Christmas and New Year in Finland again attract Russian tourists

Finnish Tourist Board warns against price hikes

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After a few quiet seasons, the sales of Christmas and New Year trips to Finland have again reached record levels in Russia.
      After having sold out nearly all package tours to Finland, tour operators report that there is a shortage of large rental cottages.
      "Based on the number of visas granted, about 50,000 Russian tourists will spend the Christmas season in Finland", estimates Arto Asikainen, the head of the Moscow Office of the Finnish Tourist Board.
     
According to Asikainen, only about 35,000 Russian travellers spent their New Year in Finland last year. This would indicate a growth of some 40 percent in the sales of tours to Finland from Russia this time around.
      The majority of Russian tourists wish to spend the New Year in large well-appointed cottages together with their families and friends. This year, some of them will nevertheless have to settle for hotel accommodation, as the number of large cottages in the immediate vicinity of services and shopping opportunities is not sufficient.
     
The sales of Christmas and New Year tours started exceptionally early in Russia this autumn. The first trips were on sale in August, and by October business was booming.
      Perhaps the biggest reason for the Russian holiday rush is that the entire first week of January 2006 is a public holiday in Russia. As it happens, the practice was introduced last New Year, but notification came too late for tourists or travel agencies to take full advantage of it.
     
Even Finns have been working hard to attract the lost Russian tourists back to Finland.
      The Finnish Tourist Board hopes that travel entrepreneurs would hold prices at moderate levels and take good care of Russian tourists. Like everywhere, even in Russia the best advertisement is still a friend's recommendation, and the Finns may have early been guilty of thinking that the Russian tourists, who are often well-heeled, would pay any price asked.
     
The Finnish Tourist Board (MEK) has spent close to EUR 200,000 on the promotion of the neighbours' New Year holidaymaking in Finland. While impressive advertising campaigns have been run in Moscow and St. Petersburg, attention has been paid also to other Russian metropolises, including Samara, Rostov-on-Don, and Jekaterinburg.
      "Particularly during holiday seasons, Russian tourists appreciate good entertainment programmes which are easy to include in tour operators' other services", Asikainen notes.
      In 2005, the estimated number of Russian tourists making holiday trips to Finland over the southeastern border crossings will be close to half a million. Half of the trips are short visits that last less than 24 hours.
      The majority of Russians come to Finland in the winter. Only one-third of all overnights occur in the summer.
      Typically, a Russian holidaymaker spends EUR 177 on average during his or her visit to Finland.
      Around 60 chartered flights and six special trains will bring Russian tourists to Finland for the upcoming New Year.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Immigration and tourism from Russia boost economy and population of Eastern Finland (15.3.2005)
  Holiday village for Russian tourists to be built in Finland (10.5.2004

Links:
  The Finnish Tourist Board (MEK)

Helsingin Sanomat