Aktiviteter
Workshops - Local Involvement
Heidi Savolainen
Heidi Savolainen is the Managing Director and Lead Adventure Guide of Adventure Apes, a nature travel company located in Northern Finland. Sustainability has been one of the core values of the company since the beginning and Heidi wants to take into account all the aspects of sustainable travel in the daily operations. Adventure Apes believes nature belongs to everyone and organises adventures also for those with disabilities.
Adventure Apes wants to include local people in their activities. Sometimes the locals are invited to play ice hockey with the foreign travellers and sometimes local grandmothers are taking the customers on berry picking tours. International cooking sessions are very popular and sometimes the whole village comes to have a party with their customers.
Jerry Engstrøm
The Importance of Local Involvement
Jerry Engström is the previous Global Marketing Director at the Outdoor Brand Fjällräven who decided to move back to the High Coast of Sweden to pursuit his dream - to establish FriluftsByn, a careful balance of nature, creativity and community. A big part of FriluftsByns positive development is thanks to local involvemenet. Jerry will share his thoughts and practical tips.
Moa Björnson
Træna 365 – creating a liveable community through innovation, tourism and local development
”A Magical World, Far Up North, out to the left And How The Helvete To Get There? ”
Right at the Arctic Circle, some hours from mainland in northern Norway lays a small island community. It’s called Træna and it’s populated by 450 people. Through several years Træna has been working with community development where festivals, tourism, culture, industry and research projects have been drivers for community innovation. Now the next big investment is Træna 365 –a hotel project where the target is to create a unique landscape hotel and at the same time be a catalyst for innovation and local development.
Moa Björnson is Head of Development in the Municipality of Træna and CEO for Træna 365 AS and will give her views on how to create an attractive destination and a vivid local community.
Jóhan Pauli Helgason
Closed for Maintenance, Faroe Islands
In April 2019, the Faroe Islands saw unprecedented success for its first-ever ‘closed for maintenance, open for voluntourism’ initiative, which formed part of a wider move by Visit Faroe Islands to pave the way for a sustainable future for the islands and its burgeoning tourism industry.
The Maintenance Crew worked alongside locals to preserve ten locations across the islands, maintaining and creating hiking pathways and viewing areas, and setting up signposting. All the projects were identified by local municipalities, tourism centres and local villagers. It was immediately decided to make this an annual initiative, however Covid came in the way. In the spring of 2021 Visit Faroe Islands organized a ‘closed for maintenance, open for voluntourism’ initiative for locals which again was very successful and in the days 22 – 24 September we will again welcome international volunteers, who will work alongside locals to preserve the Faroe Islands.