Kuusamo attracts Russian tourists with charter flights
Lehtikuva / Antti Aimo-Koivisto Santa Claus is one of the Lapland's main attractions in December.North-east Finland and eastern Lapland hope to attract winter tourists from Russia to make up for the winter tourism from Britain, which has decreased significantly due to the recession.
The Russian airline Rossiya will launch a series of nine charter flights between St. Petersburg and Kuusamo in December. The airplanes will bring winter tourists to the holiday resorts of Kuusamo and East Lapland. The return flights are marketed to Finnish tourists for trips to Russia. These charter flights are the first phase of a bigger picture, which has brought together northern Finnish entrepreneurs and municipalities in order to open up their connections to Russia.
The Russian Federation intends to turn Rossiya into the new air traffic giant. The St. Petersburg flights have been negotiated since the spring by the Nordic Business Center Naturpolis, which is a regional development agency owned by Kuusamo, Taivalkoski and Posio municipalities. Also the Town of Kemijärvi is involved in the project. Also other East-Lapland's municipalities such as Salla, Pelkosenniemi and Savukoski intend to join the initiative.
The first flight from St. Petersburg lands in Kuusamo on December 29th. The last of the nine flights will be flown at the end of March. The flights are sold by two well-known travel agencies in St. Petersburg.
- Tourism in Northern Finland is facing a huge challenge, because charters arriving from Great Britain are remarkably fewer than before. The region is trying its very best to conquer the recession. We are not looking for immediate results, or fast rewards. Our goal is eventually to establish a permanent route between Kuusamo and St. Petersburg, says the Director of the Regional Business Development Agency in North East Finland, Ville Skinnari.
According to him Pulkovo airport in St. Peterburg will operate as the center of the air traffic, with good connections to the west and elsewhere in Russia. The flight time between Kuusamo and Pulkovo is only 50 minutes.
The connection between Kuusamo and St. Petersbug was decided after the Finnish airline Blue1 opened a route between Kittilä and Moscow. St. Petersburg offers a great possibility for the initiative, since the city accommodates a bigger wealthy middle class population than Scandinavia as a whole.
Ville Skinnari emphasizes also the possibilities that the nearby regions of Kuusamo, such as Murmansk, Arkangel and Komi may also offer possibilities for northern Finnish tourism.
www.naturpolis.fi
www.rossiya.com
Comments (5)