Regional Development of Finnish Tourism at the End of the 1990s: Some Considerations

The purpose of this study is to find some regional trends in Finnish tourism at the end of 1990s. The motivation for choosing the period 1995–2000 is that it was a period of strong financial support to tourism development aimed at regional dispersion. Other factors that possibly have had an impact on development that has taken place are also discussed and evaluated. The data used were the number of nights spent in paid accommodation in different accommodation establishments (hotels, camping, hostels etc). The growth of nights spent was fastest in the Helsinki region and in south-western Finland; areas where the population is becoming increasingly concentrated. A remarkable trait is that the growth of tourism in these areas was principally in leisure trips, posing the question whether an urbanised society is content to take leisure tourism within an urban milieu. In any case, it appears that the decentralisation policy has been powerless in the face of these opposing forces.