Rovaniemi wants to level out tourism peaks – well-being and nature as attractions in addition to Santa Claus

The success of year-round tourism requires Rovaniemi to find another attraction alongside Santa Claus. The city helps local businesses seek sustainable growth from the well-being and unique nature of Lapland.

“I can see the planes landing at Rovaniemi airport from the window of my home. Last Christmas Eve, I calculated that approximately six planes would land there per hour,” says Pirjo Kutinlahti, Development Manager at Business Rovaniemi.

Snow, Santa Claus and the Northern Lights attract a huge number of tourists to the capital of Lapland during the winter season. Although tourism brings jobs, short employment relationships are not enough to attract residents or the best talent to stay in the area more permanently. The infrastructure built for tourism is also underused most of the year. A longer season and more steady tourist flows would protect the otherwise cyclical tourism industry from economic fluctuations. At the same time, they would solve the problems caused by the overheated winter tourism season for locals.

“A year-round season would bring more jobs, permanent residents and tax revenue to the city,” says Kutinlahti.

Does this mean that Rovaniemi is trying to turn summer into winter? The city’s goal is not to significantly increase the number of tourists, but to distribute tourism more evenly throughout the year. Kutinlahti is sure that in five years’ time, the city’s tourism season will extend from the beginning to the end of the year.

“Year-round tourism enables new investments in routes, quays and ports, for example, so that both tourists and locals can enjoy the waters and nature. The new investments will benefit the entire city and the people of Rovaniemi,” says Kutinlahti.

Christmas alone is not enough – Rovaniemi needs broader tourism

Christmas is the foundation of Rovaniemi’s tourism. For year-round tourism to be successful, Santa Claus must be accompanied by other unique tourism experiences. The city, local educational institutions and businesses believe that, in the future, tourism will increasingly rely on experiences related to well-being, exercise and nature.

Rovaniemi has a long tradition and expertise in coaching top sports, especially snow sports. For example, massage professionals and exercise instructors graduate from the Santasport Sport Institute, while physiotherapists and preventive health care professionals graduate from the Lapland University of Applied Sciences. The University of Lapland’s educational sciences specialise in research on the well-being of children and young people and in the legal field of welfare justice.

“We want to make our competence in well-being and health more visible. The conditions support the goal, as Rovaniemi’s nature is incredible and begins from everyone’s doorstep,” says Kutinlahti.

Comeback Center bringing together the best in rehabilitation in the capital of Lapland

One example of Rovaniemi’s well-being sector companies is the Comeback Center. The company offers intensive rehabilitation for sports injuries, not only to top athletes but also to regular, physically active people all year round.

“The idea for the company came about when my knee tore and I went to Croatia for rehabilitation. Back then, I wondered why I had to go to Croatia when there is the same kind of top expertise in Finland,” says Tanja Poutiainen-Rinne, entrepreneur and Olympic medallist in alpine skiing.

The idea inspired a group of orthopaedists and physiotherapists from Rovaniemi, who are familiar with top sports, and in 2019 the idea was refined into a rehabilitation centre operating in the area of Ounasvaara. According to Poutiainen-Rinne, no other place in Finland offers a similar, comprehensive service.

A typical customer comes to the clinic to rehabilitate a knee injury. The rehabilitation consists of a few days of intensive treatment, after which the treatment continues by following a home programme. After about a month, the customer will return for a new round of intensive treatment. Comeback Center does not offer accommodation or meals, but instead books them for the customer from other companies in the area. The company also brings customers to other operators in the area, even outside the peak season. The company also employs small entrepreneurs in the area, such as nutritionists and psychological coaches.

“Our advantage is that people must travel to get here. When the customer moves away from their home circles, it is easier for them to focus on rehabilitation. For international customers, the transport connections are good, as we can be reached from the airport in 10 minutes. For people coming from abroad, it doesn’t matter to them whether they fly to Helsinki or Rovaniemi,” says Poutiainen-Rinne.

The city bringing together companies in the welfare sector

Comeback Center cooperates with Business Rovaniemi. A joint project between companies, the city, local educational institutions and research institutes is now underway to build a concentration of companies specialising in exercise, well-being and tourism. The project is called Arctic Sport & Wellbeing Hub. This means not only cooperation and meetings led by the city, but also physical spaces for gathering.

“We want to include companies like Comeback Center that want to develop and grow. For small companies, the network brings new customers. Large companies benefit from a broader cooperation and subcontractor network, which ensures delivery reliability. This means, for example, that if a wildlife guide falls ill, its not necessary to cancel everything,” says Kutinlahti.

In addition to Comeback Center, there are several companies offering leisure services, Lappset building outdoor activity facilities, smaller companies consisting of yoga and climbing entrepreneurs as well as companies focused on cycling tourism.

At the end of October, the project brought together more than 30 local companies to develop a shared story and services for the period without snow.

“The aim is for the companies involved to jointly form service packages that combine the services of several companies and offer services to both local residents and tourists. For example, bike rental alone is not enough to attract tourists, but we need to think about where the bike route runs, where the tourist stays and where they eat,” Kutinlahti explains.

Growth requires courage and encouragement

According to Kutinlahti, the city’s role is above all to support companies in the development of new operations and products and the refinement of ideas. The tourism industry in particular operates in an ever-changing environment, where the development of new services is easily overlooked by matters that are more critical to profitability. The city acts as a unifying force in initiatives that companies alone would not be able to take care of.

“Many companies are also cautious, and growth needs to be encouraged. Companies also don’t have time to sit in long development meetings, but the best way is to call or visit and discuss development ideas directly. If something does not work, the idea is rejected and the next idea is considered together,” says Kutinlahti, describing project work.

Kutinlahti is convinced that the goal of year-round tourism is possible through cooperation between Rovaniemi’s operators.

“It’s nature that makes us believe in the goal. It’s just waiting to be found,” says Kutinlahti.

Rovaniemi is one of the InnoCities. The article is part of the series of articles called The Unstoppable about the impact work of InnoCities.