Bentours Promotes Winter Wonders of Nordic Countries with New Tours

It’s midsummer in Finland but the country of Santa Claus, the Northern Lights and endless snow activities is already preparing for a bumper holiday season, travel agents learned during a Bentours, Finnair and Finnish Tourist Board Winter promotion organised in Sydney earlier this week.

Mark Dribbus, Business Development Manager, Bentours, previewed the company’s first ever winter holidays brochure.

The 20 page publication features 15 escorted and non escorted tours across the three Nordic countries of Finland, Sweden and Norway.

A 3-day non escorted Winter Wonders tour ex Helsinki allows clients to stay one night in a glass igloo with the second night in a first class log cabin.  Priced from $1930, twin share, the tour includes domestic airfares, accommodation, most meals, transfers, a Husky dog safari and a snowmobile drive in Lapland.

A 4-day Orca Safari and Northern Lights Weekend priced from $1480, twin share allows participants to observe pods of whales in the company of trained naturalists.  Included is accommodation at the Tysfjord Tourist Centre, a day of whale watching and breakfasts and dinners.

Other tours allow clients to learn igloo building, go on an icebreaker safari, stay in the Snow Castle Hotel in Kemi, explore Lapland and make a spectacular sea journey along the Norwegian Coast.

For the brochure and further information contact Bentours, phone 02 9247 3381, email [email protected] or visit www.bentours.com.au

[Pictured right: Helen Blake, Satu Raunola and Mark Dribbus updated 88 Sydney travel agents on a winter product cruise earlier this week.]

There’s been huge growth in the number of Australians utilising our services over the past 10 years, said Helen Blake, Manager, Australia, New Zealand and New Caledonia, Finnair.

The carrier which is undergoing a major fleet upgrade from MD-11s to A340s added Mumbai to its network on June 25.  This means Australians now have a choice of 10 Asian gateways that have online services to Helsinki, she said.

Hong Kong remains the most popular Asian gateway to Finland for Australians although we also operate to Bangkok, New Delhi and three cities each in Japan and China, she added.

Satu Raunola, Representative, Finnish Tourist Board said that Australians represented more than 38,000 overnights last year.  Sixty per cent of this figure comes from arrivals during the May to September period.

The allocation of the first ever marketing budget for Australia has been much welcomed as we are now able to undertake agent seminars in Sydney and Melbourne in conjunction with travel partners, provide greater agent support and work with the trade in product development.

Ms Raunola said that Kuusamo and Luosto were new winter destinations that offered cosy log cabins and Husky and reindeer safaris.  Kakslauttanen is gaining in popularity because of its glass igloo – the only one in the world – that enables guests to rest in a warm bed and watch the sparkle of the Northern Lights.

A new website on Finland Tourism has been developed exclusively for the Australian market, www.visitfinland.com.au  

Exclusive Report by Thomas E. King, TravelMole’s Travel and Lifestyle Editor