Santa and his elves are in danger of being swamped this winter as more tourists than ever before make the journey to the Arctic Circle. Last winter 35,000 Britons travelled to Rovaniemi in Lapland, and the Finnish Tourist Board is predicting a 10 per cent increase this year as Thomson and Libra Holidays launch Lapland brochures for the first time.

The pre-Christmas day trip and short-break packages have proved phenomenally popular with families keen to hand their wish list to Santa in person, and there are now about 20 different companies chartering flights to Lapland.

But some specialist tour operators have warned that Rovaniemi is close to saturation point. 'We are selling a myth and we have to be very careful that we don't burst the bubble,'said Steve Mitchell of Emagine. 'They need to limit the number of flights coming into Rovaniemi airport or people's expectations are not going to be met.'

On the two weekends before Christmas up to 30 flights a day will arrive. Mitchell said that some of the cheaper day trips being advertised simply 'herded' people on to coaches at the airport and 'dumped' them at the Arctic Circle Village or Santapark.

Adrian Collins, sales director for Canterbury Travel, which was one of the first companies to offer winter packages to Lapland 18 years ago, said there was a danger that overcommercialisation could spoil the magic of the experience: 'People don't want to travel all the way to Lapland only to find Santa in a concrete bunker surrounded by souvenir shops, and they don't want to be told they can't use their own cameras and must pay for photographs of their children meeting Santa.'

Mitchell warned people to choose their package very carefully as often there were hidden costs. 'On some tours winter clothing is not included but it's essential when temperatures are minus 40 degrees.'