Trips to Finnish Lapland and the home of Santa have been cancelled by TUI this year due to an unseasonal lack of snow, but even so, some locals are worried about the effects of overtourism on the area.
Recent footage on social media showed bare earth and unappealing ice-packed trails instead of magical snowy conditions in Rovaniemi, the capital of Finnish Lapland, but even if some visitors stay away or see their trips cancelled as a result, Tiina Määttä, general manager of the Original Sokos Hotel, a 159-room in the city centre, expects 2024 to be a record-breaking year.
Increased air connectivity driving tourism growth
Connectivity is a key factor. Rovaniemi Airport launched 13 new connections this year, and, according to a global live flight tracker and airport guide, Airportia, now flies 40 different routes to and from 35 different cities in 17 different countries. This is contributing to an influx of tourists from all over Europe and beyond. The number of overnight visitors to the capital increased by 30% between 2022 and 2023, and 2024 into 2025 looks set to continue that trend, beating 1.2 million, and going even further.
But while business may be booming for hotels and restaurants, and the Santa Claus Village theme park rakes in more than 600,000 entries annually, the impact of such high visitor numbers is not so positive for Rovaniemi residents, who feel tourists sometimes dominate the city. Due to the shortage of hotel rooms, short-term rentals are booming – and locals say they are being edged out of the housing market.
Out of control?
“We are worried about the overgrowth of tourism. Tourism has grown so rapidly, it’s not anymore in control,” 43-year-old Antti Pakkanen told the Associated Press. A photographer and member of a housing network that held a rally about the issue in September 2024, Pakkanen says not enough is being done to address the homeowners and renters subletting their apartments, even though it is illegal in Finland to run professional accommodation services in residential buildings. “The rules must be enforced better,” he said.
It’s a more polite request and reaction to overtourism than that of residents 5274 km south, in Tenerife. Recently sunbeds in a resort in the south of the island were slashed and spraypainted with anti-tourism messages in an overnight guerilla attack. Tensions between locals and tourists have been mounting in Tenerife and across other European countries for some time, and now it appears they’ve reached the Arctic.
Whether Rovaniemi will see smashed-up tourist sleighs in the future is yet to be seen, and let’s not forget, some rides have been bumpy due to a lack of snow blamed on climate change. But for now, the popularity of Finnish Lapland does not seem to be going away. As Visit Rovaniemi CEO Sanna Karkkainen told the AP, “Nordic is a trend.”
