Family multi activity vacation in Finland with Santa

Planet and people

The common objective of North East Finland, including the Kuusamo and Ruka municipalities, is to develop from nationally well-known tourist resorts into an internationally attractive outdoor tourist region. Tourism is the most vital industry in the area and gives work to about 1000 people generating an annual total tourist income of over 104 million.

Tourism has a positive impact both socially and economically on people living in these remote areas. Local authorities, tourism organizations and tourism providers all work together in various fields, continuously developing programmes which will ensure that tourism in the region is managed sensibly and impacts positively on local communities and the environment.

The philosophy in the region is to ensure that tourism providers use, to the greatest extent possible, local providers, be it for hotels, activities or employment and visitors are positively encouraged to try the locally produced food and drink. Where activities such as snowmobiling may have a minor impact on the environment, such pastimes are carefully managed and are part of everyday life in these parts.

Trails are clearly defined and managed with tourists only allowed to drive snowmobiles under the close supervision of fully qualified instructors. We adopt the same philosophy in this region, using locally or Finnish owned hotels and activity partners based in Ruka or Kuusamo hence ensuring that the local community benefits.