English English

Helsinki, the capital of Finland, national airline Finnair and Tencent signed a strategic cooperation in Beijing on Wednesday to jointly create a smart tourism solution for Chinese tourists in Helsinki and provide them with more digital services.

"There is a lot of room for imagination in this partnership. As the first European airline opening direct sales for flight tickets on WeChat, Finnair hopes it can provide more diversified and better digital services to Chinese passengers in the future," said Mikko Turtiainen, vice president of global sales at Finnair.

Finnair operates seven direct flights in China, including Beijing, Shanghai, Chongqing, Xi'an, Guangzhou, Nanjing and Hong Kong.

Over the past three years, the number of overnight Chinese tourists in Helsinki has more than doubled, from 108,000 in 2014 to 221,000 in 2017. A mini-program offering Chinese tourism information in Helsinki was launched on WeChat this New Year's Eve. It can help users more easily access Helsinki's tourist attractions, services, activities and traffic information.