Tampere Urges Complementary Moomin Experiences After Rovaniemi Plan

The plan to build a new Moomin park and themed accommodation in Rovaniemi’s Santa Claus Village surprised Tampere’s Moomin project team. Tamperelainen reports that Naantali’s Muumimaailma announcement will not derail Tampere’s own plans to develop a distinct Moomin experience in the city.

Tampere is pressing ahead with a package of Moomin attractions that will lean on the city’s existing strengths: a Moomin-themed playground, a nature trail, cafes, shops, a tram connection and a new immersive Moomin experience built around the city’s Moomin Museum and Tove Jansson’s original collection, project manager Heidi Pitkänen says. Muumimaailma CEO Tomi Lohikoski warns there is a limited market for very similar Moomin destinations and compares the situation to nearby restaurants that may either feed each other or cannibalize visitors. Lohikoski also notes that Muumimaailma holds Europe-wide exclusivity for parks with live Moomin characters, while Tampere retains the right to use Moomin characters in tourism and marketing until the end of 2027.

Naantali’s park is aimed primarily at families and remains dormant in winter, whereas the Rovaniemi project targets international visitors and will emphasize winter operations at first. Lohikoski says Naantali’s visitor numbers have slipped from peak years — around 230,000 — to roughly 150,000 last summer, citing the absence of Russian tourists, overflight bans that reduce Asian traffic and lower Finnish birth rates. Tampere’s approach, Pitkänen adds, is to focus on authenticity, art and storytelling so the city’s Moomin offering complements rather than competes with other sites.