Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Summary and Conclusions from a
Finnish Perspective
the new member countries, such as safety and
the hygiene conditions, underdeveloped infra-
structure, weak service levels and, to some
extent, also a relatively high level of criminal
activity (Employers' Confederation of Service
Industries, 2003). Moreover, the countries are
not known very well. However, all these draw-
backs can be remedied in the course of time.
The EU programmes and financial instru-
ments and initiatives have also helped Finland
to upgrade her tourism industry, especially in
the more peripheral areas and border regions
through tourism projects funded by ESF, ERDF
and INTERREG. Also, the profile of foreign
tourist markets became more diverse (Statistics
Finland 2004, pp. 31-32). Cohesion and struc-
tural instruments have assisted Finland to acti-
vate her cross-border cooperation (CBC) tourism
development especially with Estonia and Russia,
which implemented their programmes for CBC
development, PHARE and TACIS respectively,
in the mid-1990s.
It is clear that Finland will become one of
the net payers in the EU budget and the amount
of agricultural, structural and regional subsidies
received will be reduced. Thus, one of the effects
of the new member countries on the structure of
present funding is, for example, the reduction of
subsidy areas and levels for Finland. It is clear
that the tourism industry in Finland will also be
supported in the future, but the conditions for
funding will tighten and competition for public
funding will become even tougher. Tourism must
compete for 'subsidy euros' with other sectors.
Tourism will not be supported as such, unless it
is competitive. Thus, in the future, the Finnish
tourism industry must be prepared for less EU
funding for development projects.
The Finnish tourism industry needs to
become more customer-oriented, to have a
clearer focus on markets and to strengthen the
structure of the industry in order to sustain a
competitive advantage in European markets.
This means that business unit sizes should
grow and the efficiency as well as the flexibility
of distribution channels should be developed.
The industry also needs to pay more attention
to product design.
Finland is nearer to the Baltic countries
than, for example, Sweden or Norway, so there
are good preconditions for cooperation in this
new situation, in which the centre-point of the
Tourism development in the Baltic countries has
been very positive in recent years. Although 2004
was an exceptionally good year in international
tourism generally, the growth figures in Estonia
and Lithuania are much higher than the aver-
age of 4% in Europe. This indicates that interest
in these 'new' destinations with their rich
cultural heritage, improving services, seaside
resorts and beautiful countryside, competitive
price levels, and the extra publicity given by the
EU accession have increased incoming tourism
significantly.
Although Finland is still a more consider-
able destination for incoming tourism than the
individual Baltic countries, Finland cannot neglect
the competition emanating from these coun-
tries. In 2004 Estonia and Lithuania combined
had nearly as many foreign overnights in com-
mercial tourist accommodation as Finland. If the
figures of Latvia were also taken into account,
the Baltic countries as an entity would be a big-
ger incoming destination than Finland. When
the very competitive price level, proximity to,
for example, the German market, and the avail-
ability of low cost flights is added to the attrac-
tions mentioned above, the Baltic countries can
be seen as serious competitors to Finland for the
immediate future.
Lower prices for alcohol and other con-
sumer goods and services have made Estonia a
shoppers' paradise for the Finns and Swedes,
although the earlier trans-national tax-free
shopping on the ferries ceased after EU acces-
sion. Daily shopping trips, short breaks, 'mini
cruises', and spa and wellness tourism have been
the impetus for substantial growth in Estonian
tourism development. The Finnish consumption
of tourism services acted as a trigger for the
upgrading of the Estonian tourism industry to
replace the Soviet monolithic structures. Although
there have been many unacceptable side-effects
linked with the Finnish (and Swedish) 'booze
tourism', the rapidly growing tourism industry
as a whole has pushed the Estonian economy
forward and nowadays tourism accounts
for over 8% of Estonia's GDP (e.g. Huang,
2000).
On the other hand, there are also factors
that hold back the growth of tourism for some of
