A record year for tourism in Lapland
2016 was a record-setting year for the tourism sector in Finnish Lapland. More visitors, especially from Asia and the UK, boosted tourism in Finland’s far north by more than 10% last year.
Last year, there were about 2.6 million overnight stays by visitors in Lapland. Stays by visitors from abroad were up by 18% while stays by Finns rose by over 9%.
The biggest boost to the tourism sector came from the growth in visitors from Asian countries. Overnight stays by Asian tourists shot up by close to 50%. Stays by Chinese tourists doubled from 2015 levels.
More Brits
A traditional Christmas season destination for British visitors, Finnish Lapland registered a 24% increase in stays by tourists from the UK. In contrast, the number of overnight stays by Russian tourists fell by almost a quarter.
The Christmas season in general was good for the tourism sector, 20% up from the previous year.
According to figures from Statistics Finland, the average overnight stay in Lapland costs 130 euros, as compared to an average 100 elsewhere in the country.
This story is posted on Independent Barents Observer as part of Eye on the Arctic, a collaborative partnership between public and private circumpolar media organizations.
