Russian tourists are welcomed to experience Finnish summer
MEK / Matti KolhoAn important holiday marketing event has been held at the popular northern Finnish skiing resort Vuokatti. The event, which took place in May, served a purpose of marketing northern Finland as an ideal summer resort for Russian and Ukrainian tourists. Vuokatti has already hosted large numbers of winter tourists from Russia and Ukraine. The event, which was organized by the Finnish Tourist Board MEK, hosted about 150 Russian and Ukrainian tour operators.
Although Russia is also suffering of the recent recession, the regional director of MEK Arto Astikainen believes that the positive impressions experienced during the event will enhance the Russian tour operators' interest of bringing tourists to Finland.
Russians spend approximately 100 Euros per day, while travelling. The amount is twice as much as that spent by all foreign tourists in average. Foreign tourists spent approximately 1,7 billion Euros in Finland last year. Russian tourists contributed to the amount by 600 million Euros.
Astikainen identifies Finland as a versatile and family-friendly holiday destination. Vuokatti focused on marketing its summer cottage holiday packages. The target group for Finnish tourism is primarily families with children, and couples, who wish to spend their holidays near nature.
The Finnish Tourist Board has previously organized similar events in Moscow and St. Petersburg. This time the concept worked the other way around, since the foreign tour operators were invited to experience Finland first-hand. Astikainen believes that this is a much more effective marketing concept, rather than negotiating and advertising Finnish holiday packages in Russia alone.
