Finnish design as a pull factor for neighborhood tourism Case: Iittala & Arabia Design Centre

Abstract

The Finnish brands Iittala & Arabia are familiar to every Finn, especially to the people living in the neighborhood or Arabia, Helsinki, where the iconic old fabric used to function. This thesis is concentrated in finding out the potential in promoting Iittala & Arabia Design Centre as an attraction locally and finding the right channels to reach the potential visitors in the neighborhood. International tourists are interested in the museum offerings and come to visit the Design Center both individually and in big tourist groups. Still, local visitors play an extremely important part in the success of the Design Centre. The statistics show that the number of museum visits in Helsinki has continuously been increasing during the past couple of years, which indicates that there is a growing demand for these kind of attractions in the city of Helsinki. The results of the web-based questionnaire show, that most of the 89 respondents have visited the store several times but a significant number of them have never visited the Design Lag Gallery or Design museum Arabia that are situated in the same building. The study indicates that potential in increas-ing the number of visitors lies in this specific target group, as their interest towards the brands is high. The results of this study emphasize the importance of Facebook and Insta-gram as social media marketing platforms. Additionally, the results indicate that word-of-mouth is a very relevant marketing tool in the neighborhood. It is notable that the last mentioned can only be influenced by maintaining the visitor experience as high as it is or by improving it.