P2 Sustainable use of common resources
2.1. Natural and cultural resources developed into sustainable tourist attractions
Central Baltic
01.01.2018 - 31.12.2020
€1 210 496
€931 157
Lakes are an important part of culture in Finland, Sweden, Estonia and Latvia. They have a significant recreational value and potentiality as tourist attractions. The joint challenge is how to harness the business and touristic potential of Central Baltic lakes and their surroundings to sustainably make them easier to reach by local and foreign tourists.
The Lakesperience project aims to connect the Central Baltic lakes as a joint tourist attraction through developing tempting lake service packages for all seasons of the year, joint map service and an awarding system for tourists visiting several lakes, organising lake festivals, developing joint marketing materials and above all a Nordic-Baltic lake brand “Lakesperience”.
The project will increase the attractiveness and visibility of Finnish, Swedish, Estonian and Latvian lakes and their environments as sustainable natural heritage tourist attractions and products. The partners will develop service packages and their marketing through organising local and joint workshops for lake tourism service companies and sharing experiences and challenges in each location. The project connects lakes Pyhäjärvi and Näsijärvi in Tampere Finland, lakes Åsunden, Järnlunden and Stora Rängen in south of Linköping, Sweden, lake Peipsi in Tartu, Estonia and lake Burtnieku in Latvia as a joint tourist attraction. The project will involve and enhance business and marketing cooperation between at least 20 Finnish, 20 Swedish, 15 Estonian and 15 Latvian companies that provide services for lake tourists. As a result the number of lake tourists will increase by 5000 altogether in the involved locations during the project.
Suomen Itämeri-instituutti
Country: FI
Partner budget: 263.572 EUR
Amount of ERDF funding: 197.679 EUR ERDF
Visit Tampere Oy
Country: FI
Partner budget: 197.005 EUR
Amount of ERDF funding: 147.754 EUR ERDF
Ekokumppanit Oy
Country: FI
Partner budget: 201.904 EUR
Amount of ERDF funding: 151.428 EUR ERDF
Peipsi Koostöö Keskus
Country: EE
Partner budget: 161.515 EUR
Amount of ERDF funding: 137.288 EUR ERDF
Region Östergötland
Country: SE
Partner budget: 227.193 EUR
Amount of ERDF funding: 170.395 EUR ERDF
Länsstyrelsen Östergötland
Country: SE
http://www.lansstyrelsen.se/ostergotland
Partner budget: 87.971 EUR
Amount of ERDF funding: 65.978 EUR ERDF
Burtnieku novada pašvaldība
Country: LV
Partner budget: 71.336 EUR
Amount of ERDF funding: 60.636 EUR ERDF
Tampereen kaupunkiseudun elinkeino- ja kehitysyhtiö Tredea
Country: FI
Development Association of Peipsi Fishery Area
Country: EE
Achieved results
Lakesperience succeeded in creating a joint Central Baltic tourist attraction
The project managed to develop partnering lake areas into a joint sustainable tourism attraction with joint values and to connect the lake tourism service products to it. In the core of the joint tourism attraction and products was the joint positioning theme/brand Nordic-Baltic Lake Trails that was developed in the beginning of the project. Joint positioning theme was utilized in the product development workshops and in developing sales manuals. Based on the joint positioning theme, a Lakesperience marketing strategy was developed. As its main achievement, the project has succeeded in creating a joint Central Baltic tourist attraction. The project achieved 26 000 new visitors to the developed sites, while only 5000 were planned.
Regarding communication, the project had two main target groups identified in the project application. They managed to reach a larger amount of small and medium sized companies than planned (93 reached, 70 planned). The German Tour operators were also reached, but due to Covid it was no possible to see the German tourists coming to the developed sites in the partner regions. The project’s work reached domestic target groups well and increased the popularity of lake/cycling tourism.
The cross-border work was significant. Ideas and views were shared, and that helped to see different perspectives and how things were being done in the other regions. The exchange of experiences between the project partners contributed to the assessment of the quality and potential of the services, a better and wider understanding of nature tourism and its promotion opportunities. This all cemented the work well, as the common objectives were set together. The created network will work beyond the timeframe of the project.
Also cross border cooperation added value to entrepreneurs’ work via the joint marketing in Germany. They found the joint study visit to Mecklenburg Lake District very useful. The region offers one of the best infrastructures for cycling tourists in Central Europe and was useful place for the exchange of experiences. They also got a change to meet with the companies from other partnering regions.
Concrete outputs to promote the joint attraction include maps, sales manuals, trail signs and marketing material such as videos. These will live on also after the project. The partners also organised lake festivals.
In communication there was also some cooperation with bloggers which resulted to blog posts promoting the project topics.
Promotional videos:
Overall project video and all other videos: https://lakesperience.eu/
Direct links:
From Estonia: https://vimeo.com/478788556/a8e66c4e75
From Finland: https://vimeo.com/478789477/7ddfc5aa96
From Latvia: https://vimeo.com/478790515/e9916a8807
From Sweden: https://vimeo.com/478791029/e39264aa75
Sales manuals: https://lakesperience.eu/news/
- As its main achievement, the project has succeeded in creating a joint Central Baltic tourist attraction.
- The project achieved 26 000 new visitors to the developed sites, while only 5000 were planned.
Internet presence
Lead Partner webpage - project information
Other media visibility
Kommunen slår på stort vid återinvigningen (2020)
Lakesperience videos and other news