Finland to receive 70,000 Indian tourists
Thursday, September 18th, 2008Finland is wooing the Indian tourist like never before and this year it is hoping that 70,000 of them will visit their country, even as the European nation has also plans to sell several breathtaking destinations to the Bollywood.
“In 2006, we had 40,000 Indians visiting our country, last year the figure touched 50,000 and this year, we are hoping 70,000 will pay a visit by the year end,” Finnish Tourist Board Marketing Manager, Papori Bharti said to the reporters here on Sunday.
She said that Visit Finland is the nodal agency for promotion of Destination Finland, which currently is conducting a five city promotion with presentations on the latest updates on the destination. The cities being covered under this are Mumbai, Pune, Bangalore, Chandigarh and Delhi, she said, adding Finnair, the flag carrier, was also offering attractive discounts on tickets to the tourists.
Bharti said that noted Bollywood director Mahesh Bhatt was also planning to shoot a film in Finland shortly.
“Recently, we conducted a seminar in which filmmakers from different parts from Europe and some from India took part. We have set up Lapland Film Commission, the nodal agency which will facilitate those willing to shoot in Finland,” she said.
With winter round the corner in Finland, “we are aggressively promoting our must-see destination Lapland, renowned the world over for its tranquility, pristine natural environment, water falls and adventure options like snowmobiles, reeinder sledges, husky safaris.
Lapland is situated on the Arctic Circle,” informed Katja Etelainen, Marketing and Communications Manager of Rovaniemi (Finnish city) Tourism.
Katja said that Lapland is also the best place to witness the spectacular natural phenomenon of the Northern Lights, a great marvel of the nature in which an array of colours can be seen across the sky mainly consisting of red, green, blue and violet.