Winter festival's economic impact reaches one million Euros

The visitor survey of the winter festival, focusing on domestic music, reveals the amount of money left in the area by both tourists and locals. The timing of the festival during the winter also affects spending. On average, festival-goers spent about 150 euros per day, with an average stay of 3 nights. The total economic impact of the event on the tourist area exceeds one million euros.

– In addition to the festival ticket, accommodation costs during the winter increase the income left by tourists, but one cannot really camp in winter. Or can, and Kuusamo's wonderful nature is ample for that, but it may not be what a domestic tourist coming to a music festival seeks, laughs Niina Kukka, Event Manager from Ruka-Kuusamo Tourist Association.

– The study also revealed how spending was distributed among different activities, as the focus in the area has previously been mainly on monitoring accommodation and ski pass sales, including events, Kukka rejoices in the development of monitoring brought by research activities. The study also revealed where most of the event visitors came from. The top three cities were Oulu, Helsinki, and Rovaniemi.

The research data was collected within a week after the event through an internet survey, and 950 responses were obtained. One reason for wanting to investigate the impacts of events is to provide researched information to the entire network of operators.

– For the event producer, in this case Sunborn Live, and the rest of the network, it is very important to get digested information about how they have succeeded in their work and what improvements can be found. The economy is essential, but at the same time, we also get development ideas, which is really significant in terms of developing the customer experience, Kukka specifies.

– Our task as a tourism destination is to promote the conditions for organizing events. By sharing research results with the people of Kuusamo and other actors, we promote a positive attitude towards various events in Kuusamo and among the residents in Kuusamo. Events have a tremendous impact on the attractiveness and retention of cities and help build urban experiences, in addition to significantly supporting the local economy, as already shown by the findings of the Harmaa Rinne Festival, Event Manager Kukka summarizes.

In addition to the Harmaa Rinne Festival, event information will be collected during 2024 from four other public events, with NUTS Karhunkierros taking place next on 24-25 May 2024. The driver of the research work is the desire to develop Kuusamo into an event-friendly city.

Further information: Niina Kukka, Event Manager, Ruka-Kuusamo Tourist Association, tel +358 40 772 8213, niina.kukka@rukakuusamo.fi