Urban and Smart Island Tourism Destinations

Programme 2014 - 2020 INTERREG V-A Finland - Estonia - Latvia - Sweden (Central Baltic)

Date of latest update: 2023-11-11

Description

Description (EN):

The main objective of the project is to develop two new island destinations, located in the urban twin city area of Helsinki and Tallinn, into a popular smart nature tourism destinations. The project activites will focus on two islands, Vasikkasaari in Helsinki and Aegna in Tallinn. Both islands will be developed into attractive nature tourism destinations taking their sensitive archipelago values strongly into account. For that reason the project will pilot new, innovative and smart solutions to both ensure nature protection in the locations, and at the same time to increase attractiveness of these islands. The smart digital solutions will also enhance participants'; experiences in these islands. During the project some construction work will also be carried out on the islands to ensure easy and enjoyable visit on the islands. The target groups of the project are both local and foreign visitors, as well as the cities in which the islands are located and which will benefit from both the increase in visitor numbers and also from the smart solutions in their environmental protection work in the islands. The long term objective of the project is with the increasing visitor numbers also to benefit the tourism and service business, and also to increase environmental awareness of the visitors and other stakeholders.

Achievements (EN):

URBAN ECO ISLAND investigated sustainable use of islands close to cities: The URBAN ECO ISLAND project piloted new, innovative and smart solutions on two islands (Vasikkasaari in Finland and Aegna in Estonia), to ensure nature protection whilst increasing the attractiveness of the destinations. The project developed a joint concept for sustainable island tourism. The development process included for example: An island visitors’ survey to collect experiences and views: Testing of different smart solutions to analyse how increased used of destination will impact on its flora and, Small investments like benches, recycling facilities, improvement of walking tracks and signboards. As a result, a Handbook for developing urban eco-islands was published and it is available in English, Estonian and Finnish. The handbook can be used when developing sustainable tourism on islands close to cities.

Website: http://centralbaltic.eu/

Expected Results (EN): R2.1. More sustainable joint natural and cultural heritage based tourist attractions

Expected Outputs (EN):

The project’s main results are as follows: 1. A new attractive and smart urban island tourism concept and joint destination will be created. The development of the islands is done ecologically and sustainably (economic, environmental, social/cultural). This new concept will be implemented in Vasikkasaari and in Aegna where visitors are expected to increase due to the project activities and the advertising efforts. The estimated increase will be 20 000 visitors per year. Business from servics on both islands is expected to develop as a long term result. Already during the project 4 new service providers will start their operations. 2. New smart and innovative ways to monitor environmental impacts of tourism will be developed and implemented on the two islands. The concepts and best practices related to smart solutions will be integrated into the Handbook for smart and sustainable ecological tourism in small urban islands for replication. 3. Traditional info boards, boardwalks, railings, viewing platforms and other recreational infrastructures have been built or renovated on the islands to enhance the visitor experience and the accessibility of all people visiting the islands. 4. Through the active participation of both the locals and visitors, both in the data creation and also in the co-creation activities the environmental awareness has deepened and the interest towards the new destinations has increased. 5. Active marketing activities and results dissemination the new joint destinations gain publicity and both local and international interest. 6. The concept, process and content based on evaluated experiences in this project will inform the integrated destination development model and handbook. All the results are linked directly to SO 2.1 where the main objectives are to increase the number of new tourism destinations, increase the number of visitors in them and to make the development sustainable by taking the ecological values into account.

Thematic information

Cultural heritage and arts Tourism

Specific Objective: Natural and cultural resources developed into sustainable tourist attractions

Thematic Objective: (06) preserving and protecting the environment and promoting resource efficiency by:

Investment Priority: (06c) Conserving, protecting, promoting and developing natural and cultural heritage

Partners (4)

Lead Partner: Helsingin kaupungin ympäristöpalvelut

Address: Viikinkaari 2a, 99 Helsinki, Finland

Legal status: public

Website (not verified): https://www.hel.fi/kaupunkiymparisto/en/organisation-and-presentation-of-the-division/

Total budget: EUR 365 060.26

ERDF budget: EUR 273 795.20

Stockholmi Keskkonnainstituudi Tallinna Keskus

Name: Stockholmi Keskkonnainstituudi Tallinna Keskus

Address: Lai 34, 10133 Tallinn, Estonia

Legal status: private

Website: http://www.sei.org/centres/tallinn

Total budget: EUR 164 452.08

ERDF budget: EUR 139 784.27

Tallinna Kesklinna Valitsus

Name: Tallinna Kesklinna Valitsus

Address: Nunne tänav 18, 15058 Tallinn, Estonia

Legal status: public

Website: https://www.tallinn.ee/est/kesklinn/

Total budget: EUR 215 020.00

ERDF budget: EUR 182 767.00

Forum Virium Helsinki

Name: Forum Virium Helsinki

Address: Unioninkatu 24, 130 Helsinki, Finland

Legal status: public

Website: http://www.forumvirium.fi

Total budget: EUR 349 172.12

ERDF budget: EUR 261 879.09

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Partners and Projects info

Sihtasutus Stockholmi Keskkonnainstituudi Tallinna keskus

Urban and Smart Island Tourism Destinations

Partners and Projects info

Tallinn Centre District Administration

Urban and Smart Island Tourism Destinations

Partners and Projects info

Forum Virium Helsinki

Urban and Smart Island Tourism Destinations

Partners and Projects info

City of Helsinki Environment Services

Urban and Smart Island Tourism Destinations

Lead partner

Project partner

Summary

Project name (EN): Urban and Smart Island Tourism Destinations

Project acronym: URBAN ECO ISLANDS

Project start date: 2019-04-01

Project end date: 2021-06-30

Project status: closed

Total budget/expenditure: EUR 1 093 704.46

Total EU funding (amount): EUR 858 225.55

Co-financing sources:

ERDF: Amount, EUR 858 225.55.

Information regarding the data in keep.eu on the programme financing this project

Financing programme

2014 - 2020 INTERREG V-A Finland - Estonia - Latvia - Sweden (Central Baltic)

Last month that data in keep.eu was retrieved from the Programme's website or received from the Programme

2023-11-11

No. of projects in keep.eu / Total no. of projects (% of projects in keep.eu)

137 / 137 (100%)

No. of project partnerships in keep.eu / Total no. of project partnerships (% of project partnerships in keep.eu)

663 / 663 (100%)

Notes on the data

Information provided by the Programme. Achievements were retrieved by Interact from the Programme website (http://centralbaltic.eu/), or a website directly linked from it, on 2021-11-08, 2023-01-12 and 2024-03-08.

The financial data featured in keep.eu for this programme, it's projects and its partners is not exact and should be taken as a reference only.

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Urban and Smart Island Tourism Destinations

Description

Thematic information

Partners (4)

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Summary

Information regarding the data in keep.eu on the programme financing this project

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