Remote rural areas
Good practice case study
Lapland Centre of Expertise for Experience Industry, Rovaniemi, Finland
The ‘experience’ industry in Lapland has been growing by over 5% per year and is now the third most important industry in Lapland after the forest and metal industries and retail. Over the period 1994–2002 the number of people working in the industry has gone up by 1,450 to around 4,400 people – around 13 % of all employees in Lapland. Overall income from the experience industry has increased by 90% between 1994-2002 and the number of new businesses during the same time frame has increased by 30%. Most of the new SMEs in the remote parts of Lapland are in the experience industry.
In Lapland many of the ‘experiences’ are inspired by Lappish stories and tales, nature and culture which together form a unique image. Innovations and competitive advantage are created through co-operation and integration of the different experience industries. Successful examples include:
- the Aurora Borealis Testing Lab – the world’s first testing environment for wireless experience and tourism services and mobile terminal devices;
- promotion of the Christmas tourism product to strengthen the position of Lapland as the top Christmas tourism destination in Europe.
Key lessons:
- Sensitively designed locally responsive national policy initiatives can be highly successful.
- Finding the appropriate level for action – local, regional or national – is important. Some initiatives may require a critical mass in order to be successful.
- Existing strengths and resources must be fully exploited – interaction with new industries or technologies can generate innovative new businesses and activities.
- Community activities working with a strong local mandate can mobilise significant voluntary contributions of time and skills.
Case study
Lapland Centre of Expertise for Experience Industry (LEO) [pdf, en, 22kb]
