Annual report Finnish Tourist Board

Transcription

1 Annual report Finnish Tourist Board

2 CONTENT 3... Management review 4... Marketing 5... Research and development activities 6... International co-operation 6... Quality Organisation 2

3 MANAGEMENT REVIEW Incoming tourism to Finland decreased by about 3% from the record-breaking year in 2013, largely due to the drop of 17% in Russian tourists. Compensating growth came from the major countries of residence, including Poland, Estonia and the United States. The Russians, however, retained their position as the largest group. Growth from countries other than Russia was altogether 3%. From the start of the year, the resources were focused on Asia, which continues to provide the largest potential growth in the flow of tourism. During the spring, two surveys were conducted to clarify the expectations and demands of Chinese tourists. The results of the surveys as well as the recommendations were published at the end of the year within the travel trade. During, the process to integrate the Finnish Tourist Board into Finpro continued by preparing the transfer of activities and personnel. The Finnish Tourist Board moved into Finpro s premises at the end of September and the official integration took place at the turn of the year. Within Finpro, the name of the unit devoted to promotional work related to tourism is now Visit Finland. (estimate) 2013 Revenue from inbound tourism (incl. transportation income, million euro) 3,940 4,346 Registered overnight stays by foreign tourists (1,000 nights) 5,697 5,868 Revenue from congresses in Finland, million euro (number of congresses) 130 (708) 117 (662) Finland s market share of tourism to the Nordic countries (%, overnight stays) Expenditure by task (million euro) Marketing of the country brand Product marketing to support the country brand Promotion of product development and productisation Acquisition and dissemination of market information Administration Total

4 MARKETING Country brand marketing As our single most important marketing tool, the highquality and upgraded online service, visitfinland.com, once again attracted far more visitors than anticipated. In, hundreds of thousands of online users visited the visitfinland.com website each month. During the spring and in December, the site attracted more than one million visitors during a single month. This was due, in part, to the popularity of the Finngenerator widget and the On Finn Ice game, which was created through co-operation with Rovio. Visit Finland s Facebook group, I wish I was in Finland, had more than 400,000 fans by the end of the year, and the Japanese-language equivalent had nearly 50,000. As a new channel, the use of Instagram was instantly a huge success. Finnish Tourist Board implemented country brand campaigns in China and Japan, both during the spring and autumn seasons, for a total of four targeted campaigns. Product marketing Jointly with the travel trade, the Finnish Tourist Board implemented product campaigns in Russia (Events Finland, St. Petersburg), Germany, Japan and China (spring and autumn), France and Italy (autumn). In the United States, Nordic collaboration continued through STI (Scandinavian Tourism Inc.). Altogether 23 Finnish and 34 Russian partners participated in the two-year wellness tourism campaign in Russia. In, the project implemented one product development seminar, two introductory tours for the media and an extensive consumer campaign (brochure, website and advertising in print media, on the radio and on the Internet). A winter campaign was realised in Moscow through co-operation with five Russian partners. Online media The new and improved visitfinland.com website has received a lot of positive feedback from consumers and professionals alike. The content has been further upgraded and the visual aspects of the site play an even greater role. A lot of focus has been on utilising social media channels. In China, WeChat was taken into use and a target of 7,000 users was set for. The target was clearly exceeded and by 31 December, the service had a total of about 10,000 users. Online media visitors/month Time spent on the VF website, min/visitor I wish I was in Finland Facebook, fans :

5 Media and trade events as one aspect of marketing PR & Media During, the Finnish Tourist Board arranged 108 media visits and brought 278 journalists, including bloggers, to Finland. Published articles and broadcasted programmes have enhanced the positive image of Finland, thereby increasing its popularity as an attractive travel destination. Sales promotion During, the Finnish Tourist Board invited 428 travel agencies from the leisure travel sector and 31 from the business events sector. The Finnish Tourist Board participated in international fairs in the fields of tourism and business events in Germany, Great Britain, Spain, Japan, Hong Kong and Singapore. Networking and sales events organised by the Finnish Tourist Board and held in Finland and within the Visit Finland market area were attended by Finnish sellers and foreign purchasers. Congress and meeting travel Finland hosted a total of 708 international congresses with approximately 79,000 participants. Congress and meeting travel Number of international congresses in Finland Number of congress participants visiting Finland RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITIES Research activities The research activities in focused on gaining a better understanding of the expectations and demands of Chinese tourists. During the summer, the Finnish Tourist Board conducted, in co-operation with Chinese students at Aalto University, a survey among Chinese tourists about their experiences while visiting Finland. With the help of the University of Turku, research was also conducted in China through social media channels. During, a new Visit Finland Visitor Survey was launched to replace the Border Interview Survey that was terminated at the end of Thanks to this survey, we were once again able, as of the beginning of, to get estimates of the number of travellers arriving in Finland, by country of residence, as well as information about foreign visitor profiles and how they use their money while in Finland. Development activities During, the Finnish Tourist Board worked with representatives of the travel trade to update the theme-based development strategies intended to steer 5

