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Heli Mende
Market representative | North America
Visit Finland | Business Finland
11/11/20 ©Heli Mende
Finland’s image as a travel
destination in USA
Brand Tracking survey 2019
11/11/2020 First name Last name 2
When asked spontaneously which countries are considered as a holiday destination in the next three
years, the Nordics do not rank highly in the USA, with Finland narrowly at the back of the pack
Spontaneous Destination Consideration
50%
45%
40%
35%
30%
25%
20%
15%
13th14th
10%
19th 21st 22nd
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Q2. SPONTANEOUS CONSIDERATION DESTINATION
Which countries would you consider for a holiday or short break over the next three years? Please include up to 10 countries Base: Total Sample (1,001) 3
When thinking about Finland, the beauty of the country spontaneously comes to mind in the US. As
do the Finnish people, the food, the northern lights and the capital
Mountains and skiing with a I think of moose, I
Spontaneous Impressions - Finland think of snow and Aurora borealis, Helsinki with its
lot of cold
beautiful landscapes markets and restaurants, the
Cold, mountains, seawall, and history. Biking, hiking,
snow. and natural beauty.
They are known for their
ski resorts, lakes, wild It was quiet and peaceful.
reindeer, and Northern Lots of green everywhere.
Lights. A wonderful place to go
on long walks.
Finland is a freezing
cold country that has
a lot of nature and I think of beautiful outdoor
outdoor activities to scenery, tourist attractions,
offer historical monuments,
delicious food and really
pleasant and kind people.
I also think of Northern Lights in
Finland, though I love the
culture and stories that they Beautiful and friendly
have about why the northern people. Skiing, and Beautiful,
lights come. I think of delicious I think it would be other winter outdoor expensive
food and friendly people. clean, colourful, activities. Long days of
Northern Lights, dog I think it has a lot of pleasant, friendly, sunlight. Clean, fresh
sledding or reindeer attractions, places to see, and a nice place to air.
sledding, winter with hardly historic areas and nice relax
any sunlight. Cold! scenery.
Q9 BMN
Base: Consideration Set: Finland (458)
Please take a few moments to think about . Please tell us everything that pops into your mind when you think of as a tourist destination. 4
Travel related searches Digital Demand 2019
United States
No. 4 in ranking in absolute numbers.
402 100 travel-related Internet searches concerning Finland.
+20 % compared to previous year.
Top Micro-brandtags
2018 2019
Igloos Ice Hotels +46 %
Northern Lights +38 %
Cities +2 %
Saunas +17 %
Things to Do +27 %
Travel +15 %
Visit +25 %
Tourism +13 %
Santa Claus +53 %
Places to Visit +19 %
0 10 000 20 000 30 000 40 000 50 000 60 000
Source: D2 Digital Demand
USA overnights in the Nordic countries & in Finland Statistics Service Rudolf, Statistics Finland Statistics Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Iceland
USA: Yearly overnights in the Nordic countries
Development of US overnights 2009-2019 4.6M
overnights in total
1 600 000
1 400 000
1 200 000
Iceland
1 000 000 Sweden
Norway
800 000 Denmark
Finland
600 000
400 000
309 100
200 000
2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
Sources: Visit Finland Statistics Service Rudolf, Statistics Finland,
Statistics Denmark, Statistics Norway, Statistics Sweden and Statistics Iceland
US overnights in Finland 2000-2019
Year 2019
In 2019 7th
in country rankings
• Population: 328 million with a 4% share of foreign overnights
• Outbound travel from The US: 129 million arrivals to all destinations in 2019 (+6% from 2018)
Average change 2000-2019: +2%
• Europe's share of The US outbound travel: 29% Change 2019 compared to 2000: +36%
• Finland's share of total US outbound travel: 0.2%
• Travel Expenditure (total outbound travel from The US): 101 Billion EUR Tourism income from the US
179 ME, 6th in country rankings
350 000
7%
300 000 8%
16 %
Share of overnights by regions 2019
250 000 1 % -1 % 14 %
-8 %-6 % 9 % -1 %-1 % 4 % -6 % 13 %-2 % 9 % -1 %
200 000 7 % -6 %
-18 %
150 000
100 000
50 000
0 69% 8% 9% 14%
00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19
20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20
Sources: Visit Finland Statistics Service Rudolf, Statistics Finland
USA overnights in Finland by season
300 000
250 000
200 000
150 000
100 000
50 000
0
Winter (12-02) Spring (03-05) Summer (06-08) Autumn (09-11)
2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020Most popular Visit Finland website content during summer 2020
Popular Visit Finland articles summer season 2020 (06-08) - US
Popular Articles on visitfinland.com during summer 2020:
Practical Information for Travelers to Finland during Corona Pandemic
Doze off under the Northern Lights
What are the Finns like?
