Visit Finland is facing a significant reduction in its operations following the completion of restructuring negotiations by Business Finland. As a result of these discussions, 11 positions will be cut. The decrease in budget will lead to a substantial curtailment of the organization’s activities.
Going forward, Visit Finland will primarily concentrate on promoting international sales and marketing Finland as a travel destination. The organization plans to maintain sustainable tourism initiatives and measure the impact of tourism wherever possible. While services like Datahub, the STF program, and tourism research will continue, the responsibility for developing offerings and ensuring quality will largely be left to the tourism sector itself.
As part of the restructuring, Visit Finland's operations will be divided into three main teams: international operations, collaboration with the Finnish tourism industry, and marketing & PR. Kristiina Hietasaari, the director of Visit Finland, commented on the changes: "The scope of Visit Finland's tasks has been extensive relative to the available resources. The sector will still require support for essential skills, especially in the area of digitalization. Fortunately, many other organizations will provide this support now that Visit Finland can no longer offer it."
Due to budget cuts, Visit Finland will narrow its target markets for international tourism promotion. The remaining markets will include Germany, the United Kingdom, the United States, France, Spain, Japan, and China. Visit Finland will continue to have representatives in these regions, except for the UK, which will now be managed from Finland. Markets such as Sweden, Italy, and India will be dropped, as well as supported markets like the Benelux countries and South Korea.
"It is unfortunate that we have to scale back our operations in several potential growth markets, allowing competitors to take the lead as funding decreases. However, it is better to concentrate limited resources on a smaller number of target markets to ensure effectiveness," Hietasaari further explained.
The restructuring negotiations, initiated for production and economic reasons, concluded on September 27. A total of 17 positions were eliminated during the negotiation process. Some employees were able to be offered new roles, but 11 employees will see their contracts end. The negotiations were prompted by cuts in the state budget, which will effectively halve Visit Finland's funding in 2025.
More on Visit Finland (in Finnish).
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