Joensuu Major Events Initiative

The aim of the project is to strengthen Joensuu’s position as an attractive and internationally competitive host city for meetings, congresses, and major sports events. This will increase the region’s vitality, tourism, and employment, while creating new business opportunities. The project is driven by the need to compensate for job losses caused by the decline of peat production and to harness the potential of Joensuu as a university and sports city. The core idea is to attract international congresses, national meetings, and major sporting events to the region. These events will help grow tourism revenue, increase air traffic, and create new services in the event, accommodation, restaurant, and experience sectors. Increasing the number of events throughout the year will balance seasonal fluctuations in tourism and compensate for the decrease in Russian visitors.

To support the main goals, the project consists of three work packages: 1: Development and Communications: Enhance understanding of the economic impacts generated by events, create a tool for pre-assessing events, and increase awareness of Joensuu as a city of congresses, meetings, and sporting events. Additionally, develop a plan and foundation for establishing a dedicated Joensuu Congress Bureau after the project, and improve accessibility. 2: Congresses and Meetings: Build and engage a local network, systematize the University of Eastern Finland’s congress bidding processes, open new international connections, and apply for hosting rights for congresses in key sectors. Congress services will be developed into attractive, market-ready packages. 3: Sports Events: Strengthen the local network, improve sports clubs’ expertise in bidding processes, and build connections with event owners. Apply for new international and national sports events and package them into tourism products.

As a result of the project, the Joensuu region will have significantly improved capabilities to bid for and host major events. The number of congresses and major sporting events held in Joensuu and North Karelia will be doubled. A Joensuu Congress Bureau will be established to lead the work of attracting congresses, meetings, and major sports events in the region.

The project will be implemented as a joint undertaking, with the City of Joensuu as the main coordinator and Business Joensuu and the University of Eastern Finland as partners. The project period is from 1 April 2026 to 31 March 2028.