21 reasons to love Finland
Midsummer – Go Peaceful or Go Party
Iconic Finnish Foods of All Time
Land of the Midnight Sun
10 Sauna Tips for Beginners
On the Hunt for the Northern Lights
On a Virtual Tour Around Finland
During the summer months American visitors were mostly interested in Northern Lights,
Midsummer, Midnight Sun and Finnish Food.
During this fall the interest has otherwise stayed the same but Northern lights related
articles have gained more popularity.
Source:Visit FinlandUSA
Current situation
Travel trade update
Trends and opportunities
Target groups & Products
11/11/20 ©Heli MendeUSA – Current situation 11/11/20 ©Heli Mende
USA – Current situation
Travel restrictions
• The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has issued a Level 3 Travel
Health Notice for Finland due to COVID-19.
Level 3 = Reconsider Travel: Avoid travel due to serious risks to safety and security.
Other restrictions
• The Center for Disease Control and Prevention advises to social distance after
traveling with these guidelines:
ü When around others, stay at least 6 feet (about 2 arms' length) from other people who are not from your household. It is important to do
this everywhere, both indoors and outdoors.
ü Wear a mask to keep your nose and mouth covered when you are outside of your home.
ü Wash your hands often or use hand sanitizer (with at least 60% alcohol).
ü Watch your health and look for symptoms of COVID-19. Take your temperature if you feel sick.
ü Follow state, territorial, tribal and local recommendations or requirements after travel.
• Individual states may have stricter procedures and require a 14 day quarantine / self
isolation OR pre-test before entering and a second test after 4 days of a arrival ( i.e.
New York State from November 1, 2020).
11/11/20 ©Heli MendeUSA – Current situation
Accessibility/ Flight situation
Finnair is planning to resume JFK, ORD, LAX in March 28th, 2021 with the following frequency:
AY 002 LAX HEL 1930 1605+1 28MAR21 26OCT21– Tuesday and Sunday
AY010 ORD HEL 1735 1020+1 29MAR21 15APR21 -daily except for FRI and SAT
AY 010 ORD HEL 1735 1020+1 16APR21 29OCT21 - daily
AY 006 JFK HEL 1905 1010+1 28MAR21 29OCT21 – daily
Other connections to be monitored: One World (AA, BA), SAS, Icelandair
11/11/20 ©Heli MendeUSA – Travel Trade
Based on USTOA tour operator (active member) survey
August 2020:
• One third (33%) say they have received bookings for Q1 2021 travel.
• Three fourths (76%) report passenger bookings for second quarter of 2021.
• Eight out of ten (79%) Active Members are reporting travel bookings for the
third quarter of 2021.
• Half (52%) report new bookings being made for Q4 2021 travel.
• Roughly 31% of members report new passenger bookings for 2022.
