Santa Claus Village locals call for rules to control the masses

ROVANIEMI

Shuffling across icy ground on a cold December afternoon, lots of tourist groups poured into Santa Claus Village, a winter-themed amusement park perched on the edge of the Arctic Circle.

They frolic in the snow, take a reindeer sleigh ride, sip a cocktail in an ice bar or even meet Saint Nick himself in the capital of Finnish Lapland, Rovaniemi, which happily calls itself the “official hometown of Santa Claus."

The Santa Claus Village theme park, which attracts more than 600,000 people annually, is especially popular during the holiday season.

Tourism is booming in Rovaniemi, which has hotel and restaurant owners, as well as city officials, excited as it brings lots of money to the town. However, not everyone is happy about the onslaught of visitors, 10 times the town's population, each year at Christmas time.

“We are worried about the overgrowth of tourism. Tourism has grown so rapidly, it’s not anymore in control,” said 43-year-old Antti Pakkanen, a photographer and member of a housing network that in September organized a rally through the city’s streets.

It is a feeling that has been echoed in other popular European travel destinations, including Barcelona, Amsterdam, Malaga and Florence.

Across the continent, locals have protested against “over-tourism,” which generally describes the tipping point at which visitors and their cash stop benefiting residents and instead cause harm by degrading historic sites, overwhelming infrastructure and making life markedly more difficult for those who live there.

Thirteen new flight routes to Rovaniemi Airport opened this year, bringing passengers from Geneva, Berlin, Bordeaux and more. Most tourists come from European countries like France, Germany and the U.K., but Rovaniemi’s appeal has also spread further.

Hotel availability is scarce this winter, and Tiina Määttä, general manager of the 159-room Original Sokos Hotel, expects 2024 to break more records.

Local critics of mass tourism say many apartment buildings in Rovaniemi’s city center are also used for accommodation services during peak season and are thus no longer available for residential use. They say the proliferation of short-term rentals has driven up prices, squeezed out long-term residents, and turned its city center into a “transient space for tourists."

Finnish law prohibits professional accommodation services in buildings intended for residential use, so campaigners are calling on authorities to act.