Commissioner of a thesis was Oulu University of Applied Sciences and this study examined a profile of a typical Russian tourist. This study also examined the regional tourism strategic programme of Northern Ostrobothnia with the intention of finding out what kind of a Russian tourist would travel to Northern Ostrobothnia.

Data gathering of a thesis was implemented as a desktop research. Source material was collected from books, Internet, researches and articles during 2012–2015. A research method of thesis was a descriptive and systematic literature review.

Based on studies, a typical Russian tourist is demanding, quality conscious, spontaneous and a person who looks for experiences and is prepared to pay for high quality. A Russian tourist travels to places where there are lot of sights, events, high-quality shopping possibilities and a diverse range of cultural offerings. A typical Russian tourist who takes lodgings in a Cottage might travel to Oulu region because the location of Oulu is nearby the sea and fell scenery. The city of Oulu is quite often a transition city for Russian tourists.

A tourism profile of Northern Ostrobothnia is characterized as a low-profile tourist attraction and a region should invest in developing and productizing of tourism. Oulu region could manifest itself as an attractive resort with the appropriate packaging of products and services and together with cooperation between companies. City of Oulu would be an attractive shopping resort if there were more brand stores in the area; at present stores are too basic styles to Russian tourists. Medical tourists would constitute a potential client segment in future because Russians are interested in medical issues. A landscape is constituted a beautiful in Northern Ostrobothnia and there are several health resorts and medical clinics available. Russian medical tourists would be interested in travelling to Oulu area if there would be a wider range of high-quality accommodation facilities and good transportation connections.