The coronavirus crisis has destroyed the Finnish tourism business so far this year. Especially companies that depend on foreign tourism have been affected by restrictions on economic activity.
According to Statistics Finland, Finnish accommodation establishments recorded in June a total of 1.09 million overnight stays, which was 52.3% lower than one year before. But the decline, very strong in general terms, is catastrophic when it comes to foreign tourism.
Overnight stays by non-resident visitors plummeted by 92.7%, down to around 40,000, while the nights spent by resident tourists totaled 1.05 million, recording a 37.7% drop.
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.
Source: Statistics Finland.
Stays by Germans decreased most
The biggest drop was seen in overnight stays by Germans , down by 79,200 nights (95%) from June 2019.
The biggest group of non-resident tourists were Estonians with 7,900 overnight stays. The second largest group was Norwegians with 4,200 overnight stays. The third largest group was Germans with 4,100 overnight stays, and fourth were Swedes with 2,200 overnight stays.
The fifth largest group was Britons (1,500 nights), sixth was US tourists (1,300 nights), seventh Dutch tourists (1,300 nights) and eight Russians (1,200 nights).
Uusimaa and Lapland
In Uusimaa, overnight stays by non-residents decreased by 96%. Accommodation establishments in Uusimaa recorded 14,000 overnight stays by non-resident tourists and accommodation establishments in Lapland 4,000.
In Lapland, overnight stays by foreign tourists declined by 94.2% from one year ago. The share of Uusimaa in all overnight stays by foreign visitors was 32% and that of Lapland 8%.
January to June 2020
In January to June 2020, a total of 6.08 million nights were spent in Finnish accommodation establishments. This was 42.6% less than in the corresponding period one year earlier.
In all, 4.4 million overnight stays were recorded for resident tourists and 1.68 million for non-resident tourists. The number of nights spent by local tourists declined by 39.7% and those spent by non-residents declined by 48.9%.
Overnight stays declined from all of the most important countries of inbound tourism to Finland. The biggest drop was seen in overnight stays by Russians, down by 166,600 nights. Their overnight stays were 40.7% down on January to June 2019.
