The image of Santa's home Lapland as a winter wonderland is under threat.
In the past 10 years there have been some clear signs of global warming with
winter arriving later and later and the number of extremely cold days
declining, so the tourism industry is getting prepared for warmer days ahead.


ROVANIEMI, FINLAND (DECEMBER 21, 2008) REUTERS -
Rovaniemi in northern Finland, which is the home of Santa Claus, has
built up a large industry around the Santa Village with reindeer safaris,
husky driving and of course a visit to Santa. It is one of the largest
employers in an area where unemployment is traditionally high.

Every day during the busy Christmas season, thousands of people arrive
in the village at the Arctic Circle, some 2,600 km (1,600 miles) from the
North Pole.

Lately, the winters have been getting warmer and the all important snow
no longer a certainty which could affect the popularity of the Santa
experience.

"The most obvious thing is that it may rain in December not snow
and we have less snow in this part of the year and also for example this river
does not freeze. So people used it quite a lot during the wintertime to ski on
the river and it's not possible anymore, sometimes not even during the whole
winter," said Seija Tuulentie who is a senior researcher at the Finnish
Forest Research Institute.

Around half a million visitors from all over the world jet in around
Christmas for a day-trip -- visiting Santa, learning to 'drive' huskies,
tasting local delicacies and hoping to see the Northern lights.
Over the years, the Santa business has become a vital driver for the
economy in Lapland.

About 500 Santa helpers work in Rovaniemi, a town of 60,000 where in
2006 the unemployment rate was 14 per cent, far above the national average of
7.7 per cent.

Already, plans are being made on how to cope with a warmer climate to
make sure customers get their money worth.

One idea is to make extra snow with snow guns to ensure reindeer and
husky rides, to plan safaris and the routes differently so that no unfrozen
rivers need to be crossed in order to get to reindeer farms and designing a
new content for Christmas programs.

Rami Korhonen, who is the director of the longest running safari
operating out of Rovaniemi, said changes in the weather could become a big
problem but not quite yet.

"If the snow disappears completely in December, it's a big problem
for Lapland's tourism and the people who get their income from the tourism,
but we don't expect that to happen in the next ten years. Last year was very
warm, this year has been already better year, but of course if the warming
continues as rapidly as it has done in the past five years we may have some
problems," he said.

The changes in the Arctic climate has made many people look for other
alternatives and new ways of doing things, but sometimes it is difficult.

Korhonen said they had not yet found a more environmentally friendly
alternative to the snowmobile.

"People come from the cities, they don't know how to cross-country
ski or they may not be physically fit enough or they are children so we do
skiing, snow shoeing but we need to get to the snowmobile to get to the nature
first, where we can have these snowy activities," he said.

Christmas in Lapland starts in mid November and has its highlights
during the December weeks and gets a boost again when the Russians celebrate
their own version of Christmas just 13 days after the Western one.

In 2006, Rovaniemi's tourism accounted for 144 million euros (210
million United States dollars) in income and 540 million in all of Lapland,
the region's tourism board said.