26.01.2026
Subscribe to our newsletter – the theme for January is Tourism
The theme of the January newsletter of the Regional Council of Northern Ostrobothnia is tourism. The newsletter highlights different perspectives on tourism in Northern Ostrobothnia. One of the interviewees is the Director of Visit Finland Kristiina Hietasaari, The interview will be pre-published on the website.
The January newsletter will be sent to subscribers on Wednesday 28 January 2026. If you are not already subscribed to the newsletter, lthe iity.
Kristiina Hietasaari, Director of Visit Finland: "North Ostrobothnia offers peace and secession from everyday life"
Tell us about yourself and your trip to tourism as the Director of Visit Finland. Has something surprised you at Visit Finland or its operations?
On December 15, 2026, I was employed by Visit Finland for 15 years. I graduated from the Helsinki School of Economics with a Master's degree in Economics and Business Administration and worked in marketing communications for the first more than a decade. I worked as a customer director at a media agency and became a customer of the then Tourism Promotion Centre (MEK), the predecessor organisation of Visit Finland.
I was inspired by tourism and the idea of working in a way that could directly affect Finland's success. So, at the end of 2010, I applied for the position of Head of Research and Development at MEK, and I was delighted to be selected for the position. Over the years, my job description has been adapted to cover cooperation with the Finnish tourism industry, and since the beginning of 2021, I have been the director of Visit Finland. The years at Visit Finland have been eventful, as we have experienced, among other things, two mergers: first Visit Finland was merged with Finpro in 2015 and from the beginning of 2018 through the merger of Finpro and Tekes into Business Finland.
The first years of tourism were a period of strong growth. Globally, tourism grew much faster than the average economy, and Finland also received a share of the staggering growth. In those times, I could not have foreseen how responsive tourism is and how much the sector could be affected by uncertainties, both economic and political. Hardly anyone could have anticipated a pandemic such as Covid, which effectively halted the entire tourism business or the war in Europe, the effects of which on Finnish tourism have been significant.
When I came from the private sector, I might have had some prejudices against the agency world in the beginning, since the Tourism Promotion Centre was an agency operating directly under the Ministry. However, I was delighted to see from the very first days that MEK and later Visit Finland do not have the rigidity of an agency world, but work for Finland is done with tremendous passion and dedication. We work very well and closely with many operators in the field, both companies and tourism regions in Finland, as well as with tour operators and other partners around the world. Sometimes it feels like the entire tourism industry in Finland is one big family and it is a pleasure to be part of this community.
Which global tourism trends currently have the most impact on the demand and attractiveness of Finnish tourism?
Several trends currently support the development of Finnish tourism. Among the strongest, at least, is the increase in the attractiveness of lesser-known new destinations – as a counterbalance to destinations where overtourism is known to detract from the tourist experience. After the pandemic, tourists are increasingly looking for space and space, a sense of urgency and authentic experiences. These are all known to be Finland's strengths, and in addition, Finland is often seen as an original and exotic destination, which is why tourists are always interested in new experiences.
Today, safety is also a very important factor in choosing a destination. Finland's reputation as a safe country in the world is strong and we are primarily seen as a well-functioning Nordic welfare state. Positive images have been a good protection in a situation where tourism to other countries bordering Russia may have been perceived as unsafe.
There has been a lot of talk about the term "cooling" in recent years. With climate change, it is expected that summers in southern Europe will be so hot that tourist flows will turn north. However, people's attitudes and behaviors change slowly, and at least not yet a major change in the summer's destination choices has been seen. The most popular destinations this summer were still found around the Mediterranean.
How do you see the role of responsible tourism developing and how does Visit Finland support regions in utilising the trend?
At least in Finland, the tourism industry has adopted sustainable and responsible practices faster than the consumers themselves, i.e. tourists, have changed their own behaviour. However, younger generations clearly pay more attention to responsibility and also require service providers to do so. I believe that in the future, responsibility will be an absolute prerequisite for tourism, and actors who do not understand its significance will disappear. I find it wonderful that the Finnish tourism industry wants to be a forerunner in sustainability, and at the moment Finland is seen as one of the model countries for sustainable tourism around the world. However, much remains to be done to curb the environmental and social damage caused by tourism and to make tourism a truly net-positive industry one day.
