ISSUE 49 (128) • 3 - 9 DECEMBER 2009 • €3 • WWW.HELSINKITIMES.FI TRAVEL DOMESTIC INTERNATIONAL Special issue: Become Climate Destination fluent in talks reach Lapland Finnish Copenhagen pages 17-19 page 6 page 11 The Best International Masters Degree Programme in SERVICE DESIGN AND ENGINEERING in Europe Management, Innovation, Technology, Architecture, Security, Governance, Strategy Internet, Telecom, Banking, Finance, Healthcare, Government, Social Networks LEHTIKUVA / MIKKO STIG an nations should be shipped by 18 Christmas December, the postal service rec- ommends. Parcels going elsewhere in Europe should be mailed by the postal rush 11th, while those going anywhere else in the world need to be sent by 8 December. begins First-class letters to the Nordic re- DAVID J. CORD gion must be sent by 18 December. For HELSINKI TIMES EU countries, the deadline is the 16th, while for North America it is 11 Decem- THE FINNISH post offi ce warns that ber. Letters heading to other countries the clock is ticking to have let- should be posted by the 8th. ters and packages delivered before Domestic packages should be post- Christmas. ed by 18 December, while letters and Those with family and friends post cards must be sent by the 21st. abroad often hurry this time of Post offi ces will be open nor- year to have items posted on time. mal hours during weekdays, and on “I normally post to family members the second and third weekends of abroad, but rarely to relatives in December. Finland,” says Niina Kokko. “Most If using other delivery services, of the items go to America. We try DHL recommends shipping to Europe to limit the sizes to match the kilo- by the 8th, and all other countries by gram guidelines to be delivered.” the 4th. They offer country-specif- First-class parcels shipped ic guidelines on what items may be to most Baltic and Scandinavi- posted and possible taxes due. Anonymous HIV testing Looking ahead: in the coming years the real growth in Lapland's winter tourist trade is likely to come from the East. still rare in Finland Central Europe and Russia SINIKKA SUOSALMI – STT to avoid pointless worrying. General MATTHEW PARRY – HT public advice encouraging voluntary testing has become more common in IT IS NOT yet possible to have an several countries. Despite this, the key to Lapland’s growth anonymous HIV test in many health majority of the population remain centres in Finland. The Finnish Aids untested and unaware. ket growth for Lapland tourism. He Council investigated the possibilities Celebrated on 1 December, World International tourism in Lapland has long been domi- also argues that extending Lap- for having an anonymous test at the AIDS Day was established to raise land’s tourism season would attract end of October in a total of 130 health awareness of ways to prevent the HIV nated by the Brits. Now the region is turning its gaze more foreign visitors. centres. Only around one in four were epidemic, and to battle AIDS-related eastwards. “The greatest source of poten- able to offer the test without fi rst de- prejudice and discrimination against tial growth in Lapland’s region- manding identifi cation papers. HIV-infected individuals. Information al economy lies in foreign tourism, According to directions from the about HIV tests and testing locations HELSINKI TIMES United Kingdom. During the Christ- not forgetting domestic tourism, of Ministry of Social Affairs and Health, can be found online at www.maail- mas season in particular, tour- course.” anonymous and cost-free testing manaidspaiva.fi (also in English). ists have traditionally come from Lapland’s tourism infrastruc- should have been possible since 1993. INCENTIVE travel to Lapland is there,” says Thomas Kingelin, sales ture, including airports, provides a If a health centre is unable to provide – There are around 500-1,000 steadily increasing, even if the re- manager at Finavia. solid base for year-round travel. this service, they should direct the people in Finland who are un- cession has impacted heavily on Finavia estimates that a total of “At the moment, tourism in Lap- person requesting the test to a place knowingly infected. Christmas travel to the Arctic re- 400 international charter fl ights land is heavily seasonal and focused that can provide it. – According to estimates, there are gion. The larger tour operators are will arrive in Lapland in December, on winter. Attempts are being made Lowering the threshold for testing about 33.4 million HIV-infected convinced that tourism will revive which is a fi fth less than last year. to increase visibility in central and and early identifi cation of infection people worldwide. in Christmas 2010. In addition, foreign tourists will be southern Europe. Finavia’s