According to Visit Vasa, the reason behind the growth is, among other things, the Aurora Botnia ship put into service in 2021 and cooperation with companies in the tourism industry.
Last year, the number of hotel stays in Vaasa rose to the highest level in years.
Last summer, the most people stayed in Vaasa since the count started in 2016, and over the course of 2022, more than 275,000 people stayed in Vaasa’s hotels.
The highest measured number of overnight stays before the coronavirus was in 2018, when 248,900 people stayed overnight in the city.
In particular, the share of Swedes in overnight stays increased sharply during 2022. While slightly more than 5,400 Swedes stayed overnight in Vaasa in 2021, last year they stayed overnight almost 21,800 people.
– For us, this has been an extremely big deal, that the city of Vaasa and the municipality of Umeå are investing in a new ship, which is one of the biggest reasons behind the growth. But we also have enough good events and products, so this entity has done it.
The growth will benefit the entire region of Ostrobothnia
He states that the number of foreigners staying overnight in Vaasa is about 30 percent, compared to an average of about 10 percent in the whole country.
Such accurate overnight stay calculations have been made since 2016, and they cannot be directly compared to previous years.
– The world used to be different. When we had two ships, there were more day visitors. Today, there are many more overnight travelers, so it is difficult to compare them.
According to him, the readings show that the entire region of Ostrobothnia is recovering from the blow caused by the coronavirus.
– I must emphasize that there are no municipal boundaries when talking about tourism. I see this as a win for the entire old Vaasa county, because getting people to travel helps us all.
Jansson sees that travelers increasingly want to see several destinations on the same trip.
– We will be in Seinäjoki one day, the other in Isossakyrö. It’s a trend.