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analysis and product development as well as stronger local and regional networking among tourism
stakeholders.
The general opinion among tourism stakeholders is very positive about the future development of
tourism in Northern Sweden. New innovative areas such as space tourism at Spaceport Sweden,
technical visits to traditional industry and city relocations (Kiruna), Arctic car and military testing,
and of course, increasing traditional nature-based tourism seem promising (Swedish Lapland
Tourism 2014).
Finland
In Finnish Lapland nature tourism has been a key development area since the beginning of the
1980s. The growth within the tourism industry has been most rapid in the programmed tourism
services in the winter season. Typical commercial tourism services in Finnish Lapland consist of
programmed services, such as snowmobile excursions to reindeer or sledge dog farms. Despite the
relative remoteness and wilderness-like attributes of the tourism destinations in Lapland, the typical
programmed services, especially the ones offered in the winter season, are not generally considered
as adventurous (Rantala & Valkonen 2011).
There were approximately 2.4 million tourists visiting Lapland in 2013 of which 1.3 million were
Finnish and 1 million were foreign tourists (Regional Council of Lapland, no date). This means that
the number of registered overnights has almost doubled from 1.25 million in 1990. In addition, the
actual number of tourists in 2013 was estimated to be three times the registered number since a
considerable part of overnights are non-registered ones. In 2013 foreign tourists came to Lapland
mainly from Great Britain, Russia, Germany and Japan. The main tourist season takes place from
February to April. The summer and autumn seasons attract primarily Finnish hiking tourists. The
Christmas season with British and Russian tourists starts in November and lasts until January.
There were 1586 tourism enterprises in Lapland in 2011. The number of tourism companies grew
6.4 % during the years 2006–2011. The turnover of tourism companies in 2011 was 471 million
euros. Most of the tourism enterprises employ less than ten people. Hospitality and tourism
businesses employed 4497 people in total in the year 2011. The employment in tourism grew 3.5 %
during the years 2006–2011, which was approximately 1.5 times more tha