The slopes attracted this bunch to visit Lapland.

Relatively few visitors to Lapland go there to ski, the Tampere-based daily Aamulehti reports.

“THE MAGIC of Lapland: cold, expensive and faraway. Easy, fun and intoxicating. Welcome to Finland’s very own Ibiza, where the busiest season of the year is right now. More and more people go to Lapland without any intention of exercising. Finns make over two million trips in their free time during the best winter holiday period. Only less than 250,000 go abroad, according to statistics.

Business is especially booming in the northern ski resorts. Lapland takes in a fifth of domestic travellers and also beats the Las Palmases of the world easily. For example, in February of last year, nearly 300,000 tourists stayed in Lapland’s hotels. This doesn’t even include privately owned cottages, timeshares or accommodation leased out by private individuals.

What is it that makes a Finnish tourist head for Lapland when it is also freezing at home and people are up to their necks in snow? What makes a foreigner head for the periphery even though it is cheaper to go to the Alps? The reindeer and the Northern Lights?

A clear minority of tourists in Lapland come to ski. Only one in three guests at Levi ski resort buys a ski lift ticket; the rest do something completely different. A windblown pine cabin is still on people’s wish lists, but it would be nice to have a shop or two next to it.

The change has been tremendous. In 1960 people slept in tents in 70 camping areas in Lapland and the region’s magic was sampled through hiking. In the ten years since then the number of overnight stays grew ten-fold, but it was downhill skiing that finally hit the jackpot.”

AAMULEHTI 26 February
LEHTIKUVA - Markku Ulandre