Tourism and Environmental
Responsibility
Director General Jaakko Lehtonen
Visit Finland
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• sustainability – a wide-ranging term
• applicable nowadays to almost every facet of
life
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Commonly seen aspects
• environmental
• economic
• social
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Sustainability = capacity to endure
• in ecology, remain diverse
• for humans, long-term maintenance of
wellbeing
• wellbeing of natural world
• responsible use of natural resources
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“FULFILL YOUR DREAMS IN A WAY WHICH
PERMITS THE FUTURE GENERATIONS
FULFILL THEIRS”
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• Finland’s starting point is good
• major country image studies indicate that
Finland is topping the lists of environmentally
responsible countries
• environment: 4th out of 50 nations in GFK
Ropers (Anholt) Nation Brands’ Index
(2008)
• environmentalism 1st out of 102 countries
(Future Brand: Country Brand Index, 2009)
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• in the first study, 20 000 people were
interviewed in 20 countries (on-line)
• respondents represented a solid mix of
genders, ages and education but otherwise
“laymen”
• in the second the respondents were experts
(professors, journalists etc) and the results
were complemented by scientific publications
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the more you know about Finland, the
more you appreciate it!
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• however, those flattering results were anyhow
pretty much just surface
• in reality, there is still a lot to do in the area of
sustainability in Finland
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• travelling, in particular international travelling
• is growing fast
• threatens environment
• might cause social problems (exploitation
of poor countries financially or otherwise)
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• air traffic in the spotlight – maybe more in the
eyes of general public than experts
• but it is growing and causes harm
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• remote, silent places might harvest more and
more tourists and get destroyed
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• sustainable travelling is
• profitable
• protects local culture
• protects environment
• takes into consideration economic and
social aspects
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• lots of movement in the area of sustainability
underway among the travel trade in Finland
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• Helsinki Declaration was first launched in
2009
• any company within the travel trade may sign
it
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HELSINKI DECLARATION
Matkatoimisto Oy Area
Amadeus Finland
Arktikum-palvelu Oy
Askan Matkailupalvelut Oy
Aurinkomatkat Oy
Blue1
Citytours Global Oy
Dörten Lomapalvelut
Edupoli
ERÄELLA
Etelä-Pohjanmaan Matkailu Oy
Feel The Nature -retket
Finnair Oyj
Finnature Oy
Finnlines
Finnmatkat Oy Ab
First Rent a Car Finland Oy /
Hertz International Franchisee
FMT/Forssan matkatoimisto Oy
Galaxia Tours
GoTampere Oy
GreenStar Hotels Oy
Haaga-Helia
Ammattikorkeakoulu
Hangon kaupungin
matkailutoimisto
Helsingin kaupunki, matkailu- ja
kongressitoimisto
Helsingin Laatumatkat Oy
Hostel Suomenlinna,
Suomenleirikouluyhdistys
Hotel & Hostel Nagu
Gammelgård
Hotelli Inarin Kultahovi
Hotelli-Ravintola Lasaretti
Intia-keskus
Itä-Lapin ammattiopisto /
matkailualan koulutus
Joutenhovi
Kalahari Consultants Koononomatkat
Kaleva Travel Oy
KILROY travels Finland
Koivulan kartano
Kotikolo Jatta
Liiketalousopisto HelsinkiMalmi
Linja-autoliitto
Livonia Travels
Loma-Karvio Oy
Lomamatkat Oy
LSS - Long Special Services
LTdOy
Maatilamatkailu Vasumäki
Mandala Travel
Matkailulehti Mondo
MatkaMieli Oy
Kotikolo Jatta
Liiketalousopisto HelsinkiMalmi
Linja-autoliitto
Livonia Travels
Loma-Karvio Oy
Lomamatkat Oy
LSS - Long Special Services
LTdOy
Maatilamatkailu Vasumäki
Mandala Travel
Matkailulehti Mondo
MatkaMieli Oy
Matkatoimisto Avara Maailma
Matkatoimisto Detur Finland Oy
Matkatoimisto HETA
Metsähallitus
-Villi Pohjola
-Eräsetti Oy
-Luontopalvelut
Metsämatkat Oy
Metsäpeuranmaan matkailu ry
Mimino Oy
Natura Viva
OK-matkat Oy
OLYMPIA Kaukomatkatoimisto
(Air Travel Ltd)
Opintiet Oy
Oy Gaia Travels Ltd
Oy ProPerson Ab/Stor-Kroksnäs
Kokouskartano
Oy Scorza Ltd
Oy Tjäreborg Ab
Oy Traveller Ab
Pentsami Oy / Samimatkat
Porvoo Tours Oy
Porvoon matkailutoimisto
ProAgria Pohjois-Karjala
Ratsutila Toivonharju
Rypölän Torppa
Safaris-The Lapland Connection
Saga Matkat Oy
Satakunta Tourist
Savipaja Peltoranta
Scandic Hotels
Stadion Hostel
Seikkailulaakso Oy
SF-Caravan ry
Suomen Autolomat Oy
Suomen Latu Kiilopää
Suomen Liikematkayhdistys ry
FBTA
Suomen luomumatkailuyhdistys
- ECEAT Suomi
Suomen Matkailuorganisaatiot SUOMA ry
Suomen Matkatoimisto Oy
Suomen Saaristovaraus Oy,
Saaristomeren luontokoulu
Tallink Silja Oy
Törnävän kesäteatteri
Vantaan kaupungin matkailu
VIA Travelzon Finland Oy
Viking Line Abp
VR Osakeyhtiö
Vuoristo-yhtiöt Oy, Hotelli
Haikon Kartano
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Helsinki Declaration
FOR SUSTAINABLE TOURISM
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Helsinki Declaration
FOR SUSTAINABLE TOURISM
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• fully voluntary
• the company need not be on any special level
with sustainability to join the team
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• outbound agencies (e.g. Finnmatkat,
Aurinkomatkat, others) have web pages
(maybe also other materials) where they
• explain the basics of sustainability (e.g.
why charter flights are more
environmentally friendly than regular
routes)
• explain what they are doing viz-a-viz
sustainability (e.g.co-operation with major
international organizations like ECPAT
(against child sex)
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• lots of initiatives to reach better sustainability,
e.g. in Tampere, Koli, Lapland
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• 1st green hotel in the Nordic countries:
GreenStar, Joensuu
• Hotel Klaus K first to facilitate visitors to
calculate their CO2 footprint
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• State railways advertises environmental
aspects of train traffic
• Finnair hired an environment director
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• The Swan symbol is a Nordic joint symbol for
meeting certain environmental standards
• Over 30 hotels in Finland have been granted
the symbol
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• ISO 14001 –certificate has been granted to a
few travel companies or projects (e.g. Blue 1,
Viking Line and Rokua project)
• ISO certification is quite a heavy process, too
much for smaller companies
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• Finnish Tourist Board has administrated a
quality improvement program for the trade
since 2001 (Laatutonni)
• over 800 companies in there today
• the program includes a significant section on
sustainability
• a tailored “Green Laatutonni” has also been
launched – special interest in companies
operating in National Parks
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• in summary, it can be said that
• lots of laudable actions are underway viz-a-viz
sustainability within the Finnish travel industry
• much more needs to be done
• sustainability is used by individual companies in
marketing, but rather randomly thus far
• apparently more as announcements “we are good
guys” than as directly lucrative tools
• no national approach to benefit from sustainability
issues
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• clean, neat environment is the main attraction of
Finland as a destination
• nature tops the list of ”what’s best in Finland”
• thus, the travel industry needs to do its utmost to
protect the environment
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Thank You!