The meeting coincided with unusually high temperatures, hinting at the approaching summer season. However, it became evident that these warm temperatures preceded the readiness of tourism businesses, as summer cafes and ice cream parlors were not yet open. This once again highlighted the impact of seasonality in tourism, aligning with the aim of the Light in the Dark project to develop off-season experiences.
A face-to-face project meeting felt refreshing after months of hard work and online meetings with project partners. Dr. Laura Šaltytė-Vaisiauskė, Vice-Rector for Research and Innovation at Klaipeda University, congratulated the meeting participants and wished them productive work and good impressions in Lithuania. Marius Ulozas, Manager at Active Citizens, kicked off the meeting by discussing how to build alliances and tourism ecosystems. He aspired for the project partners to understand that they are not alone; by connecting as individuals and collaborating as professionals, they can achieve the objectives of this project.
The team from Klaipeda University presented the results of the Visitor Analysis, which involved 5000 respondents from nine different countries. It was crucial for the project to identify travelers willing to visit the Northern Baltic Sea Region off-season, with nature identified as the primary motive for travel across all tourist groups. The LitD project leader from Åland University of Applied Sciences presented results from the Challenge Inventory study among SMEs in the Northern Baltic Sea Region. Based on the report, four main groups of tourism entrepreneurs were identified. These surveys will be published at an open webinar, "Challenges and possibilities for low season tourism in the Baltic Sea Region," on September 10. You can book your place at the seminar here.
As one of the project's objectives is to develop new experiences for the dark season in Northern Europe, an ideation workshop was organized to determine which experiences to prioritize. Participants were divided into five groups, with several groups highlighting local lifestyle and nature experiences as having the most potential.
The final morning was spent planning transnational experience pilots in all five countries for 2025. Coordinating the project’s communication activities at both project and partner levels was also discussed. Sharing the diversity and expertise of the project group was identified as one of the most valuable aspects of Interreg projects.
