Few clients in tourist establishments despite calls to domestic travelers

October was another lost month for the Finnish tourism industry, which is being hit the hardest by the coronavirus in the fall season.

Finnish accommodation establishments recorded only 80,000 overnight stays by foreign tourists, which is a collapse of 81.7% from last year, according to Statistics Finland's data. For its part, the national market did not respond as expected by businessmen, and attempts to replace foreign demand with domestic visitors were unsuccessful.

For example, Finnish travelers did not respond as expected to calls from local tourism entrepreneurs to fill their establishments during the October school holidays: overnight stays by resident tourists declined by 14.8% year on year last month, when 1.05 million nights were recorded.

In total, Finnish accommodation establishments recorded in October a total of 1.13 million overnight stays, which was 32.3% lower than one year before. These are preliminary figures collected from accommodation establishments with at least 20 beds or caravan pitches with electricity connection.

Russians, the biggest drop

Overnight stays did not increase from any of the most important countries. The biggest drop (-96.5%) was seen in overnight stays by Russians, down by 44,600 nights.

The biggest group of non-resident tourists were Estonians with 10,900 overnight stays. The second largest group was Germans with 6,800 overnight stays. The third largest group was Swedes with 6,600 overnight stays, and fourth were US tourists with 3,300 overnight stays.

Examined by region, overnight stays increased most in relative terms in North Ostrobothnia, by 17.9%, and second most in Central Ostrobothnia, by 12.3%. By contrast, the overall number of overnight stays declined most in relative terms in Uusimaa, by 63.4% and second most in Ostrobothnia, by 51.8%.

Accommodation establishments in Uusimaa recorded 31,000 overnight stays (-88%) by non-resident tourists and accommodation establishments in Lapland 4,000 (-89.1%).

The total number of nights spent in hotels was 0.9 million, which was 38.4% less than twelve months earlier.

January to October

So far this year (January to October), a total of 12.73 million nights were spent in Finnish accommodation establishments, 35.5% less than in the corresponding period one year earlier. 10.6 million overnight stays were recorded for resident tourists (-24%) and 2.14 million for non-resident tourists (-63.2%).

Overnight stays declined from all of the most important countries of inbound tourism to Finland. The smallest drop was seen in overnight stays by Estonians . Overnight stays by them declined by 70 800 nights. The biggest drop was seen in overnight stays by Russians, down by 435,700 nights (-63.5%).

Still, Russians were the biggest group of non-resident tourists with 251,000 overnight stays. The second largest group was Germans with 228,000 overnight stays. Next on the list were Britons, French, Estonians, Dutch, Swedish and Chinese tourists.