Authors

• Pitkänen, Kati (Finnish Environment Institute (SYKE))
• Hiltunen, Mervi J. (University of Eastern Finland)
• Hall, C. Michael (University of Eastern Finland)
• Paloniemi, Riikka (Finnish Environment Institute (SYKE))
• Rehunen, Antti (Finnish Environment Institute (SYKE))
• Rinne, Janne (Finnish Environment Institute (SYKE))
• Strandell, Anna (Finnish Environment Institute (SYKE))

Keywords

communities, holidays, housing, human environment, leisure time, leisure time activities, natural environment, public services, second homes, transport

Abstract

The survey, conducted by the University of Eastern Finland, Finnish Environment Institute SYKE and Finnish Forest Research Institute charted second home tourism in Finland in 2012. Themes in the survey included, among others, living environment and activities for which second homes were used. The study was funded by the Academy of Finland (SA 255424).

In addition to background variables, the respondents were first asked questions about their permanent residence, such as the type of housing, housing tenure, size of housing, years lived in the house/apartment, likelyhood of moving house in the following 5 and 10 years, and use of another apartment/house for study, work or other reasons. Further, the respondents were asked whether they had childhood experiences of spending time or living in the countryside, whether they had stayed overnight somewhere else than home in the previous 12 months and if so, where, in what kind of accommodation and how many nights.

Regarding the access to and use of a second home (incl. owned summer cottages, long-term rental cottages, apartments or other dwellings used for leisure, accommodation in an allotment garden, timeshares, and travel trailers), the questions charted whether the respondents had access to a second home, how many different second homes they used per year, whether they were planning on getting a second home, and whether it was likely they were going to inherit a second home in the future.

More detailed questions about the second home(s) used the most by the respondents included, among others, location, type, ownership, number of years used, type of neighbourhood, size, amenities, number of nights spent in the second home each month, transportation used to reach it, distance between home and the second home, and the importance of various services close to the second home (e.g. grocery shop, health care, Internet connection).

Finally, living environments were investigated by asking the respondents what they regarded important in the environments of their permanent home and second home (e.g. possibility to spend time with family, possibility to enjoy nature, good connections), which changes had occurred in these environments and whether the changes were positive or negative, whether they thought spending leisure time at a second home had harmful effects on the environment, and how good a knowledge of environmental changes they had.

Background variables included the respondent's gender, year of birth, spouse's/partner's year of birth, place of residence, education, economic activity and occupational status as well as the number of children in the household and gross annual income of the household.