Finland expecting 70,000 Indian tourists by 2008

Chandigarh, Sep 14: Finland is becoming a favourite tourist destination for many Indians, according to a businessman from that country.

Jari Virtanen, sales manager of Finland-based Lapland Hotels and Safaris (LHS), said India was "one of the potential markets" for the Finnish tourism industry.

"Every year tourists' traffic from India to Finland is increasing at a considerable pace. Now we want to take it seriously and make special efforts to attract more tourists from this region," Virtanen, who was in Chandigarh Saturday to promote Finland tourism, told IANS.

In 2006, only 40,000 Indian tourists visited Finland while it went up to 50,000 in 2007, a 25 percent increase, Virtanen said.

"In 2008, we were expecting a growth of 20 percent tourists from India till June 2008 as compared to the corresponding period of 2007. However, the figures jumped by 37 percent to 39,120 tourists," he said.

"We are expecting around 70,000 tourists from India to visit Finland by the end of 2008," he added.

Speaking of the government's plans to promote tourism, Virtanen said: "Finland tourism authorities have also drafted extensive plans to promote the country's picturesque locations for the shooting of Bollywood and Hollywood films. In the next few months, they are coming up with a film commission to facilitate this."

Indian film director and producer Mahesh Bhatt is planning the shooting of a Hindi film in Finland in early 2009, said an Indian partner of Lapland Hotels.

Virtanen said the hotel chain was drawing up plans to enter partnership agreements with Indian travel agents. "Our aim is to market Finland as the most sought-after tourist destination by reaching right at the doorstep of the potential tourists," he said.

He added: "We have special tie-ups with Finnair and can even sent invitation for Indian tourists if they want. There are no chances of visa rejection if we sent an invitation."