Thursday, February 23, 2023
Lapland, the northernmost region of Finland, has been a popular winter destination for decades, with foreign overnight stays reaching a new monthly record in December 2022.
However, Lapland now aims to improve its summer tourism and increase the number of visitors and overnight stays during the non-snowy season.
The development of year-round tourism is an essential part of sustainable growth in the tourism industry.
The long-term goal of the tourism industry is to increase Lapland’s reputation as a summer destination and improve the accessibility of Lapland’s destinations through new flight openings.
All major tourism areas in Lapland, including Rovaniemi, Levi, Ylläs, Lapland North, and Ruka-Kuusamo, as well as Visit Finland, which promotes international tourism nationwide, are involved in the development of summer tourism.
The measures will benefit the entire Lapland region as awareness grows and connections improve.
Collaboration is long-term, and all actors have committed to it for several years.
Significant impact requires us to look further into the future, not just the next year.
Although Visit Finland has a leading role in promoting Lapland’s summer tourism, it is a genuine joint effort, said Päivi Antila, Lapland’s large area manager.
The attractions of Lapland during the non-snowy season include Arctic nature and various nature activities, the midnight sun, autumn colors, Northern Lights, reindeer, and Sámi culture.
For attractiveness, it is essential that services are available, providing travellers with a variety of exciting activities, high-quality accommodation, and food experiences throughout the year.
Visit Finland will focus on the summer and autumn seasons for most of its own measures in Lapland.
Various measures are planned for the coming years to improve Lapland’s reputation during the non-snowy season.
The Trust the Wilderness campaign, which starts in March, will be the first to launch a multi-year campaign series, Antila continued.
Currently, the main challenge for Lapland’s summer tourism is poor accessibility, with few direct flights from Central European target markets during the summer, and the number of charter flights is low.
In addition to increasing awareness, the primary goal is to improve Lapland’s destinations’ accessibility during the non-snowy season through new flight openings, for example.
Lapland’s summer and autumn are now marketed primarily to Germany, Switzerland, and the Netherlands, where the most potential is seen.
Discussions about new flight connections have already taken place with these countries, and tour operators are interested in bringing customers to Lapland at times other than winter, Antila said.
During the summer season in 2022, Germans were the second-largest group of tourists in Finland after Swedes, with Inari and Rovaniemi being the most popular destinations after Helsinki.
However, Sweden and Norway currently attract significantly more German summer tourists than Finland.
The demand for northern destinations among travellers is increasing, making it an ideal time to expand Lapland’s non-snowy season tourism offerings.
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