Current information about British tourism

Updated November 2025

Finland's position in the market

The UK views Finland as an efficiently run, secure, and environmentally conscious nation. While many British individuals perceive Finland as a chilly and costly Nordic destination, it is renowned for its association with Santa Claus and its dreamy winter landscapes, including the captivating Northern Lights. Finnish Lapland is continually enhancing its appeal and solidifying its status as the preferred choice for Nordic winter holidays.

The United Kingdom is Europe’s 2nd largest intra-European source market, and it will keep the importance also over the next decade. British travel to Finland is projected to grow 41% in overnights by 2034, with expenditures up 57%. Finland’s share of Brits’ European travel (currently 0.5%) is expected to rise slightly – meaning Finland stands to capture a bigger slice of Britain’s large outbound market.

British visits are highly seasonal – peak winter (Dec–Feb) accounts for the largest share of nights (UK is the #1 winter source market for Finland), but summer travel is now surging as well. Spring and autumn from the UK, while smaller, are also on an upswing (autumn 2024 was record-breaking for UK nights), suggesting potential to develop these shoulder seasons further. Finland achieved record British overnight stays in both winter 2024–25 (381,000 nights) and summer 2025 (111,000 nights). December 2024 alone was 40% of UK annual nights, reflecting Finland’s huge appeal for Lapland winter holidays, while summer 2025 UK nights jumped +26% YoY as more Brits discovered Finland’s summer attractions.

76% of British visitors come to Finland for leisure (holiday or to visit friends/family or to study). Holiday travel from the UK is growing quickly – e.g. January–September 2025 saw UK leisure visitor numbers up +8% YoY – indicating strong tourism demand.

UK visitors spent about €622 per trip on average (≈€95 per day) in 2025. Accommodation is the single biggest expense (36% of spend), and spending on dining and experiences is growing. Total UK tourist spend in Finland reached €273M in 2024, making Brits one of the top contributors to tourism revenue.

British travel to the Nordic region is growing overall. In 2025, UK visitor numbers to Finland, Sweden, and Norway all rose, while Denmark saw a slight decline. This trend underscores Finland’s competitive advantage in key segments (winter experiences, nature), as well as the significant interest among Brits in Nordic travel generally. In Denmark, the vast majority of overnights took place in the capital area, which differs from the other Nordics’ profile, where the overnights are more scattered across the country and also in the rural area. In Finland Helsinki region and Lapland are the top destinations for British travellers. In 2024, 47% of British trips centred on Helsinki and 28% on Lapland. Lapland yields higher spend per trip (Brits spent €113M there vs €83M in Helsinki in 2024), due to winter resort packages and activities. Other regions (Lakeland, coast, etc.) see fewer UK visitors, pointing to room for growth outside the main hubs.

Finland has managed to gain great visibility in UK media. The most important medias, such as The Guardian, Forbes, BBC and Times have featured Finland during 2024 and early 2025. Thanks to the successful Helsinki Happiness Hacks campaign, Finland has been featured multiple times in varied TV channels in UK. The vast majority of Visit Finland’s PR activities are targeted for increasing Finland’s awareness as a year around destination with a special emphasis on summer months. Finland’s ranking as the happiest country in the world remains as the single most interesting topic for the UK media, followed by themes such as outdoors, wellbeing and culture. The UK’s Celebrity Apprentice TV special featuring Lapland will be aired in December 2025.

Consumer trends and behavior

Despite the economic pressures and geopolitical uncertainties, travel industry seems to show resilience and consumers’ willingness to invest into holidays remain strong. ABTA’s recent report reveals that travel remains a priority, with 84% of people who travelled 2024 taking more holidays than before, especially young families who continue to lead in frequency. This increase in travel activity highlights a growing consumer confidence that runs counter to broader economic concerns. Factors like inflation and rising costs have not significantly deterred people from planning and making trips, although the bookings have been made later than usually.

When it comes to booking methods, UK travellers rely on a mix of modern technology and traditional options. Although the direct bookings and use of OTA-channels remain the most important booking method, the use of travel agencies has grown significantly in the past years. Barclays reported that the travel agents saw the largest year on year increase (+17,8%) in total transactions of any of the sectors monitored in 2024 and in May 2025 bookings made through tarvel agents were up by 11% YoY. ABTA’s latest Holiday Habits report showed similar results: the number of bookings made through travel professionals increased by 38% in 2024. Due to the increased use of travel agencies 2025 has been quoted as” The Year of The Travel Agent” and the similar trend is expected to continue, as the consumers are continuously seeking for more unique, complex and exclusive travel experiences.

