Rural Finland II - a National Tourism Industry Coordination Project

Project has ended on 31.10.2021

1.8.2018 - 31.10.2021

Main objective

Tourism companies and food, nature and cultural tourism operators form active and open networks and combine their resources in tourism development work, resulting in new, internationalisation-oriented service models. Operators from different sectors and regions collaborate in this development work.

Sub-objectives

1. Developing and establishing a model based on open network collaboration between entrepreneurs, developers and different regions.
2. Peer support and the sharing of knowledge and good practices are part of the everyday development work.
3. Communication supporting the development work reaches different operators and entrepreneurs.
4. Developmental collaboration between tourism and other fields of industry.
5. The competence of different operators has improved.

Activities

1. Launching and increasing collaboration between entrepreneurs and experts regardless of sectoral boundaries, and enhancing the synergy of development activities.
2. Increasing the competence in services and in service entrepreneurship, sharing, deploying and utilising good practices and tested operational models.
3. Communicating about theme-related projects, studies and reports (successes, good practices, failures and challenges), compiling the results and impacts and deploying them.
4. Activating the construction of multidisciplinary collaboration and promoting the emergence of new networks and service models.
5. Organising meetings for peer-to-peer learning and exchange of experiences by using e.g. videos, online meetings, virtual coffee breaks and other digital tools, and by organising regional events.
6. Directing the development of tourism according to the Finland’s tourism strategy.

Project parties

Karelia University of Applied Sciences and the Centre for Tourism Studies at the University of Eastern Finland

Contact information

Raija Ruusunen, Project Manager, Karelia UAS, raija.ruusunen(a)karelia.fi
Tero Taatinen, Project Coordinator, Karelia UAS