Health, Wellness and Tourism: healthy tourists, healthy business ...

Figure 2. The location of Savonlinna town.
By interviewing local developers and entrepreneurs the aim is to ascertain how local actors
perceive the current situation and positioning of Savonlinna in the wellbeing tourism context.
Do they see any future potential for wellbeing tourism? Given the many discussions at local
level on Savonlinna’s prospects in wellbeing tourism, the meaning of the paper is to find
whether Savonlinna can be seen as a sustainable wellbeing destination in the future.
Methodology and data gathering
The data for the paper were gathered by interviewing tourism professionals and developers.
The interviews were conducted on between 15 September 2009 and 21 December 2009. In
total 14 interviews were conducted. The interviews took from 23 minutes to 78 minutes. All
interviews were taped and later transcribed. Interviewees were local wellbeing entrepreneurs,
regional developers and project managers in wellbeing-related projects. Regional developers
represented the public sector.
The analysis presented in the paper was done during in summer 2010 and is based on both
interviews and a survey of resources. The survey of resources is based on both written and
observational material. The supplementary documentary data also includes material from a
bachelor´s thesis intended to survey the internet availability of wellness products in the
province of South Savo.
The interviews were a part of the Nordic Wellbeing project implemented in Savonlinna
region. The main objective of the project will be the creation of a customer-driven Nordic
wellbeing concept around Nordic resources based on unique values in the Nordic countries,
anchored in nature, outdoor life, cleanliness, health image and the values of the northern
hemisphere. The thematic interviews included questions about the unique selling points of the
region, cooperation and networking as well as resources used in wellbeing tourism
development.
Savonlinna as a Sustainable Wellbeing Tourism Destination in Finnish context
Wellbeing can be connected to a certain extent to supporting factors and resources.
Savonlinna’s infrastructure and facilities are suitable for the wellbeing sector, as the main
hotels in the town and its surroundings have a long history as rehabilitation centres. Because
of this, the knowledge of healing practices is good, likewise the knowledge of the use of
natural resources such as the water element.