One of the main industries in the South Baltic area is tourism, however faced by a strong seasonality, non-diversified offers and concentration on certain centres. Oceanographic and nature museums in the Baltic Sea region are primary attractions in their destination with thousands of visitors each year. These institutions are perceived as real lighthouses with profound knowledge and edutainment for tourists and locals and thus enjoy a very positive reputation in their region and beyond. This reputation and knowledge is an asset not fully exploited yet to foster growth all along the touristic value chain in the South Baltic region. A stronger interconnection with local businesses can stimulate growth, both for the institutions presenting natural and cultural assets, and for the economy in the South Baltic region. Tools and structures are needed to transfer the positive image of the museums to local stakeholders in order to foster a sustainable development for a mutual benefit.The project will develop and test smart tools and methods for clusters of local businesses with lighthouse museums. These regional BalticMuseums Clusters develop expertise in thematic fields. These comprise especially sustainable joint service development in off-season, smart tools for image transfer to regional businesses and for fundraising to animate business and private engagement in sustainable projects. The experience of museums in different countries is extremely varied, fostering creative solutions. This expertise is shared in a structured way within the BalticMuseums network uniting the clusters. The main project delivers a set of best practices for other branches and regions of how to smart cooperate between primary attractions and local businesses in order to increase the popularity of natural and cultural heritage sites as sustainable tourism destinations. Management methods to translate such cooperation into practice, locally and in cooperation across borders, will be defined. Expected Results: The main project will aim on: firstly, developing and testing a label for green tourism endorsed locally by museums, secondly, by developing and testing an IT supported fundraising tool for environment protection projects for the Baltic Sea and thirdly, by creating best practices for cooperative product development by museums and local industries especially considering sustainability and off-season incentives. The quality label for green tourism is a jointly developed standardized quality approval procedure for local stakeholders to be rewarded with a quality sign: Approved partner of the (Local museum), member of the BalticMuseums Network. It can only to be obtained after ascertaining the company works according to the partners’ standards (e.g. fish served, environmental sustainability etc.). Based on best practice examples for IT supported fundraising, the project develops and tests a joint tool for fundraising. The idea is to develop and implement a Baltic Sea based offer for tourists of how to equalize the carbon footprint when travelling – e.g. by providing a share for Baltic Sea protection projects by the partners resulting into Green Travelling.The project will deliver tried and tested best practice examples of joint cooperative product development with local partners, e.g. combining the museums exhibitions and offers outside of the museums e.g. boat tours on the sea or diving tours accompanied by museum staff or certain offers for the positioning the museums in the MICE market (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, Events) which is counter-cyclical to the holiday seasons. The project implements joint promotion activities to both promote the developed tools to tourists, regional economy and a professional community that faces same challenges.