Finland, China eye winter sports cooperation

Finland's snow sport industry is eyeing the Chinese market, as the country is expecting 300 million new winter sport enthusiasts by 2022.

A group of representatives from China and Finland met this week in Beijing for the official launch of the China-Finland Year of Winter Sports 2019. During a media meeting at the Finland Embassy, a number of Finnish government and company representatives expressed optimism in the Chinese snow sports market, even though the country has not been traditionally recognized as a strong winter sport nation.

"China is our most important trade partner in Asia and fourth-largest trade partner globally. I believe this special year of cooperation can offer many interesting opportunities for Finnish and local companies as well their public sectors, leading up to the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics and beyond." said Anne-Mari Virolainen, Finnish minister for foreign trade and development.

Sampo Terho, Finnish minister of European affairs, culture and sports, also expressed similar thoughts on China's growing winter sport industry, as the country has called for 300 million new winter sport players by 2022.

"To reach China´s goal of 300 million new winter sport enthusiasts and build the infrastructure to support this, Finland has a lot to offer." he said, adding that despite being a small nation, Finland is a country of snow sports, with expertise in products, services, training, coaching, infrastructure and tourism.

To promote the influence among the country's young generation, Visit Finland, the national tourism organization of Finland, appointed Wang Kai as official envoy of Finland winter travel.

"During this official winter sports theme year between Finland and China, we hope to build Finland as an attractive destination for winter activities and sports for the Chinese market," said Paavo Virkkunen, head of Visit Finland. He said in the past few years the number of Chinese tourists coming to Finland has been growing at a steady pace.

"In recent years, the number of Chinese visitors to Finland has grown strongly. In 2018, we expect to have reached 400,000 overnight visits by mainland China and Hong Kong passport holders, up significantly from only 150,000 in 2014," he said.

He said two new flights between China and Helsinki will be launched in 2019.