Visit Rovaniemi awarded as best tourism org

The Association of Finnish Travel Agents – AFTA (Suomen matkatoimistoalan liitto ry) has awarded Visit Rovaniemi as the Best Tourism Organisation of the Year.

The association, a consortium of about 160 travel agencies, announced the award on September 21 in Helsinki, AFTA and Visit Rovaniemi sources said.

The award was given in acknowledgement of Visit Rovaniemi’s ability to act as an organisation in the industry as a fine example of successful regional cooperation whose success is now self-evident.

Visit Rovaniemi makes excellent internationalisation work in Europe, Asia and the rest of the world and is portrayed in an addictive way by social media and other marketing channels, said an AFTA press release.

The Finnish Travel Gala 2017 also awarded prizes to a number of distinguished tourism companies as well as their operators and deeds done. These awards recognised positive contributions to making Finland positively viewed as an innovative society and an attractive tourist destination.

“The jury chose Visit Rovaniemi as the best tourism enterprise due to its effective networking with local tourism companies and public sector and the successful joint marketing that Visit Rovaniemi has provided to foreign markets in Europe, Asia and worldwide,” Visit Rovaniemi Managing Director Sanna Kärkkäinen told the Daily Finland after getting the award.

The successful management of joint marketing cannot always be taken as granted in the versatile field of tourism marketing, Kärkkäinen said quoting the jury.

“Visit Rovaniemi is honoured by the prize given. The value of public-private tourism network and long-term international marketing is significant for tourism development. We are happy to continue boosting Rovaniemi and Lapland higher than ever in the field of destination marketing,” she added.

The jury, comprised of representatives from the tourism sector, wanted to honour the 100th anniversary of Finland in both the award categories and in the prizes given to domestic winners.

The other organisations awarded in the gala are Allas Sea Pool as Innovator of the Year, Administration of Forests national parks for Most Memorable Travel or Service Experience, Slush as Promoter of Finland’s Image of the Year, WWF’s Norppalive (wwwf.fi/norppalive) as the Most Attractive Social Media Presence, Finnair as the Responsible Operator of the Year.

In addition, the jury gave two special prizes: Finnish Travel Gala Special Mention to VR’s Kiss-some event for promoting Finland’s image and Finnish Travel Gala Special Award for the Olympia Air Travel Ltd.

Earlier, in June this year, Visit Rovaniemi received the Communication of the Year award for its cooperation work and inventive marketing ideas. The Finnish Association of Communication Professionals (ProCom – Viestinnänammattilaisetry) conferred the award on June 6.

Also on November 15 last year, President Sauli Niinistö presented the 2016 Internationalisation Award to Rovaniemi Mayor Esko Lotvonen and Visit Rovaniemi Managing Director Sanna Kärkkäinen at the Presidential Palace for their long-term cooperation in internationalising the city.