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Concepts and definitions

Business trip

The category of business and professional trips comprises all business and professional activities outside the usual environment. The visitor takes the professional trip because of requirements related to his/her occupation or the economic activity of the production unit for which he/she works. This category includes sales to foreign enterprises, attending meetings, conferences or congresses, trade fairs and exhibitions, employer incentive tours, etc. Usually it is the employer who pays the costs for business trip.

In the Finnish Travel survey this category of trips goes under the heading 'Business/conference'.

Country of residence

For the purpose of tourism statistics, country of residence is defined as the country where a person has lived for most of the past 12 months. Tourists are defined as non-residents/residents according to the country of residence, and not to the nationality.

Cruise

In the Finnish Travel survey, a cruise usually refers to a round trip by boat/ferry outside the territorial waters of Finland. A cruise usually includes an overnight on board (overnight cruise). If a cruise does not include an overnight on board it is called 'a day cruise'. A cruise may or may not include a visit (same-day visit) ashore in the destination country, but no overnight stay in that country. A cruise can also be a one-way overnight cruise, if departure or return is done by some other means of transportation (e.g. by air) and the trip does not include any night spent in the country visited. By purpose cruises are broken down to leisure cruises or business/professional cruises, e.g. seminars on board.

Day cruise

In the Finnish Travel survey, a day cruise usually refers to a round trip by boat/ferry outside the territorial waters of Finland cross the Gulf of Finland in the direction of Estonia, or cross the Gulf of Bothnia in the direction of Sweden. The duration of a day cruise is less than 20 hours with no overnights either on board or in the destination country. The departure and the return take place during the same calendar day. A day cruise may or may not include a visit ashore in the destination country. By purpose day cruises are broken down to leisure cruises or business/professional cruises, e.g. seminars on board.

Domestic tourism

Domestic tourism comprises the activities of residents of a given country travelling to and staying in places inside their residential country, but outside their usual environment for not more than 12 consecutive months for leisure, business or other purposes.

Domestic trip

A domestic trip is a trip made by a resident of a given country within his/her residential country, and outside his/her usual environment. The maximum duration of trip is 12 consecutive months.

The definition of domestic trip is derived from the World Tourism Organization's (WTO) definitions for 'Domestic tourism' and 'Domestic visitor'.

Duration of trip

Duration of trip refers to the time spent during a visit measured from the standpoint of the generating country or place. A trip begins when leaving home and ends when returning home. By duration trips are classified into two main categories: same-day visits and overnight trips. The maximum duration for overnight trips is 12 consecutive months. The maximum duration for same-day visits is less than 24 hours, so that departure and return takes place within the same calendar day and no nights are spent during the trip.

Leisure trip

A leisure trip refers to the purpose and motive of a visit. Trips (visits) for leisure, recreation and holiday purposes outside the usual environment are mainly undertaken for relaxation. It is the visitor who decides to take the tourist trip as an activity unconnected with his/her occupation, and the trip is usually financed out of household funds.

In the Finnish travel survey all trips that do not come under the category of 'Business/congress trips' are considered leisure trips. This category covers trips to own holiday home, visits to friends and relatives, as well as leisure cruises and same-day visits.

Long trip

In the tourism statistics of the EU (Eurostat) trips are broken down by duration into two main categories: short trips and long trips. Short trips consist of 1-3 nights and long trips of four or more nights. The maximum duration of a trip is 12 consecutive months.

Outbound tourism

Outbound tourism comprises the activities of residents of a given country travelling to and staying in places outside their country of residence and outside their usual environment for not more than 12 consecutive months for leisure, business and other purposes.

Overnight stay

In the tourism statistics of the EU (Eurostat) an overnight stay is a statistical unit to measure both the volume of tourism, e.g. duration of stay on the supply side and duration of trip on the demand side. Number of nights spent (duration of stay) either in collective or private accommodation refers to the time spent during a visit measured from the standpoint of the receiving country or place.

