Helsinki is seeing something of a cruise ship boom this year with record numbers of visitors using the capital’s harbour.
But once ashore, those thousands of tourists often need to answer the call of nature--and that’s not an easy task for guides who have to shepherd 50 or more people towards appropriate facilities.
It got even more difficult this year when Helsinki Council banned tourists from City Hall, the municipal headquarters down by the harbourside. They followed Tempelliaukio Rock Church in Töölö, which made a similar decision last year.
"[It’s a] tricky situation," said Heidi Tetri, who chairs the Helsinki Tourist Guides association, adding that "if a tourist’s whole tour is spent considering when they’ll get to a toilet or with their legs crossed sitting down, then of course the trip doesn’t meet their expectations."
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Tetri says that City Hall isn’t on tour routes just for the toilets, as its location is wedged in between two of the city’s main sights: Senate Square and the Market Square.
Municipality: Ban down to noise levels
The city administration says it banned large groups because it wants to turn the building’s foyer into an event space and hordes of weary travellers looking for a restroom make too much noise.
“We’ve opened an event space where we can hold several different events each day,” says Helsinki Marketing boss Sanna Forsström. “And big groups produce a lot of noise, that has been the reason for this change. We’ve tried to direct big groups to other facilities.”
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Forsström says the idea is to enable different types of encounters between residents and those on the municipal payroll.
“There are different types of workshops, seminars, events and so on,” said Forsström. “It’s fine to stop by these events, and it is preferable that there’s a crowd present and listening and participating in everyday issues. But when the event space is open, noise carries into the middle of events held there.”
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Helsinki has made nearby public toilets on Sofiankatu free of charge to try and ease the burden, but it is not a replacement for the city hall facilities: the building has 14 women’s toilets, while there are just five at Sofiankatu.
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Municipal Museum welcomes tourist groups
The nearby Helsinki City Museum has seen an influx of visitors, according to the head of the museum’s sales team Rita Raitio.
“It’s clear from how much the toilets need cleaning and how much paper we need to replace,” said Raitio. “But there’s nothing negative about this from the museum’s point of view. It’s just a neutral observation.”
In reality it’s more than that.
“Our line is that we warmly receive everyone,” continued Raitio. “If they come just to use the bathroom or to eat something in the foyer, or they just want to ask us about some spot in the vicinity. And of course tourist groups visit the shop, so we’re satisfied otherwise too.
The shop’s turnover has increased thanks to the tourists, and at least a portion of that profit has helped pay for the increased expenses for toilet paper.
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Guides: Even portaloos will do in a pinch
The problem also affects the Tempelliaukio Rock Church in Töölö, where tourist groups were last year banned from using the toilets as a security measure.
Queues for those loos had, according to the church, blocked emergency exits. Heidi Tetri has since found herself directing distressed daytrippers to the nearest cafe.
“Of course I explain that the cafe’s toilet is meant for cafe customers,” said Tetri. “But first the emergency must be dealt with and then you can consider whether to buy a coffee or some water.”
She has also sent her charges to portaloos or even shady parks to relieve themselves, but would love to see nearby Aalto University buildings pressed into service in the summer months--although she admits that would incur costs.
