Lapland Hotels, Lapland Safaris and Lapland Ski Resorts are closing all locations

Press release | Fri Mar 20 14:00:00 2020

North European Invest Oy, the owner of Lapland Hotels, Lapland Safaris, Lapland Ski Resorts and Ylläs-Ski, has decided to shut down all its operations by Saturday, 28 March 2020, due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Most of the locations will be closed on an expedited schedule before this. Next Friday, 27 March, will be the last day our ski resorts are open.

The infection rate of the coronavirus pandemic has gotten worse, and the health authorities continue to recommend that people avoid travelling, including traveling within Finland. With the Finnish government’s policies and the well-being of our customers and staff in mind, North European Invest Oy is shutting down all the operations of Lapland Hotels, Lapland Safaris and Lapland Ski Resorts for the remainder of this winter season. This applies to all hotels, restaurants and programme services in Lapland and Southern Finland as well as the ski resorts in Ylläs, Olos, Pallas, Luosto and Ounasvaara in Rovaniemi.

“We have been closely following the official guidelines given by the authorities with regard to all our operating locations. Given the current circumstances, we have decided that the next natural step is to shut down all our operations in Lapland in order to do our part in containing the epidemic,” Says Pertti Yliniemi, founder of North European Invest Oy.

“We are deeply sorry for any inconvenience this causes to our customers. However, this is the solution we have arrived at after considering the situation from all angles. The financial factors are of secondary importance right now,” Yliniemi continues.

“We need our employees to be resilient in these trying times. We will resume our operations with renewed enthusiasm once the epidemic has been conquered. We are doing everything we can to help our staff through this difficult situation,” Yliniemi continues.

The companies will inform their customers about practical procedures related to made reservations as soon as possible.

The Finnish travel industry needs to be supported

Yliniemi hopes that the Finnish government will take prompt action to support companies and alleviate the disruptions caused by the situation – particularly in the travel industry, which has taken a major hit due to the pandemic.

“In Finland, restaurants, hotels and programme services in the travel field will be struck by major financial
difficulties within a few months. Our prominent export industry and 20-billion-euro travel business cluster must not be run down.
The Lapland travel brand, which is a result of years of development work, is very important to Finland,
and travel is important to traffic, commerce and construction in Lapland.

“Finland needs to follow the example set by Germany and Denmark and make quick decisions to save jobs and prevent major lasting damage from layoffs or unemployment. The coronavirus will be contained eventually. We also need to defeat the financial challenges in order to secure the well-being of our society. Ensuring the continued employment of regular people is what’s most important.”

Further information:
Pertti Yliniemi
entrepreneur, North European Invest Oy
pertti.yliniemi@laplandhotels.com
tel. +358 (0) 400 636 969

Ari Vuorentausta
CEO, Lapland Hotels Oy
ari.vuorentausta@laplandhotels.com
tel. +358 (0)400 418 896

Jyrki Niva
CEO, Lapland Safaris Oy
tel. +358 (0) 400 692 069

Lapland Hotels is Finland’s largest private hotel chain with 18 hotels, 2,300 rooms and apartments as well as 9,800 restaurant seats around Finland: Ylläs, Levi, Saariselkä, Rovaniemi, Olos, Luosto, Kilpisjärvi, Pallas, Hetta, Helsinki, Tampere, Oulu and Kuopio. In addition, the hotel chain has ski centre operations in Ylläs, Luosto, Olos, Pallas and Rovaniemi. The group also includes the largest event service company in the Nordic countries: Lapland Safaris.
www.laplandhotels.com www.laplandsafaris.fi