An energetic crowd from the far south to the far north of Sweden, from the US, the UK, Ireland, Greenland and even a couple of attendees from Greece got together on Thursday, May 8, in the town of Västerås, in the Västmanland region, to attend the first AdventureConnect event held in Sweden.
Together with Västmanland Association of Local Authorities and County Council (VKL), the afternoon was dedicated to learn more about the adventure travel potential in Sweden and to identify what obstacles Sweden and Scandinavia must overcome to become a successful adventure destination.
Ulrika Larsson, ATTA’s member advocate in Europe, shared the latest ATTA news and updates with the group and then three guest speakers shared their stories about turning their businesses or destinations into attractive alternatives for the adventure traveler.
Ethna Murphy from Fáilte Ireland talked about how Ireland has been supporting the outdoor businesses in their country and what method they have been using to help grow the adventure community. She also shared how Ireland was chosen to host this year’s Adventure Travel World Summit.
Marcus Eldh of Wild Sweden gave some useful tips on how reach out to new market segments outside of the country borders by working with travel agencies and travel agents.
And last but not least, Lykke Geisler Yakaboylu from Visit Greenland shared the work they are doing in the area of content management for their new website and the resources they are offering tour operators to help them market Greenland in general and the adventure tour operators in particular.
After a short coffee break, the group broke into very talkative peer-to-peer discussions focused on strategic partnerships and business development. To wrap things up, there was a final brainstorm session with the whole group about what needs to be done in the next coming years to make Sweden and Scandinavia a successful adventure destination.
This was the first AdventureConnect event in Sweden but definitely not the last. We are delighted to see so much energy from the regional participants and are looking forward to continue these productive conversations in Scandinavia. So until next time, Sweden, keep up the good work.