Visit Finland has played a significant role in promoting sustainable tourism in Finland. In 2020, we launched the Sustainable Travel Finland programme, which provides a common model for promoting sustainability for both companies and destinies. Today, almost 1,400 companies participate in the programme, of which 540 have been awarded the STF label. 13 destinations have reached the regional STF mark. The programme covers all dimensions of sustainable tourism, i.e. ecological, economic, social and cultural sustainability, and continuously produces new material to meet the needs of the sector. Every year, we publish a report entitled ‘The State of Sustainable Tourism in Finland’ on the progress of the companies involved in the programme on the sustainability path, giving us a comprehensive picture of where the Finnish tourism sector is going and, in particular, where we still have room for improvement.
Of course, the regions benefit greatly from the marketing work carried out by Visit Finland in the selected target markets. After all, we are building Finland's reputation and image around the world as a model country for sustainable tourism, and in our channels we highlight companies and products that have the STF label or can otherwise prove that they operate in accordance with the principles of sustainable tourism. We have also built examples of travel programmes or tours into our online service, which are mainly based only on sustainable destinations and services. In this way, we also try to make it easier for tourists to choose sustainable products and services.
What opportunities or challenges do you see in large-area cooperation from the point of view of the international competitiveness of Finnish tourism?
Finland's biggest slowdown in growth in international tourism is its low recognition. At the same time, we have much less resources than many other countries to build awareness and respond to the really tough international competition. Therefore, it is pointless to imagine that we would be able to build awareness and demand for each city or region individually, but we should strive to build larger entities under the Finland brand.
After all, Finland is an incredibly diverse tourist country and we have very different offerings for tourists all over the country and at different times of the year. For years, Visit Finland has promoted four different sub-brands in its marketing: the Helsinki metropolitan area, the coast and the archipelago, Lake Finland and Lapland. It's not exactly the areas that are drawn on the map, but rather the distinctive brands that offer tourists a unique destination with unique experiences. Each of these areas is also a globally unique target and could attract very different target groups to Finland.
If cooperation between companies and destinations within each major region were to intensify, we could create significantly more comprehensive packages that foreign tour operators would be happy to take for sale. Collaboration would increase capacity in areas which, by the way, mainly consist of the supply of very small enterprises. Through co-operation, marketing resources would also grow, and with increasing demand, the accessibility of the regions could also improve.
In practice, however, cooperation within major regions has been challenging in many places, if there are, of course, successful examples. We still have a lot of competition between regions and, unfortunately, funding and the structures of our operations also guide us to very small units, often at municipal level.
What will North Ostrobothnia look like to you when the region is divided into three different major regions?
Despite the fact that North Ostrobothnia geographically extends to up to three different major regions, I still see the region as a fairly homogeneous tourist area. The image of the area is strongly focused on the Arctic, although it is only in a touristic context. In Northern Ostrobothnia, nature offers unique experiences both on the coast due to ice and marine nature, and inland due to the extremes of the seasons (chamos, nightless night) in a clean fell, forest or lake landscape. Northern Ostrobothnia offers tourists from the world's metropolises peace and genuine detachment from everyday life, but at the same time lively local culture, traditions and stories.
“The challenge for the country is that it is difficult to highlight clearly distinguishable points from the diverse range of experiences on which it would be easier to build awareness.”
And the challenge for the region is not that it is difficult to highlight clearly distinguishable points from the diverse range of experiences on which it would be easier to build awareness. Is it the gate of Lapland, the wonderland of winter thanks to snow-proof ski resorts and northern lights, or, like Lake Finland, the summer paradise of beautiful ridges and extensive natural parks? Or would it be worth highlighting more strongly the unique Bay of Bothnia coastline with its low estuaries? The most important thing is to identify and find the right target groups for which different experiences can be packaged in packages that are easy to buy and reach, corresponding to different travel motives.
What are the main regional tourism development priorities in which Visit Finland sees special potential?
One of the key priorities is the development and diversification of the year-round supply. For us, most areas have a strong profile as either summer or winter destinations, but everyone would have excellent opportunities and potential to develop year-round and seasonal tourism products. Collaboration between companies and regions, which I have already called for, is important in order to create sufficiently large, attractive experiences for us. An attractive destination can only be created if the area has a sufficiently diverse range of activities and experiences (city, tourist destination, nature, events) that no company can offer on its own.
