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Tourism: Destination developmentNature is probably the most prominent attraction of the Botnia-Atlantica region that already today is visited by domestic and incoming tourists. Two destinations have so far been awarded the UNESCO World Heritage status and more applications are currently evaluated. Moreover, the area offers a variety of attractive environments bridging from the mountains to the sea. Developing a strong tourist industry has thus become an important vision in the entire region not least in order to create new employment opportunities in rural areas, but also in order to create attractive environments for people to live in. To achieve this vision cooperation between public and private stakeholders is required. This is a precondition to be successful and competitive on the domestic and international market. Activity 4 compares destination development within the Botnia-Atlantica region in order to identify critical obstacles and factors promoting success. Central questions address tourism organization, private-public partnerships, infrastructure and impacts on employment. The activity leader is professor Dieter Müller, Umeå University. The research plan for Umeå university (in Swedish) |