Just visited Åland two years ago. It was perfectly tourist-friendly on the main island, where most of the people live.
The author speaks of visiting Åva island in Brandö (county). That place is tiny; the population of the county is 436, split between multiple islands. It can't really support a booming service industry. Again, go check out the main island, that's where the party's at.
The author also complains about high fees on ferries if you're just driving through. The ferries are small, and primarily for the locals to move around; the high fee discourages drive-thru on purpose. Imagine you're trying to get to the other island for work or whatever and there's 300 cars queuing for places on a 60-car ferry.
I have visited the main island before as well, but honestly a big reason to why it is like that is because they are somewhat hostile to tourism. Yes it is small and obviously you can't expect a booming service industry but I think you could expect something at least.
If you read on their website it appears like they want visitors but yet seems to do a lot in order not to receive them. If they were more open to tourists they could probably afford more or bigger boats or simply more trips. It's not an unsolvable problem.
We just wanted to pass the islands and see it but it wasn't really feasible due to the restrictions placed. I wonder if it really has the intended effect.
Comments
Just visited Åland two years ago. It was perfectly tourist-friendly on the main island, where most of the people live.
The author speaks of visiting Åva island in Brandö (county). That place is tiny; the population of the county is 436, split between multiple islands. It can't really support a booming service industry. Again, go check out the main island, that's where the party's at.
The author also complains about high fees on ferries if you're just driving through. The ferries are small, and primarily for the locals to move around; the high fee discourages drive-thru on purpose. Imagine you're trying to get to the other island for work or whatever and there's 300 cars queuing for places on a 60-car ferry.
I have visited the main island before as well, but honestly a big reason to why it is like that is because they are somewhat hostile to tourism. Yes it is small and obviously you can't expect a booming service industry but I think you could expect something at least.
If you read on their website it appears like they want visitors but yet seems to do a lot in order not to receive them. If they were more open to tourists they could probably afford more or bigger boats or simply more trips. It's not an unsolvable problem.
We just wanted to pass the islands and see it but it wasn't really feasible due to the restrictions placed. I wonder if it really has the intended effect.