What’s really happening at the destination?
Since May 2023, Destination Jokkmokk Economic Association has been running the project ‘Smart Specialization in Tourism’. The project is funded by Leader Polaris, the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development, Sparbanken Nord, and Jokkmokk Municipality. The aim of this short project (ending in late November 2023) is to establish and develop the destination’s unique tourism potential – the various strengths that make Jokkmokk a unique place to visit. The project’s main target group is tourism businesses and stakeholders, both existing and potential. We have invited these companies, organizations, associations, individuals, and municipal operations to four workshops where we presented both the selected potentials and suggestions for target groups whose travel motivations align with both the destination’s potential and its core values. It’s about continuing to conduct sustainable tourism, where small-scale operations, not volume, is the guiding model. This model means we care for our resources – environmental, social, economic, and cultural – so they can be utilized and enjoyed by future generations as well.
We have also invited the general public to several open meetings. We visited Kåbdalis, Vuollerim, Porjus, Kvikkjokk, and Jokkmokk’s central district. The purpose of these meetings was to inform about the project, but perhaps more importantly, to invite local residents to a dialogue about tourism’s role in the development of these places and, by extension, the entire municipality. The meetings have provided us with invaluable knowledge about local history, existing resources, past resources, missing resources, needs, and innovative and exciting ideas. We want to thank all engaged participating community members for everything you have contributed. It has been a true learning journey that doesn’t end here!
The third activity we’ve conducted involves ongoing meetings and business visits where we’ve met many of our tourism businesses, as well as other stakeholders and enablers who are important in different ways for developing our businesses, our destination, and our tourism offerings. There is obviously much more to do, but thanks to the conversations we’ve had with many of you, we have been able to jointly develop ideas further and gather concrete proposals for new initiatives. Here too, we want to thank you for so generously welcoming us into your operations and businesses!
In upcoming posts, we will share more about the different activities, focusing on the workshops and open meetings we’ve conducted. We hope this can inspire you to engage in creative dialogue about how we can work together to develop the municipality of Jokkmokk into one of the most sustainable and exciting places to visit in our Arctic destination!
