International tourism increased tourism demand by EUR 3.5 billion in 2022

Finland’s tourism is recovering from the fall caused by the pandemic. Especially the return of foreign tourists to Finland has increased the demand. In 2022, tourism consumption in Finland grew by 31 per cent (EUR +3.5 billion) from 2021 and the number of employees in the tourism sectors increased by 10 per cent (+12,500 employees).

However, total demand was still 9 per cent (EUR -1.5 billion) below the demand in 2019 and the number of employees was also 9 per cent lower (-14,000 employees). 

Tourism demand grew in almost all regions in 2022, but especially in regions which account for more than 80% of the foreign demand, i.e. Uusimaa (+65%), Lapland (+46%) and Åland (+70%). Of the regions with the highest tourism demand, the demand was clearly weaker than in 2019 in Uusimaa (EUR -2.2 billion).

Until 2019, tourism accounted for 2.7 per cent of GDP. This figure fell to a low point of 1.4 per cent in 2020 due to the pandemic and the restrictions it caused, but it recovered to 1.8 per cent in 2022. 

This data is included in the tourism accounts describing the economic and employment effects of tourism, which was published at Business Finland’s What’s up with measuring success seminar on 17 April 2024. The report by Statistics Finland contains the results of the national tourism accounts commissioned by Visit Finland and the regional tourism accounts commissioned by the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment. 

Foreign demand grew by almost third

In 2022, foreign tourism demand grew to EUR 3.4 billion (EUR 2.2 billion, +160%) and it accounted for 23 per cent of total tourism demand. The demand for domestic tourism was just a little higher than in the previous year (EUR 0.2 billion, +2%). Instead, the domestic demand remaining in Finland from outbound tourism of Finnish people grew by 177 per cent (EUR 1.2 billion) from the previous year. In 2022, domestic tourism accounted for most of the total tourism demand (65%). 

Number of people employed in tourism sectors grew by 10 per cent 

In 2022, a total of 140,600 persons worked in the tourism sectors in Finland. Most of them worked in Uusimaa (37%,) Pirkanmaa (9%), Southwest Finland (9%), North Ostrobothnia (6%) and Lapland (5%). The figures do not include temporary agency workers. 

The proportion of persons employed in the tourism sectors of all employed persons was 5.1%. The percentage was higher than this in Åland (19.0%) and Lapland (7.9%). In other regions the proportion was within one percentage point of the average for the whole country.

Growth in tourism demand in 2023 estimated at 5 per cent

An estimate of actual tourism demand for 2023 was also published at the event. Foreign demand grew to EUR 4.5 billion, which is about 86 per cent of the peak demand in 2019. The proportion of the demand remaining in Finland from outbound tourism increased by EUR 0.5 billion (28%). Instead, domestic tourism demand decreased by 11 per cent (EUR -1.1 billion) to slightly below the pre-pandemic level. The proportion of domestic travel of total tourism demand fell by 10 percentage points to 55 per cent in 2023.

Tourism accounts published since 2011

Tourism accounts, or Tourism Satellite Accounts (TSA), is a statistical system in which the economic and employment impacts of tourism are described in a diverse and comprehensive manner. National data has previously been published for 2011–2021 and regional data for 2013–2015 and 2017–2021. 

Inquiries:
Ossi Nurmi, Senior Statistician, Statistics Finland, tel. +358 295 512 984
Katarina Wakonen, Head of Business Intelligence, Business Finland / Visit Finland, tel. +358 400 723 088
Sanna Kyyrä, Chief Specialist, Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment, tel. +358 295 047 012