New Luxury Tourism and Hospitality Services in Finnish Lapland
Vainio, Johanna (2023)
2023
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Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-202303224023
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-202303224023
Tiivistelmä
This thesis is commissioned by the service sprint for new luxury-project of Haaga-Helia University of Applied Sciences. The goal of the project is to increase the professional skills of the tourism industry managers and staff. This research aims to help the project to reach this goal and provide valuable information concerning the tourism services in Lapland region.
The objective of the thesis is to map the new luxury tourism and hospitality services in Lapland, and find out what they are, where are they located and what makes them ‘new luxury’. The research was implemented with content analysis in which 7 accommodation service providers and 5 food & beverage service providers from Lapland region were analysed based on how they reflected new luxury characteristics. The analysis was based on criteria that was created based on the theoretical framework that was compiled from several related sources dealing with new luxury services and tourism industry in Lapland. The criteria composed of five segments: Authenticity & Culture, Sustainability, Uniqueness & Nature, Personal & High-Class Service and Well-being experiences.
The definition of luxury is constantly evolving and changing according to time, culture, and current trends. The term “new luxury” refers to a new less traditional concept of luxury that has developed over the past few years. In short, new luxury refers to a luxurious experience that adapts to the consumer's personal values with personalized service, promotes well-being and personal growth, and produces feelings of meaningfulness. In short, new luxury tourism and hospitality services are human-centric high-end experiences that have an increased emotional value. This study discovered how the principles of new luxury are manifested in the tourism services in Lapland, which is the fastest growing tourism region of Finland.
The content analysis showed concrete examples of how the elements of new luxury can appear in different accommodation and F&B services. The most common characteristics were authentic general atmosphere, choice of various well-being services and activities, sustainable operations and unique features that combine high quality with nature and natural components. The results also demonstrated, how the appearance of elements can vary between restaurant and accommodation services, even though the criteria used to analyse these services were the same. For example, in accommodation services the experiences were more customisable, whereas in F&B services personal service often referred to the exclusiveness of the experiences with less room for alteration. With accommodation services well-being experiences referred mainly wellness-related activities, and for F&B it meant the dining experience itself with sense-soothing effects that increase well-being.
The objective of the thesis is to map the new luxury tourism and hospitality services in Lapland, and find out what they are, where are they located and what makes them ‘new luxury’. The research was implemented with content analysis in which 7 accommodation service providers and 5 food & beverage service providers from Lapland region were analysed based on how they reflected new luxury characteristics. The analysis was based on criteria that was created based on the theoretical framework that was compiled from several related sources dealing with new luxury services and tourism industry in Lapland. The criteria composed of five segments: Authenticity & Culture, Sustainability, Uniqueness & Nature, Personal & High-Class Service and Well-being experiences.
The definition of luxury is constantly evolving and changing according to time, culture, and current trends. The term “new luxury” refers to a new less traditional concept of luxury that has developed over the past few years. In short, new luxury refers to a luxurious experience that adapts to the consumer's personal values with personalized service, promotes well-being and personal growth, and produces feelings of meaningfulness. In short, new luxury tourism and hospitality services are human-centric high-end experiences that have an increased emotional value. This study discovered how the principles of new luxury are manifested in the tourism services in Lapland, which is the fastest growing tourism region of Finland.
The content analysis showed concrete examples of how the elements of new luxury can appear in different accommodation and F&B services. The most common characteristics were authentic general atmosphere, choice of various well-being services and activities, sustainable operations and unique features that combine high quality with nature and natural components. The results also demonstrated, how the appearance of elements can vary between restaurant and accommodation services, even though the criteria used to analyse these services were the same. For example, in accommodation services the experiences were more customisable, whereas in F&B services personal service often referred to the exclusiveness of the experiences with less room for alteration. With accommodation services well-being experiences referred mainly wellness-related activities, and for F&B it meant the dining experience itself with sense-soothing effects that increase well-being.