Hyvää joulua! Merry Christmas!

In Finland we celebrate Christmas already on Christmas eve on the 24th of December.Traditional Finnish Christmas consists of sauna, Christmas food, chocolate, ginger bread, prune jam pastries, decorating Christmas tree, Santa Claus's visit and of course giving and receiving presents. In Finland, Santa Claus brings the present and sits down with the family for a while before heading to the next family. Usually, the children are asked to sing a song to Santa Claus.

Traditional Finnish Christmas food are for example Christmas ham, salmon, potato and carrot casserole, rosolli (mixed salad with boiled beetroots, carrots, potatoes, apples and pickled cucumber, rice porridge and mushroom salad. As a dessert we eat prune jam pastries, ginger breads and plum soup and we drink glögi (mulled wine). Usually there is an almond hidden in the rice porridge and the person who finds it, gets a present or a wish. 

Pure Arctic Madness wishes you all merry Christmas! 

How to attract Seniors efficiently on your Homepage?

One of the pre-assignments for EMCup2016 was to write a paper about Surfing the Silver Wave. Our team, Pure Arctic Madness decided to make an analysis about hotels' webpages and their senior-friendliness. We base our analysis on a research about what qualities and features make a webpage easy to use for older people.

Features of a senior-friendly webpage:

- Readable Font size 

- Easy to navigate

- Good click-ability, no moving objects etc.

- Main items presented directly on the homepage

- Allows you to make a mistake

Seniors are slower than average Internet user to finish their task online. Thus, it's important to keep your webpage simple and straightforward. 

We analysed hotel webpages like Ibis, Novotel and Mercure from the Accor chain, Radisson Blu and Park Inn from Carlson Rezidor chain and Crowne Plaza from IHG. Some of the pages had good features for attracting seniors but for few of the pages, it was easy to say that their main target was not with the senior travelers.

Our analysis also covered different offers and packages ment for seniors. Seniors are very versatile on what they want for their trips. Some ought to experience wellness and spa in a relaxing environment while some enjoy more exploring city trips. In common to these cravings is that seniors appreciate accessibility and straightforward reservation process that should be taken into account while planning offers and packages for older people. 

When considering special offers and packages for seniors, there is room for improvement in the analysed webpages in this segment. Some of the hotels had already considered these kind of offers but in most of them, seniors should have to settle for regular prices and packages.

Senior-friendliness is the current trend. Making your webpage and special offers as accessible as possible is a great step in achieving this emerging segment's attention.

- Pure Arctic Madness

Get to know Linh

Hello the World! 

Here's Linh. I am soon turning 21 in two weeks! I am a third year tourism student at Lapland University of Applied Sciences. Ending up pursuing my higher education in the very northern of Finland has its interesting sides and stories. From here, I got a chance to do different things, such going for an internship abroad in Germany and then going for an Erasmus exchange in Austria. All of those times gave me plenty of memorable moments and experience. 

I'm still on my way finding out my real aspirations which I want to do in the future. Meanwhile, it is worth to go places and experience as much as I can!

At this moment, I'm really excited about the EMCup competition. Together with the other members, we all hope to gather, make friends as well as learn from the participating teams all over Europe!

Pure Arctic Madness is coming!

To all my friends and followers and gonna-be followers, keep supporting us! Your engagement with us would be very valuable! Like us on Facebook and follow us on Instagram! <3

Have you met Anna?

Tandem skies!

Hello! Now it's my turn to introduce myself! 

My name is Anna Pälä. I'm 21 years old and studying hospitality management in Multidimensional Tourism Institute in Rovaniemi. Oh yeah, and a team member in Pure Arctic Madness!! I come from a little countryside village called Suodenniemi which is located in the Southern Finland near city of Tampere. In my family there are mom, dad, sister, brother, his girlfriend, my nephew and our dog.

My graduation with my brother Lauri and Annika

I've always loved Lapland and since we were little, my family visited some ski resort every year. In my gap year I worked in a restaurant in Pyhä Ski Resort. There I found the spark to study hospitality management and I didn't want to leave Lapland so Lapland University of Applied Sciences was an answer to my wishes. Now I'm here and loving what I do!

Skiing in Ylläs

A view in Pyhätunturi

At school I've found amazing friends and plenty of opportunities to be a part of different projects. This EMCup2016 is a good example of these kind of opportunities :) Next summer I hope to do my advanced training somewhere abroad to experience even more.

Hosting Resto2015-competition with Lauri

I love traveling, cooking and baking, outdoors, snow, hanging out with friends, sports and trying everything new. I'm bad at saying "No" when someone suggests something new to do. Due to that I always find myself in different situations and that's also something that keeps me going!

Berlin

Just chilling in Turkey

Visiting Stockholm

Okay, I think one of the best ways to get to know someone is to hear their Bucket List. So, here's few parts of mine:

- Go interrailing through Europe

- Go Bungee jumping

- Participate in a food war

- Make a perfect Creme Brulee

- Try skijoring with a horse

I don't know if you agree with me about the Bucket List's but at least now you know something more about me!

