France Market Report Visit Finland Country Representative Sanna Tuononen November 2017 8.11.2017
Semiannual Report - France Summer season 2017 and outlook for winter 2017-2018 CONTENTS What factors have affected the results of the summer season, especially with regard to Finland? What are the prospects for the coming winter season? Other important things to pay attention to Trends and other travel related topics Facts and figures
What factors have affected the results of the summer season, especially with regard to Finland? Reasons for the increase/decrease in overall outbound travelling from your market? Outbound travelling from France grew during summer season 2017. The most popular foreign destinations were Greece and Spain, even if there was no growth for them this summer. The North African countries got the most important growth concerning French summer travelers. The security situation is better and French travelers trust is back. France s economic situation is getting a little bit better and households are growing their travel budgets. The most important holiday month is still August, even though July is also getting more busy. As many European summer destinations are full and expensive in August, French are looking for more calm destinations. New potential target group for Finland could be families or couples looking for a nature destination where they can spend a relaxed family holiday without being worried of safety or hustle. Those target groups might be used to go to more known summer destinations and don t think about Finland. Therefor image promotion should be done to reach this target group.
What factors have affected the results of the summer season, especially with regard to Finland? Reasons for the increase/decrease in travelling to Finland? Travelling to Finland from France grew during the summer season. This is remarkable sign as since many years the situation was stable and not growing. The reasons for this are general growth of outbound travelling from France, promotion of summer products by Archipelago project and Lapland operators, and also Finland s image as a safe destination. There were also new summer products sold by the tour operators. Helsinki together with the Metropolitan area has been the most popular area during summer season. However, in terms of growth Lapland has increased the most and the Coast and Archipelago area has also gained popularity. Winter continues to be the most popular season for the French to travel to Finland but the number of French travelers during summer time is slowly increasing. There is a demand for nature destinations where stressed citizens can relax and enjoy in nature. Finland has the right offering, but is not enough known yet as a summer destination. There were some changes in distribution channels and some tour operators added new summer products in their catalogue for this summer season 2017. Accessibility and flight connections (by Finnair and Norwegian) remained same than the year before.
What are the prospects for the coming winter season? The overall outlook of travelling to Finland for the coming winter? According to interviewed tour operators, winter season 2017-18 will be good. Quantity of French travelers should increase nicely. Finland is especially known as a winter destination in France and the image is getting even stronger. Finnair launches a new, weekly direct flight from Paris to Kittilä from December 2017 until March 2018. This will probably also increase the number of French travelers. However, the insufficient accommodation capacity in Lapland might cause problems for the increase. There are some new tour operators selling Finland and some of the main tour operators are also growing their allotments. How attractive are round trips (visiting at least two Nordic countries or at least two destinations in Finland)? Round trips are popular in France, but less during the winter season. Summer season French travelers are looking for visiting more than one Nordic country (at least as a city breaks), but during winter the holidays are more concentrated in one place and around different activities (mostly in Lapland). Nevertheless, some of the travelers like to combine for example few days stay in Helsinki and a holiday week in Lapland. It could be also interesting to have Lapland combinations with Finland and Norway or Finland and Sweden. For the moment the difficulty is the connection between cities (lack of flight connections).
What are the prospects for the coming winter season? The overall outlook of travelling to Finland for the coming winter? What trends should be considered in product development to increase the demand in the winter time? The demand in France is very good in the winter time, and therefor doesn t need too much extra effort in promotion. Nevertheless, it would be important that we can keep the good image and strong demand for Finland. The problem concerning Lapland is lack of available accommodation and too high flight prices for high season periods. In product development, it would be good to find suitable alternatives for Lapland with similar activity offering and good accommodation options. Which target groups should be considered to increase the demand? Target groups for winter are quite wide and includes families, couples and small groups (friends, incentive). It could be interesting to reach also potential travelers looking for a different product than multi-activity package in Lapland. Travelers who are more cultural oriented and wellbeing oriented would be potential and would enable to enlarge the target groups portfolio and destinations.
