| Summary: | The main objective for this product-type thesis was to create a food tourism trail in the Rovaniemi area for millennials and primarily for domestic travelers. The main objective was supported with three sub-objectives: the trail will follow current food trends; visitors can gain new food tourism experiences and lastly, finding development ideas and suggestions to benefit local companies. The commissioner for this thesis was Hungry for Finland project of Haaga-Helia University of Applied Sciences. Encouraging of building the food routes in Finland is one of the main aims of Hungry for Finland. The main purpose of this thesis was to create an example of a food tourism trail that can be utilized further. The actual work for this thesis started in September 2021. The author started by gathering the theoretical framework for sustainable traveling and tourism in Finland. Sustainable ways of living and traveling are continuously growing, and tourism companies should also focus on these aspects. Domestic traveling has been increasing due to the COVID-19 pandemic and visitors who are interested in traveling inside their country of residence are called domestic travelers. Millennials are open-minded, interested in exploring destinations by themselves and experiencing authentic destinations. Food tourism not only includes food- and beverages, but also activities with stories of local culture. Santa Claus is the main attraction in Rovaniemi but with this food tourism trail the author wants to provide tastes of the place and support the local rural economy through current food trends. Construction of the actual route took place from March 2022, and it was finalized in the end of April 2022. The product was supported with help of qualitative study. Non-participant observation was used as data collecting method and content analysis for analysing. The author created observation- and criteria-tables with the theoretical framework as guidance for finding suitable destinations and products for the trail. The trail includes 22 food ...
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