The Tampere Region today is the second strongest economic area in Finland, a city of 200 000 inhabitants and it continues to grow rapidly.
Today, as we cross the threshold into the new millenium, the traditional industrial
landscape is once again full of life - with culture, services and new enterprises and
technology.
Industry is still important in Tampere. New buildings in the area of
Tampereen Verkatehdas, the wool factory, have already become rooted into the landscape. A
growing cluster of enterprises operating in the fields of information and communication
technology and media are now located in the historic setting of Finlayson area. Some of
the old factory buildings have already been renovated for the use of the Vapriikki Museum
Centre, IT enterprises and offices. Furthermore, new residential houses will be built in
the area during the first years of the 2000s.
Tampere has two universities and a wide range of other educational institutions. Thera are
two big theatres and many smaller theatre groups in Tampere. The Tampere Hall is the
largest congress centre in Scandinavia playing host to hundreds of concerts, meetings and
other events. Tampere has its own philharmonic orchestra, eighteen museums and twenty-four
libraries.
Tampere is ideal city for conferences due to urbanized modern centre, abundance of diverse cultural events, numerous sights and nature. The wide choice of hotels allows to organise international arrangements. Tampere is a large tourist centre. It is easy to reach by car or bus, and railway or air transport. Annually about 2 000 000 tourists visit Tampere. More than 20 hotels are avaliable for more than 500 thousand people a year. 22 % of visitants are foreigners.