Genealogical Tourism Services in Finland Mehtälä, Anna 2015 Kerava Laurea University of Applied Sciences Kerava Genealogical Tourism Services in Finland Anna Mehtälä Degree Programme in Tourism Bachelor’s Thesis November, 2015 Laurea University of Applied Sciences Abstract Kerava Degree Programme in Tourism Anna Mehtälä Genealogical Tourism Services in Finland Year 2015 Pages 34 The purpose of this bachelor’s thesis is to look into genealogical tourism to Finland, concen- trating especially in finding out what kind of services there are for this type of tourists or whether services exist in Finland at all. The theoretical framework consists primarily of the basic understanding of the supply of services in tourism as well as the definitions of genealog- ical tourism and its many synonyms and parallel terms found in literature. Some examples from other countries, namely Poland and Scotland are also taken to illustrate the different possibilities in the niche market and a short overview of the history of Finnish migration is provided to better understand the basis of the possible niche. Due to the limited scope of this type of thesis qualitative approach was chosen over the pos- sible quantitative method of finding and surveying actual genealogical tourists coming to Fin- land. The empirical section consists of two parts. The first is a content analysis on three dif- ferent Google searches on the subject and the second are semi-structured interviews done with the Institute of Migration and Genealogical Society of Finland. The results show a clear separation into genealogical services and tourism services. While some overlapping of the two could be observed it was very marginal and no real co-operation between genealogical organizations and tourism suppliers seemed to exist. The results indi- cate that while a clearer niche market could have be seen in Finland during the 1990’s, there was a drastic drop in genealogical tourists after that, possibly due to the Internet making family history research easier from home without the necessity to travel. While a few tour organizers were found offering services clearly directed and marketed to genealogical tourists, the websites were in all cases very outdated, including the layout and the provided information and thus they were mostly in line with the other findings. The ser- vices offered for the occasional genealogical tourist by the two organizations interviewed consisted mainly of advice and guidance on how to use the databases or on where to go to find the information needed to proceed with their research. Keywords: Genealogical tourism, genealogy, Finland, services Laurea-ammattikorkeakoulu Tiivistelmä Kerava Degree Programme in Tourism Anna Mehtälä Sukututkimusmatkailijan palvelut Suomessa Vuosi 2015 Sivumäärä 34 Tämän opinnäytetyön tarkoitus oli tarkastella Suomeen suuntautuvaa sukututkimusmatkailua, keskittyen siihen, millaisia palveluja sukututkimusmatkailijoille on tarjolla Suomessa. Opin- näytetyön teoreettinen viitekehys koostuu ensisijaisesti matkailun tarjonnan perusteista ja sukututkimusmatkailun ja sen monien kirjallisuudessa esiintyvien synonyymien ja rinnakkais- termien määrittelystä. Mukana on myös muutamia palveluesimerkkejä Puolasta ja Skotlannis- ta havainnollistamaan mahdollisia sukututkimusmatkailuun liittyviä mahdollisuuksia, sekä ly- hyt katsaus suomalaisen siirtolaisuuden historiaan, joka on pohjana mahdolliselle markkinara- olle. Opinnäytetyön rajallisuuden vuoksi tutkimus toteutettiin laadullisena määrällisen suoraan su- kututkimusmatkailijoille suunnatun kyselytutkimuksen sijaan. Sisällönanalyysi aiheeseen liit- tyvien Google-hakujen perusteella ja Siirtolaisuusinstituutin ja Suomen Sukututkimusseuran kanssa tehdyt teemahaastattelut valikoituivat tutkimusmenetelmiksi. Tuloksista kävi ilmi selkeä jako sukututkimuspalveluihin ja matkailupalveluihin. Vaikka joitain päällekkäisyyksiä oli havaittavissa, ne olivat hyvin marginaalisia, eikä todellista yhteistyötä sukututkimusta tukevien organisaatioiden ja matkailualan tuottajien välillä näyttänyt olevan. Tulokset viittasivat myös siihen, että vaikka Suomessa 1990-luvulla on kenties ollutkin selke- ämpi markkinarako sukututkimusmatkailulle, on se nykypäivään tultaessa huomattavasti ka- ventunut. Syynä on todennäköisesti Internetin mahdollistama kotoa tehtävä sukututkimus, jota tehdäkseen ei välttämättä tarvitse matkustella. Vaikka sisällönanalyysilla löytyi muutama matkanjärjestäjä, jotka selkeästi markkinoivat itse- ään sukututkimusmatkailijoille, olivat yritysten verkkosivut ulkoasua ja sisältöä myöten van- hentuneita ja täten pääosin tukivat muita löydöksiä. Haastateltujen organisaatioiden satun- naisille sukututkimusmatkailijoille tarjotut palvelut käsittivät pääosin neuvontaa, apua tieto- kantojen käytössä tai opastusta siitä, mistä tarvittava tieto saattaisi löytyä. Asiasanat: Sukututkimusmatkailu, sukututkimus, Suomi, palvelut Table of Contents 1 Introduction ......................................................................................... 