In January, overnight stays by foreign tourists in Finland increased by 5.3% and 0.71 million nights were recorded for non-resident visitors, according to Statistics Finland's data.
Lapland, a region whose tourism industry had undergone severe difficulties in the last quarter of 2019, registered an increase of 10.3%.
Examined by region, overnight stays increased most in relative terms in South Ostrobothnia, by 25.3%, and second most in Pirkanmaa, by 14.3%. By contrast, the overall number of overnight stays declined most in relative terms in Päijät-Häme, by 10.2% and second most in Kymenlaakso, by 6.1%.
More stays in Lapland than in Uusimaa
Accommodation establishments in Uusimaa recorded 219,000 overnight stays by non-resident tourists and accommodation establishments in Lapland 295,000.
Overnight stays by non-resident tourists increased by 5.1% in Uusimaa and by 10.3% in Lapland from one year ago. The share of Uusimaa in all overnight stays by foreign visitors was 31% and that of Lapland 41%.
Source: Statistics Finland.
The top markets
Among the most important countries of inbound tourism to Finland, overnight stays by Russians increased most in absolute numbers, by 18,600 nights. This was 12.8% higher than in the year before. The biggest drop was seen in overnight stays by Britons, down by 3,800 nights. Their overnight stays were 5.8% down.
The biggest group of non-resident tourists were Russians with 164,700 overnight stays. Britons were still the second largest group with 61,300 overnight stays.
The third largest group was Chinese tourists with 53,200 overnight stays, and fourth were French with 53,000 overnight stays.
The fifth largest group was Germans (46,200 nights), sixth was Dutch tourists (44,200 nights), seventh Swedes (24,900 nights) and eighth tourists from the United States (18,800 nights).
