The post-Christmas period brings with it a flow of visitors across Finland’s eastern border. Finnish traders expect more than 400-thousand Russian visitors to visit Finland well into the New Year. Increasingly, these well-heeled visitors aren’t content to just spend their time shopping, but want to be entertained with tailor made programmes.
In Russia the Christmas holidays are just getting started and holiday makers are heading west to Finland for the year end break. About 100,000 tourists will head for Helsinki, others will visit towns near the Russian border, and still others will head to Finnish Lapland.
Most Russian visitors travel with their own cars, but others prefer to avoid the hassle of driving themselves, and use the Finnish state rail system, VR.
VR says it has laid on 30 extra carriages from Moscow to deal with the seasonal demand. The first of them arrived in Helsinki yesterday.
“The majority of the extra trains will arrive here in Helsinki, but then other trains chartered by travel agencies will travel on to Rovaniemi and Kuopio,” explained Ari Vanhanen a director of long-haul routes for VR.
Vanhanen said that traveler numbers from Russia have steadily increased during the Christmas holidays.
“It has always followed the development of the Russian economy, so that during a recession or downturn, then traveler numbers have declined and they have increased during good years. It seems that now it is it still prospering,” he added.
This year the holiday period is a few days shorter for Russians. In spite of this, Finnish retailers are expecting their Russian guests to spend as much money as they did last year – around 200 million euros.
But for some tourists, the spending time – and money – in the shops isn’t enough of an enticement to cross the border. They want to be entertained with tailor-made holiday programmes, particularly involving cultural experiences.
Yle spoke to some Russian tourists in Helsinki who said highlights for them included historical sights, museum and architecture.
“We are spending the New Year here. We have wanted to visit Finland for a long time. The shopping comes last,” laughed Muscovite Olga.
City of Helsinki tourism spokesperson Nina Lager noted that Russian tourists are increasingly looking for programmes conducted in their own language.
“Russians don’t come to Finland to shop, they want something to do. They especially want field trips and activities, something they can do with the entire family,” she added.
However, with weather conditions favouring only the most intrepid outdoorsmen, an evening of bowling might just suffice, particularly for those who come primarily to spend time with friends and family. One St. Petersburg family was doing just that at the Flamingo hotel and spa in Vantaa.
“We usually rent a cottage somewhere in Finland. The men ski, fish and play ice hockey. It’s the women who go shopping,” quipped family dad Sergei.
Source: YLE
http://yle.fi/uutiset/russians_look_for_unique_holiday_experiences/7003748