Chinese tourists mull staying in Finland for extended period

Some Chinese tourists, who are visiting Lapland now are thinking about staying in Finland for an extended period following the coronavirus epidemic in their country, reported national broadcaster Yle quoting police source.

Number of Chinese tourists and some tour operators during the recent week already asked the local police about the possibility for extending their visas, Lapland Police Department told Yle.

"We have received inquiries about the possibilities of extending visas in both Rovaniemi and Ivalo. Both tourists and tour companies have been making inquiries. Some tourists do not want to return to their home country given the current situation,” said the Yle report, quoting Lapland Police Licenses Manager Maarit Koivuniemi as saying.

Koivuniemi, however, said that no official visa application has yet been submitted to the Lapland Police.

A Chinese national need a visa to visit Finland and strict grounds are necessary for the extension of visas.

The police may extend a tourist visa only in situations of so-called force majeure or unavoidable circumstances, for example if the government imposed embargo on visiting a specific area following a military or natural disaster, or if flights to the area are canceled.

"The person must have some form of force majeure preventing them from leaving the country during the period of validity of the visa. In principle, cancellation of flights can be considered as such," Koivuniemi told Yle.

Earlier, on Friday the national flag carrier Finnair has decided to cancel all its flights to mainland China between February 6 and February 29.

It also canceled flights to Guangzhou from February 5 to March 29.

Finnair authority took the decision following a thorough analysis of all currently available information on the coronavirus and its impacts on air travel to and from China.

The airlines stopped accepting bookings for its mainland China flights from January 31 to February 29.