponding period of the previous year. However, trips with overnight stay in the destination country and same-day cruises diminished.

The downhill in tourism to Russia eased off in the early part of 2016, as the number of trips to Russia with overnight stay in the destination country increased by six per cent.

In the early part of the year, 323,000 trips were headed to Spain, of which 54 per cent to the Canary Islands. The number of trips to the Canary Islands went up by 12 per cent. In the first four months of the year, 148,000 trips were made to Continental Spain and the Balearic Islands and the number of trips grew by 72 per cent from the year before. March was the most popular of the four months to travel to the Canary Islands and April to Continental Spain.

A total of 99,000 trips were made to the warmth of Thailand and the number of trips went up by 30 per cent year-on-year.

When examining only trips with overnight stay in the destination country, eight per cent fewer of such trips were made than in last year's January to April period. April was the most popular month for these trips in the early part of the year, as then the number of trips abroad with overnight stay in the destination country was 549,000. Almost one-fifth of the trips with overnight stay in the destination country were headed to Estonia, 15 per cent to the northern coast of the Mediterranean, and 10 per cent to the Canary Islands.

In addition to leisure trips, 1.2 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. Domestic business trips went up by 17 per cent and business trips abroad by nine per cent from the corresponding period last year.

These data derive from Statistics Finland's Finnish Travel survey for which altogether 4,994 persons aged 15 to 84 were interviewed in February, March, April and May. Until 2011, data were collected from those aged 15 to 74.


Source: Finnish Travel, Statistics Finland

Inquiries: Taru Tamminen 029 551 2243, Teemu Okkonen 029 551 2634, liikenne.matkailu@stat.fi

Director in charge: Mari Ylä-Jarkko

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Updated 8.6.2016

Referencing instructions:

Official Statistics of Finland (OSF): Finnish Travel [e-publication].
ISSN=1798-9027. Spring (1.1.-30.4) 2016. Helsinki: Statistics Finland [referred: 28.12.2024].
Access method: http://www.stat.fi/til/smat/2016/13/smat_2016_13_2016-06-08_tie_001_en.html