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Finnish travel industry breaks records on all fronts
The Finnish travel industry has been growing rapidly in recent years, with visitor numbers breaking old records and travel exports rising by one billion euros in a single year.
The recent travel boom to Finland has turned the Finnish travel industry into one of the most successful and dynamic industries in the country.
According to the latest figures from Statistics Finland, the industry is worth 15 billion euros and accounts for 2.6 per cent of Finland’s GDP. The significant increase is largely due to demand for travel services by foreign visitors, i.e. travel exports, which grew by 27 per cent to 4.6 billion euros in 2017.
“The travel industry is of the same size as agriculture, forestry and the fishing industry combined, and half larger than the food industry,” said Paavo Virkkunen, head of Visit Finland, a unit of Business Finland.
International tourism numbers to Finland have soared in recent years and hit an all-time record in 2018, when overnight visits increased to 6.8 million. Expectations of further growth have led to significant investments in tourism infrastructure, such as hotels and airports.
The workforce employed in the travel industry was last year estimated at 140 000, accounting for 5.5 per cent of the entire Finnish workforce.
Good News from Finland is published by Finnfacts, which is part of Business Finland.