Travelling deep into Finnish Lapland in the heart of winter may not sound like the best vacation, but for a growing number of tourists this Christmas-themed hamlet is the one place to come to find real holiday spirit.

"I really like it. My eyes are all misty. Things are not so hectic here and it's really how Christmas should be," German Anja Kreher (28) mused, while writing Christmas cards at Santa Claus' main post office.

Due to an old legend that Santa lives in a nearby mountain, piles of letters addressed to Father Christmas have for more than 80 years now been ending up in Lapland's capital, Rovaniemi.

Many Christmas enthusiasts are however not satisfied with simply writing letters. Millions — some 500 000 last year alone — have been showing up here in hopes of actually catching a glimpse of Santa.

The rush has prompted Rovaniemi town elders to create the Santa Claus Village, a hamlet of small log cabins among snow-capped spruce trees, in an attempt to harness the tourism revenues.

In December alone, 230 charter flights, or some 50 000 tourists, are expected to arrive here from abroad, and within a short six-week period visitors will leave behind some €20-million.

"Twenty years ago, nobody could imagine that one could make business out of cold, snow and darkness, but it happened," said Jarmo Kariniemi, managing director of this picturesque tourist attraction.

Visit Santa for free

In a cabin in the middle of the village Santa Claus himself sits receiving visitors every day of the year.

The visits are free but the Santa Claus Village, which employs 60 people and has 25 family-run eateries and souvenir shops, charges people wanting their photo taken with Father Christmas a cool €17 euros (R140).

"We feel it's very important for everybody that they can meet Santa Claus without any fee. You cannot make money off that, so instead we sell food, souvenirs and photos," Kariniemi said.

For some, however, all the garnish detracts from the genuineness of the experience. Simon Jonker (33) an Australian chemist, complained the operation was a "little bit too commercialised".

His friend and colleague Kim Burett (32) vehemently disagreed, insisting that it would have been a letdown to find Santa alone "sitting on a creaking rocking chair in front of the fireplace in some tiny road-side log cabin".

The two agreed though that they wanted to come back, but preferably at "some other time and season, when it's not so cold".

Temperatures in Rovaniemi have dropped as low as -46.3° Celsius and easily fall to -25° in winter, making a December visit a rather chilly affair.

AFP