Brought together by the Nordic designation, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Iceland, and Finland have all been experiencing a major tourist boon over the last five years.

The 6.2 million international visitors who came to see the fjords and picturesque fishing towns of Norway are a record for a nation with a population of just 5.6 million while, once passed over by all but the most seasoned travelers, Finland is also emerging as a new tourist hotspot in large part from travelers who seek to avoid crowded destinations and discover something new — the country also saw a 14% increase in international visitors in the first half of 2025.

Amid this demand, Finnish national airline Finnair is significantly expanding its network from its hub at Helsinki Airport (HEL) with 12 new flights to different cities across Europe and the Nordic countries in particular: the new routes include direct flights to smaller cities such as Kuressaare off the coast of Estonia and Stavanger in southwestern Norway.

New routes to “connect new markets to our long-haul network,” Finnair says

The other new flights include routes from Helsinki to Luxembourg, Thessaloniki, Turin, and Tirana in Albania) and Umeå in Sweden. According to Finnair, many of these destinations were also designed to serve American travelers who are using Finnair to fly into Helsinki on the way to the smaller destinations that many are increasingly looking to explore.

“We are excited to tap into growth opportunities in the market, further strengthening our broad network of direct connections from our Helsinki hub,” Javier Roig Sanchez, Finnair’s North American general manager, said in a statement. “The new European destinations also connect new markets to our long-haul network, providing improved connectivity to popular destinations for US travelers such as Greece, and to our expanding network of Nordic countries.”

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The 12 new European routes will start running right before the peak summer travel period in 2026 while for the upcoming winter Finnair will also add frequencies on routes to its northernmost province of Lapland. Often dubbed “Santa Claus Village” for its festive atmosphere in a snowy surrounding, the town of Rovaniemi in the Arctic Circle sees its highest number of tourists during this time of year.

Finnair is the flag carrier and national airline of Finland.

In time for Christmas, Finland is also upping its flights to Santa Claus Village

The flights to the Lapland city of Kittilä from Brussels (BRU) and Zurich (ZRH) will now run twice a week up until March 2026 alongside with the direct flight to Rovaniemi from Paris Charles De Gaulle Airport (CDG).

Earlier in the year, Finnair also added more frequencies on flights to Osaka International Airport (KIX) and Nagoya’s Chubu Centrair International Airport (NGO) in Japan as part of the same efforts to grow its network and be seen as an airline that travelers on different continents think of for their travels to Europe.

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“Our new European destinations are designed for both business and leisure travelers, while also connecting new markets to our long-haul network via our strategically positioned Helsinki hub, further strengthening our broad network,” Finnair’s Chief Revenue Office Christine Rovelli said in a further statement.

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