Tourism services in protected areas
Metsähallitus Parks & Wildlife Finland maintains basic services in nature reserves and hiking areas on state-owned lands and waters. While these services are free for private customers, but companies must pay an annual usage fee based on the number of customers for their use.
The primary objective of this cooperation is to ensure sustainable tourism and preserve the ecological and cultural values of the area. As part of the cooperation agreement, companies commit to complying with the principles of sustainable tourism whenever the activities are targeted at sites managed by Parks & Wildlife Finland. It also aims for increasing the recognisability and attraction of both the partner companies and the protected areas. Other goals include promoting product development and communications and serving the common customers as well as possible.
Agreement types and fees
Tourism operations always require an agreement when it targets areas with trails, rest sites or other infrastructure and when the company’s operations rely on these structures. Parks & Wildlife Finland thus aims to always have a cooperation agreement in place when a company uses a nature reserve, a wilderness area or an area covered by a protection programme regularly, or such areas otherwise have a prominent role in the company’s activities.
Two types of cooperation agreements are possible:
- A cooperation agreement without transfer of rights of use (free)
- A cooperation agreement with transfer of rights of use (subject to a fee).
Cooperation agreements which do not include a transfer of rights are intended for companies that do not use the hiking infrastructures maintained by Metsähallitus in their activities but, for example, communicate to its customers about Metsähallitus’ sites. Typically, these agreements are signed with accommodation or catering businesses.
The fees from January 1st, 2024
When a company regularly takes its customers to destinations with hiking infrastructure maintained by Metsähallitus, it must have a cooperation agreement which covers the transfer of rights of use. In this case, the price of the cooperation agreement consists of the basic fee for the entire contract period (€ 80 + VAT) and the annual user fee according to the price bracket. If the company already has a valid contract, the basic fee does not need to be paid again.
The fee for the use of service equipment has been scaled according to the estimated annual number of customers. The annual number of customers is calculated according to the estimated annual use per customer per day. The payment categories are:
- 0–50 clients/year: User fee €60 + VAT 24%/year
- 51–200 clients/year: User fee €240 + VAT 24%/year
- 201–500 clients/year: User fee €600 + VAT 24%/year
- 501–1000 clients/year: User fee €1,130 + VAT 24%/year
- 1001–2000 clients/year: User fee €2,260 + VAT 24%/year
- 2001–3000 clients/year: User fee €3,750 + VAT 24%/year
- For over 3,000 persons, the price shall be negotiated separately.
For one-off activities, there is no point in concluding a cooperation agreement, In this case, the company can pay the fee of €75 + VAT to the Eräluvat.fi service.
Contact form for reporting the annual usage amount of Metsähallitus service structures (lyyti.fi)
- Choose language: English
Contact us
If you are interested in operating as a tourism operator on state-owned land or concluding a cooperation agreement with Metsähallitus for other reasons, fill in the contact form and tell us about your idea.
Contact form for tourism operators (webropol.com)
- Choose language: English
Notification of an organized event
An event planned to take place in Metsähallitus’ nature reserves or multiple-use forests and the camping of large groups must be notified to Metsähallitus.
Contact person for tourism in protected areas
Senior Specialist, Tourism
Marja Männistö: marja.mannisto@metsa.fi
Phone us via number +358 206 39 4000.