AETC Product Development event in Levi, Finnish Lapland 3.-5.6.2024
Arctic Europe Tourism Cluster -project is financed by Interreg Aurora. Other financiers: Region Norrbotten, Regional Council of Lapland, Troms County, Finnmark County, Troms, Finnmark and Nordland county international program, Troms Holding and Innovation Norway Arctic
with someone that you can almost I think call Mrs bicyle finish is that true this is K must and she is CEO of visit and I think she is one of the reasons behind booming cycling development in welcome S no no I I can’t say that I’m I’m the reason of the doing but I’m I will do everything to get this do going on and on and on soas uh is uh very nearby I hope all of you know what isas and is there anyone who is speaking but no one probably doesn’t speak it so I have to go in English so uh I’m coming from Bella that’s the reason I I I really really I like Swedish and Norwegian Artic areas and I’m familiar with them but of course is very good part of me and um just a short introduction that uh you believe me better when I will talk about something about our summer development so I’m former M biker and uh yeah I have M time biking very very very very Vari places so like um this right picture is from China I have raised there and actually this the left one is from ulas last summer I made some kind of comeback to to mountain bike races after 10 years and do leevy mountain bikee race last July but is there anyone who knows where this biggest picture is taken from I assume that Swedish should know that place just say aloud if you really know or if you just want to guess no it’s the mon named Bel it’s near Kio and actually speed and that’s the most amazing mountain bike fruit in the world even though I have been in in Jungle and in Gan in Alps that’s the best my favorite uh so actually my car start uh from usas I trained there and my first mountain bike rout but I was planted was in 2003 but let’s go to us a year around and uh I think we can really say we are year around destination of course not 12 months per year but uh nowadays something like 11 or 10 months per year and um year around I think are like uh there is business cases in every months so you can do business so uh because my background is in research I want to just say a couple of words about statistic and uh accommodation I assume that you all know that we have a big problem in that at least uh finish ski destinations uh this is the best data what we can get at the moment and this is under 50% of our commercial capacity and there’s missing a lot of cabins actually 6,000 bed places is missing it’s covered only 5,000 places in area and we also have another 11 or 12,000 Beds which are not in commercial use only in private use but those people they spend money in the area also so we have to count them so you can see that um Co time was Prett good for us uh and uh the best month for us is March not only December uh season big season start December and it last usually uh end of the April and then we have a little break and then open again uh activities in June July is very good month and July is actually because all most of the people prefers gapin in July in summer time so July is actually much much much more higher and also August September and maybe even oober uh so I have here that uh us is the F paradise and uh yes it is it used to be and nowadays it’s even better and um I think that that’s something that which is like um there’s a little bit of Lucky and then also like a lot of work but um maybe start starting point that was that U we have like uh more than 300,000 uh cross country ski tracks in the area and we are very popular place called M ski and uh also one of the biggest ski resorts in in Finland so uh when we wanted to turn winter the sumary started just we have this network of roots but those were only ski tracks but then we had uh 14 Wilderness cafes which was usually open during winter time and then I think maybe it was like uh yes we have to do something uh in summer because we have so much capacity and we want to use it but also a bit lucky named Co and uh ‘s National Park National Park decided allow mountain biking in those traes that wasn’t aone so after that we have done a couple of Investments and uh nowadays we have uh uh 200 more than 200 kilom mountain bike threads during summertime uh more than almost 600 rental Pikes and then um uh rental bikes those are 70% e bikes nowadays and uh also mostly fat bikes but uh we have also during winter time 100 kilm uh winter trails which are also for biking so we have like a good infro and uh very very good quality bikes actually we uh some moris which is very very popular and a wellknown uh mountain biking guide uh doing tours in the outs with the UK people some moris visited in our area after the co time and visited our rental and uh he said that oh now I see why we can’t have any good quality bikes in UK they are all inas so uh very good um investment was that all the rental bikes uh understand that the mon bik has to be good quality so that was maybe the the the one point that we could would do this year round development so we have all the things there like some roads and then some bikes and grandal socks and everything but uh actually I think that the uh summer development started and it always start like uh all the development has to be year round not only season development because one of the main thing was that that we had those uh winter bike TR because that was like year round use for those rental bikes and uh March is our big month but uh somehow July is Big month for the prental so but still they have the same uh capacity during March February and uh January and it’s it’s almost fully booed I have to say all rental bike bikes of shop they have developed their websites web stores and that that has been a very important part of the development but as a mountain biker I know that the the that actually very technical uh sports that’s not like U walking or even not like U downhill ski because there’s always that surface uh which is very very difficult or very easy so we heard from the customers that okay we are Paradise for bikers yeah but I knew and