Las Palmas de Gran Canaria went this week to the MATKA Nordic Travel Fair in Helsinki to promote itself as an urban and family destination with history culture and closely bonded to the sea. This is the first occasion that the Council of Tourism of the Grancanarian capital has a specific presence in a fair where it goes nevertheless joined with the Tourist Board of Gran Canaria, sharing the Gran Canaria brand. Among the contacts made with agents of tourism, the Council has started to work to highlight the city in the Finnish travel platform Rantapallo.fi, the main meta-search travel website in Finland.
Matka 2016 takes place in the Congress Hall of Helsinki, from January 21st to 24th and it is a milestone for the tourist industry in the Nordic countries, where the main travel agents, airlines and tour operators from a region that is traditionally linked to Las Palmas de Gran Canaria can meet. In this present edition of Matka, Turespaña (Tourism of Spain) has a relevant role as main partner of the fair, giving a relevant position to destinations from Spain.
The Councillor of Tourism, Pedro Quevedo, said that the Council of Tourism has maintained a meeting with the representatives of the Tourist Office of Spain in Helsinki. “The participation of the City in this event is very important since we are witnessing a growing interest by the Nordic visitors to come back to our city”, he stated.
Nordic tourism
Quevedo underlined that “The Nordic highlight for they stay longer in the city, with an average of five days, which means more expenses on destination”. During 2015, according to the data from ISCAT, a total of 70.751 tourists and excursion users from Finland visited Gran Canaria. The island registered 98.482 overnight stays from that country. Besides, 25.550 Nordic tourists (Swedish and Danish) stayed in the Grancanarian Capital City last year. Months between January and March are the ones that show a bigger presence of these travellers from Scandinavia.
In this regard, Tourism of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria established important contacts with the business director of Rantapallo, the main internet metasearch travel site in Finland. This company is the leader of online travel search and booking with more than 600 destinations to which the city now joins up. Rantapallo site has an average of 270.000 visits per week.
The tourist offer of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria has aroused great interest in the Matka among other agents of the tourist market and general public who have planned to stay in the south of Gran Canaria and now wants to visit the capital city during their holidays. Others want to stay directly in the city, after the listing of registered Vacational Homes in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria.
The representative of the Grancanarian capital went to Helsinki with professional guides for tour-operators and travel agents, and specific brochures showing activities to do, places to visit, and experiences to enjoy, as well as detailed city maps, both for agents of the industry and general public. The promotional actions during the fair took place at the desk shared with the Tourist Board of Gran Canaria.