Lack of Christmas strategy hinders development of Arctic Circle region
By Josetta Mykkänen
Already in the foyer of the log building the visitor is confronted by the Christmassy fragrance of a winter night. Soon after that the eyes accommodate to the dim light. At the rear, fires burn and candles adorn the tables. Birds sing, and a brook babbles between the fir trees.
The friendly host, Matti Korva, shakes the hands of his guests and begins to describe the story of the restaurant Santamus.
The restaurant, located on the Arctic Circle, near Rovaniemi Airport, has a capacity for 100 guests, who can expect memorable experiences. In addition to dining on gourmet food, patrons can pan for gold in the brook, have a sauna, relax in a peat food bath, or make music.
The windows are covered in a way that makes the sense of time disappear. The world of fantasy has a magical appeal. One is tempted to pull on a pair of woolen socks, and lie down on a reindeer pelt at least for a few days.
The atmosphere can raise the price of a meal to about EUR 100. "For the experience, you can bill 30 to 50 percent more than for an ordinary restaurant meal", he says.
Miikka Raulo, head of the Centre for Excellence of Finnish Lapland, feels that Santamus is one of the best locations for adventure travellers in the province, because everything is planned from beginning to end, for all five senses. Even the technology for the sound environment has been hidden away.
The problem of Santamus is that it is too dependent on Matti Korva. There are no guarantees that the experience will be the same if Korva himself is not hosting the guests.
For instance, in Tallinn, the medieval themed restaurant Olde Hansa has gone a step further; the creation of experiences for the diners has been turned into a mechanism that works like a factory. Dozens of waiters and waitresses have been trained to produce a uniform type of service with strict quality control.
A stone’s throw away the Santa Claus Village is not quite as successful in promoting the theme. It’s restaurant, its various souvenir shops, and the car park environment create a milieu that is more reminiscent of a petrol station than a Christmas fantasy. In the winter everything is probably better, with snow obscuring the bleakness of the surroundings.
Nevertheless, the place is one of the top destinations in Finland even in the summer, because Santa Claus himself is available in his village every day. The place attracts the same 60,000 people in July as it does around the yuletide. Even now there is a long line of foreigners queueing to get an audience. About one third of the village’s annual turnover of EUR 12 million comes during Christmas, and another third comes in the summer.
The June-August period is actually a better season, because the flow of visitors spreads over a longer period of time, and is therefore easier to handle, says Jarmo Kariniemi, CEO of the Santa Claus Office.
Nevertheless, as it is now, Santa’s premises are below standard, and visits to Santa cannot be expanded into a broader fantasy experience.
Official Christmas coordinator Ahti Ahonen feels that Santa Claus could easily be turned into an icon of Finnish tourism. However, this cannot succeed until the country gets a national Christmas strategy.
Ahonen, who works for the federation of municipalities of the Rovaniemi region, has helped advance the commercial use of Santa Claus to a certain degree. Santa Claus training is arranged in Rovaniemi from time to time, and a Christmas material bank has been set up on the Internet.
However, Ahonen warns that care must be exercised in the commercial exploitation of Santa Claus.
"We need to leave Santa with a Papal position. We must not try to tear everything out of him", he says.
Lacking a strong Finnish Santa Claus brand, British visitors who eagerly travel to Finnish Lapland, have brought their own to the area. Ahonen says that the Christmas visits to Lapland of many British tourists are produced in Britain; Canterbury Travels brings its own Santa Claus, Christmas fairies, foods, and will soon have a hotel of its own to Finland.
Helsingin Sanomat - first published in print 1.8.2005
More on this subject:
 Finnish Lapland strives to excel in adventure travel
JOSETTA NOUSJOKI / Helsingin Sanomat
josetta.nousjoki@hs.fi
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