Finland will be the partner country for the ITB Asia travel trade exhibition next year, it was announced by Dr Christian Göke, CEO, Messe Berlin - organiser of of the show.

Göke announced this at a press conference at the ITB Asia 2015, currently running in Marina Bay Sands, Singapore. The next edition of ITB Asia will be held at the same venue from October 19-21, 2016.

The agreement was signed between Heli Mende, Stopover Finland Program director, VisitFinland; and Katrina Leung, executive director, Messenger Berlin.

"The reason we chose ITB Asia as the global launch pad is because Asia is the fastest growing travel market and we see tremendous opportunities," Mende said at the conference.

VisitFinland is the Finnish Tourism Board that actively promotes tourism to Finland from abroad. The agreement will see VisitFinland launch a new Stopover Finland programme, in collaboration with Finnair, which aims at developing Finland as a stopover destination for passengers travelling via Helsinki airport by building attractive packages from few hours to several days.

The Stopover Finland product menu will include 50 easily reachable packages and services, ranging from five hours to five days in different parts of Finland. The menu will consist of service such as accommodation and variety of activities.

"Stopover travellers can experience Finnish highlights, from Northern Lights to Midnight Sun, relaxing moments in the pure Finish forests, lakes, archipelago and sauna as well as shopping Finnish designer items and meet popular characters such as Santa Claus," Mende said.

The Stopover Finland menu, which will be designed for leisure and individual travellers, will be released in spring 2016.

The new tourism initiative will be first launched for tourists from Mainland China, Hong Kong, Japan and South Korea following its global launch at ITB Asia 2016. - TradeArabia News Service