Kainuu’s international tourism brand Arctic Lakeland Finland will soon be more visible in the Central European market when the global tour operator TUI launches direct weekly flights from Amsterdam to Kajaani for the winter season 2025. The travel packages are already on sale on TUI’s website in the Netherlands. The first flight to Kajaani will land on 17 January 2025 and flights will continue until 14 March 2025. In addition, TUI is selling travel packages to the Arctic Lakeland in the German market and the packages are already available for purchase on the TUI Germany website. Tickets can be booked on the TUI NL website or on the TUI DE website.
Targeted discussions with the airline to start the flight series were started in late 2023 by the “Direct international flight connections to Kajaani” project, funded by the Regional Council of Kainuu, the City of Kajaani and the Municipality of Sotkamo and managed by KAMK, and negotiations have been conducted in good spirit. Visit Finland and Finavia have also been involved in the cooperation and negotiations. “It is very great that TUI will provide us with international flights to Kajaani Airport. They will strengthen the accessibility of the entire Kainuu region,” says Petri Vuori, Finavia’s Director of Route Development.
For TUI we have been working for several years to create commercial demand by attending international promotional events and using TUI staff in the region, and it is a pleasure to see that the work is paying off,” say Jaana Keränen from the Kuhmo-Suomussalmi region (Wild Taiga) and Leena Penttinen from Paljakka. We at Vuokatti are delighted to welcome TUI Holland tourists to experience an active and varied winter” says Aija Laukkanen, CEO of Vuokatti Tourist Centre, “Arctic Lakeland offers tourists peace, space and an authentic environment where they can enjoy a variety of activities while experiencing local culture and hospitality.”
“The Dutch holidaymakers love enjoying a holiday in Finland in the winter. We are expanding our holiday portfolio to meet the growing demand. We are very proud that we can now also offer the Arctic Lakeland as a new destination. We will fly every Friday from Amsterdam to Kajaani from January 17 till March 14 and offer package holidays, single tickets and 8-day excursion trips”, says Petra Kok, Head of External Communications & Spokesperson at TUI.
The first concrete big step towards the flight series was achieved when a representative from TUI Europe attended the launch event of the Arctic Lakeland Finland Winter Product Manual in Germany in early December 2023, organized by the Direct International Flights to Kajaani project, and was excited about the potential of the region and we were able to start discussions about direct flights, says Project Manager Saara Uusiheimala. After the meeting, we were able to start systematic and goal-oriented discussions in cooperation with TUI, Visit Finland and the tourism centres in Kainuu.
TUI offers its customers travel packages that include direct Amsterdam – Kajaani flights, accommodation, transfers and programme services in the Arctic Lakeland area. The company also sells tickets for its flights on this route to individual passengers. The direct flights from Amsterdam to Kajaani are mainly targeted at TUI’s Dutch customers, but for the German region TUI sells packages to Arctic Lakeland combined with Eurowings’ flights from Berlin to Rovaniemi as the Eurowings flights to Kajaani were cancelled. TUI’s consumer marketing campaign will start in the coming days.
TUI’s entry into the market is a great achievement for the whole Kainuu region and a strong sign that the region is attracting interest in the Central European market,” says Project Manager Saara Uusiheimala. “This (TUI cooperation) is another good concrete example of long-term cooperation between the Kainuu tourism regions and the attractiveness of the Arctic Lakeland brand on the international market,” comments Risto Hämäläinen from the City of Kajaani.
After the end of the project in November, the cooperation with TUI will be continued within the framework of the Arctic Lakeland Charter project, with the aim of being able to expand TUI’s offer even further into the Arctic Lakeland area. The charter project will also continue discussions and the well-established cooperation with the airline Eurowings. Other international tourism marketing activities in Arctic Lakeland will also be coordinated to support TUI’s marketing activities towards the end of the year, says Arctic Lakeland coordinator Hanna Linjala.
Further information:
Saara Uusiheimala, Arctic Lakeland, Project manager, Direct international flights to Kajaani -project
Saara.uusiheimala@kamk.fi, 040 483 9875
Hanna Linjala, Arctic Lakeland -co-ordinator
hanna.linjala@kamk.fi, 040 583 7362
Aija Laukkanen, Project Manager, Arctic Lakeland Charter -project, CEO, Vuokatin Matkailukeskus Ltd. (DMO)
aija.laukkanen@vuokatti.fi, 040 611 6950