Travel
First coronavirus case in northern Finland triggers big headlines. In Murmansk, incoming tourists are expected to be down 80 percent in February.
The travel industry goes green and the north is no exception when tour-busses aims for zero emission.
2019 became the year when hotels in Tromsø in average earned more per room than hotels Oslo. Winter tourism is a major reason.
“The tourists care about their green impact, so the business is obvious,” says Agnes Árnadóttir, co-founder of the Polar tour operator that sails towards an emission-free future.
Nornickel might invest up to 10,5 billion rubles (€153 million) in the development of a tourism cluster in Pechenga, the municipality located along border to Norway and Finland.
Eight superchargers will open in 2020 inside the Arctic Circle of Norway, Finland and Sweden.
Officials with Murmansk airport could just before Christmas celebrate that more than one million passengers had passed through the airport in 2019.
The tour operator pays respect to local indigenous culture.
New for the summer is Bodø with two flights per week directly from Helsinki.
Lapland tourism players are divided over a proposal to mitigate carbon emissions by introducing a flight tax. On Thursday, a citizens’ initiative aimed at implementing a tax passed the 50,000-signature threshold required for lawmakers to consider it. It notes that a similar scheme already in place in neighbouring Sweden adds between six and 40 euros to most airfares.
The new route is the first long distance to Rovaniemi and the local tourism hope it will bring more visitors from the Middle East.
Siste/ mest lest
The initiative, along with a ban on heavy fuel oil, is welcomed by both locals in Longyearbyen and Arctic expedition cruise operators.
Christmas time is peak season for airports in northern Finland. Rovaniemi sees about 150.000 passengers in December compared with 30.000 in June.
Lapland:
Plans for the Republic of Santa Claus theme park north of Rovaniemi include a giant transparent dome with round-the-year artificial snowfall and northern lights, gingerbread houses, a tall Christmas-tree formed hotel and the world’s biggest sauna village.
Murmansk and Barentsburg could become vital ports for a new series of Russian medium-sized luxury ships aimed for grabbing a share of the booming Arctic expedition tourist market.
SeaDream’s new ship will be the most luxury expedition experience ever seen along the ice-edge north of Svalbard.
The establishment of a special customs regime around the remote archipelago would boost visits, says Aleksandr Kirilov.
«I can say without reservation that neither I nor anyone else at Poseidon Expeditions had any contact with officials at Rosmorrechflot regarding the denial of Hurtigruten’s application to visit Franz Josef Land,» says Nikolay Saveliev.
The sudden bankruptcy and liquidation of tour operator Thomas Cook will have an impact on businesses in Finnish Lapland, according to tourism agency Visit Lapland.
Visits to the Franz Josef Land must be made more attractive, leader of the local national park says.
The «Silver Explorer» gets escort by a Russian icebreaker as it launches its ice edge cruising through Russian Arctic waters.
17 high-power 150 kW chargers and eight fast chargers will make it possible for practically all kinds of electric cars to drive anywhere in Norway's northernmost region, even in freezing cold winter.
Local authorities in Khatanga aims for the development of a tourism route to the top of the world.
The two high-profile voyages had been planned for years with prestigious support from regional authorities in Murmansk.
Your next take-off from Murmansk might very well take you to Pushkin Airport, Russia’s busiest hub.
Mining companies are not welcome and the quickly growing tourism industry is run by local developers. Sustainable solutions lie behind our economic growth, says local politician Jaana Seipiharju.
You can rent it and set out on the journey of lifetime to places others can’t reach, the billionaire's promotion page reads.
Will accommodate 126 passengers and be able to sail in some of the most remote and pristine parts of the world.
37 of the 78 people onboard survived, investigation committee says.
When the Viking Sky, with 1,373 people on board, sent out a mayday Saturday afternoon after engine trouble stranded the cruise ship in stormy waters off the western coast of Norway, rescue services were quickly activated.
The first Boeing 737-800NG painted in the airline’s new SmartAvia branding made its first commercial flight this week.
A tourism information center supported by Chechen authorities is due to open in downtown Murmansk.
Scandinavian aviation authorities report a year-on-year increase in passengers at most northern airports in 2018.
China, Singapore, UK and Italy top the list of tourists flying in to northern Finland during Christmas season.
