You know……for a country that's brought us NOKIA mobile phones you would have thought that they would have embraced the world of information technology in the same manner, and when I mean information technology I mean the internet. Yet this is not true. Sure many businesses that deal internationally here have gone with the times and developed their websites to incorporate other languages so we the general public can access this information, but this is still a small minority on the whole. The Finish tourism boards travel websites although stacked with information looks like it was designed and build by government website designers and is most definitely ten years behind the times in regards to its looks, ease of use and lastly the amount of information that is offered to a prospective tourist. Sure its written in several languages….which it should be I might add! but it truly does need a serious overhaul.
Now with regards to the fishing tours industry here primarily(Fishing tours websites) I feel I need to compare it to another country and what better country to compare it to than Canada. Now you might say……. why Canada Si?……and not say………….Sweden, well its on the other side of the world and yet so many pike fly-fishermen would love to go there to fly fish as its believed that Canada is the holy grail with regards to fly-fishing for “Trophy” Pike….yet I have no intention of wanting to go there purely because I see the sizes of the pike being pulled out of our waters on a weekly basis here and there are as many trophy pike here as in Canada. The difference is that Canadian Lodges and fishing guides not only have fantastic websites but also run their own blogs and forums from them as well and more than likely will have several video shorts of the areas being fished not to mention the happy customers showing of their one in a lifetime catch for all to ogle over. Yet here in Finland when you spend some time trawling around looking at what is on offer over here, you suddenly hit a brick shit house wall and realize that these guides and tour operators truly have no idea how to market themselves to the outside world. 60% of all fishing websites here are generally in Finish with a smattering of English placed randomly around their pages. Most haven’t been updated in years which is evident from the quality of the images clearly dating back to the early nineties of clients proudly showing off scores of dead fish they have caught.
This is also another big difference when comparing the two countries approach to attracting fishing clients. Nearly all Canadian Lodges and guides work to strict catch and release policies………that’s unless they are taking one back to the lodge for an evening meal…….off course! and I have rarely seen miss handled or dead fish being shown on any of their websites yet over hear these companies are proud to have endless images of their clients holding up dead fish with fingers through their eye sockets and only a small minority of these companies practice catch and release……. Now I don’t know about you but that is just bad advertising if you ask me.
Now not all companies over here are what I would class cowboy fishermen, and there some extremely good guides around with some top notch websites but they are so few and far between especially ones with sufficient customer service, which is important in today’s day and age that trying to organize yourself a decent fishing trip here could take you in the region of a full 2-3 weeks. I know if I cant access the information I am looking for within half an hour I’m bored and move on to look elsewhere.
More on this subject later………………..
All these images were taken from a fishing tours website here in Finland. Two perfect examples of how to advertise your fishing tours industry...................not.
Just love the image with the bloke proudly showing of his catch with a pitch fork shoved through it.Then there is the 1st image where the chap has his thumb clearly shoved through the pikes eye. You just cant have images like this on your website for prospective clients to see and witness!
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