dach 2019-2 vf market report - business finland · •while doing the online comissions: they are...

VF DACH Market Report GERMANY, AUSTRIA, SWITZERLANDNovember 2019

Visit Finland Country Representative

Jyrki Oksanen

Semiannual Report – DACH GERMANY, AUSTRIA, SWITZERLAND

Summer season 2019 and outlook for winter 2019-20

CONTENTS

• Factors affecting the results of the summer season 2019

• Outlook for the winter season 2019-20

• Prospects for the summer season 2020

• Prospects for the autumn/winter season 2020

• Theme check: Food tourism

• Trends and other relevant travel related topics

• Facts and figures - Market review data

Factors affecting the results of the summer season 2019Reasons for the increase/decrease in travelling to Finland?

Changes in demand• German market is growing as more connections link the market to destination. Especially successful have been the the

new routes with Finnair Stuttgart-Helsinki and Hanover-Helsinki. Also Easyjet and Ryanair are operating full planes to Finland

Finland’s image as a travel destination• There has been plenty of visibility since our 2017 celebration and the Grüne Woche, successful Rent a Finn campaign

linked with happiness and the EU presidency have increased our visibility on the market. This all results in additional awareness and an improved image as a travel destination. The Nordic countries and the Baltic area are becoming trendier and the Mediterranean is losing on attractivity.

Changes in distribution channel• The Thomas Cook meltdown has considerable impact in the classic distribution channels in Germany. Service providers

are also cutting the former benefits for tour operators and the volatility on the tour operators markets speed this process

Changes in accessibility• The lack Germania route Düsseldorf-Kittilä hurts us in the area with a -10 % at the moment. The overall winter still

remains in a solid plus with Lapland getting the most of it.

Factors affecting the results of the summer season 2019Reasons for the increase/decrease in travelling to Finland?

Products that have been attractive• Touring remains number one product group. Especially touring to several countries. Here Finland has partly a

challenging location compared with other Scandinavian countries. If you take Baltic countries we are the link between the Nordics and Russia.

Regions that have been attractive• Touring is attractive in all Finland. Regional partners from Saimaa area and West Coast have been happiest with the

development.

Campaigns, joint promotions results• In DACH area we have has 32 joint promotions mainly targeting summer and autumn periods. Direct results are

increased production, promotion and sales in the partner areas.• The Absolut Slow Down campaign tactical campaign is still online and a separate report can be ordered from Visit

Finland.

Outlook for the coming winter season 2019-20The overall outlook of travelling to Finland for the coming winter?

Increase/decrease and reasons for the increase/decrease• We could not replace some capacity in the direct connections Germany-Lapland but it seems the scheduled services

cover the loss and bookings look good. • Main issue remains availability during the winter high season.

New winter products• Soft activities are coming but the classic highlights in Lapland remain dominant. The softer or “slow” activities more

south in the Lakeland could be a nice opportunity.

New sales channels• The disruption in sales channels is speeding also as a result of the Thomas Cook crash the brand of classic tour

operators suffer and a speeding shift to online seems inevitable.• The demand remains high especially for Lapland.• Ryanair and Easyjet are becoming more active and have started their own tour operating activities.

Outlook for the coming winter season 2019-20The overall outlook of travelling to Finland for the coming winter?

What are the trends for the winter 2019-20?• Our winter product with the USP Northern lights/special accommodation/unique activities is our main product in the

DACH area. • With the activities to lift off the autumn there is a promising echo on the market for Lapland.• We see Helsinki and also other cities become more attractive when accessibility is good and short breaks are promoted.

Which are the traveler segments?• In the winter we have a younger audience 18-35 with higher income. Nature Wonder Hunter, Activity & Comfort

Seekers are attracted by our products.• We seem to have issues profiling our winter south of Lapland. One of the key elements in Lapland is snow guaranteed.

We have seen many cases where the fear of black landscapes keep clients from booking. This is a big items in classic European winter resorts and the clients are very aware of the winter conditions in Finland.

Prospects for the autumn/winter season 2020The overall outlook of travelling to Finland?

What trends should be considered in product development to increase the demand in the autumn/winter time?• Attractive simple combinations like Christmas: Shopping-Christmas Market-Food• Sauna-wellbeing is strong getaway proposition?• City combinations air-sea like Helsinki-Tallinn

Which present target groups should be considered to increase the demand?• To be frank all, but more bold and focused

Which new target groups should be considered to increase the demand?• The high potential is in the south and younger than we think 18-35 is our main target group age. Here we only convert

every 10th high high potential in to our client. There is room for marketing and products fitted for the young urban to discover Finland.

