All of us have our own cultural heritage, and here in Finland, it is a lot different than for example in Portugal or in Vietnam. The differences make us richer, and when meeting new people, I love learning about them and their cultural heritage. It is also an important thing for me as a tourist, to understand the locals and their history, and I know I’m not the only one. Cultural heritage tourism is interesting and educational at the same time. Are you still not quite sure what I’m talking about? Let me show you a video:
Where can you find the Finnish cultural heritage?
Even though Finland itself is not that old, the Finnish people have their own culture and history starting way before Finland was an independent country. Kalevala is a Finnish epic so basically, it’s a big part of the cultural heritage of Finnish people. Literature is often part of the cultural heritage. Seven brothers by Aleksis Kivi is for example another important piece of literature, that Finnish people hold in high value.
Could literary tourism be interesting?
When these literature pieces are combined with tourism experts and great product development, we can end up engaging literary tourism products and experiences. Literary tourism can be a way for the tourists to gain new points of views for the local cultural heritage and the destination itself. This type of learning about your traveling destination and its people can be interesting to both domestic and international travelers. For example, I who was born and raised in Savonia, have learned a lot about the Kainuu region through Kalevala.
At the beginning of October, our class had a study trip to Kainuu. There I gained knowledge about Finnish literature, but also about the culture and heritage in the Kainuu region. Stories and tales are a great way to learn. Before the trip, I didn’t think many people are interested in learning about Finland and its cultural heritage. Now I think otherwise. At least I and many of my classmates were really interested in everything we learned during the study trip. During it, I started to think about literary tourism and if it could actually be a potential tourism market here in Finland as well.
Potential of literary tourism
Like I have told you in my first blog post, I’m into literature and read a lot. This might be a reason why literary tourism is interesting for me. I might even be part of the target market to focus on! But in my mind, literary tourism raises many questions, such as:
- What type of experiences in literary tourism would be interesting for the tourists?
- Who are these tourists interested in literary tourism? In other words, what is the target market?
- Is there potential for literary tourism to become more popular?
Are these questions puzzling you as well? Comment and tell me your opinions about literary tourism and its potential!