very many m ier says that we are too easy at the same time our Trails our route was too easy and too diff and uh of course we understood that mountain biking is not for all so we had to think how about the target group is it big enough if we speak about the mountain biking we knew that the bik biking will be some kind of uh unique selling point for us because we had and have uh so good infra but still how we do it that it’s really interesting for everybody and just n persons and so we took some kind of time out there were no there was like no reason to construct to invest anything if we don’t know who are the the customer and what she or he wants to experience uh we couldn’t um develop like a FL Trace M time bikers and we all all our like basic Trails was too difficult for normal normal people I’m on unnormal because I’m a m Vier so we had a yearound project and with that funding we did a lot of development planning and uh very good things and this uh spider picture spider picture is actually uh blue algra uh consulting company has done it uh they evaluate ulas as a mountain bike destination and uh this was very great as you see almost all things thinks up yes is mountain bike Paradise but as you can see uh consulting firm think that uh and they see that the trails we have a lot of challenges with that there but actually everything else was quite good already so capacity of course and services we had and have uh very much um knowledge about bikes and E bikes good quality bikes and even though the brand and identity is very good so uh with uh that funding uh we did a bike master plan and that that is some kind of uh plan for the develop biking M biking in our area and it’s it’s also related to ski resort they had their own bike master plan at the same time and now we have a bike park in the area so then uh we uh get some got some customer data about people who already visited in our area mostly domestic ones but also International guests and that uh yeah that kind of data gives all always lot of understanding what people want to experience in your area and in your destinations and why they are are there and maybe one of the most important was Target group knowledge we uh got data from the European market how much there are really people who wants to travel with bike or because of M biking and that was huge amount of people several Millions only in German which is our our target market anyway and also UK uh Switzerland all D and of course Netherlands they really know how to bite and they love winter fting so we understood that there’s a lot of there’s a lot of uh possibilities in international market uh and actually we have lot of SP in our area even though they have alss so uh maybe the main uh idea or the main uh new idea was to understand are people really go uh to biking because biking or by bike and I’m people who mostly go just for biking I have to go I have to train no matter what even it’s training or or snowing I have to go biking because I have to train and the biking and the flow from the mountain biking that’s main reason for me but not most of our customers uh uh ebikes are very easy to ride and they are very suitable for the families when they are like like different age children or uh different U technical skills or like um father is not maybe so fit at that moment so by ebikes all can go together and uh it’s very easy and fast go to the national park by eik and maybe the the mother which is very fit can take the B without electricity so uh that was like the new uh point of view to the whole thing so people uh they want to see the landscape they want to do same thing as a winter they just need some kind of way to do that working is too slow of course and maybe a bit boring if you walk like uh via ski tracks but ebikes bikes you can go uh 3 hours and you can go like 30 kilm very easy and then all those winess cafes what we had and have uh there in National Park and everywhere L area they could open also in summer time this is UHA which is uh like total in the total winess no electricity no water or anything that’s a coffe where you can go get the warm soup lunch Cafe and monkey donuts and then uh when this like a big wheel started to roll uh we uh the skers of start to invest very much and they construct bip bar and uh because of the master plan and Consulting they were very wise and they uh actually they first they uh constructed Roots uh buil the roots without consulting and those were disaster because those weren’t on at all by but then they developed the uh building process and uh they get some more knowledge and they invest Consulting New uh sharft and tracks and now they are increasing plus uh 30% per year and uh this bike for is for everyone and like uh the New Year sh is uh first in in actually in Finland where it’s uh that kind of specific place for the bikes so very big investment and and all the point of view is yearound use not only uh ski so at the moment by parental turnover in our area in July it’s more than in March and it’s increasing all the time and if you want to come to our area at least uh July or March you really have to book your bike uh before so that’s something that uh parental bikes are sold out out quite often and uh it’s very uh International way to do because as you know all the Europeans take can’t cross country ke or I don’t know why but they just don’t like it maybe but the viiking is something that very often Europeans can do and they like it so biking is year around and uh there all of course we have people and customers who are coming because of mown biking and we we have invest to the roots which are not too easy for good bikers uh and we are uh developing the the way how we tell about the roots that people really go to the right root which is uh enjoyable for her or him and nowadays we have a lot of guide bike tours not only rent the bike but also give the service s service and uh bik Park and PES there is something which is like a uh very needy at the moment like ski instructors we need that kind of by Park instructors and we because that’s some something we what we have to solve so B park has started teach and has like create some kind of program