Theme check: Food tourismWhat kind of demand or potential you find in the market you represent?

1. What is ”in” on your market in food tourism? Is food important for travelers on your market?- Social eating, go-creation and culinary events, specialized and high quality. Food is important and still increasing but still only coming as the main motive to travel.

2. Is there any specialized tour operators for food tourism? Are “general” tour operators promoting food experiences?- The latter is the case. We have a couple of specialists and influencers are starting to sell and host trips.

3. What kind of food tourism offerings should be developed more in Finland? E.g. food related activities in nature (like foraging/picnic in a forest), cooking classes (like baking Karelian pies), food walks, home dining, food producers tours, local/Finnish restaurants, beverage tours/tastings, sustainable food, food routes etc.?-Yes to all: important is an authentic touch and entertaining infotainment kind drive: how to make a perfect salmon on open fire etc.

4. The best benchmark and examples (destinations or products)?- Italy and France are leading destinations for foodies. Copenhagen has made fantastic work with food and hygge to profile themselves as all year experience.

Trends and other relevant travel related topicsTrends

• Business travel in changing. Ca 70 % of business travelers say the are willing add a few days off to discover the destination, ”bleisure”. Also taking family with you is becoming more common. Maybe this is a result of AirBnB?

New distribution channels

• We have noticed that some companies go to a booking system like Bokun with a zero comission policy. The basic idea for platforms like Expedia, Tripadvisor or Booking is to earn money and generate traffic with your product. If you go there you should go all the way, not just online but give capacity and adapt pricing to the parameters given by the retailers. So much below the classic 20 % might turn off the Viators from you.

• While doing the online comissions: they are same for the classic retail, so you can have both.

Online channels

• It is important to have more visibility on the inspirational part of online channels. This is done and our pledge for the trade is to update also seasonal pictures and text to your channels to increase your attractivity

Trends and other relevant travel related topics

Competitors’ actions

Which countries have been active, where have you seen their promotion, what was the main message/content of the communication, competitors’ new products or activities with tour operators/sales channels

• Troms and Northern Sweden are gaining a better position on the market. Finnish Lapland still has a competitive product but is behind in marketing being dependend on its retails activities and investments.

• Iceland seems also be losing its grip on the European markets as image is damaged by overtourism and overpricing.

• The Alps are adapting to older audiences and changing climate with wellbeing and all year products like hiking.

• Many popular destination are shifting strategies from growing volumes to steering volumes and quality. This happens in Finland too as income grows more than volume.

• The Nordics record very good season 2019, so the Nordic trend remain strong in Germany.

Trends and other relevant travel related topicsFree word

The debacle of Thomas Cook (TC)• Luckily Finland is not having thousands of unhappy TC clients wondering how to get home. The Thomas Cook

bankruptcy has shaken the market widely also in Germany. Some of top brands belong to the TC and have been a part of the travel market for decades. The disruption to a more direct distribution in digital channels is one of the predicted results. Here some points to think about:

- Event the most established brands are not safe from the change. - Be sure to get your share of the sales before the client arrives. It is normal for package tour clients to pay their trip some 4 weeks before departure. - 53 % of German long holidays are package tours and on a big market the change is slow, more like a generation issue. - The market share of package tours to Finland is about 24 %, so the package tour operators still remains one of the best ways to grow your business. - The disruption seems to be due to the business model and the hard competition on the market. All the generic tour operators are suffering from low margins and tight legal regulation within EU whereas specialists can serve the needs of the more demanding consumers better.

