Tampere Continues to Thrive as Finland's Second Congress City
Finland Convention Bureau has published the congress statistics from 2018. Helsinki was, as expected, the busiest congress location in Finland, but Tampere was a clear runner-up both in the number of congresses as well as the amount of congress visitors.
The change in Tampere’s numbers above the Finnish average
“We can be extremely pleased with the numbers of Tampere, rejoice both Senior specialists on congresses, Laila Walldén and Pia Helminen from Visit Tampere. Nationwide, the number of participants dropped drastically; Tampere only suffered a small dip, but we exceeded again the limit of over 9000 visitors. Compared to year 2017, the amount of congresses grew considerably, which to us tells that in 2018 the congresses organized were a lot smaller.”
A big impact on the city
The cities follow the congress statistics eagerly also because congresses bring in a lot of money. The revenue impact brought to the city by the congresses was over 12 million euros, as according to Finland Convention Bureau each congress visitor spends on average 1340 euros during their visit, which is five times more than a recreational visitor.
Robotics attracted the biggest number of visitors
Year’s 2018 biggest congress in Tampere started off the year, when the The Robotic Society in Finland hosted together with Tampere University of Technology the European Robotics Forum on 13.–15.3.2018. According to the chairman of The Robotic Society in Finland Jyrki Latokartano, the number of participants exceeded 900, but altogether there were over 1200 visitors, if all the school children marveling the robots are included in the calculations. The international congress guests have been especially impressed with the city’s spectacular congress centre as well as the delicious food. Also the additional programme, including dipping into a hole in the ice and visits to local companies, proved to be a success.
More information:
Pia Helminen
Senior specialist, congresses
pia.helminen@visittampere.fi
tel. +358 40 706 6448
Laila Walldén
Senior specialist, congresses
laila.wallden@visittampere.fi
tel. +358 40 683 8789
Article by Visit Tampere
Photo: Laura Vanzo