Finnair, WeChat, Helsinki Marketing... Many companies are currently working to welcome more Chinese visitors, a growing segment.
In ten years, the number of overnight stays by Chinese in Finland has increased by 268.8%, from 98,100 visitors in 2007 to 361,800 in 2017. The land of a thousand lakes has joined forces to take advantage of the economic growth of the Middle Kingdom in recent years to boost its tourism.
Behind this momentum, companies are working to seize opportunities:
- Tencent and Helsinki Marketing signed a cooperation agreement on September 5 to make information related to Chinese travel more accessible to Chinese people.
- WeChat has launched a Helsinki travel guide for Chinese tourists
- The airline Finnair is working to increase its connections with China. It plans to increase its flight capacity to China by 12% compared to summer 2018; for this purpose, a new twice daily service will be established between Hong Kong and Helsinki and in summer 2019, Finnair will fly four times a week to Guangzhou.
With tourist consumption on the rise, increasing from US$699 to €1,300 per person per visit in 2017, the Mayor of Helsinki would also like to take advantage of the city's growing appeal to attract investment: "We are also trying to convince some Chinese hotel chains to come and build hotels in Helsinki," said Mr Vapaavuori.