27/11/2019 First name Last name 12

Germany – Market Review

Sources: Visit Finland Statistics Service Rudolf, Statistics Finland

German overnights in Finland

Share of overnights by regions 2018

36 % 19 % 18 % 27 %

Year 20182nd in country rankings

with a 9 % share of foreign overnights

Average change 2000-2018: +1 %

Change 2018 compared to 2000: +28 %-1 % 2 %

5 %4 % -1 % 0 % -2 %

7 % 1 %

-9 % -3 %6 % -1 %

-6 % -0 %

9 % -1 %

15 % 1 %

0

100000

200000

300000

400000

500000

600000

700000

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

2018

334

800

346

600

372

000

377

300

371

800

365

700

354

400

373

300

375

300

335

500

330

000

355

000

337

000

311

000

309

500

336

100

325

500

380

900

366

100

2000200120022003200420052006200720082009201020112012201320142015201620172018

Registered overnights in summer season (May-Oct)by German visitors

-4%

155

300

155

500

154

800

167

900

166

300

180

600

173

700

195

900

205

700

191

700

182

800

185

600

197

600

189

300

188

800

202

200

212

200

235

500

255

200

2000200120022003200420052006200720082009201020112012201320142015201620172018

Registered overnights in winter season (Nov-Apr)by German visitors

Source: Visit Finland Statistics Service Rudolf, Statistics Finland


Winter and Summer 2018

Winter 2018: 3rd in country rankings with a 8% share of foreign overnights

Average change 2000-2018: +3%

Change 2018 compared to 2000: +64%

Summer 2018: 3rd in country rankings with a 12% share of foreign overnights



+8%

+17%

+11%


Trends for seasonal overnights in Finland German visitors

Summer is the most popular travel season among Germans. Steadygrowth in high winter season; growth also in spring and autumn travel.

0

5 000

10 000

15 000

20 000

25 000

30 000

35 000

Winter Spring Summer Autumn

German overnights by season

2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019

Winter24 %

Spring18 %Summer

38 %

Autumn20 %

German overnights in 2018

0

5 000

10 000

15 000

20 000

25 000

30 000

35 000

40 000

Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec

German overnights by month 2017-2019

2017 2018 2019

Spring SummerWinter

+19% +8% -1%


Seasonal overnights in 2018


Importance growing:• Kuusamo• Rovaniemi• Muonio• Inari (Saariselkä)

Importance growing:• Kainuu• Etelä-Savo

Importance growing:• Turku• Oulu

German overnights in Finland by season in 2018

Whole Finland No. of German overnights Seasonal YtoY change

2016 2017 2018 2019 2017 vs. 2016 2018 vs. 2017 2019 vs. 2018

Winter (Dec-Feb) 113 500 126 900 135 600 151 000 +12% +7% +11%

Spring (Mar-May) 108 400 115 000 123 800 123 700 +6% +8% 0%

Summer (Jun-Aug) 231 600 274 000 258 800 269 900 +18% -6% 4%

Autumn (Sep-Nov) 86 400 104 000 104 600 +20% +1%

Winter22 %

Spring20 %Summer

41 %

Autumn17 %

WHOLE FINLAND 2018

Winter17 %

Spring22 %

Summer38 %

Autumn23 %

HELSINKI REGION 2018

Winter16 %

Spring19 %Summer

46 %

Autumn19 %

COAST AND ARCHIPELAGO 2018

Winter12 %

Spring17 %

Summer58 %

Autumn13 %

LAKELAND 2018

Winter38 %

Spring19 %

Summer33 %

Autumn10 %

LAPLAND 2018

Importance growing:• Helsinki• Espoo


Austria – Market Review


Austrian overnights in Finland


40 % 14 % 18 % 28 %

Year 201820th in country rankings



Change 2018 compared to 2000: +55 %

20 %9 % 3 %

-7 %-5 %

11 % -0 % -2 % 3 % -2 %4 %

13 % 0 %

-8 % 1 %

14 % -3 %

20 % -1 %

0

10000

20000

30000

40000

50000

60000

70000

80000

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

2018




Winter 2018: 22nd in country rankings with a 1% share of foreign overnights



Summer 2018: 20th in country rankings with a 1% share of foreign overnights



11 4

00 19

100

14 1

00

15 0

00

16 0

00

14 1

00

14 7

00

16 6

00

15 3

00

15 7

00

16 9

00

17 9

00

18 5

00

17 6

00

21 5

00

26 0

00

25 3

00 32

100

30 1

00

2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018

Registered overnights in winter season (Nov-Apr) by Austrian visitors

+27%-6%

31 2

00

32 4

00

35 8

00

31 4

00

30 2

00

34 4

00

34 4

00

31 8

00

34 8

00

32 8

00

33 7

00

39 5

00

39 2

00

34 5

00

31 6

00

34 8

00

33 1

00

37 0

00

39 0

00

2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018

Registered overnights in summer season (May-Oct) by Austrian visitors

+12%+5%


Trends for seasonal overnights in Finland Austrian visitors

Summer is the most popular travel season among Austrians. Rapidgrowth in high winter season; growth also in autumn travel.

