Claire Oliver believes the Nordics region has huge potential because of the type of holiday she can sell there – a holiday away from the white noise of the world, one that provides a therapeutic immersion for clients, in nature, in soft adventure, in an authentic lifestyle. And that is precisely, she says, the direction that client demand is travelling, particularly for the younger generation.
With that in mind, she has been working with marketing body Nordic Travel Solutions on how to showcase regional products more widely with travel agents. Earlier this month, she attended its Five Countries Workshop in London, a trade event designed to foster collaboration between the UK trade and suppliers from Finland, Iceland, Greenland, the Faroes and Estonia. It was an “amazing event”, she says, highlighting the “beautiful, weird and wonderful” things travellers can do in the region.
Claire is a vastly experienced travel agent of 40 years, and when she first visited Estonia 18 months ago, she had an epiphany.
Shocked to the core
“I don’t think I could ever have been so wrong about destination. I went thinking it was going to have a very Russian feel, that it would be a little bit gloomy. And I found the most wonderful, free-spirited, forward-thinking, sustainability-focused people. It shocked me to the core.”
She continues: “Tallinn Old Town is absolutely beautiful, but actually it’s the regeneration of the rest of Estonia’s capital city that is really impressive. You’ve got Michelin star restaurants, microbreweries, street art. Then as you go further out, you’ve got islands, beaches, wild bears. A large part of the country is covered in peat bogs, and you can walk across them on board walks or wearing 'bog shoes' and swim in their mineral-rich waters. Things like this that make you feel good, that’s what people are looking for.”
Since that visit, Claire has been cross-selling Estonia to clients who have previously done lakes and mountains holidays. She mentions that the destination particularly worked for a family where the dad and son enjoyed biking on Estonia’s flat roads, while the mum and daughter loved the wellness, back-to-nature element.
Armed with this new-found appreciation, she used the Five Countries Workshop to broaden her knowledge of Nordic travel products.
The Five Countries Workshop took place at the Pullman London St Pancras on 5 February
Greenland wasn’t really on Claire’s radar, until Trump’s political theatre brought it centre stage. But this awareness has planted a seed, and “for the right customer” she recognises it as a place where you can explore off-grid and “lose the white noise.”
“It is a tricky country to navigate, because of the terrain – most of the tourism seems to take place in one area – and they need more flights. But I do think it’s one to watch going forward.”
Know your customer
The Faroe Islands is not dissimilar to Greenland, she thinks, in so far as it's a different experience. “You need to know your customer or you could get it every wrong. Somewhere like the Faroes, you have to engage in local life.”
But for those clients who want to experience somewhere remote, authentic and self-sustaining, it ticks a lot of boxes – it can take as little as 2 hours 15 mins to get there with seasonal flights from London.
Knowing your customer extends to how much they might be deterred by the fact that whale hunting is legal in the Faroes and massacres continue to this day.
“I’m a nature lover, so find it hard to agree with, but I also understand that for the local people, it’s about survival, it’s food and it’s deeply within their culture. It’s a hard one because it’s a very personal thing and that’s why you need to know your customer.”
Iceland’s tourism industry has boomed in the last 15 years, with visitors up from 500,000 in 2010 to 2.3 million in 2024, and so the onus is on travel agents, Claire says, to look beyond Reykjavik and the Blue Lagoon. The country is easily accessible and feels safe, which helps her position it as a gateway for soft adventure.
“It’s not cheap,” she explains. “And I think that sometimes puts people off but you just need to find a way that works for you. It’s not a place you’re going to be fine dining and drinking yourself silly every day.”
Given that she does a lot of weddings and honeymoons, she thinks Iceland is worth offering as a wildcard for a destination wedding, and also for a girls’ weekend away. “Cold-water swimming, spas, saunas… it’s all about quality time with friends.”
Accessible wilderness
The Five Countries Workshop also helped her look at Finland with fresh eyes, away from popular city break Helsinki and more commercialised parts of Lapland.
“Just 45 minutes outside of Helsinki, you have the city of Espoo, a city of 250,000 inhabitants that’s rich in culture, and firmly rooted in nature. So now, I would say, instead of three nights in Helsinki, go for five nights, and make it a more traditional Finnish experience, with Espoo too.”
Claire is also now more aware of alternative Santa experiences, such as Kakslauttanen Arctic Resort and Utsjoki Arctic Resort, that still have the snow, the sleigh rides and the husky dogs but feel that much more authentic.
“At the luxury end of the market, I have also discovered Arctic TreeHouse Hotel and Aino Private Island Hotel. It makes me quite emotional to know such beautiful products exist out there.”
Product like this is often easier to book for agents who can dynamically package, she admits, although there are tour operators out there that can package itineraries but there’s a way to go before it becomes more mainstream for the high street agent. But she believes that the Nordic travel industry is making progress in the right direction, and her work with Nordic Travel Solutions hopefully helps them make these products more bookable for travel agents.
“There is so much potential to this region,” she concludes. “Since Covid, people have been turning away from fly and flop beach holidays. Yes, that works for lots of people, but there’s a whole generation – my 28-year-old daughter among them – who don’t want to go and lie on a beach. They’ll spend their money on floating sauna on a lake rather than drinks in a nightclub. They look at countries like Finland – known for being the happiest people in the world – and they want to go and experience that for themselves. And that is why I feel it is this region’s time to shine.”