11/11/20 ©Heli MendeUSA – Travel trade
USTOA DMO COVID-19 October 2020 Survey Results
USTOA DMO COVID-19
USTOA Destination management Associate Members: when their October 2020 Survey
destination anticipates opening tourism to United States travelers • 70 DMO Associate Members
participated, representing a
52% response rate
• One third (34%) of the DMO members responded “unsure or too • DMOs responding resemble
early determine” the following geographic
breakdown:
Africa 3%
• 20% of DMO Associate Members are already open for US travelers Asia 13%
Australia/Oceania 10%
• Roughly 13% of respondents anticipate a July 2021 and beyond Canada 10%
opening for US tourism Central America 1%
Europe 39%
Middle East 4%
• Another 10% predict an April 2021 opening for US travelers North America 11%
South America 8%
©Heli Mende
11/11/20USA – Current situation
USTOA DMO COVID-19 October 2020 Survey Results
Products back soonest and strongest:
1. FIT
2. Small groups (less than 20
passengers)
3. Nature/adventure
4. Luxury
5. Medium groups (20-50
passengers)
6. Large groups (50+ passengers)
7. River cruises
8. Ocean cruises
(Note: rankings did not change from August DMO survey)
11/11/20 ©Heli MendeUSA – Travel trade
USTOA DMO COVID-19 October 2020 Survey Results
Marketing
• One third (30%) of DMO respondents have • Trade marketing:
already restarted marketing campaigns in the • More than half (53%) of respondents reported:
US. between 30-50% of their destination’s 2021 US
tourism marketing budget will be allocated to trade
• Another third (30%) plan to restart marketing marketing, showing a significant increase from the last
survey which 37% reported that 30-50% of marketing
in the first quarter of 2021, representing an would go to trade.
increase in planned marketing for Q1 2021 • Roughly 28% report allocating 60% or more of the
compared to the August DMO survey that marketing budget towards trade
reported 22% would start in early part of next • Remaining 19% plan to allocate 20% or less of their
budget to trade marketing.
year.
• Consumer marketing:
• At the same time, 19% still do not know when • A third (33%) of responding DMOs report that 60% or
they will restart marketing efforts in the US. more of their destination’s 2021 US tourism marketing
budget will be allocated to consumer marketing.
• Roughly 10% plan to start marketing efforts in • 41% say between 30-50% of the marketing budget
towards consumers.
the fourth quarter of 2020. • The remaining quarter (26%) plan to allocate 20% or
• The remaining 11% selected “other.” less of their budget to consumer marketing next year.
11/11/20 ©Heli MendeUSA - Travel Trade
Comments from tour operators
• Avanti: “Our main product is high end FIT and this segment is going to be traveling first, we are now
waiting for the restrictions to be eased to be able to start to sell to travel agencies again. Finland is an
attractive destination in these times with the open spaces and nature based travel.”
• Tenon Tours: “We are planning to add Nordic countries including Finland in our portfolio in summer
2021”
• Frontier Travel: “We are specialized in nature travel and organize for example fishing trips to
Murmansk with Helsinki as gateway. It is important for us to understand what Finland’s border control
restrictions are because we would prefer to operate via Finland instead of going directly to Russia. We
are also selling Iceland winter product and we would like to add Finland year round in our production
some time next year.“
• Great Value Vacations: “We are waiting for Finland to open the border and Finnair to resume the
flights to be able to start our new Finland year round production.”
• SITA Tours: “ We are hoping to re-launch Scandinavia (incl. Finland) tours around midsummer 2021 and
will also be focusing for winter when possible.”
11/11/20 ©Heli MendeUSA - Visit Finland activities in the market
• Following the situation and keeping communication active with travel
trade partners in the US (tour operators and travel advisors)
• B2B webinars: Finland in Depth series, Nordic webinars
• Visit Finland & Visit Estonia Virtual Trade Show October 27th
• PR communication
• Virtuoso events and marketing (Webinar, Web15 e-learning, sales
events, blog post, email marketing, Trips of A Lifetime catalog)
• USTOA market place December 1-3, 2020, 1:1 meetings and promotion
together with Sweden, Norway and Denmark
• Some joint promotion campaigns prepared to start in December –
promoting summer 2021. The rest Q1 2021.
