Visit Finland's organizational model is undergoing a transformation while the core tasks remain unchanged
Visit Finland has restructured its operations to enhance results and impact. The new organizational model allows for smoother implementation of the updated strategy introduced in the fall of 2021. This change does not affect Visit Finland's core responsibilities.
The tourism industry has faced challenges due to the pandemic lasting for over two years and, subsequently, the consequences of the Russian invasion. The industry's opportunities for joint marketing and active business development have become even more limited, and the pressure on Visit Finland to deliver impactful work has increased. Visit Finland's limited resources are now targeted more precisely concerning actions, clients, and partners.
“Based on feedback from clients, there have been ambiguities in Visit Finland's roles, and there has been a call for clarity. With the revamped organizational model, our goal is to strengthen collaboration with clients to enhance impact," says Kristiina Hietasaari, Senior Director of Visit Finland.
This change does not affect Visit Finland's core responsibilities. Visit Finland's fundamental mission remains promoting Finland's attractiveness as a sustainable and appealing international travel destination and facilitating sustainable international growth for businesses, business groups, and tourism regions.
New Team Structure and evolving roles
As part of this change, Visit Finland's organization is divided into five different teams: Customer Growth, Trade Promotion, International Operations, Strategic Development, and Marketing and Communications.
The new Customer Growth team features designated customer managers collaborating with both companies and regional organizations. Services will be tailored to customers based on their needs, level of internationalization, and growth potential. The same team will also include regional managers responsible for international target markets.
"This change enables efficient transmission of market information to customers, better consideration of customer needs in market-specific actions, and comprehensive and coordinated service offerings and customer collaboration planning and guidance," summarizes Marko Risku, Director of the Customer Growth team.
Strategic development themes, on the other hand, form the Strategic Development team. Visit Finland's tourism industry development work will now revolve around three strategic themes (business intelligence, sustainability in tourism, and digitalization). Support for other thematic product development (e.g., food, education, health, cultural tourism) can be obtained through Visit Finland Academy. Assistance in finding suitable training can be obtained from the Customer Growth team's experts. Moving forward, Visit Finland will promote thematic tourism through market-specific actions whenever possible. The promotion of tourism investments will also be transferred to Invest in Finland, a unit under Business Finland.
