Economic impacts of tourism

Importance of tourism for Finland’s national economy

Until 2019, tourism accounted for 2.7 per cent of Finland’s GDP. The pandemic and the related restrictions caused it fell to a low point of 1.4 per cent in 2020 but recovered to 1.8 per cent in 2022.  Tourism exports accounted for 10 per cent of the export income generated by services, and 2.8 per cent of Finland's total exports.

According to preliminary data, total tourism demand amounted to EUR 14.8 billion in 2022, which was EUR 3.5 billion (31 per cent) more than in 2021, but EUR 1.5 billion (9 per cent) less than in 2019 before the pandemic. Foreign tourists accounted for EUR 3.4 billion (23%) of total demand and domestic tourists for EUR 11.4 billion (77%) in 2022. The proportion of do-mestic tourism demand (spending of Finnish in Finland) was  65 per cent (EUR 9.4 billion) in 2022.. 

According to the projections for 2023, total demand grew to EUR 15.3 billion from the previ-ous year. Foreign demand grew to EUR 4.5 billion, which is approximately 15 per cent behind of the peak demand in 2019. The share of foreign tourism demand was again nearly one-third, as it was before the pandemic. The demand remaining in Finland from outbound tourism in-creased (23%) from the previous year. Meanwhile, domestic tourism demand decreased and remained slightly below the pre-pandemic level.

Regional impacts

In 2022, most (41%) of tourism consumption in Finland in 2022 went to Uusimaa. ,  The share of tourism demand in Uusimaa rose from 32% to 41% in 2022. In terms of tourism demand, the combined share of Lapland, Pirkanmaa, Southwest Finland and Northern Ostrobothnia, the next four largest provinces, was 27 per cent.

According to preliminary data, tourism demand increased in nearly all regions in 2022 compared with the previous year.  Most of the growth took place in regions where the proportion of international tourism is high: in Lapland (65%), in Uusimaa (46%) and Åland (70%). Demand for the regions with the highest tourism demand was weaker than in 2019, especially in Uusimaa (EUR 2.2 billion). Measured in euros, the demand grew the most in Uusimaa (EUR 2.4 billion), in Lapland (EUR 356 million), Åland (EUR 173 million) and in North Ostrobothnia (EUR 114 million). 
Foreign tourism demand increased in all regions in 2022. More than 80 per cent of foreign demand was directed at three regions: Uusimaa (61%), Lapland (16%) and Åland (5%).

Domestic demand for tourism grew in almost all regions. A significant part of the increase in domestic travel demand was due to the pick-up in Finnish foreign travel and the increase in the amount of money remaining in Finland. As a result, domestic tourism demand increased most in Uusimaa (36%) and Åland (36%). In fact, these provinces account for almost all of the revenue from air and sea transport.

New figures on the supply and use of accommodation services is available in Statistics Finland’s accommodation statistics: Official Statistics of Finland (SVT): Accommodation statisticsLink to an external website.

The figures are based on Finland’s tourism accounts for 2021-2022Link to an external website (in Finnish, abstract in English), projections for 2023Link to an external website (in Finnish), Tourism figures infographic 2022Link to an external website and Visit Finland Border SurveyLink to an external website. More detailed database tables have been published by Visit Finland’s statistics service RudolfLink to an external website.

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. It has been developed in broad international cooperation by e.g. the UN, UN Tourism, the OECD and the EU.
 

Concepts of tourism accounts

  • Travel account describes the balance of Finland’s international tourism receipts and expenditure. The travel account is positive, i.e. in surplus, if the income generated by foreign tourists visiting Finland is higher than the expenditure by Finnish people abroad. 
  • Tourism demand (expenditure) / consumption reflects the amount of money tourists spend on purchasing products and services during the year. The total demand for tourism includes the spending of both Finnish and foreign tourists in Finland, paid either by tourists themselves or by another party on their behalf. Tourism demand also includes imputed cost of using owned vacation homes. See also tourism receipts and tourism exports.
  • Tourism receipts, i.e. the money spent by tourists, income in euros from the sale of tourism services and products.
  • Tourism exports, or foreign tourism demand, describe the amount of money spent by international tourists on purchasing tourism services and products.
  • Tourism expenditure describes all products and services that are either purchased by tourists themselves or paid by somebody else. International tourism expenditure refers to the expenditure by residents of a given country on their trips abroad, including international passenger transport expenditure.
  • Passenger transport account describes the income and expenditure of international passenger transport between Finland and other countries. In addition to travel tickets, the passenger transport account includes baggage and all consumption during transport.

Inquiries: Sanna Kyyrä, sanna.kyyra(at)gov.fi