Tourism initiatives of previous governments

Tourism initiatives of Prime Minister Marin's government 2019

The initiatives and programs 2019 of Prime Minister Sanna Marin's government concerning tourism in the administrative sector of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment are presented below.

A separate funding of EUR 5 million was allocated for the implementation of the Government Program Entry “Launching a National Tourism Program to Continue Sustainable Growth in the Tourism Sector and Support the Growth of Tourism Entrepreneurship” in 2020 and 2021. With the additional funding, tourism companies were encouraged to develop their tourism services to a higher quality than before (including sustainability and digitalisation) and to take into account the opportunities for domestic tourism. The targeting of tourism marketing abroad was intensified and the careful and high-quality customization of tourism products in accordance with the wishes of the target groups strengthened. Understanding the needs of tourists and monitoring the effectiveness of the tourism industry require strong knowledge management to support it.

The additional funding was allocated almost entirely to the operations of Business Finland's Visit Finland unit. In the implementation of the measures, co-operation was established, in particular with the Ministry of the Environment, the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry and the Ministry of Education and Culture in the implementation of government program entries for tourism.

Sustainable Tourism 2030 Program

In the government's budget proposal on 16 September 2020, it was decided to launch the Sustainable Tourism 2030 program. The Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment coordinated the preparation of the program. The program supports Finland's tourism strategy by emphasizing e.g. climate and environmental sustainability, accessibility, year-round and competitiveness. The program will be carried out as part of the implementation of the Finnish tourism strategy and government program entry “Launching a national tourism program package to continue sustainable growth in the tourism sector and support the growth of tourism entrepreneurship” during the government term. Ongoing measures will contribute to the comprehensive implementation of the program.

The new measures included in the program (night train and rail connections) are being prepared separately. Preparations for the development of the Eastern night train connection and the service level of night train services were launched in early autumn 2020. 

Government's additional funding for the recovery and development of tourism

In 2020, the Marin's government allocated additional funding of EUR 4.5 million to support the recovery and development of tourism. The Government supported the development of tourism in the regions by regional tourism development projects with EUR 4 million. The funding was used to support the regions' opportunities to develop tourism, strengthen management and coordination of tourism development and improve tourism cooperation. In addition, the Government allocated EUR 0.5 million to a campaign to promote domestic tourism. The aim was to help tourism companies recover from the coronavirus crisis and increase tourism in Finland. The additional funding allocated for tourism was part of the fourth supplementary budget for 2020, which the Parliament approved on 25 June 2020. 

Read more: Regional tourism development projects (in Finnish)
Read more: Campaign to promote domestic tourism (in Finnish)

Tourism initiatives of Prime Minister Sipilä's government 2017

In the mid-term review of Prime Minister Juha Sipilä's government in spring 2017, the government decided to add the tourism entity to the government's action plan for 2017-2019. The action program “Tourism 4.0 - rapid growth and employment from tourism” was a set of measures to support the international growth and renewal of the tourism industry during 2018-2019. Implementation of some of the measures continued in early 2020. Additional funding of EUR 16 million was granted to the operational program.

More information: Sanna Kyyrä, sanna.kyyra(at)gov.fi