Lapland’s summer enchanted a Dutch tour operator: More charter flights to Santa's Official Home Airport
Dutch Voigt Travel will bring more charter flights from the Netherlands to Rovaniemi airport during the 2017 summer season.
Voigt Travel will start summer flights from Amsterdam to Rovaniemi next June. Travellers from the Netherlands will arrive at Rovaniemi Airport twice a week from the beginning of June to the end of July.
“This is great news for tourism in Lapland. Previously we have had new routes opened for the winter season, but now new routes will also be opened to Lapland’s summer. We will give a warm welcome to the travellers arriving from Holland to enjoy the Finnish summer next year, says Director Joni Sundelin, SVP at Finavia.
The Dutch have even more long term plans: Voigt Travel intends to increase the supply of trips to Lapland for the next years as well, and those flights would also take place in August and September.
“There is a growing interest in unspoilt and safe destinations. The demand for shorter holidays is increasing and flight based travelling is more accepted. The northernmost part of Europe is still very far away and unknown in the perception of the European traveller so reachability is crucial”, says Managing Director Cees van den Bosch of Voigt Travel.
The flights will operated as so called triangle flights: Amsterdam-Rovaniemi-Tromsø-Amsterdam. Some of the travellers will continue their journey from Rovaniemi to Norway.
The tour operator on the attractiveness of Lapland: ”You have to create superb experiences”
Voigt Travel and their flights are a common sight at the Finavia airports in Lapland. The company has flown to Finland for 13 years and they have also experimented with summer travel before. During the upcoming winter season 2016–2017 Voigt Travel will operate more than 50 charter flights to the airports in Lapland.
”Since 2003 we operate a growing number of charter flights in winter to Lapland. Last year we had 45 direct charter flights to the region. And what is more, Voigt Travel has had a successful summer charter production to Rovaniemi in summer 2007 and 2008 already”, says van den Bosch.
Voigt Travel is focused mainly on Nordic destinations. The company is the biggest tour operator for trips to Finland. Both Voigt Travel and Finavia’s goal is to make the summer of Lapland come to bloom also when it comes to tourism.
“Lapland’s winter products are naturally better known, but there's more work to do when it comes to marketing the northern summer. The Voigt Travel launch can very well be among the first steps in increasing the amount of tourists in the summer”, says Joni Sundelin from Finavia.
“We can reinforce the image of summer in the arctic region. All the wonders of Lapland will be nearby with this flight. But we need to improve the service level like we have in winter. If we are not on their bucket list as a destination, we better create superb experiences that exceed the expectations of todays demanding traveller”, says van den Bosch.
In order to meet the growing demand in flight traffic, Finavia has invested 35 million Euros in Lapland’s airports during 2014–2016. One of the largest projects is the current renovation of the runway at Rovaniemi airport.
Rovaniemi is the official hometown of Santa Claus and Rovaniemi Airport is Santa's official home airport.
Finavia
Communications
Media Desk tel. 358 20 708 2002, comms@finavia.fi
Finavia provides and develops airport and air navigation services with focus on safety, customer-orientation and cost efficiency. Finavia’s comprehensive network of 22 airports enables international connections from Finland — and to different parts of Finland. Helsinki Airport is the leading Northern European transit airport for long-haul traffic. Revenues in 2015 were EUR 353 million, and the number of employees 2300.
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