LAPLAND SKI RESORTS

This season, we were especially happy that international tourists were also able to return to our ski resorts after the two-year COVID-19 break. This boosted the growth in the number of visitors to the ski resorts. The long and snowy winter allowed us to extend the season until the beginning of summer. For example, more than a meter of snow was measured in Ylläs in the first week of March, which, together with the full booking calendar, predicted a good spring season for the ski resorts. In several of our northernmost destinations, the winter season could be extended until June with freeride slopes and ski tracks.

The increased number of tourists was also reflected in the sales of additional services (ski rental, Ski Shop, ski school, slope restaurants), which returned to the level of the pre-COVID-19 season after a couple of clearly weaker seasons. Our customers seemed to have found their own favourite activities in our wide selection of slopes, from leisurely downhill skiing and cross-country skiing to the competitive sports.

Despite the good season, COVID-19 still brought challenges to our operations. The COVID-19 pandemic caused uncertainty, which has been reflected in the planning of operations as well as in daily work in many ways. In addition, the fact that there has been a shortage of short-term rental apartments in Lapland's tourist centres brought its own challenges to the recruitment of seasonal staff.
In the autumn of 2021, we made visible changes in marketing at Ylläs, when we combined the marketing of the two slope companies, Ylläs-Ski Oy Äkäslompolo and Hiihtokeskus Iso-Ylläs Oy, under the common Ylläs Ski Resort brand and the ski.yllas.fi website. At the same time, we introduced the new Ylläs Ski Resort logo. We ended up making the change as we wanted to offer slope customers a better and clearer set of services. Ylläs is the only ski resort in Finland where skiing takes place in two different villages, and the fact that all information about ski resort services is gathered under one website brings clarity to customers.

At the end of the year, we participated in the fifth Arctic Weekend event, which was organised for the first time in the Ounasvaara ski resort. The transfer of the daytime programme to Ounasvaara offered the visitors opportunities to test new equipment, participate in workshops and enjoy skiing on real snow. We also renovated the Snowpark last year, and it will be in use throughout the season in the future. The improvements mean even more things to do for skiers with a season ticket and other customers.