Finnish travelers favor Sweden and Estonia over Southern Europe in summer 2023

During the summer, Finnish travelers preferred to visit neighboring countries over Southern Europe. Sweden and Estonia attracted more tourists, with Norway also seeing increased interest in travel during summer 2023, according to Statistics Finland’s travel statistics.

Travel to Nordic countries rose by 10% compared to the previous summer, while trips to Southern Europe saw a corresponding decrease. Notably, there were more summer trips to Norway than to Spain or Greece, highlighted by Chief Actuary Marianne Laalo in a statement.

In the summer of 2024, approximately 2.9 million leisure trips abroad were taken. Just over half of these, around 1.6 million, were directed towards Nordic countries or Estonia. The popularity of Sweden increased by 5%, and Estonia’s remained stable. While overnight trips to Estonia saw a decline, day trips and cruises to the country surged by nearly 40%. Interest in Norway rose by more than 40% compared to the previous summer.

Domestic travel also increased from the prior summer. Between May and August, the number of leisure trips that included overnight stays grew across almost all regions. Domestic leisure trips involving free accommodation amounted to about 7.8 million, marking a 15% rise from last summer. This growth largely reflects the increasing popularity of cottage stays.

The trend of cottage vacations peaked in 2021, when the number of trips with free accommodation surged by 29%, totaling 9.8 million trips. According to Laalo, a backlash occurred two summers ago when domestic travel declined for a period.