European heat drives foreign demand for Finland’s Evo hiking area

Foreign visitors are increasingly booking accommodation at the Evo hiking area in Finland, partly to escape hot European summers, Yle reports. Weekends are already booked until mid October, while a zoning plan could enable nearly 33,000 square metres of new accommodation in three locations.

Accommodation entrepreneur Kaj Järvinen said inquiries from international customers had increased noticeably. Some customers have Finnish roots, while others specifically mention Europe’s increasingly hot summers in their requests.

Foreign visitors generally want to come during summer weekends, which are already in high demand. Customers typically book three to four months in advance, meaning even rainy weather has little effect on demand.

Järvinen’s company, Evon Luonto, has 55 beds in three buildings at Evo Rauha. During the summer, groups of up to 100 people have stayed at the property, with some sleeping in tents. The renovated buildings previously belonged to the Finnish Forest Research Station.

Järvinen said he would like to expand the accommodation, but the seven hectare property has no remaining building rights. He is therefore waiting for decisions on the zoning plan for the Evo hiking area.

The proposed partial master plan is scheduled to go before the Hämeenlinna urban environment board around February, according to Katja Ojala, a master plan specialist. Planning documents are still being supplemented with nature surveys carried out during the summer.

Plan targets three accommodation areas

The plan aims to address Evo’s main problem: a shortage of accommodation, much of which is outdated. New tourism service areas are planned around the Evo centre and at Niemisjärvi and Kalliojärvi.

The preliminary target is nearly 33,000 square metres of new accommodation. The number and placement of buildings will be determined later through detailed zoning. Ojala said the three locations remain the main focus of the plan.

Much of Evo belongs to the Natura 2000 network. The zoning process aims to reconcile nature conservation with research, while most state-owned forests will remain hiking and research areas or serve as teaching forests for Häme University of Applied Sciences.

Nature surveys conducted over the summer reviewed habitats and searched for individual species, including the large diving beetle, in areas where construction is planned. Ojala said the surveys could still refine the boundaries of the areas, although the main principles of the plan are likely to remain unchanged.

The Finnish Forest Administration has set a target of doubling the number of visitors to the Evo hiking area to 200,000 by developing tourism services and accommodation.

The draft zoning plan was available for public review earlier in the year. It received 11 official statements and 17 public comments.

The possibility of establishing a science national park was also raised during the consultation. Ojala said the zoning plan would not prevent such a park from being established in the future if a decision were made to create one. Hämeenlinna has included a science national park in its strategy and wants to keep that possibility open.