Visitor Monitoring

Metsähallitus, Parks & Wildlife Finland collects visitation data of the most popular state-owned protected and hiking areas in its administration. The data is collected by many different methods. Visitor counters, for example, are used to obtain information on the amount of use on trails and hiking facilities. Visitor surveys are implemented to obtain information on the types of visitors that visit protected areas, their needs and opinions on services etc.

There were about 3.6 million visits to Finnish national parks in 2023. The total number of visits to all Parks & Wildlife Finland’s areas and nature centres was about 8.7 million.

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• Visitation numbers
• Economic benefits of national parks.

Useful information on and from visitors

Parks & Wildlife Finland also gathers information on visitors and from visitors. We interview them in the terrain and at nature centres. This knowledge is used for various purposes, from increasing the experience value of those who visit the areas to the management of the areas and to national or international comparisons. We also compile data on visitors´spending to find out the economic impacts of visits at local level.

A manual targeted at managers of Nordic and Baltic nature areas includes guidelines, recommendations and examples on visitor monitoring methodologies.

• Visitor Monitoring in Nature Areas (pdf, norden.diva-portal.org)