People are the foundation of all cross-border cooperation. Interreg Aurora is happy to present the people and different professions working across borders with the aim to improve our daily lives.
Meet Marianne Sjöström, Project leader, Kvarken Council
My name is Marianne Sjöström, and I am a tourism and travel trade professional, educated at Jakobstads Handelsläroverk in Finland. I have a Diploma in Travel Management accredited by the Finnish Business Travel Association.
With decades of experience in the leisure, group, and business travel sectors, as well as the hospitality industry, I also have entrepreneurial insights by founding and managing a fully accredited travel agency also serving as a tour operator.
Launching a new travel destination
The Interreg Aurora funded project Bothnian Coastal Route is the third tourism-focused Interreg project where I was appointed as project leader for the lead partner Kvarken Council. My leadership spans both the previous Interreg Botnia-Atlantica programme period and the current Interreg Aurora programme period.
The overall objective of the Bothnian Coastal Route project is to create awareness of the coastal area around the Bothnian Bay and across the Kvarken strait, as an attractive new travel route for international visitors and locals. The area has an outstanding nature and rich cultural heritage and provide a sound basis for growth and sustainable tourism. Finnish and Swedish project partners aim to increase the reasons for visiting the destinations along the route.
Personally, I feel that my background and previous experience has contributed to a better understanding for the project’s main target group, the small tourism businesses and their needs. As well as I have an understanding for the function of the external target group of travel tour operators.
Teamwork delivered successful project results
In my role as main project leader, I’m responsible for the administrative and coordinative part of the project. The Kvarken Council serves as platform, with the support services of communications manager and financial manager as well as the director of our organisation.
It is of utmost importance to have an experienced organisation where we provide support to the project partners responsible for the operational implementation and for making their share of administration smoother.
For me, reporting has become an interesting part of the project implementation and when you have clear results to report on, like we have in Bothnian Coastal Route project, it’s even more fun. Lately my focus has been the final seminar with dissemination of project results and a final Steering Group meeting.
Throughout the project my role has been to see to that activities are adapted to the grant decision, budget and project plan with the support of the Interreg Aurora programme manual. Ensuring that requirements for joint development, joint implementation, joint staffing, and joint financing is respected.
For myself, as well as for the project, it’s fortunate to have colleagues in project partnership that are destination experts with solid industry experience in business development and hospitality. It is crucial to understand how the market works, reacts and is influenced by external factors and the realities that a company in the hospitality industry is facing through various external challenges in business environment.
The project has provided small and medium-sized tourism entrepreneurs in the Bothnian coastal area support in competence building and given them valuable insights in developing sustainable tourism products and services. This process has been supported by targeted marketing efforts by the project.
Cross-border cooperation benefits all the involved stakeholders
Interreg projects are based on cross-border cooperation to solve shared challenges. The core is our joint effort to develop, learn from one another, and improve conditions for the target group and citizens.
The Bothnian Coastal Route project has ensured that every activity includes a cross-border perspective. International cooperation serving as a key driver for attracting foreign visitors and reinforcing our shared geographical, cultural, and historical identity and authenticity. Through continuous learning and benchmarking, we established optimal conditions for development, benefiting all stakeholders involved.
With our cross-border approach the project has significantly enhanced the areas visibility, increasing its appeal to international tour operators for the benefit of both tourism industry stakeholders and residents. Travel initiatives in the area are expected to support local recovery from the pandemic’s impact and establish a robust foundation for sustainable growth in tourism.
A worst-case scenario in my eyes, would be if project partners don’t adapt the core of the Interreg principle and start going their own path in a single country direction.
Working across borders has always been my thing
Reflecting on my career, I feel truly fortunate to have discovered the travel industry at a young age. Working across borders has always been my thing, my first international experience was when I coordinated a Leader financed project.
Over the past ten years, I have gained invaluable experience working across borders with Interreg projects, constantly learning and growing. It is especially rewarding seeing projects progress from concept to successful completion and deliver the intended results.
We have achieved results beyond expectation in the Bothnian Coastal Route project and for the future I hope even more fruitful results will follow that benefit the whole area. Perhaps our project also can serve as a good example and encourage others.
With the project ending in December 2025, I would like to take the opportunity to say a big thank you and goodbye to all cross-border cooperation friends. Now a new chapter in life awaits as I retire – but I will gladly follow the development of cross-border tourism. And who knows, maybe we’ll meet again in some new context in the future.
Learn more about the Interreg Aurora funded project Bothnian Coastal Route and the project partners:
– Kvarken Council EGTC
– Luleå Municipality
– VisIt Umeå AB
– City of Oulu/BusinessOulu
– Vaasa Region Development Company
– City of Kalajoki
– Visit Skellefteå AB
#InterregAurora #CrossborderCooperation #PeopleandBeyond #BothnianCoastalRoute