that they could have more guides because B Park it’s it’s lot of how you speak about the things how you branding those B Park uh firstly we uh spoke uh downhill biking or endro biking those are sports which are very technical and not for everyone but p park is for everyone uh like family can go very easily there’s a uh Magic rep like we say that kind of um tunnel lift which is uh you just have to go and stay there with the and then there is a very small and flow and funny roots for which are suable for the children and also the fathers who maybe can do that um and uh maybe the best thing is that we have already combined products we we use P to go somewhere to do something what people want to do a very good example is by ski it’s a wind product you um have a GU guide uh which they like let’s sorry I don’t know the word in English behind uh his bike and you can all the grp people put uh off country key uh equipments to the AR so they can go quite far away Into the Heart of the National Park by ebikes very easily like half an or one hour to P there then go uh offish the skiing or [Music] snowboarding like in the fresh snow in the bels the place where you it took maybe whole day if you can’t use the bike but in un you can because we have Trails which are going there so the product is you go with the guide to Goa have a lunch go couple of hype up there different spells and ski down and then back by by 3 to 4 hours and uh some uh bit several uh similar product we have also in summertime that bik to hike so you can go lot more further than only by walking and um my idea or my mission is to replace buses with ebikes we are investing now to the trail or actually ski track which is uh between couple two Villages AAS andas big villages in inas and after the The Constructor have done their work we have almost like a road uh Sand Road between the VES and guide can easily get from the to with e bikes no need for buses distance is something like 10 kilm so but lot of we do that byebye to the grilling sausage the fireplace or uh take a coffee there so suming up um uh the way we have done is is somehow very long but somehow not but we have a lot things what we have learned uh like At first like I said year around not only developing offices because without those winter bike trains we we couldn’t had so many bikes in our area so many good quality bikes just for the summer maybe to Big investment so that’s very important that you think about the whole picture and the whole year and because I think that in in in Finish La we somehow uh forget summer because because at the first place we we were were like a summer destination and I I used to clean hold the rooms in B after the Germans in summer time when I was 15 but still somehow nowadays we are mostly seeing as a winter destination so don’t forget anything any any any uh time period of the year and then the target group so even though it’s not mtime biking or biking at all you really have to understand understand what is the cor of that that experience you can’t build Trails for the M bikers if you are not knowing anything about the M biking uh and maybe you can’t also develop that kind of product if you don’t know uh What uh people want if if if the doing is the main thing of if the landscape Ming so we didn’t have to like change our unique selling points in our area at all even though M biking is or biking is is in uh in in the cor of the summertime because all these things like National Park roou Landscapes nature those are valed for the P customers too and then new planning I know many stories that maybe have some kind of funding Project funding and yeah let’s do it let’s do some Investments and then uh then after a couple of uh years there are people who wondering oh what signs are those who owns those signs who are doing that or why this had done like uh 3 years ago so planning like a longterm uh view is very uh important and also the strategy as I told for instance uh in mtime biking area there is U Millions really millions of people only in Europe only in in in very good markets already which already are traveling with the bike because they want to go to the fighting so that’s not any any like a too small Target at all so this is what I have to do inas as a as a visitas person engagement so as many companies uh have that kind of Rhythm during the year that we push very hard very hard during winter season all those win the months all the uh companies are full bued and they have all very hurry all the time no time for the developing or or anything and then may come yes now we go somewhere else want to see any any people or serve any anybody and they have a holiday and then they just yeah maybe we do something in the summertime no uh everyone in the area has to be engaged to the development uh actually in ulas we could start the whole summer thing because uh companies are are very uh like in the area they’re part of the community and they spoke together hey can you take two weeks of the May and oh uh get your place open like your restaurant I can take another to week of May all the restaurants they settle down together who is open when who can uh be on holiday andway so we can promise to our customer that we have always like restaurant some kind of hotel and accommodation uh of course uh grocer store ET AR parental partes even in now in May and the nature is not maybe like ready for summer time but still we have a rental shop open and customers course and I think that the next thing is that if we want to grow our year system that it will covers maybe uh even May beginning of June we have to do this engagement work in our area and of course Investments uh you always need will but always money money is uh of course important for for companies but um I recommend that you use also uh Project funding at least for uh planning we uh made a new uh part are like a digital map in the area which is totally new product and we sell it the customers and uh last year we sold it more than 100, 70,000 170,000 and just because it’s very good product and uh we had uh project money for plan I think that was mostly all I can say but I’m sure that I can if you have some questions Maybe