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Up until this year, interest has been so great that at the Ähtäri zoo, you can expect 300,000 visitors to the zoo this season. That would make the zoo lose this year to make profit.
The Pandahouse of the Etseri Zoo reached 100 000 visitors a few weeks ago. If the same pace continues, the zoo's economy and big investments may soon be an asset.
The Ari Viitanen Grill Company has been selling hamburgers in Etseri's downtown for 15 years. Until this summer, he built the grill.
Viitanen has a big smile on his lips. There are many people on the move in Etseri.
– Tourists are on the move to see the pandas. Now, hamburgers are eating, but we've been waiting for that, says Viitanen
Antti Viitanen
Portrait of Antti Viitanen [19659010] Image: Yle / Elina Kaakinen
Pandatism has led to a lack of manpower
– Next spring, we should send a message to the North that when the season will be over, there will be work here. ] Labor and Income
After a long wait, giant stoves Pyry and Lumi arrived in Finland six months ago. It is hoped that pandas will support tourism in Etseri, which has declined in recent years.
– The long awaited dragon has arrived. Pandas are what people talk about and think, says Mari Humppi, store manager at a grocery store in Etseri
Even the case has benefited from the pandemic.
– Foreign tourists from Sweden and Germany were slightly more than before. It also applies to domestic tourists, says Humppi.
– When I arrived here, I thought we had too much parking, we will never fill it. But now I agree that it is full.
Humppi also says that they have prepared for a busier summer by hiring more than before and making sure that they have different languages.
The goal is achieved
The goal of the Ähtäri Zoo for the first year with the pandas was to have 100,000 visitors more than the 39; previous year, which means that they will have 300,000 visitors this year. If the goal is achieved, it means that the zoo will have a positive result and that the company Etseri possesses should increase after years of decline.
Jonna Pietilä, CEO of Petra, says visitors in the spring and early summer have doubled compared to last year.
– It seems that our goal of getting 100,000 more visitors this year will be achieved.
300,000 visitors are a large number of visitors. The Högholmen Zoo in Helsinki welcomed around 450,000 visitors.
Buy tickets for Ähtäri zoo
Picture: Yle / Elina Kaakinen
In the future, you would also like to hope for more foreign tourists. Although statistics show that the number of foreign nights has risen markedly in the south of Ostrobothnia in May
– We have just started the launch in the international market and it is a long way and difficult. But we have high hopes in the years to come, "says Jonna Pietilä.
"Pandas do not go into the idea"
Night spots have struggled for years to have too much empty space in the spring and fall. ] The entrepreneur Altti Syrjänen is sure that the pandas can change it.
– Pandas are not in the picture, he says.
Syrjänen says that we can already see that the tourist season will be extended.
This year, we had records in February, April and May. In the spring, I noticed that people came here to see pandas
[19659010] Image: Yle / Anna Wikman
Hope of Addiction
The life of Pyry and Lumi at the Ähtäri Zoo is going well. During the hot summer days, they had fun in cooler spaces inside, but they still have the energy to entertain the audience.
– Everything went as planned. According to CEO Jonna Pietilä, he does not eat more bamboo than we had imagined, but there are no quantities that would destroy the economy of the zoo.
Pietilä says that they do not build the future of the zoo solely on pandas. They try to develop the entire zoo at the same time.
They are looking for new animals to go to the zoo, but the greatest hope is that Pyry and Lumi have children.
– Lumi is very young, she has not filled four yet. However, we are waiting for happy family news, says Pietilä.
Text: Elina Kaakinen / Yle Pohjanmaa
Translation and treatment: Sofi Nordmyr / Yle Österbotten
The original articles can be read here.
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