Sharjah24 – AFP: In Finland's snowy far north, international visitors normally flood the Santa Claus Village amusement park, in search of reindeer rides, snow castles and a meeting with the jolly man himself.
Under the pandemic travel restrictions, however, crowds in the Lapland town of Rovaniemi have dwindled to just a trickle and the joyful winter wonderland feels ghostly and abandoned.
"It's been an exceptional and difficult year," Santa tells from behind a plexiglass screen installed in his grotto, adding that his visitors have appreciated being able to forget a tough year and enjoy the Christmas cheer.
Those who can't make it to Lapland can still purchase a remote one-on-one with Santa, at 79 euros ($97) for five minutes, and the service has proven popular.
Livelihoods in danger
Since the 1980s, tourism chiefs have marketed the Arctic Circle town of Rovaniemi as the "real" home of Santa Claus, helping Finnish Lapland attract a record 2.9 million overnight stays last year, especially from Europe and Asia.
This year, however, visits have plummeted to half a million, most from early 2020 before the virus hit.
With Finland effectively shut off to international tourists, the impact on Lapland has been stark: 5,000 jobs and 700 million euros in revenue have already been lost, a drop of up to 70 percent, Karkkainen says.
Many businesses have tried to stay open, such as the family-run Husky Park, whose current footfall is nothing like the normal 600 international visitors a day.
Behind him, a Finnish family is being helped into a sled, lined with warm reindeer fur, which is then pulled away by twelve huskies following the shouted commands of the musher.
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