0

5 000

10 000

15 000

20 000

25 000

30 000

35 000


Austrian overnights by season

2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019

Winter24 %

Spring18 %Summer

38 %

Autumn20 %

Austrian overnights in 2018

0

5 000

10 000

15 000

20 000

25 000

30 000

35 000

40 000


Austrian overnights by month 2017-2019

2017 2018 2019

+5% -3%

Spring SummerWinter

+13%




Importance growing:• Rovaniemi• Muonio

Importance growing:• Tampere region• Lahti region• Etelä-Savo• Pohjois-Savo• North Karelia• Lieksa

Importance growing:• Turku• Central Ostrobothnia• Kokkola region• Oulu region

Austrian overnights in Finland by season in 2018

Whole Finland No. of Austrian overnights Seasonal YtoY change

2016 2017 2018 2019 2017 vs. 2016 2018 vs. 2017 2019 vs. 2018

Winter (Dec-Feb) 14 700 18 400 16 400 19 400 +25% -11% +18%

Spring (Mar-May) 11 600 13 700 12 600 13 300 +9% -1% +7%

Summer (Jun-Aug) 22 200 24 700 26 400 27 900 +8% -4% -5%

Autumn (Sep-Nov) 10 700 13 700 14 000 +25% +5%

Winter24 %

Spring18 %Summer

38 %

Autumn20 %

WHOLE FINLAND 2018

Winter16 %

Spring20 %

Summer43 %

Autumn21 %


Winter14 %

Spring25 %Summer

40 %

Autumn21 %

COAST AND ARCHIPELAGO 2018 Winter10 %

Spring17 %

Summer47 %

Autumn26 %

LAKELAND 2018

Winter49 %

Spring13 %

Summer23 %

Autumn15 %

LAPLAND 2018


Switzerland – Market Review


Swiss overnights in Finland


33 % 11 % 14 % 42 %

Year 201813th in country rankings



Change 2018 compared to 2000: +83 %

0 %

14 %-7 %

23 %-5 %

-5 % 3 %4 %

-6 % -2 % 0 %

9 %

13 %-3 % 2 %

21 %-4 %

9 % 0 %

0

20000

40000

60000

80000

100000

120000

140000

160000

180000

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

2018




Winter 2018: 12th in country rankings with a 3% share of foreign overnights



Summer 2018: 12th in country rankings with a 3% share of foreign overnights



26 9

00

31 3

00

29 5

00

33 3

00

37 5

00

39 9

00

37 7

00

44 0

00

41 4

00

40 6

00

40 1

00

47 4

00

53 8

00

57 2

00

57 0

00

59 8

00

69 4

00

74 9

00

80 2

00

2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018

Registered overnights in winter season (Nov-Apr) by Swiss visitors

+8%

65 1

00

72 2

00

69 0

00 84

200

77 1

00

69 2

00

71 9

00

73 6

00

67 3

00

66 7

00

66 8

00

71 7

00

76 8

00

71 6

00

72 9

00

96 0

00

84 7

00

91 6

00

87 5

00

2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018

Registered overnights in summer season (May-Oct) by Swiss visitors

+12%-4%

+7%


Trends for seasonal overnights in Finland Swiss visitors

Summer is the most popular travel season among Swiss visitors. Steadygrowth in high winter season; growth also in spring and autumn travel.

0

5 000

10 000

15 000

20 000

25 000

30 000

35 000

40 000


Swiss overnights by month 2017-2019

2017 2018 2019

Winter Spring Summer

0

10 000

20 000

30 000

40 000

50 000

60 000

70 000

80 000

90 000


Swiss overnights by season

2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019

Winter24 %

Spring18 %Summer

38 %

Autumn20 %

Swiss overnights in 2018

+9% +5% -9%




Importance growing:• Kuusamo• Rovaniemi

Importance growing:• Lahti region• North Karelia

Importance growing:• Uusimaa excl.

Metropolitan area• Turku• Oulu

Swiss overnights in Finland by season in 2018

Whole Finland No. of Swiss overnights Seasonal YtoY change

2016 2017 2018 2019 2017 vs. 2016 2018 vs. 2017 2019 vs. 2018

Winter (Dec-Feb) 44 400 47 600 51 400 51 700 +7% +8% +1%

Spring (Mar-May) 25 600 27 900 27 600 29 300 +9% -1% +7%

Summer (Jun-Aug) 65 500 70 000 68 000 64 300 +8% -4% -5%

Autumn (Sep-Nov) 18 800 21 000 19 800 +12% -6%

Winter31 %

Spring16 %

Summer41 %

Autumn12 %

WHOLE FINLAND 2018

Winter18 %

Spring18 %

Summer46 %

Autumn18 %


Winter14 %

Spring13 %

Summer59 %

Autumn14 %

COAST AND ARCHPELAGO 2018

Winter9 %

Spring10 %

Summer72 %

Autumn9 %

LAKELAND 2018

Winter53 %

Spring19 %

Summer21 %

Autumn7 %

LAPLAND 2018

Importance growing:• Espoo• Vantaa

dach 2019-2 vf market report - business finland · •while doing the online comissions: they are...

Documents