6 1.1 Migration ..................................................................................... 7 1.2 Finnish Migration Movements ............................................................ 7 2 The Supply of Tourism ............................................................................ 8 3 Genealogical Tourism ........................................................................... 10 3.1 Synonyms and Parallel Terms in Literature.......................................... 12 3.2 Service Examples from Other Countries.............................................. 14 3.2.1 Scotland and the British Isles .................................................. 14 3.2.2 Poland .............................................................................. 16 3.2.3 Example Conclusions ............................................................. 16 4 Methodology ...................................................................................... 16 4.1 Qualitative Research .................................................................... 17 4.2 Content Analysis .......................................................................... 18 4.3 Semi-structured Interviews ............................................................. 18 5 Content Analysis of Google Searches ......................................................... 19 6 Semi-structured Interviews with Institute of Migration and Genealogical Society of Finland ..................................................................................................... 21 7 Conclusions ........................................................................................ 23 Illustrations ............................................................................................... 29 Figures ..................................................................................................... 30 Appendixes ................................................................................................ 31 1 Introduction This thesis concentrates on the niche market of genealogical tourism. The objective is finding out whether genealogical tourism services are offered in Finland and if they are, what type of services they mainly represent. To a smaller extent, the thesis is also an effort to determine whether there is recognized market potential in the niche market in Finland. The inspiration to conduct a thesis on the subject comes from the writer’s own interest in family history research and personal experience in trying to find and understand the ancestors who migrated from one country to another. While some countries and areas in Europe are rel- atively well-known for catering to tourists searching their roots, and the services they provide can be easily found from the Internet with only a few clicks, nothing similar seemed to be happening in regards to Finland. The fact that family history research is a growing and popu- lar hobby, especially in the United States (Tourism Intelligence Scotland 2013) favors the no- tion that genealogical tourism could still be a profitable niche market, even though the amount of Finnish emigrants is lower in comparison to the areas in Europe that are visibly supporting and promoting the niche. (U.S. Census Bureau, 2015.) The theoretical framework of the thesis consists of understanding the supply of tourism and the key concept of genealogical tourism. The empirical part is conducted as qualitative re- search, which is also divided in two parts. Content analysis of three different Google searches was made to form some type of basis to evaluate the amount of services marketed to genea- logical tourists visiting Finland. Two semi-structured interviews were then conducted with Institute of Migration and Genealogical Society of Finland, in an attempt to get an expert view on the type of services that are offered to those who come to Finland in order to re- search their ancestry. The understanding of human migration is also imperative when trying to grasp the idea of ge- nealogical tourism, since it is the fundamental basis of the niche. According to United Nations Population Division the number of international migrants in 2013 was 232 million, which amounts to approximately 3,2 percent of the whole world population. (United Nations 2013) Additionally in 2005, 763 million people were estimated to live outside their area of birth, but still within the same country. (United Nations 2013) The number of migrants has risen steadi- ly over the years. This can partly be explained