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The past financial year was better than expected for the event service company Lapland Safaris regarding sales and operations. In terms of turnover, we reached the level of almost a couple of years ago; 96 per cent of the pre-COVID-19 turnover. The number of visitors during the financial year was also good: the total number of visitors was more than 95 per cent of the time before COVID-19.
There were a great number of domestic tourists in Lapland despite the COVID-19 period and, this spring, international tourists also began to return to our destinations: the pre-booking situation for summer 2022 was particularly good for international tourists. Demand has been high especially in Britain, France and the Benelux countries. On the other hand, the number of tourists from Asia was low, which especially affected the number of visitors in Santa Claus Office and SnowVillage.
The biggest challenges of the season were getting our entire operation and organisation up and running after more than 20 months of silence as well as the stronger than expected demand. For example, many activities, such as Rovaniemi's traditional river boats, made a return this spring. More extensive equipment rental has been available to tourists in several of our destinations. It is possible to rent bikes as well as kayaks and canoes, but also camping equipment from tents to rucksacks. Renting makes traveling easier and is also an ecological and sustainable way of travelling.
In the winter, the restrictions and constant changes that came with the COVID-19 situation brought challenges. It created a lot of pressure on our employees, who had to be flexible in the midst of constant changes. However, we survived the challenges well, which can be seen in the excellent level of customer satisfaction (NPS 85% and survey result 4.75/5).
During the financial year, we also managed to fill 98 per cent of the available seasonal jobs, even though the entire tourism industry was plagued by a staff shortage. With the help of our own guide training programme, we were able to ensure the adequacy of competent staff, which is the basis for, among other things, ensuring customer safety. Despite the challenging season, 88 per cent of the seasonal employees who responded to our staff survey were willing to return next season.
In the financial year, we also received further increased the sustainability of our operations: In the spring, Lapland Safaris together with the entire Lapland Hotels chain received the EcoCompass certificate, which is proof of comprehensive development of environmental responsibility. At Lapland Safaris, we make sure that all our snowmobile safaris run only on official routes, for example. We also use more environmentally friendly four-stroke snowmobiles and the emissions of all snowmobile safaris have been compensated. Cooperation with rescue authorities in monitoring snowmobile safaris is also extremely important to ensure the safety of customers.
