When you have millions of presents to make and wrap, a fast-approaching deadline, and yearly disputes between the elves, the last thing you need is more and more visitors coming to see you before the 25th of December. But for Mr & Mrs Santa Claus, this year looks like it could be their busiest ever as visitors arrive from all over the world hoping to see the man in a red coat.

Despite his magic, it could soon reach a point of overtourism for Santa Claus, and he may need to look at alternate residences to manage the Christmas operation. But where exactly? We explore the increase in Lapland's airline capacity and - just for fun - look at some options for his relocation.

Lapland Visitors Increase by 6% Year-On-Year

Lapland stretches across three countries – Finland, Norway and Sweden - and while the precise location of Santa Claus’ house remains a secret, Rovaniemi is widely acknowledged as the centre of the operation. Some of the airports in Lapland - such as Tromsø, home to the Northern Lights - are well disguised as serving local communities . In the last ten years, the number of scheduled airline seats to Lapland has increased by over 70% and up to two and a half million visitors can be expected by the end of March. That is six per cent more visitors year-on-year, which means a lot of cake baking for Mrs Claus and her helpers!

Airline Capacity to Lapland: Winter 2024 vs Winter 2025

The seven largest country markets for visitors to Lapland are:

• United Kingdom
• Germany
• France
• Denmark
• Switzerland
• Netherlands
• Italy

These country markets account for over 650,000 seats and continue to grow every winter.

The United Kingdom will see a 24% increase in capacity - suggesting that people still have money to spend this year despite what the Office for Budget Responsibility tells us! New services from Belfast and Southend have been added, while airline capacity from both Birmingham and Bristol has nearly doubled since last year. Across the four London airports operating services to Lapland this winter, there will be just under 150,000 seats available.

Ryanair Adds 50% More Capacity to Lapland

Entering the spirit of the holiday season is Ryanair, with CEO Michael O’Leary adding some 43,000 (+50%) more seats and new services from Bristol, Manchester, Birmingham and Shannon.

However, easyJet remains the largest airline operating to Lapland this winter, although another year of Ryanair growth and Santa Claus may be swapping his red outfit for a green cape and changing his favourite drink to a glass of the black liquid. 

Where Could Santa Relocate To?

With over sixty thousand more visitors from Europe to Lapland this winter Santa must be reaching a point where even he needs more time to himself to make all those presents and arrange the logistics of his flight on the 24th of December! But where could he realistically relocate to? For fun, let’s take a look:

Kiribati

Since his scheduled service starts in the Pacific Islands it would make a lot of sense to align a new property on Kiribati with a longitude reference of 173.08.48E  - although a tropical island location is probably not ideal for Santa who prefers a cooler climate, but that proximity to the start of his journey could be beneficial. 

Puerto Williams

Equally a more southerly location could be interesting, the world’s most southerly airport is in Chile at Puerto Williams (WPU) with a latitude of 54.55.52S - although being fifteen hours behind the starting point of his yearly route would take a bit of time to travel every year but does Puerto Williams have enough snow for Santa? 

Happy holidays everyone! 🌲

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