When the product offering is in order, care must also be taken to make it findable, i.e. available in different sales channels. Companies should cooperate more closely with, for example, DMC operators, which are often a necessary link between an individual company and an international tour operator. Today, tourists can be reached through many different channels, and the regions should make sure that the region's offerings can be found in the booking channels of both traditional tour operators and digital OTA channels, in addition to companies or the region's own online stores.
With the growth of tourism, it is increasingly important to also pay attention to the quality of services. In Finland, the price level, or at least the perception of the price level, is higher than in many other countries, which also places high expectations on the quality of the service and the framework. While most tourism in Finland is still domestic today, we provide a large part of our services as self-service – partly to reduce costs. Finns are accustomed to self-service and are largely satisfied with the average quality of accommodation, for example. However, foreign visitors almost invariably expect more value for their money.
How can regions best strengthen their own brand as part of a national entity and what do you want from the actors in Northern Ostrobothnia in particular?
This is a question that I am even a little concerned about. Over the past few years, we have designed and launched several regional tourism brands, so the range of different regional brands is starting to be quite comprehensive. Of course, it is very important that regions consider and define their own attraction and differentiation factors, and that marketing is based on everyone's own honest strengths. Often, however, the link to the Finnish-level brand is rather weak, at least in terms of visual elements. A highly original regional brand can sometimes cause confusion in international tour operators or the media when the brand name or expression is not associated with any area or theme they are already familiar with and, at worst, creates confusion between brands that are close to each other.
When building a tourism brand in Northern Ostrobothnia, I would like to see consideration given to its position in relation to the Finnish brand but also to the Lapland brand. It is in everyone's interest that regional brands be related to Visit Finland's Finland brand, so that they, alone or when performing together, support the creation and strengthening of a uniform image of Finland. Finland's reputation as a tourist destination is regrettably weak, and it is even weaker for our individual regions (except perhaps Lapland). Strengthening the brand and raising awareness is a long-term and resource-intensive job. With a unified countryscape, the results are more effective.
The tremendous growth of tourism in Lapland also offers a lot of opportunities for Northern Ostrobothnia to increase the income from tourism. As a neighbouring region, North Ostrobothnia is able to offer very similar experiences, and the fields of Oulu and Kuusamo support the accessibility of both regions. However, Northern Ostrobothnia has much more to offer as a tourist area than simply acting as a "gateway to Lapland". I would encourage actors in the region to boldly and persistently build the region's own, year-round tourism identity, which at its best can strengthen the attractiveness of all of Northern Finland. Lapland does not need to be seen only as a competing province, but as a partner in the nearby region, which offers huge opportunities to renew and expand the tourism offer on routes and packages that cross the regional borders.
What kind of new initiatives or investments should Finland make to make the tourism sector more competitive in the future?
Finland should definitely stick to the already achieved lead in the development of sustainable tourism. Companies and regions are already doing a great deal of work to ensure sustainability, but there is much room for improvement, especially in the development of low-emission accessibility. In Central Europe, growth has for some time been strongly focused on rail transport, which the EU, among other things, supports significantly. Unfortunately, Finland is not helped by this development, because in practice it is virtually impossible to reach Finland by other means than air (of course also by sea). I hope that even in the near future, Finland will be able to invest in faster rail connections within Finland, but also from Finland to Sweden and/or the Baltic countries.
The tourism industry in Finland still needs stronger digital skills. The presence of many small companies in digital sales and marketing channels is almost non-existent, and the fear is that as the travel buying path gradually shifts to artificial intelligence, much of our offering may be completely obscured.
Over the past 15 years, international tourism to Finland has grown mainly in winter. From the point of view of the attractiveness of investments, increasing year-round demand is absolutely key. In addition to cycling, hiking, berry picking and cottages, we need new concepts and temptations for spring, summer and autumn. A nature-focused image of Finland would also benefit from increasing the attractiveness of culture. Various events and festivals of international interest would need support, as would the development of culture-based tourism routes.
The importance of the tourism sector as a driver of Finland's economic growth should also be better recognised among political decision-makers. A more visible appreciation of the sector would ensure the availability of skilled labour also in the future, which is a direct lifeline for the competitiveness of the sector. The attractiveness of education in the field has waned in recent years, and hiring foreign specialists has not been made easy. As a service-intensive sector, tourism will always depend on a skilled workforce whose language skills, service attitudes and knowledge of cultures are a key competitive factor.
