Finland's boom of Italian tourists

ROME - Foreign visitors to Finland increased in September, with nearly half a million overnight stays recorded. Finland's tourism industry is booming, with overnights by foreign visitors up 11,3 percent in September compared to 2016. On the whole, Statistics Finland reports that some 471,000 stays were recorded.

 Sweden sent the most visitors, while Russians made up 43,000 of the visitors and Germans nearly 41,000. The fourth most common nationality among tourists in Finland has been Chinese, with Japanese travellers coming fifth. Hotels' were occupied at an average of 59 percent, with the average price of a room at 100.73 euro.

 Including domestic travellers, Finland's hospitality industry recorded some 1.7 million overnight stays in September, an increase of approximately 4.2 percent. Italians ‘overnights were up of 6.2 percent from 2016.

Nine months of growth

 From January to September 2017, the number of nights spent at accommodation establishments in Finland totalled nearly 17 million. This was 5.1 percent higher than in the corresponding period one year earlier. In total, 11.8 million overnight stays were recorded for resident tourists and around five million overnight stays for non-resident tourists. The overnight stays of resident visitors increased by 1.4 percent and those of non-resident visitors by 14.8 percent from the previous year's January to September. The number of nights spent by Russian visitors in accommodation establishments in Finland totalled nearly 631,000 in January to September 2017, which was 16.8 percent up on the respective period of 2016.

 Russia is the largest country of inbound tourism to Finland. Germans came second with 520,000 overnight stays. The figure went up by 14.7 percent from January to September 2016. Swedes were in third position with 495,000 overnight stays. Their overnight stays increased by 7.4 percent. British visitors came next with close on 340,000 overnight stays. The increase from the corresponding period last year was 23.9 percent. Overnight stays by Dutch and Spanish visitors also grew strongly in January to September. Overnight stays by Dutch tourists increased by 29.0 percent and accommodation establishments recorded 187,000 of them. Overnight stays recorded for Spanish visitors numbered 108,000, which was 17.5 percent more than in January to September 2016. Italians’ overnights were up 7 percent on 2016.

 Nights spent at Finnish accommodation establishments by visitors from all the most important countries of inbound tourism to Finland increased in January to September 2017. Of these, overnight stays by Chinese visitors grew most and rose to 249,000 nights, which was 36.9 percent more than in the corresponding period in 2016. In addition to Chinese visitors, over 200,000 overnight stays were recorded for tourists from France and the USA, which was 14 to 16 percent more that in January to September 2016.

 On the whole, a positive global growth trend; a suitable opportunity to evaluate prospects for tourism from and to Finland will be from 18 to 21 January 2018 when the 32nd edition of the International Tourism Fair MATKA, the largest trade fair in the Nordic countries, will take place in Helsinki, a traditional thermometer to test probe and schedule holidays and business trips.

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