In the Finnish forests

09 September 2025

In the first week of September, a representative from Museum Nord traveled to the deep Finnish forests, to the place Inari. Surrounded by rivers and lakes, forest terrain and large, beautiful marshes, 63 tour operators from 15 countries met 95 providers from Northern Finland, Northern Sweden and Northern Norway, an area that is often referred to as Lapland.

For 2 days we conducted meetings with each other. Museum Nord had meeting agreements with about 20 tour operators, in addition to all meeting in social groups during meals. The purpose is to familiarize the tour operators with the various offers that exist in the northern areas, and to build networks between the providers as well. In this way, we create both new and existing traffic in the area.

By developing and offering products that are suitable for tour operators who offer trips to these areas, we can both ensure that we ourselves get more guests, but also better “utilize” guests who are already in the area. The area we are talking about is indeed large geographically, but collaborating across national borders, in an east-west axis provides new opportunities. Among other things, it gives guests the opportunity to experience even more, to stay a day or three longer. For us as tourism operators to rather create more guest nights per guest rather than attract new guests who travel far.

Networking

The workshop is part of the network collaboration Arctic Europe Tourism Cluster (AECT). Museum Nord is one of many participants in the regions that often are referred to and know and “Lapland”.

The project participants have a common goal to develop both their own products, develop the markets and the sustainability of their own companies.

This time it was Hege Anita Eilertsen, communications manager at Museum Nord, who went to the workshop. Over the course of 2 days, she has conducted about 20 meetings with tour operators. It’s hectic, demanding – and a lot of fun!

Why?

The person who represents Museum Nord must be familiar with our museums in order to be able to talk about what we have and what the tour operator knows, but also to try to sell something new to the operator.

There was talk about all our museums. It is impossible to present 21 museums in 15 minutes, so we select the museums that are located along the planned route of the tour operator. We can also talk about news or relevant products that are outside the “usual” route, in the hope of finding something that can motivate tour operators to choose something new for them.

Perhaps the operator needs to change their travel route to visit our museums – then we must also be able to give good recommendations for experiences along the itinerary. We also need to understand the operators’ needs in relation to seasons, time spent, budgets, booking conditions – etc.

Important Tools

It is particularly encouraging to hear from an increasing number of operators that they have heard about, or are using, or have been on a fam trip to the Hurtigruten Museum.

It shows that it can take some time to make a museum known, and that the work we do over the years works. SKREI is also lacking in interest. Eventually, it will end with orders. A little curious? You can read more about what a couple of our most important tools in the pursuit of selling new products are, namely workshops and the fam trips.

There was also time for some experiences in Inari – here are pictures from the Siida Sami Museum in Inari. This museum won the “European Museum of the Year Award 2025”.

The work continues after the workshop

Thanks to a long-term presence with good marketing efforts, Museum Nord has a good network and trust with tour operators and other parties. Thanks to the fantastic work carried out at each museum as guests walk through the door, we have a good reputation as exciting museums to visit.

There is a lot of follow-up work after the workshop. Then we will send out what we have promised to send: prices, conditions, opening hours, sales material and more. This material will be valid for one year into the future. This means that in Inari we talked about 2026 and partly 2027.

A good presence in digital surfaces is also very important. Good museum presentations on our website, social media and that our neighbours and partners know about us are invaluable. All in all, this gives good results.

The network and workshop are organized and financed by the participants, Interreg, Aurora, NordNorsk Reiseliv, Swedish Lapland Visitors Board and Finnish Lapland Tourist Board