Two most popular National Parks in Finland are in Arctic

For some of Finland’s national parks, last year’s visitor numbers had to be estimated based on 2023’s figures.

Some of the visitor numbers announced for national parks last year are unreliable, because insects blocked the view of cameras set up to help count hikers.

Metsähallitus, the state-owned company that manages national parks, says that the visitor count at 11 national parks or nature reserves were estimates based on numbers recorded in 2023.

That’s because the lenses on many of the cameras used to count hikers were blocked by dead insects.

“Bugs have gone in front of the lenses, or there has been some interference, for instance when a can was placed in front of the camera,” said Harri Karjalainen from Metsähallitus.

“Some of the counters are readable remotely, and there can be breaks in data connections. That can mean mistakes with some of the counters.”

The affected locations were: Teijo National Park, Archipelago National Park, Kuusisto Bishop’s Castle Ruins, Helvetinjärvi National Park, Gulf of Finland National Park, Bothnian Bay National Park, Puurijärvi and Isosuo National Park, Päijänne National Park, Iso-Syöte Hiking Area, Kylmäluoma Hiking Area, and Svartholm Sea Fortress.

Karjalainen says that for the most part, visitor counters work well at national parks.

The three most popular national parks last year were Pallas-Yllästunturi National Park, Urho Kekkonen National Park and Nuuksio National Park. The first two are in Finnish Lapland, while Nuuksio is on the edge of the capital region.

Nearly 600,000 people visited Pallas-Yllästunturi.

Related stories from around the North: 

Canada: Tourists return to Yukon, Canada, but season isn’t without challenges, CBC News

Finland: Sami Parliament in Finland publishes digital guide for responsible tourism in Lapland, Yle News