Current information about German tourism

Updated April 2024

Finland's position in the market

Finland and the Nordics are gaining a momentum as widely safe and problem free area and relatively close to main European source market in travel. Within the Nordic context Finland is a leading winter holiday destination in Central Europe.

When thinking other seasons we lack fjords, volcanoes and similar nature wonders and the Finnish culture is least known of the Nordics. This again gives possibilities to develop travel as many ways of holiday making Finland has ideal conditions be it hiking or finding your happiness at a resort or mökki. Germans are pros in holidays and need practical information concerning holidays offers and what to do.

The importance of flight connections can’t be underestimated, as for example Sweden and Denmark are easily reachable with a car and train so they already have a head start when comparing accessibility.

Generally the pandemic and geopolitical tensions have changed Finland’s possibilities as well: different crises have “closed” many destinations, we are still behind in airline seat capacity between Germany and Finland, however Finnair is increasing frequencies coming summer. Higher prices do not scare Germans and willingness to travel is very high.

Accessibility is a key topic when developing travel to Finland. Lapland gained a momentum 2016 and managed to make a quick recovery in the winter already reaching pre pandemic level 2022. Now the first summer/ autumn scheduled flights are coming to Lakeland and Lapland with positive feedback from the operators and interest to develop the summer further.

Our visibility in media remains high due to NATO process. Especially our foreign minister gets a lot of air time at public news channels as a specialist for Russia. Also travel content is wide spread in on and offline media leading the media value globally.

Consumer trends and behavior

Consumers are trying to play safe which seem to have two main characteristics.

1. It seems that online channels are winners in Germany. The classic travel catalogue and numerous promotions linked to printed offers is at stake as consumers decide impulsively when and where to travel. This goes along with digital media and influencers coming closer to the point of sale.

2. The role of tour operators remains high for certain segments like sun & beach holiday and in Finland winter holidays in Lapland has high share of package tours. On the other hand summer holidays are commonly booked at suppliers and OTAs if at all: package tour is less than 10 % of market in the summer.

Travelling with own car or a camper has been a winner and overland travel with public transportation has become trendy. During the pandemic camping revived and show high potential for Scandinavian destinations.

Nature experiences, sustainability, camping, sauna, biking, and hiking remain the biggest trends at the Finland audience during summer.

Majority of the summer visitors book only a part of the trip before departure. We should try to steer the business more to booking channels as it has many benefits for the destination like preparing services or even staff.

Utilizing the Visit Finland traveller segments should be considered for cost effective marketing and sales operations. Excellent presentation available at visitfinland.fi. but here one example:

Coolcation is the new trend to escape too hot areas during vacation. Finland truly can offer something here and when stacking USPs linking to hobbies, sightseeing and workcation you might be the first one to offer pleasant summer holidays combined with work opportunities and to cool off in the beautiful Finnish nature: I would write out a 2-3-4 week worry free packages with options for renting equipment, sauna at lakeside etc.

Industry update and distribution channels

Lack of staff remains one of the hottest topics which influences production, sales, and marketing at tour operators and throughout the industry. The additional need of advice and overlapping booking and production periods are adding up to the lack of staff. This creates many challenges: from supplier side patience, speed and flexibility are important.

Winter season keeps developing fast and the holiday makers are now also steering SOL (South of Lapland) with own cars and with the TUI flights to Kajaani and the Eurowings route Dusseldorf-Kajaani next to the leisure sales driven Lufthansa route to Oulu stretching to 52 weeks of operation.

Distribution channels in Germany are unique globally as there a strong tour operator-travel agency network with 50 % market share in all leisure trips. At this moment some 600 tour operators offer leisure trips to Finland. Most of the tour operators offer just 1-2 trips as group couch tour and usually purchased at a package tour operator like SRG, which brings a large volume of overnights together with its direct selling operator SR Travel.

