The Finnish Tourist Board has expressed interest in working closely with its neighbours like Russia and Estonia to sell itself in the Indian market. Arto Asikainen, area manager, Finnish Tourist Board, said, "Our purpose of coming to India is the same - to give our hotels, ferry line companies and other Finnish operators the opportunity to interact with the Indian trade. We were contacted by a few neighbouring regions for joint promotions and were apprehensive about it. But we have recognised that this strategy will give our product a better push since people prefer to visit multiple destinations when on a holiday. Also, Finland is still not being perceived as a mono destination in long haul markets."
Last year, Finland received 63,000 registered overnights from India. Says Asikainen, "There has been a 28 per cent growth form India compared to our other markets. Realistically, inspite of the recession, we are expecting 75,000 overnights from India this year." Apart from participating in road shows, operators from Finland have been coming independently to India to do business and promote themselves. For 2009, the destination is working on positioning itself more as a leisure destination than MICE. In addition, the tourist board plans to launch its B2B and B2C online portal by the end of June this year. Also, for the first time this year, the country will also be participating in a large co-operation programme with Cox & Kings in India. The tourist board had earlier this year announced its representative office in Mumbai which is connected with the Finpro, the country's trade centre.
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