Nights spent by foreign tourists declined 96% in May

The market situation caused by the novel coronavirus sank the Finnish tourism business also in May. And accommodation establishments were one of the worst-hit sectors.

According to Statistics Finland's data, overnight stays by foreign tourists declined by 95.7% in May 2020 compared with the same period of the last year. And nights spent by resident tourists fell by 74.4%.

Altogether, foreign visitors spent in Finnish establishments 0.02 million nights and domestic tourists 0.28 million. This makes less than 0.3 million overnight stays, which was 80.7% lower than one year before. 244 hotels were closed for the entire month and 39 part of the month during May.

The Russian market

The biggest drop was seen in overnight stays by Russians, down by 64,000 nights or 98.5% on May 2019.

The biggest group of visitors were Estonians with 4,000 overnight stays. The second largest group was Germans with 2,100, the third was Swedes with 2,000 nights, and fourth were US tourists with 1,100. The fifth largest group was Russians (900 nights), sixth was Spanish tourists (600 nights), seventh French (500 nights) and eight Britons (500 nights).

98% decline in Lapland

Accommodation establishments in Uusimaa recorded 9,000 overnight stays by non-resident tourists and those in Lapland 1,000. Nights spent by foreigners declined by 96.6% in Uusimaa and by 98% in Lapland from one year ago.

The share of Uusimaa in all overnight stays by foreign visitors was 46% and that of Lapland 4%.

In January to May 2020, a total of 5 million nights were spent in Finnish accommodation establishments. This was 39.7% less than in the corresponding period one year earlier.

The nights spent by resident tourists declined by 40.1% and those spent by foreign tourists fell by 38.9% year-on-year.