Finnish tourism in numbers - Työ- ja elinkeinoministeriö (original) (raw)

Economic impacts of tourism

Importance of tourism for Finland’s national economy

In 2024, tourism accounted for 2.4 per cent of Finland’s GDP. Tourism exports accounted for 14 per cent of the export income generated by services, and 5 per cent of Finland's total exports.

According to preliminary data, total tourism demand amounted to EUR 16.6 billion in 2024. Foreign demand grew to EUR 4.7 billion, which is approximately 16 per cent behind of the peak demand in 2019. The proportion of domestic tourism demand (spending of Finnish in Finland) was 56 per cent in 2024.

Regional impacts

According to the preliminary data, tourism demand increased in 2023 compared with the year 2019 most in Pirkanmaa, Southwest Finland and Lapland. Tourism demand decreased most in South Karelia. Uusimaa and Lapland accounted for more than half (53%) of tourism demand. Most of the foreign tourism demand was also concentrated in Uusimaa (62%) and Lapland (16%).

Tourism accounted for the highest share of the province´s GDP in Åland (11%). In Lapland, the GDP share of tourism rose to 8.4 per cent. Also, in Kainuu (4.3%) and in South Savo (4.1%), the economic importance of tourism was clearly higher than the national average.

The figures are based on Accommodation Statistics, Finland´s tourism accounts and Visit Finland Border Survey, for instance. Database tables have been published by Statistics Finland´s Accommodation Statics and Visit Finland´s statistics service Rudolf.

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.