Helsinki is back at IMEX America with even more cross-Atlantic flight connections and inspiring new hotels and event venues
Little Finlandia is a new venue for congresses and events, photo: Teemu Kuusimurto, Keksi Agency
Helsinki Partners is delighted to be attending IMEX America for the first time since 2012. Helsinki, capital of the world’s happiest country and the most popular congress city in the Nordics, welcomes US visitors with improved flight connections and inspiring new hotels and event venues.
Finland has been anointed as the world’s happiest country for six years straight. The key factors behind the high ranking are the high level of education, social stability, positive work-life balance and functional services. In Helsinki, a vibrant cultural sphere that is accessible and affordable for all citizens is also a major contributor to everyday happiness.
All of these elements are important also for congress and event organizers. The city administration is flexible and easy for people and businesses to work with when arranging events, big or small. In fact, Helsinki claimed 11th spot in the category of most popular congress cities and is the most popular congress city in the Nordics according to the latest International Meetings Statistics Report published by the Union of International Associations in June 2023. The report includes data from 156 countries and 1213 cities.
Helsinki Airport's new Departures and Arrivals halls designed by ALA Architects photo: Finavia Corp
Smooth traveling
Flight connections between Finland and North America have been further improved in the past couple of years. Finnair now flies to nine US destinations: New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Dallas, Seattle, Boston, Las Vegas, San Diego and Miami. The extensive ten-year development program at Helsinki Airport is also set to be completed in autumn 2023, with stunning wood architecture and new services and facilities placed under one roof to guarantee smooth traveling for everyone. In addition to the customer experience, planning of the extension was guided by sustainable development goals in material choices and energy solutions. Helsinki Airport became carbon neutral already in 2017.
Experience Helsinki’s unique design and architecture
One can enjoy timeless and functional Finnish design at two new event venues that opened in 2022: Little Finlandia and Dance House Helsinki. Designed by JKMM and ILO Architects, Dance House Helsinki is Finland’s first landmark venue promoting dance, and it also offers a great setting for events. Finlandia Hall, designed by legendary Finnish architect Alvar Aalto, is undergoing renovation and has been replaced by a temporary modular building, Little Finlandia, a real masterpiece of wood construction designed by Aalto University architecture student Jaakko Torvinen. Finlandia Hall reopens in 2025.
Hotel Scandic Grand Central’s inner yard with the new extension, photo: Marc Goodwin Archmospheres
Another Finnish architectural landmark, Helsinki Central Station designed by equally legendary Finnish architect Eliel Saarinen, has already gone through an extensive renovation, and its former offices together with a new extension opened as a design hotel in 2021. Originally completed in 1919, the building has been listed among the most beautiful railway stations in the world and is one of the most visited architecture destinations in Finland.
Only a few years after the railway station was completed, Saarinen won second prize in the competition to design the Chicago Tribune skyscraper and thereafter moved permanently to the United States. Later his son, Eero Saarinen, continued the family´s triumph of iconic terminal buildings by designing JFK Airport's TWA Flight Center (Terminal 5) in 1962.
Today, the Scandic Grand Central offers 491 rooms, excellent meeting spaces and a ballroom for up to 500 persons. At the end of 2023, two new hotels, Radisson Red and the luxury hotel Hotel Maria, will welcome guests to enjoy Helsinki and high-end services in the city center. Learn more about Helsinki’s new hotels and get inspired by local’s recommendations at MyHelsinki.fi.
For media
Leena Karppinen
Senior Manager, PR & Communications
Helsinki Partners
leena.karppinen@helsinkipartners.com
