The concepts are based on the EU Regulation on tourism statistics and the specifying methodological manual. The concepts and definitions are also described on the home page of the statistics.

The target population of the statistics are accommodation establishments located in Finland with at least 20 beds (establishments of enterprises) that offer short-term accommodation as a paid service also in case the price is fully or partially subsidised.

The reference areas of the statistics is Finland.

LAU2 (municipality)

1995

1995

1995

2022

Annual = 2022

Monthly = July 2022 (peak month)

Regulation 692/2011

Regulation 1051/2011

The compilation of statistics is guided by the general act of the national statistical service, the Statistics Act (280/2004, amend. 361/2013). Notwithstanding the provisions on data secrecy, entrepreneurs are obliged to provide Statistics Finland with such data that are necessary for the compilation of statistics. Only the necessary data that are not available from administrative data sources are collected from data suppliers.

The strength of the statistics is a total sample of nearly 1,400 accommodation establishments, which enables accurate data over time and regionally. Other strengths are the length of the time series and good comparability over time.

The deficiencies in the statistics relate to small accommodation units with fewer than 20 beds, especially individual cottages and apartments rented for short-term rental use. 

None 

See: Regulation 692/2011

The data of the statistics are needed to monitor and promote domestic tourism and tourism from abroad to Finland, and for the planning of national and regional investments in tourism. The users of the data include central government, municipalities, tourism enterprises and organisations, and research institutes. The  statistics are also used as reference data in the compilation of the travel balance of payments and the tourism satellite account.

Compliant with the requirements of Regulation on tourism statistics 692/2011 as well as recommendations laid down in the Methodological Manual for tourism statistics.

Complete in terms of geographical coverage. In terms of size of establishment observed a threshold value is used according to Regulation (Annex I, Section 2.C(3)). The excluded below threshold accommodation services consist mainly of renting of individual cottages / cabins.

20 bed places

20 bed places

20 caravan pitches with electrical connection points.

11,533,023

0

21,971,266

0

16,996,271

0

4,974,995

0

17,817,279

0

2,355,138

0

1,798,849

0

3,281,704

0

Capacity: 

For NACE 55.1 and 55.3 no known undercoverage or overcoverage.

Occupancy: 

For NACE 55.1 potential minor overcoverage due to a small number of hotels not able to exclude nights spent in time-sharing accommodation from nights spent in short-term paid accommodation.

For NACE 55.3 no known undercoverage or overcoverage.

Capacity: 

For NACE 55.1 and 55.3 no known undercoverage or overcoverage.

For NACE 55.2 potential undercoverage in case of local kind-of-activity units, outside of accommodation or agricultural sectors, providing accommodation services as a secondary activity. Complementary sources, such as regional tourism registers are used to detect such units.

Occupancy: 

For NACE 55.2 potential undercoverage in case of local kind-of-activity units, outside of accommodation or agricultural sectors, providing accommodation services as a secondary activity. Complementary sources, such as regional tourism registers are used to detect such units.

For NACE 55.3 no known undercoverage or overcoverage.

0

0

0

761

372

202

53

53

35

Not applicable

Not applicable

Not applicable

0

0

0

0

0

0

68

58

33

7%

14%

17%

The aim is to minimise non-response by monthly reminding respondents to supply data first by email and after that by telephone, which is conducted by Statistics Finland's interviewers.

Capacity: In case of non-response, capacity (rooms and beds) from previous year are used.
Occupancy: Imputation methods are used to deal with non-response. Primary method is cold-deck imputation: in case of non-response, the missing monthly data for a certain establishment is imputed with the data for previous year and same month up to 5 years back. In case no previous data exists, the secondary method is nearest neighbour imputation: the missing data is imputed by a closest match based on month, region and size of establishment. The nearest neighbor method was, however, used as the only method from March 2020 onwards due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Capacity: No issues with item non-response

Occupancy: NACE 55.1 - No issues with obligatory variables. Breakdown of voluntary variables (not required by Regulation) such as nights spent based on purpose of trip (recreation / business) are usually estimates given by the establishments.

In case of errors or missing data, the data is corrected either by estimating it or by requesting an update from the establishment.

The target of near zero non-response has been achieved concerning large establishments, contributing nearly half of nights spent. Annual unit non-response for hotels and similar is 6%, holiday and other accommodation 15% and camping grounds 18%.

Occupancy: The unit non-response tends to be greater for the smaller establishments. Main reasons are the lack of resources and systematic data collection required to fill in the form. Non-sampling error is primarily associated with imputation methods used for dealing with non-response. Some errors may be due reporting errors from data providers. For this purpose automated validation methods are used to check the data provided and data is corrected when necessary.

107 days (annual data)

107 days (annual data)

25 days (monthly figures)

2022 annual capacity data have been transmitted to Eurostat 53 days before the deadline.

2022 annual occupancy data have been transmitted to Eurostat 53 days before the deadline.

July data on nights spent (rapid key indicators) have been transmitted to Eurostat on 17 days before the deadline.

