Tiivistelmä:
This thesis was written in order to study the Kainuu’s regions tourism business with an emphasis on cultural tourism, and to find out detailed information of its current situation and recent changes in its demand. Local tourism operators and researchers were approached to find out further information on Kainuu’s potential in the cultural tourism business as well as to try and map out the current mentality towards the viability and the future of cultural tourism in this region. The thesis was written as a non-commissioned, independent work.
The text and its findings are based on recent research information both on the regional and the national level, and backed by two interviews with professional tourism workers as well as a dozen companies that responded to a study questionnaire.
As a background to this study, the thesis includes the basic concepts of tourism and cultural tourism, impact of tourism, cultural tourism attractions and recent details on Kainuu’s tourism industry’s situation as well as how Finland’s tourism business has changed in the past years.
As a result, statistics data was found that shows cultural tourism to remain a viable business in Kainuu. Through interview analysis, suggestions were also gained on how to improve Kainuu’s capacity in the field of cultural tourism. The current main target markets, strengths and weaknesses were also identified.
