Northern Lights bring tourism boost to Finnish Lapland

Tourists are heading to Finnish Lapland in the hopes of seeing the famous Northern Lights. Driving through the darkness, photographer Joona Forsgren is on a hunt for the aurora borealis. Veering onto a darkened Finnish Lapland road, Forsgren guides a group of tourists to a frozen lakeside spot. Forsgren started taking tourists “Northern Lights hunting” about five years ago. Back then, he was just one of a few. The captivating show can be visible from late August until early April. These odds tempt thousands of tourists northwards every winter, to Rovaniemi, the capital of Finnish Lapland, which also boasts a Santa Claus village on the edge of the Arctic Circle. The city saw a record 1.2 million overnight visitors last year, an increase of almost 30 percent. Northern Lights tourism is a big business in Finnish Lapland. In 2016, one hotel hit the headlines after looking to hire a full-time “Northern Lights Spotter” for the winter season. According to NASA and the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the sun is currently at the maximum phase of its eleven-year cycle, making solar surges and Northern Lights more frequent. Photographer Forsgren says he’s never seen anything like it. “During my five-year career, I haven’t experienced this big and this frequent Northern Lights,” he says. “It has been really good.” But for those who are perhaps a little impatient, or can’t stand the cold, Rovaniemi resident Reijo Kortesalmi created “Aurora Alert,” a real-time alert system that triggers once auroras are spotted in the night sky. “I have my own cameras, and they send images to my server,” explains Kortesalmi, sitting at his computer. “My software analyzes (whether) there are auroras or not. And if there is auroras, customers get an alert to their mobile phone.” This article was provided by The Associated Press.