Lapland travel boom
Finland is entering the third and final week of the school winter holidays, and Ilta-Sanomat carries a piece looking at the flood of foreign tourists in Finnish Lapland at the moment.
The international visitors have displaced Finns to such an extent that in December, the peak of the winter season, just 12 percent of overnight stays are spent by Finns.
That’s not too surprising, as the average cost of a hotel room at that time was 273 euros. Finns are not keen to spend big money on those rooms, or on experiences like ascending a hillside in a piste caterpillar to look at the aurora borealis.
The reporter had joined an Indian couple doing exactly that, at a cost of 129 euros per head. Finns are not going to spend that money when they could just as easily view the light show from the back yard of their rental cottage.
The irony, according to the IS piece, is that every plane arriving in Lapland increases the rarity of, well, Lapland winters in the traditional sense. Climate change is accelerating and aviation is one of the biggest contributing factors, but Lapland tourism promoters don’t have time to stop and consider that long-term impact.
Related stories from around the North:
Canada: Airlines’ new routes from N.W.T. to Ontario can capitalize on int’l tourism: expert, CBC News
Finland: Lapland tourism marketing under scrutiny as EU tightens greenwashing rules, Yle News
Greenland: New Copenhagen-Kangerlussuaq flight aims to boost Greenland tourism, Eye on the Arctic
Iceland: Iceland moving ahead on better ways to manage tourism & safeguard protected areas, Eye on the Arctic
Sweden: Reindeer herding affected by increased tourism in Swedish mountains, Radio Sweden
