Finnish Lapland offers a good opportunity to invest in tourism as well as forest-based biomass products processing among other things. Chinese investors have noticed these opportunities, but little action has been taken so far. Regional Organisation of Enterprises in Lapland Managing Director Pirkka Salo tells his point of view to the current situation.
Overall, it seems the stakeholders in Lapland are more enthusiastic about the planned and potential Chinese investments than what have been received so far. Speaking on this, Regional Organisation of Enterprises in Lapland Managing Director Pirkka Salo said,
– In my knowledge, there are not so many actual investments so far. Over the next two weeks, we will probably have more information about the plans of the Kemi bio-fuel plant and the Kemijärvi bio-pulp mill. If these investments are realized, they will have a significant impact on the jobs and traffic of the regions. And my assumption is that they represent the latest technology in the industry. One of the realized Chinese investments is a new hotel in the Arctic Circle. It will increase accommodation capacity in the Rovaniemi tourism supply and will also create new jobs.