The potential of Finnish wellness holidays for Russian tourists : Case VuokattiSport

Today’s hectic lifestyle has resulted in the increasing demand of wellness holidays. This research examines the potential of Finnish wellness holidays for Russian tourists. Commissioned by Finnish sports institute VuokattiSport, the objective of the study was to clarify what kind of wellness holidays the case company should provide to attract tourists from St. Petersburg. The study follows the principles of a quantitative research. The theoretical framework consists of wellness as a tourism segment and Russian tourism in Finland. In addition, a SWOT analysis of the case company was prepared. The empirical part of the research was implemented as a survey questionnaire in cooperation with a Russian sports center Nova Arena. The survey was available for the customers of Nova Arena for one week, and within that period answers were gathered from 102 customers. The findings of the survey indicated that there is a high demand for Finnish wellness holidays among Russian tourists. VuokattiSport received useful information about what kind of wellness holiday packages would attract Russian tourists, and what are the main activities VuokattiSport should focus on. Through the findings, VuokattiSport can improve its tourism operations significantly and offer more attractive products to Russian wellness tourists