Flagship Project: a channel for development work and to build partnership Baltic Sea Strategy: State of play before the European Comission Review 12 C 13 Päivi Lappalainen Programme Director Centre of Expertise for Tourism and Experience Management Southwest Finland Tourism and Convention Bureau

Agenda Priority area tourism Flagship 12,7: To attract tourists to rural areas Benefits to Turku Touring and South-West Finland Next steps

is coordinated by State Chancellery Mecklenburg-Vorpommern 4 Flagship Projects: 12,7 Attract tourists to rural areas, esp. coastal ones 12,8 Facilitate environmentally sustainable ferries and cruise vessels in the Baltic Sea 12,9 Promote the cultural heritage and the unique landscapes 12,10 Strategies for sustainable and environmentally friendly tourism To develop the region into environmentally sustainable, prosperous, accessible & attractive, safe & secure place to live, work and invest: Approach CCC - Cooperation, Coordination, Communication Besides Mapping and contacting, Stakeholder Events, Dissemination and Reporting the importance lies in Finding out new methods and mechanisms to share the know-how and best practices and in promoting environmentally friendly joint packages based on nature and tourism Projects common goals are implemented in several different sub-projects, both on-going and new ones, Financed by different EU and national/regional funding programmes EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region/ Priority area Tourism

Attract tourists to rural areas especially the coastal ones Lead Partner: –The Regional Council of Southwest Finland, Turku Touring/ The Centre of Expertise for Tourism and Experience Management Objective: –The Innovation network for BSR which creates a mechanism to involve rural areas and SME`s & Micro companies of tourism industry to development programmes and Innovation systems Findings: –Same problems in all member BSR countries: Small companies, lack of recourses, lack of channels for innovation and development work PLUS Variable national development schemes, funding systems, political environment, historical background towards service development etc. -> These hinders cooperation and raises barriers for equality and open development and growth of the macro region Baltic Sea Area BUT BSR AREA HAS HUGE POTENTIAL TO BE GLOBAL ATTRATCTION

Benefits to Turku Touring and South-West Finland New openings for international cooperation Fresh ideas and new approaches Project ideas and sights to future cooperation Possibilities in –New products –Innovations –International cooperation for local tourism SMEs

Next steps: Continue working to expand the partner network which basically shares alike operative mechanisms – faster distribution of results, lover costs, involvement of SMEs, public-private cooperation, harnessing the innovation capacity of customers, Try to influence the EU strategy for marko regions to allow for future development programmes and projects Continue to systematically bridge benefits to local and national enterprise networks from the BSR cooperation

Thank you for your attention!