The Russian outbound tourism to Finland during the economic downturn

Russian tourists discovered Finland as a great travel destination directly after the fall of the Soviet Union. Convenient location, beautiful Nordic nature, different style of service compared to the Soviet Union and good quality of products. All these aspects have been attracting Russians for many years. At the moment the economic situation is not stable in Finland and Russia, hence the Russian outbound tourism is facing challenging times: the number of Russian customers dramatically decreased in recent years (2014-2016).

The aim of the study was to come up with recommendations how the attractiveness of Finland could be improved among Russian tourists regarding existing services, facilities and overall opportunities. Currently, the Russian travel market has vastly changed, influenced by the situation with sanctions against Russia due to the annexation of Crimea. Because of the fall of the Russian rouble, it became too expensive to travel abroad for Russian tourists. A lot of these tourists cancelled their trips during 2015. In particular, the decrease happened before New Year holidays when the sharpest drop in Russian currency was observed; this caused financial problems for Russian tour operators. 70% of Russian travel companies bankrupted and those that survived shifted their businesses towards inbound and incoming tourism. Thousands of people from the travel sphere lost their jobs and were forced to change their choice of career. However, the Finnish travel market is trying to bring back Russian customers and interested in improving and adapting to the different situation in the travel sphere.

The author of the thesis used two research approaches: qualitative (interview with a representative of the Finnish travel market) and quantitative (online questionnaire among Russian travel experts). Using the quantitative data, it was possible to look through possible reasons for the decline in the number of Russian tourists traveling abroad. The qualitative data helped to analyse the current situation with Russian tourists and find ways to improve it from the Finnish travel market point of view. The goal of the research was to get responses, new ideas and opinions from Russian travel experts how to fix the current situation with the flow of tourists coming from Russia. After analysing the data, the author came up with three key recommendations for improving the attractiveness of Finland among Russian tourists: pricing, advertisement and new activities.

The results showed that Russians are still looking into traveling to Finland. Russian tour operators pointed out the fall of the Russian rouble as one the largest problem affecting the Russian tourists. However, the Finnish side is always ready for adaptation, negotiation and finding new ways of collaboration with the transformed Russian travel companies.