Tourism tutors in Autumn 2015

Maybe that's enough about me for now but stay tuned, our EMCup journey has only began!

- Anna

Get to know more about EMCup!

What is EmCup?

EMCup is a hospitality competition for European Hotel Management Schools. The contest gathers daring students, who have a courage to stand out and show their entrepreneurial spirit and views. Each year, the competition holds different practical topics which strongly relate to the hospitality industry. The participating teams from the invited schools are expected to express their vision and out-of-the-box ideas. At the same time, this is an opportunity for all the students to broaden their experience as well as network of friends. 

This year's theme of the contest is "Surfing the Silver Wave". The topic drives all the participants to think about the growing aging population market. How can the hospitality industry cater to this specific segment in a most efficient way? This is something that we will find out soon from all the brilliant students from all over Europe in February 2016 in Maastricht, the Netherlands!

 Photo: image via empowernetwork.com

EMCup competition is a point of connections and sharing ideas among hospitality management students!

And this year, #Pure Arctic Madness (Anni, Linh, Anna and Lauri), the representative of MTI and Lapin AMK, is competing with other teams. Follow us to get updated! 

Our Facebook Page: Pure Arctic Madness / EMCup 2016

Our Instagram account: purearcticmadness

If you are interested in EMCup, visit their Facebook Page or their official website!

Here is Lauri calling!

Well, Hello You! 

It is my turn to introduce myself. I'm Lauri and I'm part of this great team from Finnish Lapland.. 

The red spot is Sastamala, 
but where is Rovaniemi?

Let's go 700 km to Southern Finland and find my home town, a place called Sastamala. Sastamala's population is about 25 000 people. We have there more entrepreneurs than any other city in Finland. That is quite cool! :)

Do you know this game?

I'm a 22-year-old second-year Tourism student in MTI (Multidimensional Tourism Institute) and I am studying with a Finnish group. I have got great experiences in participating in different competitions and events in my studies. In October me and Anna were at the Barents in Levi for one week. We were there hosting VIP guests from neighbouring countries. And now we are coming to Maastrich! I'm so exited!

To the top of the hill and over it!

But how did I get the idea to move to Lapland?

Well that is a good question... First it was an accident, but nowadays I would not change a single day being here. I have enjoyed my stay here near the Arctic Circle, Snow, Northern Lights and people. This all here is just so amazing, and nature, how pure it is... 

You can just imagine it...

Stay tuned, 

This all is just beginning... 

Pure Arctic Madness has landed

FOLLOW US!

Get to know Anni

Hello everyone! I have the honor to be the first team member to introduce myself. My name is Anni and I'm 21 years old girl from Finland, the only team member who has been born and raised in Lapland. My hometown Keminmaa is small village in Sea-Lapland. My family consists of me, my sister and our parents. My big sister is currently located in England and my parents live in Keminmaa.

Through several coincidences I ended up to study at Lapland University of Applied Sciences in Rovaniemi. I was supposed to study business, but instead I now study at Degree Programme in Tourism. And I could not be happier! Already during the first autumn I knew that this is what I want to study and this is where I belong to. I will write more about my studies later on, so stay tuned!

My work experience in tourism starts from my first summer job that I had when I was 15 years old. I worked in Hotel Pohjanranta which is located in my hometown. There I worked during five summers; I have had several different kind of tasks during the years for example cleaning, reception, breakfast and bar. During the first year of our studies, we did field work in SantaPark. For three weeks we worked at the home cavern of Santa Claus. There I got the first touch to the Christmas season in Rovaniemi.

After the first year I did my practical training in Germany in the summer 2014. I was working in Hotel Sonne's Bar VIA in a small town called Füssen. Although it was a small town, there were lot of tourist in the summer since the castle of Sleeping Beauty, Castle Neuschwanstein, is located 5 km from the city center. Going to Germany was one of the best decisions I've made by this far in my life. I grew so much, learned a lot, get to knew new language and culture, met so many nice people and got to see amazing places. I lost a piece of my heart to Füssen, and Bavaria in general, and hope to visit there soon!

After the training I went for an exchange to Austria. I studied one semester at Krems University of Applied Sciences in tourism and leisure management programme. The school was located in Krems an der Donau, which is approx. 70 km from Vienna. Krems is a small town in Lower Austria along the Danube. Being an exchange students was great. My roommates were great, the city was nice, the school and courses were interesting and of course got to knew new people around the world! If you ever have a change to go for an exchange, do it!

This autumn has been quite hectic; school, work, EMCup and tutoring new DPT students. But I'm not complaining! I have been busy, but at least I have been doing things I really enjoy. Last week I started my advanced training at Hotel Rantasipi Pohjanhovi. Pohjanhovi is a legendary hotel in Rovaniemi as it is the oldest hotel here. The first time Pohjanhovi was opened was in 1936, but it got destoyed in Lapland War. Pohjanhovi was build again and in 1947 the doors opened again. 

I think this is it for now! 

Like, comment, share and ask questions if you have any! :)

- Anni