The success of the Santa Claus village in Finland’s Lapland owes as much to its smart marketing as to the timeless appeal of Santa, finds out HNN
in snow, Rovaniemi — the capital of Lapland, Finland’s northernmost province — looks all ready to celebrate Christmas, just a few days away. Despite the severe cold, it is teeming with reindeer sleighs, hundreds of children, their parents and other visitors from across the world — all here to meet Santa Claus in his village.
Set up in 1992, the Santa Claus village is on the Arctic Circle, about 8 km from Rovaniemi and is recognized worldwide as his main residence. No wonder then, the village received half a million visitors in 2007 and looks set to surpass that figure this year.
One such visitor is 13-year-old Katja Virtanen from Helsinki, who has been meeting Santa Claus for the past three years. She sets her hair right before entering his office for a photo-op. “You know, I have been a good girl. Santa gives me presents every year,” she says, unable to hide her excitement. She may not know that her parents spend 25 for her photo with Santa, 50 for the video and 5 each for the Santa badges that she takes home for friends. A meeting with Santa certainly doesn’t come cheap, but does anyone mind?
“Not really,” says Anja, Katja’s mother. “Why would I mind a trip to the Santa village every winter if it makes Katja an obedient and well-behaved child for the rest of the year?”
All that goodwill is translating into megabucks for the Santa enterprise. A food court, shopping center, souvenir shops, sleigh rides, gift shops and Lapland ceremonies add to the village’s attractions. The total sales figures cross 20 million annually, with more than 60 companies operating there and giving employment to hundreds of people at the Santa Claus office, post office, souvenir shops and activity services.
At the Santa post office, a large variety of Christmas goodies like greeting cards and CDs are sold, and the proceeds are used to send gifts to “children who have been nice”. Santa receives as many as eight lakh letters from children annually, with requests ranging from laptops, video games, good grades, more friends to even “happiness” as gifts. Dozens of Santa’s elves make sure that every letter is read, and then draw up a list of lucky children whose requests would be met.
Helping Santa in his endeavour is Mrs Claus, who stays at the Santa Claus residence in Luosto, 150 km from the village. She wraps gifts and bakes special Christmas cookies. It’s said that every evening when Santa gets back home, he asks: “Mrs. Claus, can I see how many gifts have been wrapped for the kids?” And she replies, “Don’t worry, Mr Claus, I will take care of everything. I am really pleased that this year, so many children from around the world have made it to your goodies list.”
Critics may see Santa Claus as a business enterprise that perpetuates a myth and leads children to a make-believe world. But does it cause any harm? Montreal University professor Serge Larivee, who teaches psychology of education, compared two studies on the way children related to the myth of Santa back in 1896, and in 1979. He concludes in his recent report that though parents lie to their kids about Santa, they feel that having children believe in him is not such a bad thing after all, because it makes them happy.
Meanwhile, Santa gets ready to meet a new lot of visitors. “I might travel a bit and even go to India soon,” he says, with a twinkle in his eye.
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