The route to the success of future tourism comes from Finland

The Perfect Destination joint development project between Business Finland and Haaga-Helia is exploring ways to increase tourism exports.

Veneen keula joessa - upea maisema kansallispuistossa
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After the corona pandemic, the tourism industry is at a crossroads, and it is time to choose the next direction.

We must now feel the ground and find the solutions of the future, at the heart of which are sustainable development, innovation, and strong networks. To this end, the Perfect Destination project has been developed, which identifies ways to increase tourism exports.

Perfect Destination is a joint development project between Business Finland and Haaga-Helia University of Applied Sciences, which is now in preparation.

We are now mapping out the current state of tourism and its challenges, and finding out how the tourism industry will be revived from the pandemic and its aftermath. This preliminary study aims at a Co-Innovation project with Business Finland.

- Now let's go hard and high. We aim for EUR 125 million in export growth in the tourism sector. The focus is on experientialism, ethics, safety, and ease, says Pasi Tuominen, project manager at Perfect Destination.

The means are needed because the tourism industry is in crisis. The volume of foreign tourists has fallen by almost 90% compared to 2019 and the demand for accommodation services was at its worst in the 1990s.

The multi-producer model under development

The growth potential of Finnish tourism is linked to authentic, experiential nature and well-being experiences. Finnish pure nature is of interest to the world.

New products and services should be developed, especially in the field of well-being, leisure, and sports, for a well-defined premium target group. However, they should be implemented in a sustainable way, without disrupting biodiversity and the quality of life of local settlements.

Currently, the domestic tourism industry is fragmented, as tourism companies and development projects are relatively small and there are no strong networks between them.

Perfect Destination strives to bring together actors and professionals from different fields. The emerging multi-producer model will be able to create more visibility for small businesses, reach target groups, and thus create a route to the success of future tourism.

Contact
Pasi
Tuominen
lehtori
Senior Lecturer
+358 294471466
pasi.tuominen@haaga-helia.fi