Father Christmas and New Year holidays in Finland

Tourism in Finnish Lapland has become the main source of employment and income replacing traditional industries such as forestry. Development from a period of extractive industry to an industrial society has come about quickly. In 1950 the largest part of Lapland's inhabitants lived in rural areas and more than half the workforce worked in forestry and agriculture. Today 65 % of the workforce is in the service industry, 22% in processing and 10 % in primary production.

The area surrounding Jeris is no exception. Jeris is situated in a remote and genuine wilderness and so the impact of tourism here can be economically beneficial but must also be closely managed.

The growth in tourism and service provision in the area has been developed in conjunction with a long-term sustainable tourism plan with one of the primary objectives being to maintain nature in its natural state while guaranteeing the traditional way of life. Much of this has been achieved along with membership of EU development programmes, aimed at diversifying sources of livelihood, effective usage of resources and to increase export.

Approximately a quarter of Lapland's 100 000 strong workforce was unemployed in 1997. Promoting entrepreneurship, ongoing re-education of the workforce and development of the educational system to suit the needs of enterprises is continuing. The target is to diversify the sources of livelihood, increase the value of refinement production and develop new enterprises particularly in the area of tourism. National measures as well as EU-programme measures support this objective.

We embrace this philosophy, employing local activity providers and using only locally owned hotels. In this manner we help to maintain jobs in an area where unemployment was, until recently, very high. Additionally, the use of local suppliers ensures that the tourism spend filters through to local economies via the tourism multiplier effect.

Jeris and its sister company Harriniva are family owned establishments and have the local area at their centre. They are both remotely situated and provide vital sources of employment for local people. Thus helping ensure that the benefits of the tourism are felt locally. This also helps to stem the flow of young people moving to more urban areas in order to find employment which in turn helps to preserve local cultures and traditions.

We appreciate that marketing these tours over Christmas and New Year may seem like we are providing very little sustained support for the region but we do feature and sell Jeris throughout their whole season for family, adult and tailor made breaks as we appreciate the effects that short seasons can have on an area. We do not feel that it is right to simply take the high season dates.

We do not do 'stop watch' Santa experiences and try and be very careful about the destinations we choose to offer for these purposes. Jeris produces a very impressive Father Christmas experience which provides families with a real experience and a non commercial meeting with Father Christmas. We feature this experience as it is managed both to preserve the integrity of the experience for the guests but also to help maintain the special environment in which it takes place. The Christmas period plays a vital role in the sustaining of the tourism industry for the quieter summer months.

We also however have deliberately made this holiday 7 nights in duration. We would never encourage anyone to travel to Lapland for less than three nights as there is little benefit to the region, guest or environment from such trips. This holiday allows families to have a fabulous Christmas as well as providing an insight into the local culture and some fabulous activities.

The Christmas celebrations combine both the traditions of Finland and those of the UK to give a full experience to guests and so that they are aware of some of the other traditions and cultural influences of the region.

Jeris has a strict responsible tourism policy principally focused on employing local people and using local suppliers as well as protecting the environment in which they operate. A great deal of thought is put into the planning of activity routes to ensure that they are able to be managed and sustained without causing any lasting impact on the environment.

We have included traditional and cultural experiences at Jeris to enable guests to get a sense of the area and the way of life which accompanies it. The Lapland Manor for example has been owned by the same family for hundreds of years and its principal source of income and the main way in which the family can now sustain its existence if through tourism. We are very proud to be able to help achieve this whilst at the same time allowing our guests the opportunity to experience Sámi culture and a different way of life. We always encourage local interaction and so provide guests with a list of useful words and phrases to help them during their stay and encourage them to try and learn some local words and put them to good use.