Browsing by Author "Iiskola, Marie-Helene"

Tourism destinations tend to attract mainly those tourists who choose the location as the main or only destination of their trip, although the share of those tourists who choose it as a secondary or through destination is greater than have been initially thought. Most tourism destinations have the ability to take advantage of the potential offered by transit tourists, as the necessary infrastructure and services already exist - they just need to be directed into new markets. Finland is a secondary tourist destination that acts as stop-over point on the way to primary destinations. Transit tourists form a significant amount in the flow of tourists to Finland and the volumes of Asian transit tourists arriving to Helsinki-Vantaa have increased. Many of the most important factors of tourism destinations for Asian tourists are present in Finland, and interest toward the country among Asians have grown in recent years. However, in stopover tourism the challenge lies in encountering the diverse interests of many different parties and tourists, the combination of which is needed for stopover tourism development. This master's thesis aims to identify changes in stopover tourism and predict the future development in the Helsinki metropolitan area by the year 2025. The study examines the impact of the Helsinki metropolitan area starting points, and how changes in lack of opportunities and lack of interest among tourists affect the development of stopover tourism. The study utilizes the Delphi method used in future research, in which persons classified as experts act as predictors of the future development of the studied phenomenon. Unlike in the traditional multi-stage Delphi, rounds were limited to only one round of interviews. Twelve experts (n = 12) took part in this study's Delphi panel, representing companies and organizations operating in the tourism sector. The snowball method is used for the selection of the expert panel, where a few key experts are first identified and then asked to name other experts for the panel. The interview material is analysed by coding and thematising in order to highlight both the converging and diverging points of views. The results show that the major opportunities for stopover tourism development in Helsinki metropolitan area are related to the accessibility and competitiveness of Finnair's Asian route network. The Helsinki metropolitan area is able to offer a new kind of appeal for Asian tourists compared to other well-known European destinations, even though it does not have any tourist attractions recognised on a global level. The metropolitan's compact size and the focusing of tourism service offerings in a relatively small area provide a framework for stopover tourism. The challenge, however, is whether the development of the tourism service offerings can become attractive enough for the tourists to stop in the Helsinki metropolitan area when flying between Europe and Asia. There will not be any significant changes in the roles of the Helsinki metropolitan area's tourism operators in the future, while Finnair will continue playing the key role. Since most of the stopovers made in Helsinki metropolitan area are pre-designed and tourists are leisure tourists, the travel time to and from Helsinki-Vantaa does not have an impact on whether or not to stop in Helsinki. Similarly, visa requirements do not reduce the attractiveness of the Helsinki metropolitan area as some of the visitors will need a visa to travel to Europe in any case. In the future provision of tourist services in the Helsinki metropolitan area, the importance of individuality is emphasized, as well as the need for accessibility and availability of tourism services improvement. Since the Helsinki metropolitan area cannot compete in terms of tourist attractions, the attractiveness should be based on its existing nature potential. Based on the study, the lack of interest affects stopover tourism development in the Helsinki metropolitan area more than the lack of opportunity. Growth of appeal arising from awareness and development in tourism service will increase the attractiveness of the Helsinki metropolitan area. As a result, the number of Asian tourists in the Helsinki metropolitan area will increase significantly by 2025, as more transit tourists arriving to Helsinki-Vantaa will stop in the metropolitan area. Despite the challenges, the study shows that the interests of the tourism sector and tourists can be seen to meet better during the next ten years in stopover tourism.