What are the prospects for the coming winter season? Marketing opportunities TO cooperation Cooperation with tour operators remains an important way of getting into the market. Despite increasing independent bookings on the internet, the French continue to buy packages from tour operators. This is especially valid regarding the winter season in Lapland as people want to be sure that everything goes smoothly and are therefore keen on getting help from a travel professional. Famtrips are a great way to present the products to the buyers. They need to be able to test and see the products and can also give valuable feedback in order to further develop the product to suit better the market s demands. Events B2B events are a good way to meet established contacts and create new ones. Sales calls are also an important way to keep created business relationships active. In the French business culture it s important to establish personal relationships and keep them up; French like to know the people they are doing business with. PR & Social media PR and social media visibility has an important meaning in maintaining Finland s good image as a winter destination. There is a lot of interest from different medias concerning Lapland and the image reinforcement comes naturally through the reports and TV documents/news. Nevertheless, PR work should be done also to try to promote other destinations (than Lapland) for the winter season. It would be also good to do PR work together with some of the main Tour operators.
Other important things to pay attention to New distribution channels Famtrips and product presentations are an essential way to gain new distribution channels. New product launches require support for instance in the form of common campaigns and possible events. It is important to help the tour operators, especially new ones starting Finland production, in product development, finding the suitable partners in Finland and also in product launching. B2B event such as the Nordic Workshop is a good opportunity to meet new distributors. To keep up and develop the contacts, sales calls and follow ups are also needed. Online channels Presence in social media and different online channels is more important than ever. French travelers use the internet to look for information and inspiration when choosing their next travel destination. They also rely heavily on word of mouth and personal recommendations. The visibility in the most important social media channels (Facebook, Instagram ) can be done through a PR work with the right and carefully chosen influencers. Even if French travelers coming to Finland use still tour operators, the importance of OTA channels is growing. Finland s visibility in different OTA channels in France is not yet very good and therefor it needs inputs and resources. Visibility in local OTA channels helps to attract new target groups and also to build Finland s image as a year round destination.
Other important things to pay attention to Competitors actions Norway has been very active in promoting all year round. They were considered as a summer destination, but are firmly gaining also image as a winter destination. They have managed to attract travelers with Northern lights products and image of exotic winter destination. Norway is using different channels, both online and offline. They do still traditional advertisement (OOH and printed), but are also active in social media promotion (they do have social media channels in French). Hurtigruten is very active and is advertising online and offline (for example in radio) in cooperation with Norway Tourist Board (Innovation Norway). Norway s main message for summer is outdoors activities and nature exploration. Norway is working closely with the traditional sales channels (TOs and agencies). They do also participate every year to the biggest travel professional s Fair in France (IFTM Top Resa). Iceland is active in promotion together with Iceland Air. They do active advertisement all year around, both online advertisement, but also traditional offline advertisement (printed and OOH advertisement). Their main messages are stopover products and nature activities (Northern lights). Iceland has got a big network of traditional sales channels (TOs and agencies) and are also visible in OTA channels. They do invite most important Tour operators yearly to Iceland workshop.
Other important things to pay attention to Competitors actions Sweden has been active in online visibility. They concentrate in social media visibility and PR work. The main message is city breaks (Stockholm), Swedish way of living and nature destinations (Swedish archipelago). Sweden (national tourist board) doesn t cooperate actively with the tour operators and agencies in France. Nevertheless, some regions and Stockholm city tourist board are working actively with b2b contacts in France. Canada is very active in France, especially the Quebec region. They do both online and offline advertisement. Concerning the summer season they concentrate more in online promotion activities and joint campaigns with the tour operators. The key messages are nature destinations and all the activity possibilities, city destinations and relaxed family holidays. Canada is working closely with the Tour operators and is also participating to main Travel professional Fair every year (IFTM Top Resa)
Other important things to pay attention to Trends and other travel related topics Free word Any new travel trends on your market? French travelers use of online channels is increasing and have become the first choice of travel planning source. The choice of different channels is wide and there are new ones coming all the time. It is important to be visible in these channels to be able to influence the traveler s image of Finland and to have an input in his decision making process. Relaxing and wellbeing are important themes for French travelers. Especially people living in big cities are yearning for complete change of scenery where they can de-stress themselves in a calm and relaxing environment. What s hot now on your market (BtoC and/or BtoB) Sustainability and back to basics values are trendy and therefor messages like Danish Hygge hit strongly in France. People are looking for valuable time with the family and friends and want to share their experiences and holidays. France is a big market with potential for Finland. Finland has a lot to offer for the French travelers and exactly the things they are looking for. But for the French to find Finland also in the summer time, we need to be more visible and push Finland s image as a all year-round destination in France.
