Good year for tourism in Helsinki in spite of cool and rainy July

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Rain came down on Monday morning on the sightseeing boat pier at Helsinki’s Market Square, but the cool summer weather did not seem to shake the resolve of the more fearless among foreign tourists visiting the Finnish capital. About 20 members of a Canadian ringette team were happily waiting for a water bus to take them to the island fortress of Suomenlinna.
      “The trip has been nice. Who cares about the weather”, said Alusha Kulka, one of the team members.
     
Meanwhile, Josef and Elisabeth Strobl from Switzerland were waiting on the pier for the first sightseeing cruise. The two had heard about the beauty of the islands near Helsinki. After the arrival of the Sunlines M/S Diana, the two opened their umbrellas to let them dry on the floor of the inside cabin of the vessel.
      The rain and temperatures below 15 degrees Celsius have scared off all Fins. There are fewer than 15 other passengers on board, from Britain, Austria, Spain, and Italy.
      “Tourists will go to sea even in poor weather. Finns first look out of their window. When the weather is nice, as it was the previous weekend, all of the archipelago vessels were packed full right away”, says Raija Hujanen, hostess on the Diana.
      Foreign tourists are an increasingly important target group. For that reason, passenger numbers have not declined in spite of poor weather conditions”, says Jukka Rautakorpi, head of Sunlines’ competitor, Royal Line. Various theme cruises, such as excursions to the city of Porvoo, are increasingly in demand; people take them regardless of the weather.
      Helsinki’s third large archipelago cruise line, IHA Lines, also reports an increase in demand in spite of the disappointing weather this summer.
     
“Hot sunshine is not the ideal weather for travellers. Although July was cool, except for the end of the month, we had more customers than we have had in years”, says Seppo Turunen, director of the Korkeasaari Zoo. In July there were 152,000 visitors at the zoo. “I suppose that we can exceed 500,000 visitors this year”, Turunen predicted.
      Risto Räikkönen, managing director of the Linnanmäki amusement park, is also pleased with the summer so far. “This July was the second-best in the 59-year history of the park”, Räikönen calculated.
      However, Aleksi Mattila, director of the Serena water park, yearned for warmer days. “The cold weather has reduced business by 10-15 per cent”, Mattila calculates. However, the Puuhamaa amusement park in Janakkala, which is owned by the same company that runs Serena, reports a normal season.
      Meteorologist Asko Hutila says that normally the Helsinki region has between six and seven days in July in which the temperature exceeds 25 degrees Celsius. This year, Hutila calculates there have been about as many such days all summer.
      But the summer is not over yet. Hutila says that it is quite possible to get hot days in August as well. “The coming ten days will nevertheless be cool, and as the weekend approaches, there will also be rain”, Hutila predicts.

More on this subject:
 Tuesday weather: fast vessels to Tallinn kept in port by gusting winds

Previously in HS International Edition:
  Korkeasaari Zoo
  Serena water park

Links:
  Royal Line cruises
  Sunlines - Helsinki sightseeing

Helsingin Sanomat