The needs and travel behaviour of international leisure tourists visiting Finnish Lapland post COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected the tourism industry worldwide immensely. In 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of overnight stays in the destination of Finnish Lapland decreased. In the whole year, a total of 2,1 million overnight stays have been registered in Finnish Lapland, which is a decline of -34% in comparison to 2019 (Business Finland 2021). In the capital of Rovaniemi alone, there was a decline of -48%, which comes down to a total of 401.000 overnight stays. Moreover, in that same year, approximately 38% (776.000) of the total number of overnight stays were booked by international tourists (House of Lapland 2020). This thesis research will be primarily focused on the study of the (potential) changes in needs and behaviour of international leisure tourists that visit Finnish Lapland post COVID-19. The research aims to gather more knowledge and insights regarding the needs and travel behaviour of international leisure tourists that have an interest in travelling to Finnish Lapland post COVID-19 (upcoming 3 years), to assist accommodations in Finnish Lapland with improving their business model in pandemic situations. The study itself is scoped down to international leisure tourists visiting Finnish Lapland from the top-5 growing markets: the United Kingdom, France, China, Germany, and the Netherlands. Data was collected by gathering the opinions of international leisure tourists from the beforementioned countries through an online survey that was spread through various Facebook groups. The results and analysis of the collected data can be found in chapter 6. The final outcome of the research would be to develop a guidebook for accommodations operating in Finnish Lapland to assist them with improving their business model in pandemic situations, for example, the COVID-19 pandemic. The guidebook is created so that the accommodation industry in Finnish Lapland can better understand their customer’s travel behaviour and needs post COVID-19. Furthermore, it also describes what kind of services international leisure tourists value most post COVID-19 and the three most relevant recommendations for the accommodation industry. The final guidebook can be found in Appendix 7