Finland promoted its MICE tourism internationally
The IBTM event closed on November 30 at Fira Barcelona, Spain, with the presence of important actors and representatives of the sector worldwide, including destinations such as Finland
Within the framework of this renowned event, Travel2latam spoke with David Campano, Director of the Finnish Tourist Office for Spain and Italy.
What does participating in this fair mean to you?
IBTM is a very important fair together with IMEX in Europe. And Finland is a destination that has many characteristics to be able to have an incentive all year round in a sustainable way.
What are your main source markets and why?
In terms of source markets, Germany is number one. In Europe, we have the United Kingdom, but Spain and Italy are emerging markets that are becoming increasingly relevant with more important arrivals in Finland in the last six or seven years. And then, North America is very strong. On the other hand, Asian markets are slowing arrivals at the destination due to connectivity issues. But in principle, Spain and Italy are increasingly interesting, and of course, Latin America is on our radar for the future, because we understand that it has many possibilities for the coming years.
We are reaching the end of the season. What is your vision of what has happened and what do you think will happen in 2024?
2023 has been a fantastic year for us. We have not closed yet, but practically compared to 2019 we are going to exceed the number of international visitor arrivals even when there have been changes in the markets. For 2024 we will seek to make it another year of stability where we do not expect to grow much more compared to 2023, since for us growth in terms of number of arrivals is not the most important thing. We measure another series of factors such as average spending and the impact that travelers have on sustainability. So it is not a question of growing in numbers year after year, but of taking into account other factors that are closely linked to that part of sustainability that Finland has in its DNA.
How have you been promoting yourself and what is the plan for the future?
Our country has many possibilities for development all year round. There are four seasons in the year, and of course four very marked seasons in winter. We also have an area of 190,000 lakes unknown to many people. It is a country with year-round development, and that axis of sustainability is very present in everything we do. There really is much more that visitors can learn about and enjoy.