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Experience It at Koli! (Experience It at Kol..)
Experience It at Koli!
Start date: Feb 29, 2004,
End date: Mar 30, 2007
PROJECT
FINISHED
The most essential goal of the project was to develop the sales prerequisites for vacation properties and for travelling between North Karelia, the Republic of Karelia and St. Petersburg. The project intended to develop the Koli region’s tourism services and their marketing and sales in order to meet the demands of Russian tourists in cooperation with travel agents in the St. Petersburg area and the tourism committee of the Republic of Karelia. In addition, the ‘An hour from Koli’ tourism product in cooperation with Karelia Expert Matkailupavelu Oy, a travel service company in the region, was to be developed together with tourism companies in the Pielinen Karelia and Joensuu regions. The project would attempt to strengthen the tourism image of the Koli and Pielinen Karelia region and to create new connections with travel agents and tourism service providers in the St. Petersburg area and with the vacation property market in Russia. In addition, permanent sales channels and systems were to be established, in connection with Karelia Expert, for tourism products and systems for Russia. A further goal of the project was to assess and implement a service system intended for the sale of vacation home properties in order to sell plots and holiday homes to Russians and to produce marketing material in Russian. Achievements: Tourism services at Koli were revised based on the feedback received from Russian customers, and businesses increased their direct sales to Russian consumers. Development of the ‘An hour from Koli’ tourism product was partially successful: Tourism entrepreneurs understood the advantages of centrally-focused cooperation and marketing better than before. They increased Karelia Expert cooperation as a sales channel for offering services to Russia during the project and began marketing their services under the Koli brand. The development plans produced by the project supported the regional development of Koli. The tourism image of the Koli area was successfully strengthened and awareness of Koli services was increased among Russian travel agents and media, in particular in St. Petersburg. Russian tourism entrepreneurs increased business with the companies participating in the project, and the awareness of Russian customers regarding tourism and the Koli region’s holiday real-estate products was also increased during the project. Marketing material related to Russian tourism and real-estate transactions was developed during the project, and the Russian-language service system intended for selling holiday homes which was used during the project proved functional. The activities and marketing material produced under project led to tangible real-estate business and helped in achieving two large real-estate transactions intended for creating a Russian-owned vacation centre in the area. A new company, Zander Point Oy, was created in Finland thanks in part to the project activities. The company’s business idea was to engage in holiday centre business in the Purnunniemi region in Koli. With help from the project, Zander Point Oy was able to purchase 10 plots from Purnunniemi.