In English
Founded in 1969, the Guild is an association of about 120 writers, photographers and broadcast media journalists in Finland engaged in travel-related work. The general aim of the Guild is to maintain a network of contacts linking trade and media in Finland and to raise and maintain the quality of Finnish travel media product.
In addition to monthly meetings, Guild members also participate in regular media tours and ”FAM” trips in Finland and abroad. The expeditions have taken members as far afield as Nepal, Chile, Provence, Spain, South Africa and Namibia, for example. Members may also apply for modest grants to assist in travel-related activities.
For more information about the Guild, contact administrative secretary Ritva Törmänen at the following email address: ritva.tormanen@kolumbus.fi The Guild would also welcome contacts from national or private travel organisations interested in cooperating with our members, as well as international media representatives.
Interested in becoming a member? Fill in the form at the following link and return to the secretary at the email address above: membership application either in pdf format or MS-Word format.
Trade and media directory
Since 1979, one of the main activities of the Guild has been the compilation and publication of an annually updated, comprehensive directory of Finnish travel trade and media contacts, ”Important names and addresses in tourism in Finland”. The directory also includes contact details for all of the Guild’s members.
Click here for information about how to order or place advertising in this indispensable guide to the Finnish travel industry (available only in Finnish for the time being).
Annual awards
Since 1972 the Finnish Guild of Travel Journalists has presented annual awards to especially deserving personalities, enterprises or organisations in the Finnish travel industry, as well as destinations outside Finland that the Guild believes to be worthy of special support or mentionThe awards are presented at the Nordic Travel Fair, Matka, the biggest travel fair in the Nordic region, held in Helsinki every January.
The Travel Personality of the year 2018 was Mr. Sulo Karjalainen, the ”Bearman”, founder and manager of the Predator Center in Northeastern Finland, a sanctuary for orphan predators. He looks after them until they are well and can be releaased into the wild again. If that is not possible, he keeps them and looks after them.
The Destination and Travel Company of the Year was Santapark Arctic World in Rovaniemi. It includes Santa’s Home Cave, his secret forest Joulukka and the Arctic Forest Spa under the twinkling stars and the glowing of Aurora Borealis. The founders, Ilkka Länkinen and Katja Ikäheimo-Länkinen have succeeded in making the dream of Christmasland true.
The Finnish Travel Accomplishment of the year 2018 was the bilingual (Finnish and Swedish) tv-program Egenland. The speakers Hannamari Hoikkala and Niklas Aldén have introduced us Finnish travel destinations that we have known nothing about. The destinations are based on recommendations from the general public. Of the 1500 suggestions so far about 60 have been followed through