Cooperation creates flight traffic and tourism in Tampere – The direct route to Malaga showcases Tampere region’s development and attraction
Throughout spring, Tampere has been showered with favourable travel-related news. The latest news is about the airline company SAS’ direct route to Malaga, opening next autumn. The Aviation Forum at Tampere Hall on 16.5.2018 gathered experts in the field to discuss the development of air travel in Tampere and the possibilities of regional air traffic.
Tampere is booming and popular with travellers
Visit Tampere reported domestic overnight stays to have increased in Tampere by 5% last year. The increase for foreigners was 8%. Accommodation sales increased by 8.6% from last year. Besides the record numbers, studies have shown Tampere to be Finland's most attractive city to live in. Finns also find it the most interesting city to travel to.
The good news is no coincidence. Tampere has increased its domestic and international renown in a planned and confident manner, thanks to Visit and Business Tampere. Operators in the fields of event and congress planning and travel, as well as educational institutions, have collaborated closely.
The goal for 2018 is to further increase the number of foreign travellers staying overnight in Tampere by 5%, and to increase the amount of domestic and international events. Tampere's beautiful lakes and saunas, the Moomin Museum and the upcoming Central Deck and Arena are valuable assets to this end.
Tampere-Pirkkala expands towards Spain next autumn
Tampere's good travel business news also extends to aviation. The 10 % growth estimated for Tampere-Pirkkala airport last year was reached, with 230,024 travellers using the airport in 2017.
Since 2015, Tampere’s regional air travel development program has focussed on increasing the amount of direct routes to Europe. This work has frequently borne fruit. For example, airBaltic has become a stable at Tampere-Pirkkala. Ryanair has also announced to continue flights into Budapest and Bremen and return to year-round operations to Budapest for W2018. This spring, SAS had bright news when it announced upcoming direct flights from Tampere to Malaga, Spain in autumn 2018.
– The Malaga route has been the most requested route during the entire time I’ve worked at Tampere. The route has its own stable user base, and as a networking airline company, SAS’ new route is a welcome indication that Tampere-Pirkkala's potential and growth are in a larger scale seen as a possibility for airline companies’ own strategies, says Marja Aalto, director of airline traffic development.
Even though the airport is closed for a part of this summer due to renovations, the amount of holiday flights departing from Tampere-Pirkkala has increased from last year. For example, TUI Group has added Turkey and Greece as summer destinations on top of its two holiday routes to the Canary Islands. Detur has also made a return to Tampere-Pirkkala. Additionally, the travel agencies Matkavekka and Ikaalisten Matkatoimisto feature series of flights from Tampere.
In total, Tampere-Pirkkala is the starting point for over 300 destinations, including transfers in Riga, Stockholm and Helsinki. Contributing to the local airport benefits all of Central Finland.
– Participating in flights departing from Tampere-Pirkkala supports the future of the local airport. Tampere-Pirkkala is an airport for all of Central Finland, hints Aalto.
The third Aviation Forum focuses on the possibilities of regional airline traffic.
The results of Tampere's airline traffic were on display at the Aviation Forum in Tampere Hall on Wednesday, May 16th. The event was hosted for the third time by Business Tampere. The event brings together Finnish and international aviation experts to discuss the field's current state and future.
This year's main theme was the challenges and possibilities of regional airline traffic. The day's goal was to find competitive market solutions for regional airports such as Tampere-Pirkkala.
Speakers at the event included e.g. Michele Granatstein from Oxera, Annabelle Lepiéce from CMS Belgium, Wolfgang Reuss from airBaltic and Jonathan Ford from Anna.Aero.
More information:
Marja Aalto
Director, development of airline traffic
Business Tampere
Tel.: 040 631 9211, marja.aalto@businesstampere.com