Something you might not know about Finnish Lapland

Hello everyone! We have introduced ourselves already but now we're about to tell you something about the place we live, Lapland. You all have some kind of idea what Lapland is, and you're all probably right. Now let us tell you perhaps something more!

- Lapland is known for it's beautiful nature: fells, rivers, forests and lakes.
- Nature provide us with multiple products you can only find in Lapland, for example different berries

Cloudberries. Photo: Lapland Above Ordinary

- In surface area Rovaniemi is the biggest city in Europe
- There are approximately same amount of people and reindeers living in Lapland
- Every reindeer belongs to someone

Reindeer sleigh

- By the way, never ask a reindeer owner how many reindeers they have.
- Yeah, we got the Santa Claus as well!
- At midsummer the Sun doesn't set at all
- In winter we have "Kaamos" which means the Sun doesn't rise at all

Midsummer. Photo: Lapland Above Ordinary

- We have our own aboriginal people called Sami people
- Best time to spot the Northern lights is from September to March
- In winter we go ice fishing, snowmobiling, skiing and skating
- We have way over thousand kilometers of skiing tracks in Lapland in spring

Cross-country tracks

Snowmobiling

- Only 3,6% of Finnish population lives in Lapland
- If you want to eat something really Lappish, taste sauteed reindeer and squeaky cheese!
- "Kuksa" is a wooden cup that is very common among Lappish people
- There's a Lappish belief that you can loose your luck if you wash your Kuksa
- People make a hole in the ice and go swimming in the lakes and rivers. We call it "avanto".

Kuksa

Lappish leather boots. Photo: Lapland Above Ordinary

So here's something you might not have known about Lapland yet, Of course, the best way to learn more is to discover it yourselves!

- Pure Arctic Madness

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

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