This new situation offers many new opportunities to increase people’s awareness about Helsinki. We are continuing our core work to make Helsinki a topic of discussion internationally but now, due to the exceptional circumstances, also more and more domestically. In this moment, it is essential to recognise our strengths, leverage our expertise and seize the opportunities to be creative in marketing and communications.

We have developed a new concept for virtual meetings, called the “Helsinki Method for Meetings and Events”, which we want to offer for your use as well. We strongly believe that sharing our best practices is the way for a better future and this has been and will continue to be a core value for Helsinki.

Virtual Helsinki 2.0

Helsinki has been consistently engaged in long-term digital development and is a pioneer in the utilisation of open data. The centre of Helsinki has been 3D modelled. Virtual Helsinki was based on that model, and offers entirely new opportunities for both the development of tourism services as well as urban planning. Since the development of Virtual Helsinki began already two years ago, there is a good and solid foundation on which to build on. For destinations wanting to create new experiences, using virtual reality is not but a necessary tool, but also it should be integrated in the overall development of a destination.

Virtual Helsinki offers endless opportunities and new content is being worked on all the time. In addition to traditional virtual tours, the platform can be turned for example into a gig venue. Virtual Helsinki has attracted international interest as for its high-quality realisation. Projects that have never been seen before are in the making with different and interesting cooperation offers.

A new interface will provide a lighter version of virtual reality for a bigger audience that can be used on smartphones or computers with no VR equipment needed. As a result, it will be easier to build new content and products to be purchased in Virtual Helsinki, which will enable completely new types of business opportunities for our partners. 

Investing in the domestic market

Helsinki Marketing’s primary function is to increase Helsinki’s international recognition but due to these exceptional circumstances, the importance of the domestic and neighbouring markets is now strongly emphasised. The tourism and events industry has suffered the most. We emphasise our summer marketing and PR work on domestic travel and when travel restrictions are lifted also reach out to nearby markets. Our marketing will promote Helsinki's authentic, local content and sustainable experiences.

We are actively monitoring the development of the situation in the tourism industry and are developing a market analysis of the current situation. Based on our analysis, we plan marketing measures and their targeting in the future. We will also be focusing on different media measures and domestic social media influencers.

The age of digital innovations - identifying and seizing opportunities