International tourism demand to Finnish Lapland in the early winter season

Abstract

This paper investigates the determinants of international overnight stays to Finnish Lapland in the early winter season. The data are based on major winter destinations for the period 1996–2014 and are distinguished by nine major visitor countries. During the sample period, international overnight stays in December increased rapidly with a growth rate of nine per cent per year on average. Dynamic panel data models show that the effect of natural snow conditions on overnight stays varies across countries of origin. The amount of snow in December has a significant impact on overnight stays of visitors coming from neighbouring countries (Russia and Sweden). In contrast, snow conditions do not play a role for visitors from distant countries (the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Japan, Spain and Switzerland). Economic factors (real income and real exchange rates) play a larger role for these countries.

Keywords:

• winter tourism demand
• accommodation sector
• weather
• climate change

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Raija Komppula as well as the participants of the Future of Winter Tourism conference in Rovaniemi April 2017 for helpful comments on an earlier version of the paper. Special thanks go to Satu Luiro and Päivi Pahkamaa at the Regional Council of Lapland and Asko Hutila at FMI for providing the data for this study.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

ORCID

Martin Falk http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0518-6513

Markku Vieru http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8833-5248