See 3.8.1

Comparable time series since 1995. Year 2012 onwards not fully comparable to previous years due to additional establishments added in compliance with Regulation 692/2011. Starting 2012 the threshold is 20 bed places or caravan pitches. Up to 2011 the threshold was 10 rooms / cabins. The extension of the target population increased the number of overnight stays by around one per cent on the annual level. In 2017 the target population of the accommodation statistics was reviewed and a few accommodation establishments operating in the industries of hotels and hostels were added to it starting from data concerning January 2017. The effect of the review is around 2.5 per cent of the total number of overnight stays.

See 3.8.2

Comparable time series since 1995. Year 2012 onwards not fully comparable to previous years due to additional establishments added in compliance with Regulation 692/2011. Starting 2012 the threshold is 20 bed places or caravan pitches. Up to 2011 the threshold was 10 rooms / cabins. The extension of the target population increased the number of overnight stays by around one per cent on the annual level. In 2017 the target population of the accommodation statistics was reviewed and a few accommodation establishments operating in the industries of hotels and hostels were added to it starting from data concerning January 2017. The effect of the review is around 2.5 per cent of the total number of overnight stays.

See 3.8.3

Comparable time series since 1995. Year 2012 onwards not fully comparable to previous years due to additional establishments added in compliance with Regulation 692/2011. Starting 2012 the threshold is 20 bed places or caravan pitches. Up to 2011 the threshold was 10 rooms / cabins.

Monthly published data are preliminary data and final data for the statistical reference year are published once a year in connection with the annual release. The preliminary data for the statistical reference year can thus be always updated until the annual release. The revisions are mainly caused by responses received late or corrections of errors detected in the data. Typically, revisions are very small, under 0.5 per cent of the number of overnight stays.

Preliminary data is published each month. Accommodation establishments are allowed to revise the data up to 11 months after the end of reference period before the data is considered final. Final data is published with approximately 4 months delay from the end of the reference year. Typically the final data deviates less than 0,5% from the preliminary data regardless of statistical indicator.

Minor irregular revisions may occur, if accommodation establishments revise their data within 11 month after the end of the reference period. However, final data deviates less than 0.5 % from the preliminary data regardless of statistical indicator.

Minor irregular revisions may occur, if accommodation establishments revise their data within 11 month after the end of the reference period. However, final data deviates less than 0.5 % from the preliminary data regardless of statistical indicator.

Majoitustilaston kuukausikysely

Monthly inquiry for accommodation statistics

Reference frame (accommodation register) consists mainly of the local kind-of-activity units in the Finnish Business Register (maintained by Statistics Finland) with accommodation services as a primary or secondary activity (mainly agricultural producers). Complementary data sources include 1) Register of Finnish tax administration including enterprises having reported sales of accommodation services and 2) Regionally maintained tourism registers.

A major update was done in end 2011 / beginning 2012 due to the Regulation 692/2011. The accommodation register is updated continuously, with a major annual update at the end of each year due to the release of Finnish Business Register annual data. The drawback of using this register is the slow update speed of 11 months following the reference year, i.e. data for 2011 became available in November 2012.

Data from Åland are obtained through Statistics and Research Åland (ÅSUB), the statistical office of the region. Due to different statistical methods, data for Åland may differ from those published by ÅSUB.

NACE 55.1 : No known undercoverage or overcoverage.

NACE 55.2 : Potential undercoverage in case of local kind-of-activity units, outside of accommodation or agricultural sectors, providing accommodation services as a secondary activity. Complementary sources, such as regional tourism registers are used to detect such units.

NACE 55.3 : No known undercoverage or overcoverage.

NACE 55.1 : Potential minor overcoverage due to a small number of hotels not able to exclude nights spent in time-sharing accommodation from nights spent in short-term paid accommodation.

NACE 55.2 : Potential undercoverage in case of local kind-of-activity units, outside of accommodation or agricultural sectors, providing accommodation services as a secondary activity. Complementary sources, such as regional tourism registers are used to detect such units.

NACE 55.3 : No known undercoverage or overcoverage

 Census survey

The statistical method is total statistics on establishments in the register, when small establishments with fewer than 20 beds or caravan/camper pitches with electricity connection are excluded from the population. The statistics cover around 1,400 establishments. The coverage of the statistics is most extensive during summer when camping sites, summer hotels and other seasonal facilities are in operation.

For some reservation systems of accommodation establishments it is possible to deliver monthly data automatically to Statistics Finland as XML data transfers. This facility is used by around 200 accommodation establishments.

The basic and capacity data of accommodation establishments are continuously updated with data obtained from establishments and other sources. Other sources are web pages and administrative registers, such as the Business Register.

Web-form or automated XML-transfer. Up to April 2015 also postal survey / fax / email. After May 2015 only web-form / automated XML-transfer.

Not available.

Not available.

Not available.

The web-form contains basic logical checks to prevent input of erroneous data. Further logical and consistency checks are performed once the data has been transferred to the production database. Check lists are generated containing records with logical errors or large percentage changes separately for each variable. If necessary, the data provider is requested to provide corrected data. Highest priority is given to the large establishments.

The web-form contains basic logical checks to prevent input of erroneous data. Further logical and consistency checks are performed once the data has been transferred to the production database. Check lists are generated containing records with logical errors or large percentage changes separately for each variable. If necessary, the data provider is requested to provide corrected data. Highest priority is given to the large establishments.