Fishing tourism creates employment in rural areas

Leisure fishing is fuelling the emergence of new businesses outside urban areas. Entrepreneurs in the field consider prospects to be good, and nearly half of them expect their turnover to increase in the future.

Fishing tourists bring in just under 15% of the entire turnover of businesses engaged in fishing tourism and provide employment for nearly 20% of the staff in the field, which amounts to about 510 person-years. Fishing tourism accounts for EUR 18.6 million out of the businesses’ total annual turnover of EUR 143 million. These findings come from the survey Kalastusmatkailu numeroina (Fishing tourism in figures) conducted and published by the Finnish Game and Fisheries Research Institute.

One in four customers are foreign

Businesses engaged in fishing tourism have an average of nearly 200 visitors per year, the total being about 210,000. One in four customers are foreign; fishing in Finnish waters attracts German and Russian tourists in particular. Germans are primarily interested in farm holidays in general, while Russians focus more on the angling itself.

Out of the 1,100 businesses engaged in fishing tourism in Finland, more than 88% operate in the lake district and just over 17% on the sea. Regionally, the highest concentration of businesses may be found in Central Finland, Lapland and the Tampere Region.

These businesses generally offer a wide range of rural tourism services. Almost all of them provide their own or sub-contracted accommodation. Catering and entertainment services are also commonly provided, but transport services less frequently. Almost half of the businesses engaged in fishing tourism offer hunting too.

The publication detailing the survey findings may be downloaded at:
http://www.rktl.fi/julkaisut/j/437.html (Abstract in English)

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