Just to be precise, Shed. I do NOT live in Lappeenranta, actually I've been there only twice in my life. If I wanted to travel with FR myself, I'd choose Tampere rather, not LPP. If I wanted to recommend the most beautiful place in the region of Saimaa, I'd choose Savonlinna, Mikkeli or Kuopio (there are convenient airports in all of these towns). My message is meant rather to envision the great potential hidden in that strange, but beautiful country neighbouring Finland. The potential you can find in Russia's historical places is really abundant and could be of interest for many (I do not believe that only beer drinkers
, 'adventure'-seekers
and alike would travel).
Even more of that potential lies in Russia's inhabitants themselves. We do not want too many Russian tourists in our shops, do we? Nevertheless they have already been recognized as pretty important customers in many markets and boutiques of, say, Helsinki, trade profits are rising. In spite of still unhealthy economy of Russia, the wealth of its people will gradually increase. Some of them are rich already, many more will look at cheapest-possible option to see some Europe, I bet they will.
Sure it wouldn't be enough just to open a new connection to LPP and hope everything would run smoothly. You'd have to make all that organizing and marketing effort - you could see the interest in doing that or not. FR has been considering those possibilities for over a year now, to my knowledge the decisions haven't been made yet. But to be clear: only big players like them could consider this. Small ones would almost certainly fail. From the same reason as you mentioned. People should be convinced (by those greats, not myself): why should I travel, does it pay to apply for a visa, and so on.