Arctic Café holds meeting on Chinese tourism

Arctic Café held a meeting on April 25 at the Arktikum Library on “How many Chinese Lapland can accommodate?”

The meeting discussed the effects of the rapidly growing Chinese tourism on life in Lapland and what the City of Rovaniemi can do to cope with this phenomenon.

Rovaniemi City Mayor Esko Lotvonen and Santa Park Managing Director Ilkka Länkinen addressed the meeting hosted by Arctic Centre Head of Science and Communications Markku Heikkilä.

“It was in a way a positive discussion. We discussed the role of Chinese tourism, whether there is a threat or if it’s a positive thing. The main message was that we are very happy with the growth in Chinese tourism but we will keep the development in our hands very strictly,” Mayor Lotvonen told the Daily Finland.

He said, “The main issue is that we will and we should handle the growth... It is in our hands, so that we can cope with it, taking account of the environmental issues, safety questions, and security....”

According to Lotvonen, it is also important to keep the balance of nationalities.

When asked why they chose this topic, Heikkilä told the Daily Finland, “We were discussing the important issues in Lapland right now, and obviously tourism is one of them. It also related to the investment issues. It was a kind of combination of different subjects.”

Replying to a query regarding the purpose of these types of meeting, Lotvonen said this is a good way of discussing the concurrent issues, since the backgrounds of the organisers and participants provide a good knowledge base for the discussion.

Around 20 people attended the meeting and joined in the discussion. Among them were researchers, civil servants, as well as people interested in the topic. “It was not an academic discussion... It was a general discussion for general people,” said Heikkilä.

The Arctic Café is a new name for the Barents Café which opened five years ago. Before that there was a Think Barents project which organised in 2010-2012.

“It [Think Barents project] came up with the concept of having this kind of discussions for local people on topics of local issues,” said Heikkilä.

Every year, the Arctic Café holds several sessions in spring and autumn. All the sessions this year are being co-organised by the Arctic Centre and the Research Association of Lapland.

The next two meetings will discuss tourism in general and the Arctic Council’s chairmanship.