Finland’s updated tourism strategy for 2019-2028
‘Achieving more together – sustainable growth and renewal in Finnish tourism’ is the name of Finland’s national tourism strategy for 2019–2028. The strategy defines targets for the development of tourism until 2028 and measures to be taken between 2019 and 2023. Finland is aiming to become the most sustainably growing tourist destination in the Nordic countries. Tourism is being developed as a responsible and growing service business that generates welfare and creates jobs across the country.
Finland’s updated tourism strategy identifies four priorities that will facilitate the sustainable growth and renewal of the tourism sector:
- supporting sustainable development
- responding to the digital transformation
- improving accessibility, taking into account the needs of the tourism sector
- ensuring an operating environment that supports competitiveness.
Finland's tourism strategy was published just a few months before the Covid-19 epidemic escalated into a pandemic. The objectives and measures of the strategy have had to be adjusted due to the unforeseen situation, but the priorities have been maintained. Investments in the sustainability of tourism and the digitalisation of the sector are estimated to play a key role in promoting Finland's attractiveness as a travel destination even after a pandemic. Tourism demand is one of the key measures of tourism strategy. The estimated effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on Finnish tourism demand have been published in May 2020 and September 2020. Estimates describe the effects of the coronavirus on tourism in Finland as a whole.
Joint guideline for developing the tourism sector
The cross-cutting theme of the strategy is cooperation, which is essential for achieving sustainable growth and renewal in Finnish tourism. The tourism strategy serves as a joint guideline for tourism operators in the development of the tourism sector. Actions will be taken in intersectoral collaboration by a wide range of operators. The actions will be monitored by a horizontal expert group on tourism, coordinated by the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment.
The strategy is based on the Roadmap for growth and renewal in Finnish tourism 2015–2025, which was updated in 2019 under the coordination of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment. The Ministry is responsible for the priorities of Finland’s tourism policy and coordinates the development together with other Finnish ministries and actors in the tourism sector.
Read the new tourism strategy and its action plan online (in Finnish): Achieving more together – sustainable growth and renewal in Finnish tourism. Finland’s tourism strategy 2019–2028 and action plan 2019–2023.
More information: Sanna Kyyrä, sanna.kyyra(at)gov.fi