Europe remains as the most popular destination for the British outbound travel, with traditional sun and beach holidays in destinations such as Spain, France and Italy as well as city-breaks leading the way. However, the rising temperatures has its impact on British travel behaviour and Brits also are now pondering about choosing a cooler destination. 2024 demonstrations against overtourism in many of the Brits’ favourite Mediterranean destinations has left its mark and especially the families with young children are more and more often planning their travel outside of the peak seasons, to avoid the crowds, heat and possible restlessness in the destinations. In 2025 several media outlets featured stories of Mediterranean becoming too hot and introduced ”coolcations” i.e. travel to Nordic or Baltic countries as an option for the traditional Mediterranean holidays.

Sustainability plays still an important role, when choosing individual services within destination or assessing the means of travel, but it is no longer considered as a buzzword or a novelty, but somewhat mandatory. The most sustainably conscious Brits choose to travel domestically, and staycations remain popular.

Luxury travel continues to grow in popularity, especially among the younger generations, Gen-Z and Millennials. All-inclusive and package holidays are in demand. BBC 2025 listing of travel trends are promising for Finland and the Nordics, as four out of the seven trends listed are very well in line with our USPs. These trends are noctourism (nighttime travel experiences, from late-opening museums to bioluminescent beaches to northern lights watching), calmcations (holidays purely focused on creating a sense of tranquillity), off-the-beaten track travel (choosing lesser-known destinations to avoid overly crowded areas), and coolcation and off the season safaris. Additionally, Nostalgia travel is listed as a rising trend, which we can already see in Finland to some extent, when Millennial parents want to show their small children the magic of Lapland or the Moomin world.

Industry update and distribution channels

Most UK travel companies are flourishing thanks to the surge in outbound travel within the UK over the last year. UK companies have had to adapt their businesses to accommodate the change in booking patterns and trends. Companies are investing more in online booking and digital communication, and more and more companies are trialling AI-applications in their content creation and itinerary planning efforts.

Travel agents are providing valuable services that online booking cannot, such as detailed advice, navigating complex travel itineraries, and acting as a safety net when issues arise. This is driving more customers, including younger tech-savvy travellers, to use travel agents.

Booking.com, Expedia, eDreams and Last Minute are major OTAs in the UK. TripAdvisor, Skyscanner and Travel Supermarket are the top aggregator sites.

Key TOs that are operating in Finland are TUI (including TUI Crystal Ski, and TUI Tours), and Hotelplan (Inghams, Santa’s Lapland brands). Canterbury Travels and Destinology, (both part of Brooklyn Travel group), Artisan Travel Company with brands (Aurora Zone, Activities Abroad), Transun. These companies are currently especially focused on Christmas and winter holidays.

Other key companies currently selling Finland holidays include Magic of Lapland, Best Served Scandinavia, (Wexas), Discover the World, Arctic Direct, Magnetic North Holidays, ITC Regent Holidays, Exodus, Baltic Travel Company, Nordic Experience, Jules Verne, Trailfinders, Sunvil, Elegant Resorts, Abercrombie and Kent and Audley Travel.

In early 2025, German travel group The DERTOUR Group acquired Hotelplan UK that runs Inghams and its sister ski company, Santa’s Lapland. So far, the acquisition has not caused major changes in the forementioned brands’ operations, but the business has run ”as usual” as quoted by the current owner.

ITC group is launching the Nordics product branch in the late 2025 with its luxury brand Inspiring Travel. The product launch will include luxury accommodation and packages mainly in Lapland region, but also in the southern Finland and year around.

TUI UK has launched the new Christmas charters from Manchester to Arctic Lakeland region, with 9 departures in the month of December 2025.

DMCs as well as direct bookings are both in use among UK travel operators. In general, the use of DMCs are more in demand when packaging less established destinations or more complex packages. Demand is especially high for those DMCs that are able to package tailor made FIT tours.

Finnair remains the largest carrier in the UK, although the number of daily flights from London Heathrow will decrease from current 6 to 4 flights from November 2025 onwards. Additionally, Finnair will have 12 weekly flights direct from Manchester and a daily flight from Edinburgh, and Dublin. Norwegian flies directly between London Gatwick and Helsinki six times a week. Ryanair has significantly expanded its direct flight offering to Lapland destinations and during the upcoming winter season Rovaniemi will welcome new direct Ryanair flights from Birmingham, Bristol, Manchester and Shannon in Ireland, in addition to the already existed routes from London Stansted, Liverpool and Dublin, Ireland.

