Cheap flights and fuel costs squeeze domestic tourism

High fuel prices and cheap flights are pushing Finnish holidaymakers abroad and weakening demand for domestic trips, Yle reports. The impact is especially visible in eastern Finland during the autumn school holidays, with spa hotels and other accommodation providers reporting fewer bookings or lower occupancy than usual.

Timo Lappi, chief executive of the tourism and restaurant services association MaRa, said Finns are travelling abroad more this autumn, attracted by low airfares to southern destinations. Rising everyday costs are also affecting demand for tourism services.

Lappi warned that family-run and privately owned hotels and spas are in a difficult position. He said spas and hotels in towns with fewer than 20,000 residents could disappear over the next 20 years without significant support. Spas are important to many holiday destinations, he said, but are difficult to make profitable. The absence of Russian visitors is also affecting tourism in eastern Finland.

At Spa Bomba, a spa hotel in Nurmes on the shore of Lake Pielinen, the hotel added nearly 100 rooms two years ago. Hotel manager Sanna Tenhunen said bookings are slightly behind a typical autumn, although occupancy for the current school holiday week is above 85 per cent.

Hotel Koli and its spa are also seeing lower occupancy than during usual autumn holiday weeks, manager Kati Vihma said. Bookings are being made at short notice, making it difficult to assess demand for the full holiday period.

Visitors say rising fuel costs are affecting their plans. Emmi Savolainen drove 130 kilometres from Kuopio to Nurmes for a one-night trip and said higher travel costs reduce the number of overnight stays her family takes. Sini Lähdelahti, from Mikkeli, chose the Vesileppis spa hotel in Leppävirta for a holiday with her two children partly because it was a short drive. She said the family had carefully budgeted and saved for the trip.

Esa Salminheimo, chief executive of Vesileppis, said nearby tourism has clearly increased. He also said several German coach groups cancelled trips last summer as fuel prices rose. The spa was closed for two months for renovations and reopened shortly before the school holidays. Salminheimo said last winter was difficult after ownership of Vesileppis transferred to the municipality. He criticised an increase in value-added tax on leisure services but said he remained confident about developing tourism.

Holiday Club, which operates Katinkulta in Vuokatti and Kuusamon Tropiikki, has also felt the impact of higher fuel prices, said resort business director Piia Tyynilä. However, occupancy has remained close to last year’s level, with international visitors helping offset a decline in domestic travellers.