For classic package tour operators touring is the main product in the FIT segment and the range of operators is big from global players like TUI, FTI or Der Touristik to small boutique travel agencies with themed tours. Studiosus Reisen, Tuja Reisen, Fintouring, Wikinger Reisen, Arktis Tours, Vianova Reisen, Feelgood Reisen, Kingfischer Reisen, Zonista are a few of the better known tour operators with a Finland offer.

A common misunderstanding is that travel agency bookings are “offline”. Today only a few tailored tours are “on request” manually and can be a part of a complex upmarket service for customer that wish something special. Also, this part of the business is transferring to DMCs as the tour operators do not have enough resources for extensive own production.

The role of incomings and DMCs is increasing of two reasons mainly: lack of staff and guest management in the destination. We lack national DMC offers for individual travellers and the content should preferably be online “one click shop” for tour production and sales. Guaranteed departure group tours are another area where we see room for development.

New route openings are coming to Lapland from Switzerland, Netherlands, Austria and Germany and we can see the business spreading not only in Lapland but also Munich Oulu is a new double weekly route from Lufthansa. Also Tampere and Savonlinna are increasing their accessibility and most important news: Finnair adds capacity on all German routes over coming summer 2024 also to Lapland on the domestic routes.

Finland travel USP's

Nature combined with Finland other main USPs happiness, freedom to roam, thousand lakes and Finnish wellbeing sauna are all highly potential for our audiences and a dream come true combination in Germany. Safety and sustainability play an increasingly big role in travel decisions.

Finland owns Santa Claus and it works in Germany. Christmas is one of the main holidays with new year celebration which are often combined, and both together form a peak winter travel season.

Are our USP strong enough to drive business? Absolutely, but we might lose the client if we do not give availability for our products. Especially online channels are not "on request" and a clear "call to action" is critical for success.

We should also remember key selling points which complete our promise for the chosen holiday. Be it Winter Wonderland with huskies and Northern lights or chilling at your own rented cottage at your own beach enjoying the endless light during the summer clear & easy narratives should be used to inspire our prospects.

Main products are touring, cottage holidays, city breaks and winter holidays. Ideally our content is based on main products, USPs and key selling points should define the communication.

Sustainability is something we can own with the other Nordics and maybe we should conclude that sustainability is always inclusive in a Finland holiday. Now for ca. 8 % sustainability is the decisive factor when choosing a holiday product but around 70 % are reacting positively to the theme. In other words: Sustainability can be a competitive advantage for Finland and sustainable holidays in Finland should sell well on the German market.

Sustainability is a generational issue also, millennials and younger are highly aware of the environment. The message for the end customers might have to be communicated also in a B2C campaign. Alternatively, effortless ways to show that a hotel that activity is green should be included in the B2C booking channel (be able to mark the hotel in Booking.com, in GetYourGuide and so on.)

Future outlook and upcoming season

It seems the holiday trends that became dominant during the pandemic remain on top as geopolitical tension continues limiting travel. Most Germans travel in Europe for summer holidays in 2024.

The winter in the north has been positive and outlook remains positive. Summer with coolcation is still coming to a real trend.

Main trends according to ahgz - Allgemeine Hotel- und Gastronomie-Zeitung:

1. Independence is key: Travelers want to choose easily and efficiently between many options when planning.

2. The role of digital media and artificial intelligence is increasing - from online booking to using travel apps to self-check-in at the airport.

3. Resonance tourism: Travel experiences that offer authenticity are increasingly in demand. While relaxation still holds great importance, self-experience and self-improvement offerings are coming into focus.

4. When it comes to travel destinations, Germany and European countries, especially the Eastern Mediterranean region, are very popular. “Nordic momentum” is niche momentum

5. As in the previous year, the trend of Workation - the combination of work and leisure - continues in 2024.

6. Germans are increasingly looking for unusual accommodations with style, charm, and flair. The search for the 'perfect' accommodation takes up a relatively large amount of space in travel planning.

7. The desire for the unique and extraordinary shapes the vacation behavior of many Germans. Event tourism benefits from this need, among others.