TOURISM DESTINATION WITH SUSTAINABLE SOUL by Johanna Maasola | Johanna.Maasola@jyvaskyla.fi
Photo: Visit Jyväskylä / Oravivuori Triangulation Tower by Jukka Paakkinen
Jyväskylä region in the Finnish Lakeland is a tourism destination with a naturally sustainable soul. This soul with responsible roots takes its growing power from the lakes, forests, never-ending paths, sauna, and silence. Pandemic and new strategy However, no matter how sustainable and responsible this region is, the tourism was much affected by the Covid-19. For several months in spring 2020 restaurants, hotels and cafés were closed, events cancelled, and people moved their offices to kitchen tables and sofa corners at home. Visit Jyväskylä, the official destination marketing and management organization in the region and part of the City of Jyväskylä, did not for its part get paralyzed. On the contrary, the team quickly changed its strategy from international and domestic marketing to domestic only with a strong focus on locals. This was clearly a wise decision; the locals found the Visit Jyväskylä website where the team gathered a comprehensive list of local services that were open despite the pandemic. “We focused on serving the locals and clearly understood our responsibility to support with marketing actions those who were struggling in the completely new situation”, states Visit Jyväskylä Tourism Director Ms. Susanne Rasmus.
this is now the time to show people living in Lakeland, Jyväskylä region what a crown jewel they have just around the corner. Locals and the Finns were clearly the right segments as many tourism operators in the region broke their records during summer months. Locals found the services that had earlier attracted international guests in growing numbers. The pandemic opened the eyes and shifted the way of tourism to socially and in many ways ecologically responsible this year. …to responsible international tourism During the pandemic, Visit Jyväskylä team has stayed in contact with cooperators and stakeholders across the national borders. “We have gathered information from travel and tourism industry and are very confident that once the situation gets stable, our region attracts again the international guests due to our strengths. Our regional sustainable soul, responsible way of doing things with pure nature, natural distances and clean environment make our region a safe place to visit no matter the nationality”, concludes Ms. Rasmus.
From responsible local tourism… Together with the summer arrived better days for the local tourism. Visit Jyväskylä continued its new strategy in doing socially responsible marketing. Everybody understood that 13
