Light in the Dark - Facilitating Tourism Experience Design Workshops: A Manual for DMOs

Läromedlet Light in the Dark - Facilitating Tourism Experience Design Workshops: A Manual for DMOs har publicerats i Novias publikationsserie Läromedel 2/2025 i december 2025.

Introduction

Projects like Light in the Dark (LitD) do not get funding in a vacuum. The project was initiated by the 4 Seasons network , which spent
two years laying the groundwork for what would become a successfully funded project under the Interreg Baltic Sea Region programme. The original network brought together universities, destination management organisations, public sector representatives, and industry associations.

From the outset, the project focused on developing solutions to enhance tourism and extend the season in the Baltic Sea region. The 4 Seasons network participants recognised and agreed upon two key issues: the strain caused by overcrowding during high season, and the missed opportunity to capitalise on growing off-season interest due to insufficient service offerings.

Marketing efforts were heavily weighted towards high season. Flattening the seasonal curve would benefit both nature and local communities. Given the ongoing depopulation of coastal and regional areas in the Baltic Sea region, extending the tourism season could support year-round habitation and stimulate entrepreneurial growth, making the region more attractive for residents and businesses alike. 

Everybody in the 4 Seasons Network realised that shared knowledge and shared efforts would be a win-win in enhancing the Baltic archipelago identity off-season. Cross-organisational and cross-border cooperation was seen as the way to develop the off-season in an area too small to be visible on the international market individually, but which could gain visibility through collaborative partnerships. A main activity identified as crucial for the success of the project was enhancing the business models of small tourism companies to support more off-season offerings.

This manual is developed as a tool primarily for destination management organisations located in the coastal Baltic Sea region to organise workshops related to business model development and innovation of new tourism products. The themes of the workshops are related to the focus areas of the
Business Model Canvas (BMC), but as the workshops in the project were organised online, it was decided not to introduce the full BMC as it is a rather complex tool to work with online.

The manual is organised as follows: Chapter 2 examines seasonality challenges in tourism, and Chapter 3 describes the main project phase. Chapter 4 summarises findings from the initial studies, while Chapter 5 outlines the workshop methodology. Chapter 6 provides an overview of the workshops conducted. Chapter 7 concludes the manual with a summary and recommendations, and Chapter 8 offers guidance on workshop support and training. 

The workshop materials are included as attachments.

Information about the publication

Light in the Dark
Facilitating Tourism Experience Design Workshops: A Manual for DMOs
Eva Holmberg (ed.), Maria Engberg, Annemari Andrésen

Graphics and layout: Mathias Gröndahl
Cover Photo: Teele Rehe

Publisher: Yrkeshögskolan Novia, Wolffskavägen 33, 65200 Vasa, Finland
© Yrkeshögskolan Novia, Holmberg, Engberg and Andrésen

Novia publikation och produktion, serie L: Läromedel 2/2025
ISBN: 978 -952 -7526 -63-7 (Online)
ISSN: 1799-4195
CC BY 4.0