Facts & figures - France Active holidays and country tours are popular in the French market. Multistop tours to a range of locations may be appealing. Finland lags behind competitors for cultural imagery, particularly for urban assets. Iceland stands out as offering unique experiences. 300 000 250 000 200 000 150 000 100 000 50 000 0 Overnights 2010-2016 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 More than half of the overnights were registered in Lapland in 2016 27% 11% 12% 51% Share of overnights by regions Spending per trip in Finland (2016) 560 Finland 250 000 (+9% growth from previous year) Helsinki Metropolitan Area 66 300 (+6%) Coast and Archipelago 26 300 (+9%) Lakeland 30 500 (-10%) Lapland 126 800 (+16%) Sources: Visit Finland Statistics Statistics Service Rudolf VF Visitor Survey 2016 VF Market Report
French overnights in Finland High seasons: winter 2016-2017 and summer 2017 France High winter season (12-02) 2017 Nights spent Change of nights spend, % 2017 2017 WHOLE COUNTRY 129 134 13,1 LAPLAND 102 641 15,9 HELSINKI METROPOLITAN AREA 13 442 4,0 LAKELAND 7 182-20,0 COAST AND ARCHIPELAGO 5 869 56,9 France High summer season (06-08) 2017 Nights spent Change of nights spend, % WHOLE COUNTRY 59 253 7,9 HELSINKI METROPOLITAN AREA 27 056 5,0 COAST AND ARCHIPELAGO 11 713 8,9 LAKELAND 11 339 4,5 LAPLAND 9 145 21,4 Source: Visit Finland Statistics Service Rudolf, Statistics Finland
France Latest overnight figures Jan-Aug 2017 Nights spent Nights spent 1.1.2017 1.2.2017 1.3.2017 1.4.2017 1.5.2017 1.6.2017 1.7.2017 1.8.2017 Jan-Aug 2017 Foreign 620 923 554 293 525 188 347 658 416 440 602 652 798 823 757 726 4 623 703 1. Russian Federation 154 409 55 321 52 965 42 747 48 352 55 395 87 956 89 739 586 884 2. Germany 41 398 51 930 50 654 27 963 34 564 82 517 96 421 94 102 479 549 3. Sweden 24 499 26 657 39 566 38 573 51 241 61 471 125 744 81 508 449 259 4. United Kingdom 62 864 60 823 34 240 22 784 25 425 34 549 33 856 39 486 314 027 5. China and Hong Kong 35 355 29 487 20 672 13 490 22 466 39 123 42 987 43 979 247 559 6. France 42 309 47 222 36 275 10 506 12 758 16 650 20 006 22 597 208 323 7. United States 11 969 13 178 17 942 12 203 24 735 36 342 35 968 40 392 192 729 8. Netherlands 36 442 37 586 24 258 9 451 10 956 17 214 20 413 20 234 176 554 9. Japan 16 194 20 099 23 356 9 309 14 458 18 803 25 792 31 158 159 169 10. Norway 8 188 15 319 21 371 20 265 11 491 16 306 35 322 18 682 146 944 Change of nights spend, % 1.1.2017 1.2.2017 1.3.2017 1.4.2017 1.5.2017 1.6.2017 1.7.2017 1.8.2017 Foreign 19,4 20,2 23,7 16,3 11,7 12,2 11,2 11,6 France 19,8 8,1 18,0 7,4 36,1 5,7 4,4 13,0 Source: Statistics Service Rudolf, Visit Finland