Norway Takes Mountain Tourism Businesses On Tour
Jun 14, 2009 | Filed Under Destinations, Product Development
When Norwegians decide to do something, they really go after it. Take, for example, the Norwegian approach to nature and adventure tourism development. As part of a national “business cluster” development program, businesses in Norway’s Mountain Cluster have been traveling the world taking in some of the best in mountain tourism.
They’ve been to Austria, Switzerland, Sweden, Canada/Rocky Mountains, New Zealand, Scotland and South Tyrol/Italy…. and Breckenridge, Colorado, where Shannon Stowell from the Adventure Travel Trade Association and I met them on May 30, 2009.
I love their take-the-businesses-on-tour approach to this – frequently consultants visit clients in their home location. But especially in the field of adventure tourism product development, nothing tops the value of having local operators see and experience other products for themselves.
Shannon and I gave a presentation on adventure industry trends and U.S. adventure travelers to the group, and then heard their perspectives on adventure tourism. In all their travels they’ve been meeting with people to learn more about how to make successful Mountain Tourism resorts, looking in-depth at:
• Sustainable Tourism
• National Parks
• Local/regional planning
• How to develop and commercialize new summer activities/concepts
• Different types of local/regional partnerships and business models used in product development and sale/distribution
In attendance were numerous tour operators and national park staff. The seven destinations in Norway’s Mountain Cluster:
• Rjukan
• Rauland
• Vradal
• Hovden
• Hemedsal
• Geilo
• Gol
Norway’s approach can be applied by national and local governments looking to expand into adventure tourism - think about how your development budget might be allocated to accommodate a best practice “field trip” for your local businesses.
Has your company ever participated in a learning mission of this sort? We’d love to hear from you.
– Christina Heyniger
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