Poor flights prove to be a hindrance for Finland tourism

Finland is a quite holiday destination and its breathtaking beauty and pristine winters along with the dazzling Northern Lights can catch the fancy of any tourists who loves musing on

nature. Finland attracts increasing number of international tourist.

But recently there has been a decrease in overnight stays in Lapland between 2012 and 2013 (down from 2.09 million from January to November 2012 to 2.08 million during the same period in 2013), there has been a clear trend showing more interest in the region by foreign tourists.

Between January and November 2012, overseas tourists visiting Lapland increased from just under 780,000 to over 795,000 during the same period one year later.

Poor flights from capital Helsinki is the factor behind the numbers getting less in Finland feel tourism entrepreneurs.

Around 84 percent of our tour operators said they had lost sales because of poor flight connections, said Satu Luiro, senior tourism advisor with the Regional Council of Lapland, which administers the region, quoting a recent survey done between December 2013 and January 2014. Those surveyed included operators in Finland, but also from other locations such as Japan and Britain.

According to Luiro, while operators who could afford to book charters weren’t hit as hard, most tour operators who suffered heavy losses were dependent on normal route flights. There was a  loss of 52 percent of their Lapland business.

Luiro blamed weak support for northern tourism growth on excessively high ticket prices, insufficient capacity on normal air routes into Lapland, and generally thin connections flying into the region. Since Finnair is the only national carrier, perhaps other companies in the region would help improve the transport conditions. Other foreign-based airlines only fly in during the high season but we need more capacity during the off-season.

Tourists coming from Asia have to wait for long hours to get a connecting flight to Lapland. Also smaller operators who could not foot the bill for charters were often forced to organize expensive ground transfers for their clients, tour operators have to absorb the transportation costs to avoid putting further strain on tourists’ pockets.

Finnair has assured more flights in the peak tourist season in November but the tourism industry wants year round business flights between Helsinki and Lapland.

Russians, Asians and Britons come to Finland during the winters and more flight connections will draw greater tourist. Summers too are quite remarkable in Finland and tourism will grow given the right support.