• Branding Finland in the US cross over project:
• Happines from Finland – travel and consumer
• Planning and preparing 2021 plan
• Fam trips
• USA roadshow fall 2021
• Virtuoso, USTOA, Nordic co-op
• Team Finland work and other country branding activities (SXSW, Branding Finland
in the US, Sustainable travel initiative 2021)
11/11/20 ©Heli MendeTwo-thirds of Americans believe
USA – Future Outlook that life will return to
“something close to normal” by
2021 (Expedia Online Survey October 2020
• It is possible that there will be more interest in mono-destination tours vs multi-
country tours.
• Travelers are choosing the service providers based on the most flexible terms.
• Interest towards nature-based travel is growing.
• First ones to start to travel internationally and long haul from the US are the high-
end travelers and especially FIT and small private groups (families, friends) and very
affluent travelers who can afford private jet trips.
• Domestically and within the Americas, the first ones to start to travel will be the
younger generations.
11/11/20 ©Heli MendeUSA – Trends & Opportunities
US traveler Finland offering Winter wonderland
and northern lights
US travelers are vacationing for much longer experiences
than they were last year Nature based
experiences Local culture
44% of American travelers have now become
Special
solo travelers accommodations
Sustainable travel
Slow travel
experiences
Europe still a top spot
Helsinki & Finland´s
geographical location
close to Scandinavia,
Exploring the neighborhoods, sampling the local the Baltics and Russia.
cuisine and visiting sights outside of the city still
remain as top interests
Interest in visiting museums has declined
Source: Travel Daily News Nov 4, 2020
11/11/20 ©Heli MendeUSA – Trends & Opportunities
Sustainable Travel & New technologies
We believe that sustainable travel revolves around three
pillars:
1. Travel that protects the planet
2. Travel that supports local economies
3. Travel that preserves cultural heritage
AAA Club Adventures Sep 25,2020
Our sustainability mission is to:
•Highlight travel companies that champion sustainability
1. Travel with companies who involve locals •Showcase success stories and raise awareness of how sustainable
2. Get involved with local, sustainable efforts travel is transforming the travel industry for good
3. Avoid creating dependent relationships •Help travelers make informed decisions so that their trip isn’t just a
4. Avoiding Animal Abuse great vacation, but one that makes a positive impact on the people and
5. Practice green habits at home and abroad places they visit
11/11/20 ©Heli MendeTarget groups & products
Winter wonderland Summer culture-based Summer nature-based Finland as a part of
experience experience experience multi- country tour
• Northern lights and special • Helsinki city break • Nature based multi activity package in • Helsinki
accomodation • Helsinki with extension to Archipelago/ Lakeland/ Lapland + • Helsinki + Turku
• Santa Claus and snow activities Archipelago/ Lakeland/ Lapland Helsinki
• HIGH-END 40+ GUIDED TOURS
• LUXURY AND HIGH-END FIT • HIGH-END 50+ FIT & GIT • HIGH-END 30+ FIT NATURE TRAVELERS
TRAVELERS TRAVELERS LOVERS
• AFFLUENT FAMILIES AND • FIT SOLO TRAVELERS • ADVENTURE TRAVELERS
EXTENDED FAMILIES • FIT SOLO TRAVELERS
• ADVENTURE TRAVELERS
• FIT SOLO TRAVELERS
Sustainable, responsible and safe travel experiences
11/11/20 ©Heli MendeMore information about USA as a market:
https://www.businessfinland.fi/suomalaisille-asiakkaille/palvelut/matkailun-edistaminen/toiminta-
markkinoilla/usa/
https://www.businessfinland.fi/suomalaisille-asiakkaille/palvelut/matkailun-edistaminen/matkailun-
elpyminen/usan-tilannekuva/
11/11/20 ©Heli MendeQ&A 11/11/20 ©Heli Mende
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