On August 14, 2019 Kämp Collection Hotels published an announcement on its official page regarding the company’s acquisition by the Nordic Choice Hospitality Group with its headquarters in Norway. The deal is yet to be finalized shortly after approval from the competition authorities; however, it is most certain that the Nordic company wants to establish a stronger presence in the Finnish market, which is rapidly growing. According to the Statistics Finland, the tourism and hospitality industry is on a constant rise for the past years, for example, as per June 2019 the increase of 6.4% by resident tourists and 4.8% by foreign tourists comparing to the previous year was recorded in terms of overnight stays. Moreover, with the ambitious goal set by the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment, Finland should become the top touristic destination in Northern Europe by the year 2025. Naturally, considering all this attractiveness and highly prospective market, large hotel groups are shifting their focus onto the country of a thousand lakes.
Kämp Collection Hotels’ portfolio comprises 10 hotels in Helsinki, i.e. iconic and historic Hotel Kämp, which was established in 1887, Hotel St. George, Klaus K Hotel, Hotel Fabian, Hotel Lilla Roberts, Hotel Haven, and four GLO Hotels with 1 upcoming hotel, which is expected to open its doors in 2023. With this acquisition, the Nordic Choice Hospitality Group will certainly improve its position in Finland. Therefore, after the acquisition, the Finnish portfolio of the group will include these above-mentioned luxury and lifestyle hotels, a boutique hotel F6 and two Clarion Hotels, which are already operating in Helsinki by management of the group.
Speaking of attractiveness of the country, just recently Finland has already experienced major acquisition of Restel Hotels by Scandic Hotels, which certainly made it the largest hotel group in this Nordic country. Obviously, one can notice some tendency in these processes, to be more exact, a competition of “titans” in the industry of hospitality in Finland, i.e:
- the S-Group with its portfolio of Sokos Hotels and Radisson Blu (hotels in Finland);
- the group of Scandic with its portfolio of Scandic Hotels, IHG and Hilton (hotels in Finland)
- Nordic Choice Hospitality Group with its portfolio of Clarion Hotels, Hotel F6, and Kämp Collection Hotels.
17th ExpoHoReCa was held in Saint Petersburg at the end of February. It was the first time the hospitality event has taken place at a new location – ExpoForum Convention and Exhibition Centre. TOHOLOGY visited the exhibition and prepared a photo coverage of the event.
26th Moscow International Travel & Tourism Exhibition was organized on 12-14 March, 2019 at Expocentre. TOHOLOGY visited Mitt-2019 and prepared a photo coverage of the exhibition and events of business programme.
Radisson Hotel Group has scheduled to open the addition of six new hotels to its African portfolio, bringing the total to almost 100 hotels across 32 African markets. Building on the recent news of its reinforced African development team structure, the announcement of the six new hotels further demonstrates the Group’s commitment to the continent.
Annual event for providers of MICE and business travel services and their customers International MICE Geography Show Russia 2018 was held in Moscow on October 25-26, 2018. The agenda of the first day included individual meetings of exhibitors and hosted buyers and final cocktail at The Ritz-Carlton, Moscow.