The result of Visit Finland’s change negotiations: 17 positions abolished and operations will be significantly reduced

Published in Window Seat magazine 11.10.2024. Free translation by ToolBox Consulting.

“Business Finland has concluded the change negotiations concerning Visit Finland.

The reason for the negotiations were cuts in the state budget, due to which Visit Finland’s funding will practically be halved in 2025. Promoting international tourism in Finland is Visit Finland’s statutory task.

17 positions abolished, 11 employment relationships end
The change negotiations, which started for production and financial reasons, ended on September 27. A total of 17 positions were abolished as a result of the negotiation process. It was possible to offer some of the employees a new job, but the employment relationship will end for 11 employees.

“Promoting international tourism, marketing Finland as a tourist destination, promoting Finland’s recognition and sales is the task of Visit Finland. The Finnish tourism industry considers the task very important and the work of Visit Finland is appreciated. It is naturally unfortunate that the cuts will affect not only the personnel but also the entire industry in Finland. Competition in the international tourism market is fierce and Finland is fighting for its own market share,” says Finland Promotion Services service area manager Ms Johanna Jäkälä from Business Finland.

The operational possibilities are narrower than before
Due to the budget cut, Visit Finland’s operations will be significantly reduced. In the future, operations will focus on supporting the promotion of international sales and marketing Finland as a tourist destination.

Furthermore, where possible, the promotion of sustainable tourism and the measurement of the effectiveness of tourism are maintained. The development of the tourism industry’s offer and quality remains mainly the task of the industry.

Business Finland started change negotiations regarding Visit Finland’s personnel in September and they lasted six weeks. In the original negotiation proposal, the employer estimated the need for adaptation to be no more than 20 people, which would have been about 40 percent of Visit Finland’s personnel.”

It is still unclear who are those people who got fired nor how it is affecting to the target market areas where Visit Finland has been operating. In our understanding the operational budget wasn’t halved as it has said in the media. There were project funding too in this total budget which has been widely explained as operational budget. Projects and projects funding have start and end. This funding has normally seen as development funding and if there have been any national or EU funding involved, those are never permanent ones. The real operational budget has been little bit less than 10 million euros and project funding totally little bit over 5 million euros. The real cut in our undestanding has been around 2 million euros.