TOURISM DEVELOPMENT in FINLAND Case Study -Tourism Development in Lapland and Its Socio- Economic Impacts
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Md. Habibur Rahman TOURISM DEVELOPMENT IN FINLAND Case Study -Tourism Development in Lapland and its Socio- economic Impacts Thesis CENTRIA UNIVERSITY OF APPLIED SCIENCES Degree Programme in Tourism January 2014 ABSTRACT CENRIA UNIVERSITY OF Date Author APPLIED SCIENCES January 2014 Md.Habibur Rahman Kokkola-Pietarsaari Unit Degree programme Degree Programme in Tourism Name of thesis TOURISM DEVELOPMENT IN FINLAND Case Study -Tourism Development in Lapland and its Socio-economic Impacts Supervisor Pages Katarina Broman 56+2 The availability of tourism product and services and the combination of planning and having a marketing strategy stimulate the development of tourism in Finland. Finland has many potential attractions starting from places of natural beauty to cultural and ancient heritage that can be more developed in the Finnish tourism industry which provides employment, tax, and export income and increases welfare throughout Finland. Lapland is one of the most important regions of Finland for tourism business which was highlighted through this study. The study exposed to encourage tourism development in Finland especially in Lapland area and to motivate people for participating in tourism development activities as well as changing their economic situation through tourism development in Finland. The main task of study is to find out the factors for developing tourism and socio- economical effect of tourism in Finland, as well as developing the destination especially in Lapland. The study was based on both the qualitative and quantitative research method where secondary data was used from different sources as quantitative research and where the qualitative research method included semi-structured interviews and observation. In this research study six interviews were taken by the researcher as a part of the survey activities. The result of study emphasized the facts that Finland needs to have sufficient promotional activities for the destinations to get a large number of tourists from all over the world. Finland should have proper combination of planning and marketing strategy which stimulates the tourism development in Finland as well as in Lapland. The result also revealed that tourism development in Finland as well as in Lapland has many advantages which can assist the host community of Lapland region economically, socially and culturally in terms of generating new job opportunities, improving living style and exchanging the cultural views with the tourist. Key words Accommodation, communication, destination, development, host community, marketing, organization, planning, qualitative research, quantitative research, sustainable, tourism ABSTRACT TABLE OF CONTENTS 1 INTRODUCTION 1 2 THE DEVELOPMENT OF TOURISM 3 2.1 Tourism planning 4 2.2 Tourism marketing 5 3 TOURISM POTENTIALS IN FINLAND 7 3.1 Potentiality for creating employment 7 3.2 Potentiality for implementing strategies 8 3.3 Pricing policy of tourism products and services 9 3.4 The Åland Islands 10 3.5 Näsinneula Tower 10 3.6 Olavinlinna Castle 11 3.7 Petäjävesi Old Church 12 3.8 Turku Castle 13 3.9 Temppeliaukio Church 14 3.10 Fortress of Suomenlinna 15 3.11 Karelia 16 4 LAPLAND 18 4.1 Tourism strategy for Lapland 19 4.2 Lapland’s transportation system 20 4.3 Attractive tourist destinations in Lapland 22 4.3.1 Rovaniemi 23 4.3.2 Levi 25 4.3.3 Äkäslompolo 27 4.3.4 Ruka 27 4.3.5 Saariselkä 28 4.3.6 Ylläs 29 4.3.7 Other destinations in Lapland 29 5 RESEARCH METHODS 31 5.1 Research method 31 5.2 Quantitative research method 32 5.3 Qualitative research method 32 5.4 Analysis 33 5.4.1 Analysis of the expert interview 34 5.4.2 Analysis of the resident and tourist interview 40 5.5 Observations 42 5.5.1 Tourism development in the Lapland area 43 5.5.2 Socio-economic impact on the Lapland area 44 5.6 Findings 45 5.7 Reliability and validity 47 6 RECOMMENDATIONS AND CONCLUSION 49 6.1 Recommendations 49 6.2 Conclusions 52 REFERENCES 54 APPENDICES GRAPHS GRAPH 1. Näsinneula Tower 11 GRAPH 2. Olavinlinna Castle 12 GRAPH 3. Petäjävesi Old Church 13 GRAPH 4. Turku Castle in Turku 14 GRAPH 5. Temppeliaukio Church in Helsinki 15 GRAPH 6. Fortress of Suomenlinna 16 GRAPH 7. Map of Lapland 21 GRAPH 8.Detailed map of Finland 22 GRAPH 9. Santa Claus Hometown 24 GRAPH 10. Levi Ski Resort 26 GRAPH 11. A picture of Aurora Borealis in Levi 27 TABLES TABLE 1. Significance of tourism sectors for Finland’s economy 7 TABLE2. Total number of employed persons (1995-2008) 8 1 1 INTRODUCTION Tourism is the fastest growing and the largest economic industry in the world. Finland has been developing in the tourism sector since last couple of decades. Tourism is now one of the fastest growing industries in Finland. It has diverse effects on economic