Helsinki wants to introduce more islands to recreational use

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Helsinki decision-makers are pondering how the local residents and the tourists alike could better utilise the city’s numerous islands.
      Of the more than 300 islands of the Helsinki Archipelago, the city owns around a quarter. The majority of the islands are owned by the state, which in turn has turned over the use of nearly all of them to the Defence Forces.
      Private individuals own a tenth of the land-area of the islands just outside the Finnish capital. The remaining islands belong to companies and organisations.
      There is a waterborne traffic connection to not more than thirteen islands, and only a couple of them provide visitors with any kind of services.
      The most popular destinations are Korkeasaari, the home of the Helsinki Zoo, the former fortress island of Suomenlinna, and the beach island of Pihlajasaari.
     
The aim of the planned consultation account is to update the unrealised idea first suggested at the turn of the millennium by a committee that discussed the utilisation of the city’s sea areas.
      One of the islands would become the key target with accommodation and restaurant facilities. This main island would then be complemented by 4-5 other islands, all of which would have their own operations concept.
      “The task will be put out to tender soon, and a finished report can be expected towards the end of the year”, explains project coordinator Antti Kaivonen of the Helsinki City Tourist & Convention Bureau.
      Kaivonen refuses to speculate if the report will then lead to decisions.
      “This is a big deal. The municipal engineering infrastructure has to be provided, as well as a point of support on the mainland.”
     
The strongest candidate for the key island is Vasikkasaari in the body of water known as Kruunuvuorenselkä. Already ten years ago there were outlines to turn Vasikkasaari into a recreational centre, and a local plan for the island was drawn.
      Vasikkasaari does not have any kind of municipal engineering yet. For a long time it has served as a recreational, camping, and holiday cabin area.
      The island also has a dock for waterborne traffic, and in the northern part there is a sauna village enterprise in operation.
      The distance from Helsinki's Kauppatori, the market square beside the South Harbour, is about three kilometres.
      A water bus link already exists to the Kaunissaari island in Sipoo, but for the city’s intentions this island is too far away, lying 22 kilometres by waterways from central Helsinki.
      Elisaari outside of Inkoo also has services, but it is without a waterbus connection from Helsinki, and it is all of 65 kilometres away.
     
”Already years ago it was established that the use of the islands should be decentralised”, says Helsinki Deputy Mayor Pekka Sauri.
      “Of all the islands Suomenlinna is in a league of its own, but the wear on the place is inevitable.”
      According to Sauri the implementation of the Vasikkasaari idea has stalled because of lack of funding.
      Sauri has established a working group to look into developing waterborne traffic as part of the city’s public transportation system. The group is considering the future connections to Suomenlinna and also waterborne traffic to Laajasalo’s Kruunuvuorenranta beach.
      “Getting a light-rail or Metro link there does not seem likely in the near future”, Sauri concludes.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Good year for tourism in Helsinki in spite of cool and rainy July (5.8.2008)

Links:
  Helsinki City Tourist & Convention Bureau

Helsingin Sanomat