It hurt: The Finns have not found a replacement for Russian tourists

The Finnish hotel business is not able to replace 800 thousand overnight stays of tourists from Russia per year at the expense of visitors from other countries. This was stated by Russian Ambassador to Finland Pavel Kuznetsov.

"The destruction of Russian-Finnish economic ties has had an extremely negative impact on the service sector. Representatives of the Finnish hotel business openly say that they are unable to compensate for 800 thousand overnight stays of Russian tourists per year at the expense of guests from other countries," Kuznetsov told RIA Novosti.

According to him, before the coronavirus pandemic, Russian citizens spent about 600 million euros a year in Finland, bringing income to the local trade sector and tax revenues.

"This has hit companies and municipalities in Eastern Finland particularly hard. According to the survey, only 15% of entrepreneurs from these regions expect an improvement in the business environment in the near future," the ambassador noted.