activity in different regions of Finland such as: Helsinki, Lapland, Tampere, Turku and many other places. The development of tourism in Lapland is mentionable and the host communities are seriously benefited from socio-economic points of view. According to the report of World Tourism Organization (2010) the international tourist arrival in Finland increased by 7% to 940 million and generated € 693 billion export earnings However, in October 2013 overnight stays by foreign tourist just under 316,000 which was 2,9% lower than last year and domestic tourist stayed over one million days which was 1,8% lower than last year. The total number of overnight stays decreased by 2,1% compared to last year (Accommodation statistics 15.12.2013). UN World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) has forecasted in their newly released report that Finland is being a Nordic country which situated in the region of Northern Europe International tourist arrivals will amount to 1.8 billion by 2030. (Finland’s Tourism Strategy to 2020. 2011.) Finland is surrounded by Sweden, Norway, Russia and Estonia. According to area it is the eighth largest country in Europe and among 338,445 square Kilometers the coastline is 14018 km. It has also the largest number of islands, approximately more than 81,000 islands and among these the largest one is the Åland Islands which are all very attractive. It has also the largest area of forest in Europe which covers 86 percent of its land area and there are 2189 million cubic meters timber in these forests. There are also 200,000 lakes all over the Finland which are also attraction for the tourist. (Finland’s Tourism Strategy to 2020. 2011) During the summer time all of Finland looks very beautiful with green flora. It has a long day in summer especially in the north where the sun does not set at all and in the summer times tourists usually go fishing, canoeing, hunting, running, and some other summer activities .During the winter time the ice covers on an average area of 218000 km2. and there is a large snow castle with an ice hotel built every year in the northern city of Kemi , Rovaniemi and many tourist comes to Finland for enjoying winter times with ski , cross country ski ,ice hockey , ice yachting , ice skating, ice fishing and specially in Northern 2 Finland for reindeer sleighs with Sami drivers or in dog sleighs. There are lot of hotels, restaurant bars , night clubs and discos established in Finland which also attract the tourists. According to the statement of 2007, the total number of tourism business employed was 130,500 people who are generating approximately 4 billion euro per year in tax revenues and 3.8 per cent of GDP. In that sense Finland has very good prospect for enhancing its tourism business. (Finland’s Tourism Strategy to 2020. 2011) The main aim of the thesis is to find out the measures for developing tourism in Finland, as well as developing the destination specially in the Lapland area. It is also recognized as a part of the main aim, to work out how the tourism business impacts on a host community both socially and economically. The main objective of the thesis is to encourage tourism development in Finland especially in Lapland area and to motivate people for participating in tourism development activities as well as changing their economic situation through tourism development in Finland. This research study has also focused on the socio-economic impact on the host community in the Lapland area. It is really difficult to carry out the research work if there are some problems coming in this study which can disturb the accountability and accuracy of the survey to get the expected result .In this research study a couple of interviews have been taken by the researcher as a part of the survey activities .But there were some interviewees who did not have good knowledge about tourism development in Finland, hence it was difficult to conclude the interviews result by the researcher. Secondary data were being used in this study which was not updated. But researcher tried to prepare a document to find a solution to the research problem. 3 2 THE DEVELOPMENT OF TOURISM Tourism includes a large number of people away of their own places, different activities are performed by them during the travelling and they are enjoying facilities to make it a meaningful tour .Tourism is a unique grouping of industries agreed by worldwide people which is developing into a real worldwide activity and there are no boundaries. However, tourism was disparate and disproportionate for a long time. (Cooper, Fletcher, Fyall, Gilbert & Wanhill 2008, 5.) Tourism does not develop and become modernized in a short time, but it takes a long time, several hundred years. It is developing in every day. At the initial stages it was ordinary .People traveled to survive because of changing seasons and overall disfavor able situations.