Tourists visiting Finland from abroad spent around 3.7 billion euros last year, according to a press release by Business Finland, the government agency responsible for promoting tourism and travel.
Business Finland's statement noted that a total of 4.9 million people from 106 different countries visited Finland in 2024, spending an average of 764 euros per person.
"Chinese and American tourists spent the most amount of money per trip. In terms of season, winter tourists spent more money than summer tourists," Katarina Wakonen of Visit Finland said in the press release.
This discrepancy between summer and winter spending can be at least partly explained by the higher prices for winter activities, such as the rental of winter sports equipment.
"Finnish winter has a strong appeal among international travellers. The once-in-a-lifetime experiences offered by Finnish winter are well known to foreign travellers and they are still willing to pay for them," Wakonen said.
The figures further revealed that 74 percent of the visitors came to Finland on leisure trips, while the remainder (26 percent) were business travellers.
Although Finland is generally considered a winter holiday destination, August was the busiest month in terms of visitor numbers — with about 562,000 people travelling to Finland from abroad.
The All Points North podcast asked if winter sports were the secret hack to surviving Finnish winters. Listen to the episode via this embedded player, on Yle Areena, via Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.
Users with an Yle ID can leave comments on our news stories. You can create your Yle ID via this link. Our guidelines on commenting and moderation are explained here.
