Hopes of bringing the headline MTV Europe Music Awards to Helsinki in 2016 were dashed when the event organiser informed the city that it had been passed over for the honour of hosting one of entertainment television’s most-watched programmes.
Helsinki city economic development director Marja-Leena Rinkineva said that in spite of strenuous efforts to book the gala, the city had not succeeded in its mission.
“A large international media organisation will make its own decisions. Their decision was influenced by many, many factors that we ourselves weren’t able to impact on from here,” Rinkineva said.
Viacom International Media Networks said that one of the reasons Helsinki was overlooked was its relative lack of accommodation as well as its remote location. Rinkineva acknowledged that finding sufficient five-star hotels and suites was a challenge for Helsinki.
“The city would be full of major stars and very high-level guests. We’re talking about many dozens, hundreds of such people, who would require hotel accommodation of the highest quality,” she added.
However Jari Ahjoharju of the Helsinki Tourist Board took a different view of the situation.
“Of course Helsinki has organised different types of world class and large events and there was sufficient accommodation capacity, either in the metropolitan area or them we have been able to find additional capacity nearby. You can find top quality hotel or even hostel accommodation here. So it sounds a bit odd. And in terms of accessibility, Helsinki has good air connections to Europe and especially Asia,” Ahjoharju observed.
Helsinki to target other major events
Helsinki city officials also aimed to attract the European music awards ceremony on the basis of its experience hosting the MTV PUSH event, which took place in September this year and featured youth music icons such as Charlie XCX.
In spite of what it described as a successful event, Helsinki won’t stage the PUSH event in 2015. Rinkineva said that although the city will give PUSH a miss next year it was by no means a flop.
“The PUSH event was by no means a failure. We aimed for global visibility among the youth audience and we achieved it,” she noted.
The city business developer said that Helsinki will continue to go after major events in the future.
“We are constantly working to ensure that we can build greater hotel capacity and to become an appealing and attractive city,” she concluded.
