Finns Lure Russian Shoppers With Free Trips to Finland - Perhaps Closer Ties Between Neighbors Are Possible
A free tour to Finland. Border stores are offering free bus rides to St. Petersburg residents just to get them come over for shopping. Is this European lunch actually free? And what other ways Finns use to lure in Russians?
Anastasia Efimova looked for answers.
It's heavy frost and pre-dawn dusk in St. Petersburg — the conditions might be close to extreme but they don't get in the way of international budget traveling.
Roman Tsvetkov, Director of Tour Company: "As you see, there are a lot of people. Even though it's Wednesday, the bus is packed. We even have to refuse people or sign them up for other dates".
St. Petersburg residents go to visit their northern neighbors with empty hands, as well as bags, backpacks and hand trucks, and, most importantly, for free. Round-trip tickets are covered by a Finnish retail chain. It hires the bus and pays for the fuel to make sure Russian customers don't miss their store.
Toni Tanninen, Regional Manager: We are testing to see how it works.
- How does it work?
- It works great. The buses are sold out, and we are thinking about expanding this practice. We are estimating our chances of attracting Russian customers.
There's only one condition. In exchange for the free ride, the Russian tourist is expected to spend mere 50 euros in this particular store.
- It's nice and it makes financial sense. What can I say? You go together with other people. You know, this purposeful, organized trip is very nice and convenient.
- What do you have in here? Soy milk?
- Soy milk, lactose-free cheese.
Cheese, fish, and dairy products are the Finnish foods most popular among Russians. A dutiful housewife's grocery selection. Maybe that's why there's a clear gender imbalance among the shoppers.
Elena Regina, Tour Guide: Women take more care of the household. Men usually come just for company.
- So it's normal?
- Yes, it's always mostly women.
- How do you feel among so many women who came here for shopping?
- Great.
- What are you buying?
- Cheese mainly. Also some tea and coffee.
It's by no means a display of mouth-dropping generosity. More like a well-understood necessity. The thing is, on this stretch of the border, tourists usually went from Russia to Finland through two border crossings. One of them led to the town of Imatra, and another one—to nearby Lappeenranta. But because of a high accident rate on the road there, buses are no longer allowed to go through the Brusnichnoye checkpoint. Lappeenranta, the trip to which now requires a 30-km detour, started to lose ground, and local businessmen realized they had to do something.
Lev Pervykh, Hotel Manager: “Only those Finns who live in their small hamlets, who don't have much contact with civilization and talk only to their neighbors 500 m away — they don't understand it. But those Finns who have business ties and work to make everyone happy but also to earn money— they understand it very well. And they still love and respect Russians". In this hotel 50 km from the border, 9 out of 10 tourists are Russians. They come for meditative views, fresh air, and silence.
- We are walking on the water?
- Yes, we are on the water. The ice is well frozen. It can hold a tractor. There's a busy road passing through here. You can even call it a highway.
Skates, skis, snowmobiles in winter. Fishing, boats, and catamarans in summer. That's your traditional vacation in Finland which without Russian tourists and the euros that they spend would be an undoubtedly nice but not a very lucrative pastime. Instead of moving forward, just running in circles.
- How do I do that? Sit down like on a sled?
- Okay. And someone else has to push you along.
- Is it hard?
- No.
The businesses here also fight for every client: promotions, bonuses. And on New Year's Eve, they even stream the speech of the Russian president. That's basically heavy artillery in the war for tourists.
Just several years ago, Russian tourists were spending 7 million euros annually in the border areas of Suomi. Then came the sanctions, the counter food embargo, significant euro appreciation. As a result, the revenue of Lappeenranta alone dropped fivefold. So luring the guests back in is a priority for Finland.
To do that, they are even trying experiments, like offering school students to choose the second language they would study. It has always been Swedish, but now, if the Ministry of Education approves the new idea, the program might also include Russian as the language with the most potential in this part of the country.
Anastasia Efimova, Aleksey Karpukhin. Vesti from Lappeenranta, Finland.