On the other hand, the number of nights spent during a trip (duration of trip) measures the time a traveller spends away from home. In the tourism demand statistics (the Finnish Travel survey), the duration of a trip is classified by the number of nights spent into two main categories: short trips including 1-3 nights, and long trips including 4 or more nights. Overnight travelling by boat/ferry, train or other vehicle is included in the total number of nights spent during the trip. As regards tourism statistics, the maximum duration of stay in the destination place/country is 12 consecutive months.

Overnight trip

An overnight trip refers to a trip outside the usual environment, during which at least one night is spent in private or collective accommodation either for free or for a charge. The maximum duration of a trip is 12 consecutive months.

In the Finnish Travel survey an overnight trip is a statistical unit to measure the volume of overnight tourism. The duration of a trip is measured by the number of nights spent during it. Overnight travelling by boat/ferry, train or other vehicles is included in the total number of nights spent during the trip.

Package tour

Package tours (package travel, package holidays) comprise a number of tourism products which are purchased by the visitor as a single entity. Such packages usually comprise transport and accommodation, but may also include meals, coach tours, car hire, admission tickets to theaters or attractions or any other product of interest to a tourist. There is one single charge for the whole package, which is usually cheaper than the aggregated cost of the items if purchased separately.

Place of residence

For the purpose of international/domestic tourism statistics, a person is considered to be a resident in a country/place where he/she has lived for most of the past 12 months. As regards international tourism, place of residence usually refers to the country of residence. As regards domestic tourism, place of residence is often defined as an administrative unit, like municipality or region.

Private tourist accommodation

Private tourist accommodation comprises forms of accommodation that do not conform to the definition of collective tourism establishments. These provide a limited number of bed-places for rent or free of charge. Each accommodation unit (room, dwelling) is independent and occupied by tourists, usually for a week, fortnight or month or by its owner as a second or holiday home.

Reason for trip

Purpose of visit refers to the motivation of the trip, the reason in the absence of which the trip would not have taken place. If a trip has more than one purpose (e.g. combined business and holiday trip) the main purpose of visit refers to the reason in the absence of which the trip would not have taken place or the given destination would not have been visited.

Rented cottage, holiday dwelling

In the tourism statistics, a rented cottage (chalet, bungalow) refers to a private rental tourist accommodation. As a mode of accommodation rented cottage can be compared to one's own holiday home. They are usually rented on a weekly, fortnightly or monthly basis, either direct from the owner or by a mediator. Accommodation in cottages (chalets, bungalows) provided by hotels, holiday villages or camping sites belongs to the category of collective accommodation establishments.

In Finland rented holiday dwellings located in the surroundings of tourists centres have increased rapidly in recent years. In the area of tourism centres rented holiday dwellings form a sort of holiday community, where, besides accommodation, dwellers are offered other services, like cleaning, laundry, waste disposal and other maintenance services. The dwellers can also use all the services offered in the centre, such as restaurant and catering services, shops, spas, ski lifts, ski slopes and tracks.

Same-day visit

Same-day visits concern the activities of visitors who do not stay overnight in collective or private accommodation in the place (region, country) visited.

A same-day visit can be headed abroad (international same-day visit) or to the domestic country (domestic same-day visit). The definition of a same-day visit is derived from the World Tourism Organization's (WTO) definition for a same-day visitor, and it is also used in the EU tourism statistics.

Same-day visitor

Same-day visitor refers to a visitor who does not spend the night in a collective or private accommodation in the place visited. An international same-day visitor is an international visitor who does not spend the night in the country visited. A domestic same-day visitor is a domestic visitor who does not spend the night in the place visited.

A same-day visitor stays less than 24 hours in the place/country visited, the arrival and the departure takes place within the same calendar day. Same-day visitors are also such cruise passengers who spend the night on board a ship and visit the destination place/country without overnighting there. In this case, ship is the place of departure of the same-day visitor.