6 the product development taking place within the regions and companies. The strategies cover all four of the Finnish Tourist Board s strategic themes; natural tourism and activities in the summer, winter tourism, cultural tourism and wellness tourism. The development measures outlined in the strategies will be put into practice through theme-based umbrella programmes (Outdoors Finland and Culture Finland). The Finnish Tourist Board was also involved in the Finrelax project application of the University of Eastern Finland. The Finnish Tourist Board was heavily involved in the Tourism Industry Top Project launched by the Ministry of Employment and the Economy, and the Roadmap of Tourism based on this work. In accordance with the Roadmap, Visit Finland will initiate three strategic projects (Finland Stopover, Making the Finnish archipelago internationally known and Finrelax), the preliminary work for which was underway toward the end of through collaboration with representatives of the travel trade. INTERNATIONAL CO-OPERATION In the United States, the four Nordic countries continued their international collaboration through their joint marketing company STI (Scandinavian Tourism Inc.). Iceland withdrew from the collaboration at the end of Finpro took over the Finnish Tourist Board s shares in STI at the end of. The Finnish Tourist Board is a member of the European Travel Commission. The Finnish Tourist Board is also a member in the International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA). Both of these memberships transferred to Finpro in QUALITY 1000 The QUALITY 1000 programme is an important practical training scheme for small and medium-sized companies. It is provided by the Finnish Tourist Board jointly with the Haaga-Perho institute. The aim is to encourage one thousand companies involved in the travel industry to take part in this training. A total of 46 new companies joined the training in, which is a good number, since it is double the figure achieved in Due to the updated Quality 1000 concept, the number of new companies has grown rapidly and it is likely that we will hit the 1,000 mark during In order to join any of the Finnish Tourist Board s campaigns, a company must be certified by the Quality 1000 or other general quality system or must otherwise meet the export quality criteria set by the Finnish Tourist Board. Quality 1000 trained companies

7 Organisation on 31 December Director General Jaakko Lehtonen Executive Assistant Kirsi Salminen Manager, Media and Public Relations Jari Ahjoharju Director, Research and Product Development Kristiina Hietasaari Director, Marketing and Country Brand Mervi Holmén Financial Manager Tomi Uusi-Oukari Product Development Manager Terhi Hook Product Specialist Liisa Renfors Information Specialist Kirsi Suni Editor-in-Chief Anna Leikkari Coordinator (PR & Media Visits) Niina Aalto Producer, Images & Videos Raija Lehtonen Director, Trade Relations Anne Lind Regional Manager, Russia & Sweden Arto Asikainen Marketing Coordinator Sergei Shkurov Financial Coordinator Sirpa Kataja IT Specialist Joonas Mämmelä Receptionist Anne Veini Analyst, research Katarina Wakonen Content Producer Eva Kiviranta Project Coordinator Ulla Mäkelä Statistics planner Sini Markoff Content Producer Noora Uusitalo Convention Director Leena Sipilä Project Manager Heli Saari Marketing Communications Coordinator Minna Myyrinmaa Marketing Manager, Conventions Jaana Koivistoinen Coordinator, Events Irma Puhakka Coordinator (Fam and Educ) Anne Niska (Visit Finland marketing representatives; 10 total) Marketing Manager, Events Nina Hildén Project Coordinator Pirjo Saukola Visit Finland representatives Spain: Jukka-Paco Halonen Great Britain: Riitta Balza Japan: Shigeyoshi Noto China, Hong Kong and South China: Andrew Leung China, Beijing and Chongqing: Danye Liu China, Shanghai: David Wu France: Sanna Tuononen Germany, Benelux, Switzerland and Austria: Jyrki Oksanen USA: Helena Niskanen Russia and CIS: Arto Asikainen 7

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