The share of foreign tourists is small. Tahko has foreign tourists, especially from Estonia.
The time of Christmas and New Year brings a lot of domestic tourists to Eastern Finland. It is reported that the reservation books have been well filled for the sites in the area.
For example, Christmas at the spa hotel Vesileppis in Leppävirta was celebrated with a full hotel, and there are plenty of reservations for the New Year as well.
Kol, Bomba and Tahko also have enough people during the season. However, there is some space in all the destinations.
The economic situation has not yet affected
There are hardly any foreign tourists at Eastern Finland’s destinations this year, even though the corona situation is different from previous years.
– Yes, all of us are natives or immigrants who have lived in Finland for a long time. Today, this is almost entirely dependent on domestic tourism, states Kimmo Rossi of Vesileppis.
In Tahko, the share of foreign tourists is about 20 percent. There are mainly tourists from Estonia, but there are also individual nationalities from Central European countries and Scandinavia.
Even before the corona pandemic, the Christmas and especially the New Year period in Eastern Finland was focused on Russian tourists. According to Ross, even in the summer sports side in Vesileppis, about half used to be Russians.
– Now there are no Russians at all. However, we have learned to live without them, and budgets are built with domestic tourists.
Inflation and the weakened economic situation do not seem to affect the Christmas season yet.
– A lot of all kinds of horror scenarios come out of the media, but surprisingly little of it is seen. It could be that it will be delayed. However, the situation has not been too bad for this Christmas, Rossi says.