#HeritageCityStories

Jussi Telaranta, World Heritage Coordinator

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, calendar was booked with many meetings in Rauma, in the capital and abroad. There were some doubts about telecommuting in our organization.

Now traveling has stopped and a large amount of Rauma’s experts are working remotely. The exceptional situation forces us to question conventional practices. When many things can be handled remotely, should we reduce our business trips and work more from home?

When local restaurants and cafes are closed, you realize how important they are to the vitality of the city. Not all companies will survive this crisis, but surviving companies have certainly strengthened their resilience. When the city is now silent, people have gone for jogging and hiking in nature. Besides Old Wooden Town, our municipality has also another World Heritage Site. Probably many people are now visiting the Bronze Age Burial Site of Sammallahdenmäki for the first time.

Finland’s tourism balance has been in deficit for a long time. However, the need for traveling will not disappear and once the crisis subsides, a new rise in domestic tourism is on forecast. In the summer, we will not see big public events, but certainly, we will see many new domestic tourists in our World Heritage Sites. Take care of each other and use local services whenever possible!