Finland travel USP's

The single most important USP for Finland in the UK is Santa Claus, Finland's goodwill ambassadors, which drives most Lapland family bookings in December. Families traveling to Lapland in December to meet Santa are by far the single biggest British customer group for Finland, totalling some 40% of the overall British overnights in Finland. Other winter activities are of interest and often included in the Santa holiday package. Those include aspects such as husky- and snowmobile safaris, unique accommodations (glass igloos) and reindeer farm visits. Additionally, Finland is seen as a ski destination in the UK and the demand for ski products outside the busy December season in Lapland is on the rise. Northern lights remain as a bucket list experience and a key decision driver for Brits, but Finland alone does not own this USP as the same experience is available in destination such as Norway and Iceland.

Sauna is becoming trendy also in the UK and Finland clearly owns the Sauna in the eyes of Brits. Sauna is often incorporated as something somewhat mandatory when visiting Finland and it goes especially well together with the outdoor experiences in nature. Lakeland as a region is seeing more demand and more and more tour operators are packaging Lakeland fly and drive tours for extended summer season. Those tours often include light activities in nature, interesting local culture experiences and charming accommodation completed with the Sauna experience.

Animal watching and photographing is somewhat of a special interest among the Brits, and especially bear-watching tours in Arctic Lakeland are a popular niche in UK. Similar interest can be seen towards Saimaa ringed seals, and such safari experiences could be even more highlighted as a special unique selling point for the Saimaa region.

Helsinki is viewed as a stand-alone city break destination, but also as the gateway to the rest of Finland. Some tour operators are looking to add a Helsinki stopover to their winter Lapland products, creating Helsinki an opportunity to increase their sales during the winter months. Similarly, during the summer months Helsinki can benefit from those Brits seeking to experience regions such as Lakeland and Archipelago by offering Helsinki extensions to those tours.

There is an increased demand for outdoor nature-based and adventure travel among UK travellers and is expected to continue growing. Factors driving this trend include increased interest in active holidays, a focus on sustainability, and a diverse range of outdoor activities available. Businesses and destinations catering to this market can expect to see sturdy growth and interest from UK adventure-seeking tourists.

Luxury travel is still growing, and the key trends among UK luxury travellers, include a focus on unique, immersive, cultural, and sustainable experiences; a priority on wellness and rejuvenation; a desire for personalised and curated offerings; and a willingness to travel for longer duration. Sustainable luxury accommodations, as well as private villas and chalets in secluded locations, are highly appealing to UK luxury travellers. When targeting to this demanding clientele it is essentially important that the service level meets their standards, and a special attention needs to be paid on this. Tour operators have reported that currently Finnish supply, outside of Lapland, can often be regarded more as a “premium” rather than “luxury”.

Sustainability is no longer a buzzword but a core business imperative. Consumers are increasingly demanding sustainable travel options and investors are prioritising businesses with strong environmental, social and governance (ESG) credentials.

Future outlook and upcoming season

Travel companies have reported that sales to Finland for the upcoming winter season are looking mainly very promising, although, due to the economical and geopolitical uncertainties, the consumers are hesitant to lock their travel plans as early as typically. Whilst usually the winter holidays to Lapland are booked well in advance, nearly a year prior the holiday taking place in 2025 the biggest peak of bookings came only in autumn. This trend seems to continue, and the Lapland travel companies may expect late bookings flooding in from the UK consumers and tour operators alike for the late winter season. With the increased direct low-cost carrier flight capacity in Rovaniemi and consumers’ growing destination awareness, the budget conscious individuals are now more confident in tailoring their own travel itineraries and not relying so much on tour operators. Therefore, FIT travel is expected to grow in Lapland, and the bookings are commonly made directly with the companies or through the familiar OTA-channels.

As Finland’s winter travel is the so-called bread and butter of the UK tour operators and it now recovered well after the covid, the tour operators can finally pick up from where they left with their new product development. Tour operators such as Artisan Travel, Regent Holidays, Exodus and Discover the World have put more emphasis into the snowless season product development and new itineraries in the southern parts of Finland were launched for the summer season 2025. Fly and drive tours combining Helsinki and Lakeland seem to drive the development for new summer product supply in the UK. ”The Golden Triangle” Helsinki, Tampere and Turku with its archipelago region seems to interest FITs wanting to experience Helsinki and the “second-cities” sustainably on rails year around. Summer Lapland and the Midnight Sun products spark already some interest, but the strong winter image might play against its success in the short term. Lapland for the outdoor travellers during the autumn foliage, with the chance of seeing Northern lights, seems to be more appealing to at least some of the tour operators.

The total seat capacity on flights between the UK and Finland will increase only slightly during the winter season compared to the previous winter due to fewer Finnair flights from London to Helsinki. However, seat capacity from UK to Lapland will clearly increase this winter again, thanks to mainly for Ryanair’s extensive addition to Rovaniemi flights. The flight bookings from UK to Finland for the upcoming winter season show a +14% YoY growth (ForwardKeys, data update 9th November) and we are expected to see yet another record breaking winter season from the UK in Finland.