During the second hottest summer ever in Finland, Finnish residents made more summer trips domestically than ever before.
According to the newest figures released by Statistics Finland, 11.3 million domestic leisure trips with overnight stays were made by Finnish residents between May and August this year. In total, over eight million were trips with free accommodation, while leisure trips with overnight stays at paid accommodation numbered slightly over three million, with the most popular destinations located in the regions of Pirkanmaa and Uusimaa in the south, Southwest Finland, and North Ostrobothnia in the northwest.
For the first time, Uusimaa shared its top position as the most-popular travel region of the summer with Pirkanmaa, said Statistics Finland, adding that the number of domestic trips with paid accommodation was higher this summer than in the corresponding period for the previous year.
All together, Finnish residents between the ages of 15 and 84 made just over 22 million trips in the second four months of 2018, a figure that includes domestic and foreign trips, as well as leisure, business and conference trips.
Italy rising
Italy attracted more Finnish tourists than in previous years. Compared to the summer of 2017, Italy drew more Finns during the summer of 2018 than the traditional favourites of Spain and Greece.
Statistics Finland also reported that the number of leisure trips to Estonia was down on the previous summer.