Tourism Law in Finland Mikko Laakso1 1. Introduction; 1.1. Tourism and Finland; 1.2. Tourism law as a subject and the national institutions; 2. Accommodation and Restaurants; 2.1. Professional accommodation; 2.2. Private persons; 2.3. Eating and drinking; 3. Transportation; 3.1. Air; 3.2. Land; 3.3. Waterways; 4. Tour Operators and Travel Agencies. 1. INTRODUCTION 1.1. Tourism and Finland Tourism can be understood as comprising of many different business sectors operating under one broad expression of the hospitality industry. During the COVID-19 pandemic, tourism was one of the industries most severely hit by restrictions and cancellations when nations closed their borders and limited means of travel in a global manner never seen before. Finland was no exception here and while the domestic tourism saw somewhat of a renaissance with the borders being closed, the volume of travellers was still drastically reduced when compared to years before the pandemic. This paper will reflect the situation as if there was no pandemic, i.e. time before 2020 and is meant to be studied as a short introduction to legislative system on tourism in Finland rather than a contemporary study on the current situation in the tourism business. Finland is the fifth largest country by land mass in the EU and one of the most sparsely populated one with a population of 5,5 million spread out around 338,000 km2. Finnish outdoors is varied and there are roughly four different types of destinations to choose from Helsinki Region, Coast and archipelago, Lakeland, and Lapland. 1 Mikko Laakso (LL.M.); Senior Associate; Law Office Lehtonen Ltd.; mikko@lakilehtonen.fi; +35845 7877 3353.
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