Abandoned by Russian Tourists, Finland Counts Losses From Sanctions

Previously, Russians' share of Finland's tourism income reached nearly one-fifth. Coupled with difficulties with the Asian market due to the closure of skies over Russia, this may result in over $2 billion in annual losses for the Nordic nation.

The recent absence of Russians greatly affects the income of the tourism industry in all of Finland, according to the magazine Tekniikka & Talous.

Russia is notably absent from the list of top 10 countries whose citizens come to Finland as tourists. Kristiina Hietasaari, the head of Visit Finland, argued that the absence of Russian tourists is taking a toll on tourism revenue. According to her, Finland urgently needs to look for alternative markets, as there is no time to wait for the conflict in Ukraine to end.

In recent years, the share of Russian tourists in Finland reached almost one-fifth, resulting in a boon for the south-eastern part of the country bordering Leningrad Oblast and Saint Petersburg, which combined have a larger population than the entirety of Finland.

“If we talk about the income that Finland received from international tourism, then the share of Russians in it was as much as 19%. This is a lot. Annual losses this year will amount to more than 600 million euros [$640 million]. If we add to this the difficulties with the Asian market due to the closing of the sky over Russia, we will lose 2 billion euros [$2.13 billion] every year”, Hietasaari noted.

Finland, which managed to have a mutually beneficial relationship with the Soviet Union even at the height of the Cold War, is among numerous nations whose economy is taking a hit as a result of the recent sanctions war.

Overall, Europe alone has slapped nearly 1,200 sanctions on Russia since the start of the Ukrainian conflict in 2014, with over 950 of them introduced since February 2022 over the twin crises linked to Moscow’s recognition of the Donbass republics and its subsequent military operation to demilitarise and de-Nazify Ukraine. The restrictions, which have targeted all spheres of life from tech and finances to consumer goods, have contributed to soaring inflation and energy costs suffered by the region, and, by extension, much of the rest of the world.