Coastal and Rural Gems
Goal:
The Coastal and Rural Gems project aims to enhance the competitiveness of tourism businesses in Finland’s coastal and rural regions by developing shared tourism products and fostering cooperation across regional boundaries. The project brings together tourism businesses, municipalities, and development organisations from various coastal areas to engage in joint development efforts.
Concrete Actions:
As part of the project, networking events, benchmarking activities, and service design workshops will be organised to develop new tourism products and route concepts that connect multiple destinations and regions. Through pilot projects, participating businesses will also strengthen their capabilities in using customer insights and applying digital tools, including artificial intelligence (AI), in their operations.
Expected Results:
- Strengthen the competitiveness of tourism businesses in coastal and rural areas.
- Develop new tourism products and touring routes that connect multiple destinations and regions.
- Increase cooperation and partnerships between businesses and regions.
- Enhance businesses’ capabilities in product development, service design, and customer insight.
- Improve businesses’ readiness to leverage digitalisation and artificial intelligence (AI).
- Create a model for tourism development that extends across regional boundaries.
Project period: 1.9.2026-30.6.2028
Total budget: 463 307 €
Funding: The European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development
