Helsinki walking tours grow as entrepreneur calls for regulation

Walking tours in Helsinki have grown in popularity and variety, but entrepreneur Mehdi Nia says tourists are increasingly disturbing local people and calls for limits on group sizes and amplified microphones, Yle reports.

At Senate Square, a group of tourists gathers on the steps of Helsinki Cathedral after following a guide’s blue-and-white umbrella. Tatiana Mylova, a guide with Finntastic walking tours, says she does not allow ice cream on tours because it attracts seagulls.

Nia, who runs Finntastic and works as a tour guide, says this summer has been one of the best seasons in recent years for his tourism businesses. His company has so far brought 11,000 tourists on walking tours in Helsinki, compared with 10,000 tourists during the whole of last year.

The city of Helsinki, tourism businesses and Perho Business College, which trains guides, say walking tours have become more popular in recent years. The increase began after the coronavirus years.

Guided tours are offered to international and domestic visitors as well as local residents, and the range of tours has expanded. International visitors have shown particular interest in Finnish happiness and everyday life, while Finns have been interested in crime tours and introductions to different districts.

“Travellers are interested in why Finland is the happiest country and what the ingredients of happiness are,” says Mari Somero, a team manager in Helsinki’s tourism and destination services units.

Nia says the growing popularity of city walks has also created problems. He has seen tourists disturb people working and studying in Oodi, Helsinki’s library, including by photographing people using sewing machines.

He says some guides may not know how to instruct tourists and that some may arrive with groups from other countries without knowing local rules. According to Nia, Oodi has sent guidance to tour guides, but only officially recognised Helsinki guides receive it.

“If you are an official Helsinki guide, you know that you cannot bring more than 20 people into Oodi, but other guides do not know this. I have seen guides using amplified microphones inside the library,” Nia says.

Nia would like to see more regulation in the sector. He says guided tours should have a maximum group size, the use of microphones should be restricted and only official guides should be allowed to conduct walking tours. He says the city could create rules for the industry and notes that similar regulations already exist in several European countries.

Helsinki has not considered restricting guided activities in public urban spaces, says the city’s tourism director Nina Vesterinen. The city has also received little feedback that walking tours are causing disturbances.

“There may be situations at individual destinations, such as Oodi, where large groups create challenges, but we have not identified this as a widespread problem,” Vesterinen says.

Individual destinations can set their own rules if necessary. Vesterinen says the city has discussed the situation with Oodi and looked for solutions together.

Guiding is not a regulated profession in Finland, meaning anyone can work as a guide. The city therefore cannot intervene in the activities of individual guides as long as they comply with laws and regulations.

Vesterinen adds that most tours are already conducted by authorised Helsinki guides and responsible companies, which the city also recommends. She says Helsinki is not currently experiencing a phenomenon similar to overtourism, but the city is ready to act quickly if one emerges.