Finland continued to hold the top position in Nordic winter travel in 2025

Finland held the leading position with a 29% market share, closely followed by Sweden at 28%. The strongest growth, however, came from Norway: international overnights there reached a 20% share, representing 22% year-on-year growth. Norway has invested consistently in winter travel development in recent years, resulting in faster growth than its neighbours. The most direct competition with Finland is seen in the northern regions.

During the winter season, Finland receives the highest volumes of travellers from the UK, France and Germany, while neighbouring Nordic countries see stronger flows from the United States and intra-Nordic markets. Across the Nordic countries, the peak winter season (December 2024–February 2025) recorded eight million international overnight stays.

In the northern parts of Finland, Sweden and Norway*, Finland captured a dominant 74% share of international overnight stays last winter. Norway’s northern regions currently show the fastest growth, reaching a 21% market share with 33% growth year-on-year.

Among Nordic capital regions**, Copenhagen captures the largest share of winter city travel and continues to develop its off-season urban offering, focusing on independent travellers and year-round accommodation capacity optimisation. Strong land and air connectivity supports Copenhagen’s growth.

However, the fastest growth last winter was recorded in Helsinki, where international overnight stays increased by 25%. Helsinki accounted for nearly one fifth of all nights spent in Nordic capital regions.

The strong appeal of Finnish Lapland has made winter travel one of Finland’s most significant travel export segments and positioned the region among the most attractive winter destinations in Northern Europe. According to Statistics Finland, foreign visitor spending accounts for up to 16% of Finland’s service exports during the winter months.

“Lapland’s success benefits the entire country. Growing visitor flows to the north also generate demand in other Finnish regions,” says Katarina Wakonen, Head of Business Intelligence at Visit Finland. For this winter season, Finland is expect to have around 1.3 million international visitors, with an estimated total spend of €1.3 billion.

This article was first published on Visitfinland.fi in Finnish. You can find the link to the original article here: www.visitfinland.fi.

* Northern regions included in the comparison:
Finland: Lapland and Kuusamo
Norway: Nordland, Troms and Finnmark
Sweden: Strömsund, Lycksele, Dorotea, Malå, Sorsele, Storuman, Vilhelmina, Åsele, Arvidsjaur, Arjeplog, Jokkmokk, Gällivare and Kiruna municipalities

** Comparable capital regions, e.g. the Helsinki metropolitan area (Helsinki, Espoo and Vantaa)