Arctic towns make a killing on Santa Claus

0 Comments | AFP, December, 2007

ROVANIEMI, Finland (AFP) — SantaSport, SantaFood, SantaPark, Hotel Santa Claus, Santa Hair Center: in the Finnish Arctic town of Rovaniemi Father Christmas is everywhere, milked to the max by local businesses.

"Christmas tourism is a magnet for investments," says Tuula Rintala-Gardin, the head of tourism for the municipality of Rovaniemi, a town of 60,000 people built on the geographical Arctic Circle.

Since 1927 Finnish legend has it that Santa Claus, or "Joulupukki" as he is known here, lives in a cabin atop the nearby Korvatunturi mountain.

But it was only in the mid-1980s that Rovaniemi launched itself as the home of the "real" Father Christmas.

The town has since fended off fierce competition from towns staking the same claim in Sweden, Norway,...

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