Approximately 340,000 annual visits are made to the protected areas managed by Metsähallitus in the province of North Karelia, which gives an overview of the status of Koli, Patvinsuo and Petkeljärvi National Parks and the Ruunaa Hiking Area as attractions for tourism in the province. Koli National Park is the most visited destination for nature tourism in the area, hence the name Koli Tourism Region.

The biosphere reserve nature tourism plan is drafted consistent with guidelines for nature tourism in conservation and Hiking Areas, with sought ways to promote sustainable nature tourism. The plan has been prepared by Metsähallitus’ nature services in cooperation with tourism actors of the region. The action plan for the biosphere reserve’s protected areas and hiking sites sets targets that are key to developing the region’s communication, marketing and cooperation, routes and infrastructure, hiking information, as well as sustainable nature tourism in the biosphere reserve that creates opportunities and economic sustainability for the various responsible tourism product and service providers. Currently, the key challenges for the biosphere reserve nature tourism are the inadequacy of year-round range of services, parking space at Koli National Park, poor accessibility to nature tourism tar-gets, current state of infrastructure and networking between actors, especially on communication.

The goal of the plan is that by 2025, joint communication for entrepreneurs providing eco-friendly products and services will be strengthened, innovative solutions for Koli parking areas will be realised in cooperation between actors in the area, accessibility of destinations by public transport or carpooling solutions will be solved, infrastructures needing repairs done, and that the nature tourism target areas across the biosphere reserve are more closely linked and co-governed through interregional cooperation and communication.

Nature tourism holds significant economic potential for local economies and the aim is to increase among other, the visitor spending in Koli National Park from EUR 19.5 million in 2019 to EUR 30 million by 2025. As part of the plan, the sustainable tourism metrics of Koli National Park were updated. This is because the destination is the most popular with visitors making its natural environments most vulnerable to potential visitor pressures. The renewed sustainability monitoring metrics for Petkeljärvi and Patvinsuo National Parks, and for Ruunaa Hiking Area are being finalised. The metrics help monitor the impacts of nature tourism and recreational use in the areas thereby allowing action in instances that sustainability seems threatened.

Business and visitor surveys conducted in the area have been utilized in the preparation of the nature tourism plan. Two discussion sessions with tourism operators were held during its preparation. The process of preparation of the nature tourism plan has been carried out under ENI Karelia CBC Super project financed by the European Union, the Russian Federation and the Republic of Finland.

Julkaisun saavutettavuus on tarkistettu.