market- are important. It is estimated that – The rate of new infections has There are already signs of recov- deposited by Finnair, Finncom and ing is aimed at increasing direct there may be as many as 500-1,000 begun to decline. ery in companies’ incentive travel, Blue1 fl ights arriving via Helsinki. fl ight connections between Europe people in Finland who are infected – Around 2.7 million new infec- a corporate bonus offered to em- “Charter fl ight reservations and Lapland, as well as year-round but unaware of the fact. If diagnosed tions were diagnosed last year. ployees. Tour operators in the Unit- have been made by foreign tour op- accessibility with the help of reg- early, effective care for the infected – Thanks to the spread of effective ed Kingdom also believe that fl ight erators, and at the moment they’re ular fl ights via Helsinki,” reports patient can begin in time, adding ac- treatment, AIDS-induced deaths traffi c will increase in December being heavily marketed to fi ll capac- Kingelin. tive years to his or her life. According have fallen by more than ten per 2010. ity,” notes Kingelin. to the Finnish Aids Council, it al- cent over the last five years. “Internationally, Lapland’s most Kingelin sees central Europe and See related ways pays to get tested, even if only important source of tourism is the Russia as important sources of mar- stories on pages 17-19 and 23. 2 3 – 9 DECEMBER 2009 VIEWPOINT HELSINKI TIMES ONE CAN go to the top of the Arch in a lift for fi ve peo- ple sitting closely togeth- Finland's gateway to the American West er. Though claustrophobic myself, I felt I had to hon- ously, aesthetically and emo- was perhaps the most trium- our Saarinen's achievement tionally. Long used to Finnish phant building of 20th-cen- by ascending the structure One of Finland’s greatest design classics is constructed in the United art, I was nevertheless aston- tury America. Both structures and enjoying the incompa- States and revered as an icon the world over. ished at the impact that the seem to “want to fl y”. IBM, rable view of the Mississippi towering structure had on General Motors and CBS all and Missouri rivers and their me. Yet, I was in good com- commissioned Saarinen for confl uence from the top. Eero THE LOUISIANA Purchase can architects. The historical pany. James Michener, of all HQ buildings and he fi gured Saarinen took US citizenship doubled the size of the United signifi cance attached to such people, in his book Centenni- prominently in the prestigious in 1940, so technically he be- States, making it bigger than a monument meant that it al wrote: “In the West we have Smithsonian Gallery of Art as came a Finnish-American. He Western Europe and facilitat- attracted submissions from produced only two serious well as serving on the jury for remained, however, a ne plus ed, in due course, the emer- 172 architects. Two entries works of art: the Clovis spear- the Sydney Opera House com- ultra Finn. We see this in his gence of the US as a world soared above all others, an- head of 12,000 years ago and mission, and was crucial in the compelling perfectionism, power fabulously rich in land, nd they were from a father the wonderful arch along the selection of the famous shell- his creative search for excel- waterways and every imagina- and his son. They were both waterfront in St Louis.” like design (similar to his own lence. He sought to create a ble natural resource. One huge Finns. First, the jury mis- at Kennedy airport). monument not only to Lewis problem, however, presented takenly awarded the com- THE ARCH was completed in and Clark's endeavours but itself: the vast tracts of land petition to the father, Eliel 1966, a century and a half af- THE TASK of the construction to his own “belief in the per- stretching from the Mississip- Saarinen. One week later, re- ter the momentous surge west of the Gateway Arch, carried fectibility of mankind and pi river to the Pacifi c Ocean alising their error, they gave from St Louis. This historic out over the fi ve years fol- the nobility of existence”. were almost entirely unex- it to the son, Eero Saarinen. breakthrough had cried out lowing Saarinen's death, was plored. The prospect of tam- for a striking commemora- a monumental achievement LIKE AALTO, Sibelius, Kivi, ing this enormous wilderness, THE SAARINEN family, which tive symbol. It is to Finland's in more senses than one. Be- Runeberg and Gallén-Kalle- Richard Donald Lewis inhabited by numerous tribes had held a great celebration credit that one of her sons cause there were no 700- la, Saarinen made our spir- is a British linguist, of Native Americans, had no party for Eliel, now capped it achieved this and with such foot cranes, how was one to its soar.