Finnish mentality

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repercussions of the nature becoming less pristine and authentic might not affect the tourists’ luxury thinking imminently.

Undoubtedly, the alterations in nature could be argued to have an impact on Finnish lifestyles, human-nature relationships, as well as the impressions of the nation and

country. As can be evinced by the interview accounts and the literature, nature is a strong value behind the national identity and the Finnish luxury offering. A strong nature

connectedness is argued to have an affiliation to rising consciousness and responsible behavior towards the planet in the Finnish context (Helne, 2022). Furthermore, along with the everyman’s rights to wander, the responsibilities are entailed with the rights as well, thus postulating that no damage is caused to nature on account of the access to nature (Parviainen, 2015, p. 449). Hence, the nature wanderer is equipped with certain responsibility in order to claim the rights to access and explore the nature. Respectful behavior towards nature is thus stipulated. The representatives of the DMOs expressed their endeavors and responsibility in terms of guiding the tourists’ awareness and behavior to be in line with the nationwide policies. Hence, besides the responsibility of the

individual tourists, the DMOs as central tourism actors in the destinations were regarded as salient parties to spread the consciousness and getting other actors involved in

responsible acts as well.

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embellishing manner of speaking may stem from the straightforward style of

communicating which is traditionally seen as typical for Finns (see Granlund & Lukka, 1998). Hence, the Lappish destination’s positions in the luxury field are considered relatively undisputed and self-evident.

Certain humbleness could be seen to inhere in the Finnish mentality, as observable in the realistic discourse above in terms of the modest way of accepting the reported limits for operating in the luxury tourism setting. In the interview accounts, luxury offering in a Finnish way was described to be relatively modest. Moreover, Finns are typically accounted as modest consumers and boasting is not accounted as acceptable behavior (Turunen, 2015, p. 34). The humble mindset may have an effect on how the luxury offering is articulated. Furthermore, the characteristic behavior of domestic and international luxury tourists were not considered identical by the respondents, and the domestic outdoor-oriented tourists’ accommodation habits were described as cost-saving, favoring to sleep in a tent. Thus, the non-commercial aspect of luxury tourism may play a major role for the domestic tourists. These behavioral patterns rooted in the national identity may partially stem from the values that can be related to Finnish mentality and lifestyle. The non-commercial aspects of luxury can connect strongly for instance in one’s personal life (Kauppinen-Räisänen et al., 2019), thus associating to personal lifestyles.

One respondent encapsulates one dimension of the relation of humbleness and luxury in the Finnish context as follows: “Because of the modesty and humbleness of Finns, we also have this funny concept of everyday luxury” (P4). Everyday luxury is seen as one of the forms of luxury that Finns seek the most which could include for instance an experience in a cozy and peaceful environment at summer cottage, shared with the loved ones. The words everyday and luxury can typically be seen as conflicting terms. Indeed, the word funny applied in the excerpt may indicate the peculiarity of the composition of the terms.

Everyday refers to something mundane whereas the traditional meanings associated to luxury include characteristics such as unique and rare (see Kauppinen-Räisänen et al., 2019). Turunen (2015, pp. 47–48) states that everyday luxury is reachable, and it furnishes the ordinariness with elements of specialty and value. Hence, everyday luxury may be accounted as modest and closer to quotidian in comparison to higher-level luxury. In the

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interview accounts, both tendencies of everyday luxury and higher-level luxury were portrayed in the context of Lappish destinations. Hence, it is relevant to note that even though a peaceful time spent in the summer cottage may represent everyday luxury for Finns, for a foreign tourist it might be a luxury experience above the quotidian. As stated by one of the respondents, “If you have the right target group, even the small, true Finnish summer cottage somewhere by a lake can be luxurious” (P3). The extract illustrates the idea of the ordinariness of one turning into the uniqueness of other, highlighted with the word even. The account reveals again the various layers and the subjective nature of luxury, its attached meanings being constructed differently depending on the personal, social, and cultural contexts of an individual or a certain tourist segment in question.

Besides addressing the suitability for luxury tourism through realistic discourse, the strengths of the destinations were recognized, as demonstrated in the following extract:

“But in [our destination], maybe it (.) fulfills with our offering, and we do not even try to aim (.) for the objectives of international luxury tourism in a sense” (P1). The account reflects again certain humbleness in a form of recognizing the realities of the position of the destination, and being content with them. No ambitious intentions to pursue

“international luxury” were expressed, rather vice versa, as articulated by the utterance not even trying to aim for. Instead, the utterances such as but our luxury is assertively

indicated that despite of the definition of luxury applicable somewhere else, in our terms it may be something different. It was pointed out that despite of the paucity of traditional luxury services in the destination, different kind of things were desired to be emphasized instead. According to Iloranta (2019a), the destination’s own strengths are grounded on cultural and societal values which form the base for Finnish luxury, potentially rendering luxury to seem simpler compared to the classic understanding of luxury. Indeed, even though luxury in the Lappish context was not depicted literally as simple in the interview accounts, it was contrasted to massive and demanding luxury, which referred to something more complex in the international luxury context. Therefore, a sense of pride may be observed to balance the humbleness, pride of our offering, and how it meets the luxury demand as it stands. Hence, the sense of pride reflects an optimistic discourse that runs beside the realistic discourse in the respondents’ accounts.

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Even though it was stated that the distinctly discernible luxury tourism is very small-scale in some of the destinations, also counterarguments were presented for this stance. “We do have (.) all the elements for successful luxury tourism. So Finland (.) should be proud of that, especially Lapland” (P3). Hence, despite of the reported lack of the traditional luxury tourism services, the peculiar elements of Lapland were seen exceedingly sufficient and proper for a thriving luxury tourism industry, thus been addressed through an optimistic discourse. The quantifying expression all signals full confidence in the luxury offering of Lapland. However, the expression should be proud could indicate that pride and

confidence with respect to luxury tourism was not yet assumed to be a common feeling amongst the actors in Lapland. Perchance, it could stem from the abovesaid modest mentality of the Finnish people that the realities were more keenly stressed over the laudable aspects. Nevertheless, in the scale of whole Finland, Lapland was promoted to possess the leading edge (along with the capital city Helsinki as noted in the subsequent section in the interview) in comparison to other regions. Hence, the feeling of pride can be observed to evoke on the national, but also on regional and local levels.

The applicability of Finland as a luxury tourism destination was justified by presenting facts (see Äijälä, 2016, p. 13), referring to research indicating that the position of Finland and Lapland in the luxury field is not within the material things but rather within

motivating luxury elements, such as well-being and happiness. Furthermore, the fact of Finland being selected as the happiest country in the world was provided to support the first proposition. The aforementioned fact is based on the World Happiness Report 2022 where Finland occupied the top position fifth year in a row (Helliwell, Wang, Huang &

Norton, 2022). The results of the most recent report are based on the Gallup World Poll surveys from 2019 and 2021 which included six key factors related to life evaluation: life expectancy, levels of GDP, social support, corruption, freedom, and generosity (Helliwell et al., 2022). Hence, these aspects can be seen to interconnect for instance with the

stability, support, and safety of the society which were considered as advantages by the interview respondents as well. Moreover, these were seen as essential aspects to be communicated to the tourists as they may indubitably provide a competitive edge for the tourism destinations. To conclude, the ability to appreciate little things in the quotidian life for instance through everyday luxury could denote about humbleness but moreover, it could have a connection to the position as the happiest country in the world.

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