The tourism industry’s long-term goal is to increase Lapland’s reputation as a summer destination and improve the accessibility of Lapland’s destinations through new flights. All major tourist areas in Lapland, including Rovaniemi, Levi, Ylläs, Pohjoinen-Lappi and Ruka-Kuusamo, as well as Visit Finland, which promotes international tourism nationwide, are involved in the development of summer tourism. The entire region of Lapland will benefit from the measures, as awareness increases and connections improve.
“The cooperation is long-term, and all actors have committed to it for several years. A significant impact requires looking further into the future, not just next year. Although Visit Finland plays a leading role in promoting summer tourism in Lapland, it is a genuine joint effort,” said Päivi AntilaRegional director of Lapland.
The attractions of Lapland in the snow-free period include arctic nature and various nature activities, the midnight sun, autumn colors, northern lights, reindeer and Sámi culture. From the point of view of attractiveness, it is essential that services are available that offer tourists versatile exciting activities, high-quality accommodation and dining experiences all year round.
“Visit Finland focuses most of its own measures in Lapland on the summer and autumn seasons. Various measures are being planned in the coming years to improve Lapland’s reputation during the snow-free period. The Trust the Wilderness campaign starting in March will be the first in a multi-year series of campaigns,” Antila continued.
The biggest challenge for summer tourism in Lapland at the moment is poor accessibility, there are few direct flights from the target markets in Central Europe during the summer and there are few charter flights. In addition to raising awareness, the primary goal is to improve the accessibility of Lapland’s destinations during snow-free periods, e.g. through new flights.
“Lapland’s summer and autumn are now primarily marketed to Germany, Switzerland and the Netherlands, where we see the most potential. There have already been discussions with these countries about new flight connections, and tour operators are occasionally interested in bringing customers to Lapland. Other than in winter,” Antila said.
In the 2022 summer season, Germans were the second largest tourist group in Finland after Swedes, Inari and Rovaniemi were the most popular travel destinations after Helsinki. However, Sweden and Norway currently attract significantly more German summer tourists than Finland. The demand for northern destinations among travelers is increasing, so it is an ideal time to expand the offer of Lapland’s snow-free tourism.
HT
Source: The Nordic Page