Digital screening shows development opportunities for hospitality businesses

Within the project Arctic Europe Tourism Cluster (AETC) a team of collaborators has conducted a comprehensive digital screening among tourism businesses in northernmost Sweden, Norway and Finland. The aim of the screening is to understand how companies integrate digital tools into their daily operations and to identify development opportunities.

The screening process is part of the Arctic Digital Innovation activity and consists of two steps: an online questionnaire and in-depth interviews. The screening provides a deeper understanding of the digital challenges faced by tourism businesses. The team working on the screening is Arune Kliore and Marie Nysta from Northern Norway Tourist Board and Petter Norén and Johanna Elenius, from Swedish Lapland Visitors Board.

“We want to create a basis to be able to offer the right kind of support and skills development in digitalization”, says Johanna Elenius.

“By understanding the current situation, we can develop tailor-made solutions that truly meet the needs of businesses”.

Identified areas

The screening identified several areas where businesses face challenges:

• Difficulties in reaching and engaging target audiences effectively. Many businesses find it difficult to create digital content that truly engages their potential customers.
• Limited resources and lack of time. Small and medium-sized hospitality businesses often have limited staff resources to manage digital marketing and sales.
• Outdated systems and tools. A significant proportion of businesses use outdated digital solutions that limit their competitiveness.

The survey looked specifically at websites, social media and digital sales platforms.

What do we do now?

Based on the results of the screening, the AETC team has decided to proceed with the following activities:

• Workshop on Google My Business. To help businesses optimize their presence in local search results and improve their visibility to potential visitors.
• AI webinars and workshops. To introduce businesses to how AI can be used to improve the customer experience and streamline operations.
  Some webinars are already posted here.

Next steps

The next step will be to identify the most effective methods to raise digital skills within companies. The focus will be on identifying the most effective methods and the most relevant topics.

Want to hear more about the results of the screening? Listen to the AI podcast made by the team here.

The Arctic Europe Tourism Cluster, part of a long-standing collaboration through Visit Arctic Europe, aims to build a more resilient and regenerative tourism industry, to respond to rapid change and future expectations, and to benefit the tourism industry, local communities and visitors in Arctic Europe. You can read more about the projecthere.