Developing Tourism Web Service for Russian Tourists: Case Moi Helsinki

Abstract

Tourist behavior and consumption patterns of Russians abroad are relevant topics in today’s tourism industry. As the role of social media in travel industry has increased dramatically during recent years, tourism marketing has also moved to the world of social media, creating opportunities for new marketing concepts and forms. In Finland, where Russian tourists form the majority of all foreign visitors, companies still struggle to utilize Russian social media as a marketing tool. The development project introduced in this Bachelor's thesis offers a new concept that can hopefully be beneficial for all Finnish companies willing to approach Russian consumers.

The aim of this Bachelor’s thesis is to develop a new tourism web service for Russian tourists in Finland. The idea of Moi Helsinki project is to offer Russian audience reliable and trustworthy reviews of products and services in Helsinki Metropolitan Area. Moi Helsinki project is property of Finnish travel organizer My Suomi Ltd, who is the commissioner of this thesis.

The theoretical framework includes relevant data related to three subjects: social media, social media in Russia, and Russian tourist behavior. Review of various social media concepts is directly related to the development of Moi Helsinki concept. Information on social media in Russia was utilized when deciding on the implementation form of Moi Helsinki web service. Russian tourism behavior, in its turn, was studied when developing the content for the web service. Main concepts related to Social media phenomena are presented mostly through literature review. Russian social media and Russian tourism behavior are studied by means of media scanning and include the latest data available.

The development process described in this paper is presented in chronological order, from development of project’s idea to concept implementation. Development process has resulted in a ready-to-use project implementation plan utilized by My Suomi Ltd. As at the moment Moi Helsinki service still has not been launched online, there is no possibility to present and review the outcomes of the project. However, this paper reviews the current state of the project and suggests topics for project’s further development.