Tourism in Rovaniemi spikes further

The number of overnight stays by tourists at the accommodation facilities in Rovaniemi has been on a sharp rise in the recent period and the trend is expected to continue in the near future.

The number of tourists’ registered overnight stays in Rovaniemi in November last posted a 25 per cent spike from that in November 2016.

The development in tourism has been great in Rovaniemi, said Visit Rovaniemi Managing Director Sanna Kärkkäinen. “The growth in tourism numbers for the winter season was bigger than we expected. We have been delighted that there are so many nationalities among our travellers.”

Kärkkäinen also expects that tourism will keep on growing throughout 2018. “At some stage the growth angle would ease down and would not be that sharp anymore. Summer would see burgeoning tourism in 2019 and bring better income and more travellers to Lapland. We aim that by 2020 there would not be any big difference between summer and winter tourism.”

According to the Visit Rovaniemi chief executive, new investments in unique accommodations and their success in global hotel awards these days are attracting more tourists to Rovaniemi. “Tours to Lapland in the winter have become very popular. The cool Arctic climate, snow, and the pure and clean nature profile a modern luxurious travel product,” she said, adding the northern lights to the list of attractions.

According to Kärkkäinen, Finland is a stable country. Everything works and functions well here. The hometown of Santa Claus is a unique destination for tourists as there is no other place like it. “Rovaniemi rocks in destination marketing!”

She said China for sure would be among the top tourism markets in the future, both in winter and in summer. “Singapore is another vital market for Rovaniemi, too. Israel might be a potential summer market. We are also noticing an increase in tourists from India and would see it as a summer market. Malaysia, the Philippines and Indonesia are trending. And the travel business from USA and Australia has huge development possibilities as well.”

Tourism is taking big steps in Rovaniemi and Lapland and is growing faster than the global tourism, asserted Kärkkäinen. She, however, pointed out that “During the peak of the development we need to pay attention to the quality of the travel products, customers’ feedback and the feedback from local citizens. More employers with good skills are needed now and in the near future. All that calls for even better cooperation between the private and the public sector. Only by working together, we can create a full-year operating and sustainable high-quality travel destination.”

In November 2017, a total of 53,800 overnight stays by tourists were registered in Rovaniemi, of which Finns accounted for 21,600 and foreigners 32,200. The highest number of 3,300 overnight stays was made by Chinese tourists. Between January and November 2017, the number of registered overnight stays by domestic visitors in Rovaniemi was 203,000 and by foreign visitors 314,000 that makes a total of 517,000.