It’s that time of year when families flock to Santa Claus’ hometown of Rovaniemi in Lapland, Finland. Visiting here is a truly realistic experience for the kids each year. However, like so many popular places in the world, Rovaniemi is suffering from overtourism. Locals here say vacation rentals are taking over the town, pricing them out of somewhere to rent.

Santa Claus Village in Rovaniemi, Finland hit by overtourism

The quaint, traditional town of Rovaniemi in Finland sees visitors flocking to Santa Claus Village, a winter and Santa-themed amusement park on the edge of the Arctic Circle. Here, families play in the snow, enjoy reindeer sleigh rides, enjoy a drink in an ice bar, or most importantly for the kids, visit Santa Claus himself. The capital of Finnish Lapland, Rovaniemi has always dubbed itself the “official hometown of Santa Claus.”

Meanwhile, Santa Claus Village attracts more than 600,000 visitors each year and is particularly popular during the Christmas holidays. However, after years of welcoming tourists to enjoy the experience, locals are now complaining about overtourism. This isn’t the first place in Europe to suffer from too many visitors, and it likely won’t be the last.

For this reason, many locals have had enough of the festive season, saying that rental homes in the village are being transformed into vacation rentals, thus leaving few places to live, or rents too high to stay in them.

Rovaniemi sees the population soar ten-fold in the holidays

Many would think that Rovaniemi’s people benefit from the fact that tourism is booming there, as hotel and restaurant owners and city officials profit from the crowds of visitors. Despite that, not everyone is happy about the tourism success, as each year, the town’s population soars to 10 times the norm each Christmas.

Euronews quotes, Antti Pakkanen, 43, a photographer and member of a housing network in the town that organized a rally through the streets of Rovaniemi in September. Speaking of the overtourism effect, Pakkanen said:

We are worried about the overgrowth of tourism. Tourism has grown so rapidly, it’s not anymore in control.

Overtourism in Europe

Many popular destinations in Europe are feeling the same pain as Rovaniemi, including Amsterdam, Barcelona, Malaga, Mallorca, Venice, Florence and more. In recent years, locals have taken to the streets to protest about too many tourists and get louder and more brazen along the way.

For instance, Tenerife in the Canary Islands recently saw sunbeds on the beach vandalized with graffiti, with slogans like, “The Canary Islands are not for sale.”

The overtourism phenomenon comes at a point at which residents see their cash stop benefiting them. Meanwhile, as they get more vocal, tourists deface historic sites, overwhelm the cities’ infrastructure and generally make life more difficult for those who live here.

Now the trend is heading north to the Arctic Circle. In 2023, Rovaniemi and Santa Claus Village saw 1.2 million overnight visitors. Meanwhile, this figure was almost a 30 percent increase from 2022, after people started traveling again after the pandemic.

More flights but no room at the inn

Meanwhile, 13 new flight routes to Rovaniemi Airport were opened this year, bringing travelers from Berlin, Bordeaux, Geneva, and more to experience Santa magic. Moreover, visitors also flock from other European countries, including France, Germany and the UK.

However, that’s not all as travelers outside the EU are also visiting here, swelling the numbers.

No housing for Rovaniemi’s locals

Critics against mass tourism in the city say many apartment buildings are now being used as vacation rentals during the holidays. While this clearly benefits the owners with high rental prices, it also means short-term rentals have taken over long-term stays by locals.

Meanwhile, according to Finnish law, offering vacation rental services in buildings mean for residential use, leading campaigners to call on local authorities to take action.