The global Covid-19 crisis affected Lapland’s summer tourism. However, Lapland as a whole survived clearly better than the Finnish average, and some destinations even recorded strong growth figures.
In the summer season (May-October) 2020, a total of 772,000 overnight stays were registered in Lapland, which is a quarter less than in the previous summer, while accommodation sales fell by a third. While overnight stays in the whole country decreased by about 40 percent and accommodation sales by up to half, Lapland’s market share in Finnish summer tourism strengthened slightly.
Regional differences within Lapland were large, with registered overnight stays decreasing the most in Rovaniemi, Sea Lapland and Kittilä. Thanks to significantly stronger domestic demand, growth figures were recorded in Salla (+ 24 %), Utsjoki (+ 32 %), Torniolaakso (+ 8 %) and Kolari (+ 4 %).
Tourism companies are actively developing their services and sustainability is a key value. By October 2020, already 146 companies in Lapland were in the Sustainable Travel Finland program.
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