The call of the Nordics: Finland

FinlandFrom left: An event in Helsinki; a Finnish sauna

While Finland is no stranger to MICE groups, it has been dealing mainly with a European clientele. This, however, is set to change with a recent heightening of efforts to court Asian markets. Rachel AJ Lee reports

F
inland wants more Asian MICE groups to visit, a message that inbound players are broadcasting through their recent efforts.

This is evident in the 90 per cent increase in exhibition space taken by Finland at ITB Asia in October 2016, where various local destination bureaus, hotels and DMCs were in attendance.


Heli-MendeHeli Mende, head of global sales promotion, Visit Finland, said: “We also organised our own roadshows in China in May, and in South Korea, Japan and Taiwan in September, bringing Finnish companies along with us.

“(While these roadshows are leisure focused) we’re seeing more MICE (buyers) in attendance and showing interest in Finland as a destination. (As such), in 2017 we will invite both leisure and MICE buyers.”

When asked if there was a specific campaign to court MICE groups, Mende said there was none at the moment as the bureau was “monitoring the situation and talking to individual incentive companies”, seeing that there were already “some MICE groups from Asia”.

While Finland is no stranger to MICE groups, the clientele has mostly been European. It was not until recently that companies began courting and handling Asian MICE groups.

Alexei Petrov, managing director of Levi-based Scandinavian Travel Group, told TTGmice: “We have been concentrating on the European markets, and only just started marketing to Asia. I was in Beijing in October 2015, and this is the second time I am meeting a lot of Asian buyers. But we’ve handled a lot of MICE groups from Europe, and we can offer the same experience, where the only difference is the addition of a Chinese-speaking guide. The Asian MICE market is one with a huge growth potential for us.”

Said Aurelie Martin, sales executive of Safartica, a full service safari house and DMC in Rovaniemi: “We’ve had one group of 100 pax from Citibank in Hong Kong. It was our first experience with Asian MICE.”

Seija Vesala, sales team manger, Rukan Salonki, added: “We are very strong in the domestic market but had only four Asian MICE groups. We are looking forward to more Asian groups in the future.”

Leisure travel, on the other hand, has been growing rapidly over the past few years.

Antti Karjalainen, director of sales, Scandi Hotels, added: “We have Asian groups, but these are mainly leisure. There are some incentives, and we see the MICE potential especially from China and Hong Kong. Overall, the Asian market is the fastest-growing market for Finland, with double-digit growth for 2016.”

Karjalainen believes that for Finland to succeed in its MICE quest, it must “tell clients what the opportunities and options are for MICE in Finland”.

One way is by highlighting unique and fresh itineraries, according to Martin. “We need to give clients proper information on what activities can be done in Finland. For example, we transferred the Hong Kong group to their hotel by reindeer, and they had dinner in a snow igloo. These are unusual and exotic activities for (Asian clients).”

While Martin reckons the Asian market “will be huge for Finland and Lapland”, she cautioned about the downsides of mass tourism.

She added: “While we want to welcome everybody, we need to handle them well and maintain quality, and not kill the reputation of the destination.”

Meanwhile, Helsinki attracted 275 international association meetings in 2015, which were attended by more than 35,200 people and generated 66.5 million euros (US$70.4 million) in tourism income for the capital city.

“Congress organisers are clearly interested in Helsinki, and there is a lot of demand for the coming years. We are already working on projects for congresses to be held in 2023,” commented Ines Antti-Poika, convention director, Helsinki Convention & Events Bureau.

Antti-Poika pointed to Helsinki’s reputation for security, high standards of education and technology, and unique tour offerings as other key selling points.

Upcoming international events include the European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology in June 2017, and the annual congress of International Federation of Surveyors, FIG Working Week, in May/June 2017.

In 2015, Helsinki’s registered accommodation inventory was 17,074 rooms, 362 more than the previous year, according to statistics published by Visit Helsinki.

In October 2016, the Clarion Hotel Helsinki and the Clarion Hotel Helsinki Airport opened and added 425 and 258 rooms respectively to the capital region.

While no new conference centres are coming up at the moment, Clarion Hotel Helsinki offers 15 meeting rooms, while an old warehouse building adjacent to the hotel has been transformed into an event venue for 1,000 guests.

Northern-Light
The Northern Lights is a big draw for incentive
groups arriving in Finland

{Talking numbers}

4
The number of congress and exhibition venues in Helsinki. The largest is the Messukeskus Expo and Convention Centre (for 10,000 pax), while the smallest is the Scandic Marina Congress Center (700 pax)

80
The number of direct weekly flights to Finland from 17 Asian destinations

100
Finland will celebrate its centennial of the country’s declaration of independence on December 6, 2017

1,887
The average expenditure in euros, equivalent to US$2,094, of a single congress visitor to Helsinki

30,000
The number of people who attended international association meetings in Helsinki between May and August 2016

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