Rovaniemi ULG started its work during the first phase and it had several meetings during the past year. Due to COVI-19 pandemic the group hasn’t had a chance to meet face to face since last March but online working has continued and Miro boards have been used even before the URBACT e-university, thanks to the activity of University of Lapland
The second meeting for the phase 2 of the project took place in the end of September. In the beginning of the meeting there was a two-hour seminar together with the tourism students from the University of Lapland. The topic of the seminar was “Tourism Governance and Legal Framework” and the main purpose was to get a better understanding of all the stakeholders in tourism in Finland. After the seminar the participants were all astonished about the number of stakeholders there are at local, regional and national level. European Union level was also briefly mentioned but quickly forgotten even though the role of European Union is important especially in consumer protection. In addition to many stakeholders, the legal framework covers many different laws and regulations.
One part of the seminar was to give a case study regarding unwanted side effects of tourism in Rovaniemi and the students were asked to do homework by giving suggestions for solutions. Our ULG is looking forward to getting their ideas and views!
After the seminar the Rovaniemi ULG had their meeting and the main topic was the focus of the project. The pandemic has caused some loss of focus and also loss of interest in sustainable development of tourism since it is highly likely that the coming winter season will be lost. However, we agreed to continue with our goal to build the Integrated Action Plan to be our guideline how to develop tourism sustainably and eesponsibly. The group realized that they need to go back to the basics and organize several workshops to different stakeholders. These workshops will take place either in January or February depending on the COVID-19 situation.
Municipality of Rovaniemi - Tuula Rintala-Gardin