OREANDA-NEWS. December 17, 2008. About 100,000 Russians are expected to go to Finland for New Year’s celebrations. Over the next weeks, every second tourist in Finland will be from Russia.

The year of 2008 has been an all-time high with regard to the number of Russian tourists in Finland. The total number of overnights by Russian tourists has grown by as much as 22 percent.

The significance of tourism is particularly great in southeastern districts of the country. However, also the northern Lapland region has great benefits from Russian tourists.

The Lapland region has with its highly developed infrastructure and tourism complexes become a major hotspot for Christmas and New Year’s tourists.

The international economic downturn could however disrupt the positive trend.

The downturn can already be seen in the number of visitors to Santa Claus’ Main Post Office on the Arctic Circle outside the city of Rovaniemi, where the annual number of tourists has already dropped by 13 % and the same pace has continued in December.

On Saturday the number of charter flights to Rovaniemi from Great Britain and some other countries was 14, and on Sunday 19.

Russians are however unlikely to abandon Finland. Regional manager of the Finnish Tourist Board, Arto Asikainen, says to the newspaper that Russian consumers are largely free from debt and that travelling is a permanent part of the lifestyle of the Russian middle-class. In addition, “if long-distance trips do not suit every pocket, Finland could be a good alternative” Mr. Asikainen says.