TUI’s newly launched ‘alternative Lapland’ holidays appear to be confusing some agents and customers, who don’t realise the resorts are miles outside the Arctic Circle.
The operator has added three- and four-night Arctic Lakeland Santa packages in Finland, with direct flights to Kajaani from Manchester Airport for December 2025 as a ‘unique Christmas experience at a lower price point’.
The packages include a reindeer ride, snowmobiling, Santa visit, husky ride, and a festive Christmas dinner, but area is 350km south of Finnish Lapland.
Although TUI makes clear Arctic Lakeland is south of Lapland, individual hotels are labelled ‘Arctic Lakeland, Lapland’, which some have said is confusing.
Last week, Finnish news site Iltalehti reported that TUI ‘markets Sotkamo and Kuusamo as destinations for Lapland for British tourists, even though neither of them is located in geographical Lapland’.
Shortly after, the subject was raised in a post on the popular Visit Lapland Facebook group, which said people may be disappointed when they find they’ve not booked Finnish Lapland.
One Finn posted on the site to say Vuokatti, a resort where cross-country skiers train, ‘is a very nice place’, with ‘a lot to do’, such as a spa, swimming pool, bowling alley and ski resort’ but said: “There’s nothing particularly Christmassy there, no Santa Claus village or so.”
Another person said they were confused when they looked at the resorts listed on TUI’s website: “Even I, as a fairly seasoned Finnish Lapland traveller, kept reading Arctic Lapland, instead of Arctic Lakeland,” although they added: “It very clearly says on all the pages I looked at the location was in the centre of Finland, south of Lapland. I think the issue here comes back to us, as travellers, to check or research what we’re buying.”
Another comment said: “It is not Lapland at all, but it is a very nice place with kids,” while one customer said she cancelled her trip when she realised it was in Arctic Lakeland, not Lapland, and ‘lost 50% of the total booking cost’. “We are going to escalate with ABTA,” she said.
Another client said they queried the situation with an agent in a TUI store, who ‘was also quite taken back and confused on what was and wasn’t Lapland’. “You can tell even in the shop staff didn’t really know,” they added.
TUI declined to provide Travel Gossip with a comment, but Iltalehti said the operator explained it uses the word Lapland because Arctic Lakeland holidays include Lapland experiences. It added that. ‘for the sake of clarity’ it makes clear in the destination information section that this is not in geographical Lapland.
Several agents told Travel Gossip they wouldn’t feel confident selling something that wasn’t the ‘real’ Lapland, although others said they are happy to sell it.
Henbury Travel Managing Director Richard Slater said: “I wasn’t aware of the product until recently but I would be extremely cautious about selling it as it doesn’t give the full flavour and once-in-a-lifetime experience that the traditional products around Lapland do.”
Sara McCready, who runs Gnome and Away Travel, said: “Customers want the authentic experience. They want to know where they are going and specifically want it to be Lapland.”
She said: “It doesn’t sit right with me. That’s not something I would want to promote.”
Agent Ginette Steele said: “I wouldn’t be comfortable selling it.”
However, Lapland specialist Ashleigh Elliott, who runs Travel Dreams by Ashleigh & Co, thinks TUI’s Arctic Lakeland offer is a good product, at a good price.
She has sold about 25 holidays to Arctic Lakeland through TUI for December, and she thinks the region will become popular.
“I would normally avoid somewhere that I have not been myself, but prices were so good I thought it was worth a look,” she said.
“After research and speaking to my friends in Finland, I was very clear it was not classed as Lapland as a region. However, technically Ruka, which we sell loads of, is not either. So, I was happy to sell this new area as long as my team made customers aware of its location.”
She said two customers called ‘in panic’ after seeing the social media posts last week.
“I explained that they will still have Santa and all the lovely activities that they would have if they went to Levi, for example, or Yllas with TUI. I also explained that it is a lovely ski resort just like Levi and others, and has things to do there, and that my friends who live there rave about Vuokatti and say how beautiful it is.
“I told them all resorts are different and that just because this is not the Lapland region does not mean they won’t have a magical time.
“Not many people knew of Ruka years ago, but after my visit there a few years back I did loads on it and it’s now a customer favourite.
“The [Arctic Lakeland] price sold it, for sure. It’s such good prices. I think that, once customers have gone and seen, the prices will jump and be in line with all other resorts.”
And travel agent Sarah Pratt said the Facebook post ‘stirred a little confusion’.
“Having sold Lapland in the masses, but mainly the more well-known resorts for the past 15 years specifically, I knew it wasn’t ‘Lapland’ as such, but it’s a Lapland-style holiday with Santa and Co included.”
She said she’s done three bookings to Arctic Lakeland for this year, and said clients are aware of where they are going and the decision to go there was based on cost.
“I do think when selling we have to make clients aware where things are, and it did seem a little unclear to people without knowledge of the area. I’m very comfortable selling it, it’s a new product, and I think as long as expectations are managed, it’s perfect.”
