Organizational Structure of Tourism Management in Finland (Case of South Karelia)

To plan and implement a national policy in the field of tourism, as well as to coordinate efforts for its implementation, the state creates tourism management bodies. Understanding the needs of tourists and monitoring the performance of the tourism industry requires knowledge and coordinated action at different levels of government. Finland's new tourism strategy was published in July 2022. The update clarified measures of strategy realization due to the coronavirus pandemic and the changed geopolitical situation. The update focused on bringing future perspectives and measures in line with the new situation. One of the objectives of the strategy is to aim for Finland to become the number one tourist destination in Northern Europe. For the successful accomplishment of the goals of the strategy, the need for close cooperation between authorities of different levels and areas of activity in the frames of state programs is emphasized. The article considers the hierarchy of tourism management in Finland, taking South Karelia region as an example for the purpose of this study to understand who will carry out cooperation on the implementation of the updated strategy. With the help of content analysis, classifications of tourist regions in Finland were considered. The main stakeholders, Based on English and Finnish language sources, were identified and distributed at three levels - national, regional, local. As the result, the scheme for managing of tourism activities in South Karelia gives a clear understanding of the main participants in the tourism sector in accordance with their operational level, scope of duties and field of activity.