Christmas cancelled

Holiday giant TUI has begun scrapping its hugely popular Lapland trips because one essential element is missing - snow.

Towns like Rovaniemi, home of Santa, have experienced unseasonably mild conditions over the past few weeks. Rather than the typical 20-30cm of snow on the ground, November saw no more than a couple of centimetres in isolated patches, with most of the region devoid of the white stuff entirely. very little is forecast for what is left of this year

This week TUI cancelled several trips to Kuusamo in Finnish Lapland due to a lack of snow. But worse - heavy rainfall washed away what little snow remained, making it impossible to undertake many of the wintry excursions planned for visitors.

Meanwhile the world’s skiing resorts are faring only slightly better, with resorts above 2,000 metres having lifts operating. Good Ski Guide reporters are on the case and will give daily snow updates from the start of week beginning December 9.

Even dog-sledding tours are being cancelled or having the sleighs fixed with  wheels to give them traction over the tundra.