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The true Finnish Santa’s Christmas Greeting has become a highly popular phenomenon in China

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Every year, Santa Claus receives more than half a million letters from children and adults from 200 countries, and sends Christmas greetings all over the world from the Santa Claus Main Post Office located in the Arctic Circle in Finland. 

Aside from Finland, Santa Claus received the most letters in 2011 from Great Britain, Italy, Poland, and Japan. In particular, Chinese friends of Christmas have shown a growing interest towards the true Santa Claus in recent years.

Remembering friends with a Christmas greeting has always been highly popular in Finland. In China, sending Christmas greetings is a growing trend. More and more Chinese people want to remember their friends and business associates at Christmas time. Moreover, not only Santa Claus, but the northern exoticness offered by Finland has increased in popularity. The appeal of the Finnish Christmas is made even more alluring by the opportunity of meeting the genuine and original Santa Claus and visiting his official post office. The number of Chinese visitors has doubled over the past three years, with thousands of Chinese tourists visiting Santa Claus every year.

This Christmas, Santa Claus will send a huge number – several hundreds of thousands – of Christmas greetings to China. Following in the spirit of Christmas, the content of the letter is a secret, but the envelope bears a Finnish Christmas stamp and the cachet of the Santa Claus Main Post Office that are both valued in Finland and the rest of the world.

- I believe that interest will continue to grow in China and elsewhere in Asia. We have launched long-term cooperation with China Post, which is providing our Chinese customers with a genuine and valued Christmas product and us with a significant sales channel in China, says Petri Aaltonen, Vice President at Itella Posti.

- Santa’s Christmas greeting and the Christmas stamp, together with the Main Post Office in the Arctic Circle, are parts of the genuine and traditional Finnish Christmas. Furthermore, this is a wonderful opportunity for us to export Finnish Christmas competence and culture to China, Petri Aaltonen says.

Further information for the media:

  • Petri Aaltonen, Vice President, tel. +358 40 750 9797 
  • Markku Penttinen, Development Director, tel. +358 400 421 999 

email addresses: firstname.lastname@posti.fi

Images & logos: Itella.com/media

The Santa Claus Main Posti Office, Santa’s official post office, is located in Santa Claus Village in the Arctic Circle. The Santa Claus Main Post Office is part of Posti’s official service outlet network. In addition to postal services, the post office offers a wide variety of Christmas products and souvenirs. All cards, letters, and parcels sent from the Santa Claus Main Post Office are stamped with the genuine special Arctic Circle cachet which cannot be obtained from anywhere else. The post office is open on every day of the year.
Santa Claus Main Posti Office

Itella Posti Oy provides mail services throughout Finland, including the deliveries of letters, publications and direct advertising, in addition to parcel and express transport services, Netposti, as well as Posti shops and outlets. Itella Posti Oy is part of the Itella Mail Communications business group, which reported net sales of MEUR 1,152 and employed 17,900 persons in 2011. Itella Mail Communications is part of Itella Group.
www.itella.com