Short trip

In the tourism statistics of the EU (Eurostat) trips are broken down by duration into two main categories: short trips and long trips. Short trips consist of 1-3 nights and long trips of four or more nights. The maximum duration of a trip is 12 consecutive months. In the Finnish Travel Survey, the total number of nights spent (duration of trip) includes overnight travelling by boat/ferry, train or other vehicle.

Tourism

Tourism comprises the activities of persons travelling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than 12 consecutive months for leisure, business and other purposes.

Tourism expenditure

Tourism expenditure refers to the total consumption expenditure made by a visitor, or on behalf of a visitor for goods and services during his/her trip and stay at the destination place (country). It also includes payments in advance or after the trip for services received during the trip. Payments for domestics or international passenger transport are also included in tourism expenditure (cf. Travel accounts in the Balance of Payments).

Tourism in neighbouring countries

In the Finnish Travel survey, tourism to neighbouring countries refers to tourism to the nearby geographic area. It also includes cruises outside the territorial waters of Finland in the Baltic Sea. The nearby countries of Finland consist of Sweden, Estonia, Russia, Norway, Denmark, Latvia and Lithuania. Tourism to neighbouring countries includes all kinds of visits: holiday and leisure trips, business and professional trips, as well as overnight trips and same-day visits.

Tourist

A tourist (overnight visitor) is a visitor who stays at least one night in a collective or private accommodation in the place visited. An international tourist is an international visitor who stays at least one night in the country visited. A domestic tourist refers to a domestic visitor who stays at least one night in the place visited.

A visitor who does not spent one night during the trip is called same-day visitor.

Tourist accommodation

Tourist accommodation refers to any facility that regularly or occasionally provides overnight accommodation for tourists. Accommodation can be chargeable or free.

Trip

As a statistical unit of tourism, a trip depicts tourism from the standpoint of the generating place or country (the origin) and covers the whole period a person travels away from home (origin-based perspective).

Trip abroad

A trip (visit) abroad refers to a trip made by a resident of a given country outside the national borders of his/her country of residence and outside his/her usual environment for leisure, business or other reason. The maximum duration of stay in the destination country is 12 consecutive months. A trip is an operational statistical unit of outbound tourism and it is derived from the World Tourism Organization's definitions of 'outbound tourism' and 'international visitor'.

Trip to own holiday home

In the Finnish Travel survey, a trip to own holiday home is one type of leisure travel with free accommodation.

Usual environment

The usual environment of a person consists of the direct vicinity of his/her home and place of work or study and other places frequently visited (e.g. food shops, bank and other services). The concept of usual environment and, therefore, tourism has two dimensions: frequency and distance. Places which are frequently visited by a person (on a routine basis) are considered as part of the usual environment even though these places may be located at a considerable distance from the place of residence (e.g. weekly visits to one's own holiday home). On the other hand, places located close to the place of residence of a person are also part of the usual environment even if actual spots are rarely visited.

Visit to friends and relatives

Visits to friends and relatives (VFR) are so-called social visits. They are usually undertaken for relaxation, and they are often seen as a sub-category of leisure, recreation and holidays. The WTO's definition refers to the motive of the visit, and not to the mode of accommodation. In the classification by purpose they constitute a sub-category of leisure trips.

In the Finnish Travel survey visits to friends and relatives are a sub-gategory of leisure trips in which other leisure trips are combined (excl. visits to one's own holiday home). As a means of accommodation, staying with friends and relatives is classified into the category of private non-rental accommodation.

Visitor

A visitor is any person travelling to a place other than his/her usual environment and staying there for no longer than 12 consecutive months and whose main purpose of travel is other than the exercise of an activity remunerated from within the place visited. The term visitor (domestic and international) comprises tourists and same-day visitors.

In this connection remuneration refers to salary/wages or similar pay except for travelling expenses, daily expense or other minor compensations.