Finnish cities benefit from the domestic tourism trend

Finns are increasingly choosing to spend their holidays in their own country

Tourist offices in many of the largest cities of Finland reported a rise in the number of domestic visitors. According to preliminary data released by tourist offices in the cities of Helsinki, Jyväskylä, Lahti, Tampere and Turku – Finnish tourists are increasingly choosing to spend their holidays in the country.

• In Halsinki, domestic tourism for overnight stays has increased throughout the first half of the year and it is expected for the trend to continue during the summer.
• The city of Tampere has also reported an increase in accommodation volumes for the month of May, while domestic travel into the central city of Jyväskylä grew by 4% compared with the same month last year.
• In the city of Turku, the increase in the number of domestic tourists is evident by, among other factors, the kind of customers visiting the tourist information centre. In 2019 there is a growth of up to 10-13% for domestic tourists.

In 2018, Finns made an estimated 6.83 million leisure trips in Finland that included at least one overnight stay in paid accommodation. Finns also made approximately 19 million 'free trips', such as excursions to a cottage or to visit a relative. The state-owned railway company VR announced that the number of long-distance passengers using rail services in May 2019 was up by 6% compared to the same month of the previous year. The route between Helsinki and Rovaniemi saw the highest rise in passenger numbers. Although full statistics for the early summer are not yet available, one thing is clear, the big winners of the trend are the Finnish cities.