Finns dreaming of White Christmas

SIKU CIRCUMPOLAR NEWS SERVICE

People employed in the winter tourism industry in Rovaniemi, Finland, are concerned because there has been almost no snow to date — and that’s what the 70,000 visitors who fly in from other snowless places in Europe expect this time of year.

A Christmas without snow would be disastrous, hitting a multi-million-dollar industry hard — particularly the huge Santa Claus shopping mall not far from the city and the many hotels that serve tourists looking for the “real” Christmas experience.

“If I went to Hawaii, and it rained I would be disappointed too, but we are doing the best we can,” Rami Korhonen, whose company Lapland Safari takes tourists on husky and reindeer rides, told Reuters news service.

This winter, Korhonen’s firm has been taking tourists for sleigh rides 300 kilometres north of Rovaniemi, where there is snow, and has tried making artificial snow.