Tourism and Recreation in Southwest Finland
Southwest Finland is a vibrant and diverse tourism region where the archipelago, maritime nature, and lively urban culture form a unique entity
The region’s strengths include year-round tourism offerings, excellent accessibility, and a strong service network. Tourism is directly linked to the objectives of the Southwest Finland Strategy 2040+: it strengthens the region’s vitality, attractiveness, and retention capacity.
Tourism in Southwest Finland is developed systematically and sustainably. The Archipelago Sea, national parks, cultural environments, and local food are attractions based on respect for nature and cultural heritage. Responsible tourism is reflected in the development of year-round tourism, support for low-carbon modes of transport, accessibility of services, and the desire to share the benefits of tourism broadly across the entire region. Development is carried out in close cooperation with municipalities, businesses, regional development organizations, and tourism operators.
Tourism is a significant industry in Southwest Finland from both economic and employment perspectives. Before the pandemic, the region’s annual tourism revenue averaged €1.5–1.6 billion, and the sector directly employed over 5,000 people. When indirect impacts are included, the employment effect rises to over 7,000 people. Tourism supports many other industries and is a key component of Southwest Finland’s vitality, international visibility, and future growth opportunities.
Tourism Forum
The Southwest Finland Tourism Forum is a collaborative network for the tourism sector that supports the regional strategy’s objective of synergy between an attractive environment and tourism, and promotes the implementation of the Southwest Finland tourism industry roadmap. The objective of the Sustainable Growth Together 2.0 Tourism Roadmap is to ensure sustainable tourism growth throughout the region.
The Southwest Finland Tourism Roadmap action program consists of managing a successful destination ecosystem and three operational areas that address the region’s tourism development objectives, challenges, and opportunities. Each action program has defined specific concrete measures and objectives. The development measures and objectives guide all regional stakeholders.
The roadmap’s three priority areas are:
- Managing a successful destination ecosystem
- Operational areas and concrete measures
- Development objectives and indicators that guide the work of regional stakeholders
Tourism in Southwest Finland develops according to three main principles:
- The region is distinctive and therefore an attractive tourism area
- Southwest Finland is a year-round tourism area
- The area is an easily accessible tourism region
Cross-cutting themes in tourism development are digitalization and sustainability, which enable sustainable growth and better accessibility of services.
The roadmap includes regional priority themes that guide tourism development in the coming years:
- Supporting businesses and enhancing funding
- Data-driven management
- Influencing infrastructure and connections
- Destination sales, marketing, and branding
- Labor availability
Our Tourism Materials
Southwest Finland Tourism Roadmap
The roadmap is a tool that brings tourism operators together, serving as a common guideline in tourism development work and generating effective tourism industry development. The starting point is that measures are implemented through collaboration among a broad range of stakeholders, taking into account their own objectives and priorities. The roadmap is implemented by both public actors and industry businesses, and some objectives and measures can be addressed through external project funding. The roadmap was prepared at a time when tourism was in acute crisis due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The roadmap measures are implemented by regional development and business service operators, Visit organizations, and the Tourism Forum’s route network group. The work is coordinated by the roadmap steering group, which ensures that development activities progress consistently and in cooperation for the benefit of the entire region.
Recreation
The nature of Southwest Finland offers diverse recreational opportunities in the maritime archipelago, wilderness-like wetland areas, and culturally unique environments. Recreation areas and sites serve as a strong and attractive foundation for tourism and as everyday exercise locations for our region’s residents. Recreation areas and sites are maintained and managed by municipalities and associations, not to mention the extensive network of service-providing businesses. An important framework for recreation areas is also provided by national parks maintained by Metsähallitus. Information on recreation areas and sites in Southwest Finland has been centrally collected in the Virma Map service, which is continuously updated and maintained.
Whether you are a hiker or a service developer, you will find useful information about recreation sites and routes in Southwest Finland also on the Lounaistieto website.
Southwest Finland Route Network Group
The Route Network Group has operated as an informal group of developers since 2017. The objective of the Route Network Group’s activities is to increase information flow and cooperation between parties working with and developing hiking routes (cycling, walking, trekking, and canoeing routes).
In addition, the group collects information and promotes the quality and visibility of hiking routes in Southwest Finland as the group serves as a regional partner for national development work (Visit Finland’s Outdoors Finland program, Rural Finland, etc.). The group’s meetings are open to all parties working with hiking routes. The group meets 2–4 times a year or as needed.
