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Waiting for the right Tiima!

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​ Spent this afternoon with my team at Tiima, Oulu’s upcoming museum and science centre, and came away genuinely impressed. The Visio experience space is the part that will get most attention internationally, and rightly so. It is an 8K immersive environment built on ArsElectronica’s deep space technology — and apparently, until others catch up later this year, it will be the most advanced installation of its kind in the world. Interactive 3D, 7.1 sound, content running across both walls and floor, guided live by an infotrainer rather than played on loop. Standing in the middle of an aurora corona, looking down at your own feet on what feels like sea ice, is something I will not forget quickly. We also went to the moon and Mars! What got me thinking from a tourism perspective was a small remark during the visit. We have all had the conversation with international visitors who arrived in winter expecting northern lights and met cloud cover instead. A dedicated Visio production — combini...
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When AI Becomes the Front Door – Reflections from the CityDNA Helsinki Trend Room

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The trend room session on artificial intelligence at CityDNA Helsinki was short by conference standards, but it carried more weight than its format suggested. Organised as the first step in a wider CityDNA conversation that will continue with an online workshop in June and a white paper in the autumn, the panel brought together Joshua Ryan Saha from the University of Edinburgh's Futures Institute, Stefan Kapel from Austria Tourism, and Jonathan, co-founder of Give Me and the network's AI partner. The framing was deliberate. This was not a session about whether AI matters for destination management. That debate is closing. The more precise question raised in the room was what happens when the architecture of discovery itself starts to change, and when the destination website, long the central asset of most DMOs, ceases to be where the first conversation with the traveller takes place. The website is no longer the front door The data presented in the room was not dramatic in i...
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Joining the Board of City Destinations Alliance

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The International Conference and General Assembly of City Destinations Alliance, held this year in Helsinki under the theme "The Human Pulse of Place and Purpose," concluded on 22 April with a Board election that brings several new members into the network's governance. Leena Lassila from Helsinki Partners, Marie-Louise Schnurpfeil from Linz Tourismus, and I were elected as Board Members for three-year terms. Gerry Lennon from Visit Belfast was re-elected, and Maya Janssen from Amsterdam & Partners was elected Vice-President for a one-year mandate. The continuing Executive Committee, led by Barbara Jamison-Woods as President, was confirmed in its composition. For me, this is a moment worth pausing on. Joining the Board of CityDNA is an honour, and equally an invitation to contribute more actively to a network I have long respected and learned from. It also arrives at a particularly interesting point in the wider conversation about what European city destinations are ...
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Leading Destinations in a Fragmented World - Reflections from DI CEO Summit

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The CEO Summit in Newport Beach brought together a consistent message across discussions. The role of destination leadership is expanding as the environment around it becomes more complex and less predictable. This combination is reshaping what the job actually is. The global context: growth with increasing complexity Travel and tourism continue to grow and remain one of the largest economic sectors globally. The scale is significant, both in terms of GDP contribution and employment. Growth, however, is no longer a simple indicator of success. The conditions behind that growth are changing. Geopolitical tensions, rising costs, and shifting travel patterns are all influencing how and where people travel. Long-haul travel is becoming more expensive. Regional dynamics are shifting, with Asia Pacific and the Middle East gaining momentum, while some traditional markets are facing slower recovery in international demand. Domestic travel remains a stabilising force. In many countries it repre...
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Artificial Intelligence in Destination Organisations: A Leadership Question Rather Than a Technological One

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There has been a lot of discussion recently about artificial intelligence in destination organisations, and much of it tends to focus on the tools themselves. What is often overlooked is that the real challenge is not access to technology, but leadership alignment. Most organisations can now use AI in some form, yet the extent to which it creates meaningful change varies widely. That difference is less about technical capability and more about how leadership frames, prioritises, and governs its use. At the moment, many organisations are still in an early stage of adoption. AI is primarily used at the individual level to support tasks such as drafting, summarising, or basic analysis. These applications are useful, but they do not fundamentally change how the organisation performs. As a result, the gap between those using AI and those not using it remains relatively small. The more significant shift happens when AI becomes embedded in organisational processes and starts to influence how ...
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A few days at ITB Berlin

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Every year in early March, a large part of the global tourism industry gathers in Berlin. ITB Berlin remains one of the most important travel trade fairs in Europe, and again this year the halls were full of meetings, conversations, and the steady rhythm that defines large industry events. Finland was well represented. Visit Finland hosted a large national stand where Finnish destinations and tourism companies presented their products and regions to international buyers. The Finnish approach to trade fairs is something I have always appreciated. Instead of competing against each other, destinations and companies work together to showcase the country as a whole while still highlighting the unique characteristics of each region. For destinations like Oulu and Northern Finland, this kind of collaboration is essential. Many buyers visiting the stand are looking at Finland for the first time or are still learning about the diversity of experiences available across the country. Having a shar...
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Reflections from Connect Lublin

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Connect in Lublin offered a useful reminder of how route development actually works in practice. These events can look transactional from the outside, but the real value lies in the conversations behind the meeting tables. Over two days, discussions moved well beyond aircraft types and incentive levels. They focused instead on positioning, market logic, operational constraints, and realism. One recurring theme was perception. In aviation, brand awareness and consumer recognition still carry significant weight. Northern Europe, and particularly the Arctic, is no longer a niche product. However, only a handful of destinations dominate the mental map of international travellers. Several discussions made it clear that airlines evaluate not only what a destination offers, but also whether travellers are already actively searching for it. If awareness is limited, the commercial risk increases, regardless of product quality. Affordability also emerged as a structural factor in the competitive...
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Oulun Kokousmessut 2026: Collaboration in Practice

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 This week we gathered once again for Oulun Kokousmessut, our annual meeting place for those who professionally organise meetings, conferences and corporate events in the region of Oulu. The idea is simple. Bring the region together under one roof and make it easy for buyers to see what is possible here. This year felt special. By attendance, it was the largest edition so far in terms of SMEs, service providers and exhibitors present. The room reflected the full diversity of our region. Established conference hotels stood side by side with small guest houses. Experience providers and excursion companies shared the floor with venues, cultural destinations, activities, and even movie theatres that are now positioning themselves as event spaces. It was a genuine cross-section of what the Oulu region can offer. For a regional DMO, this is one of our core responsibilities. We exist to connect. Many of our SMEs do excellent work but do not always have the reach to present themselves to a...
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Tourism in Oulu Region in 2025: steady growth and widening impact

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The year 2025 marked a period of steady, broad-based growth in tourism in Oulu and the wider Pohjolan Rengastie region. While the headline figures show a six percent increase in total paid overnight stays in Oulu, the more interesting story lies in how that growth was distributed across seasons, markets, and accommodation types. Across the full year, Oulu recorded approximately 846,600 overnight stays in paid accommodation. Growth was consistent rather than concentrated, and the second half of the year was particularly strong. From October through December, each month set a new record compared to the previous year. In October, nearly 69,000 overnight stays were registered in paid accommodation, representing a 16 percent increase year-on-year. November followed with around 65,000 overnight stays, up more than 11 percent. December closed the year with approximately 78,200 overnight stays, an increase of over 13 percent compared to the same month in 2024. Accommodation sales in both Octob...
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CityDNA CEO Summit, Barcelona

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Day 1 reflections: reputation, trust, and the uncomfortable middle ground Day one of the CityDNA CEO Summit in Barcelona set a clear tone early on.  The opening framing by the CityDNA leadership and hosts in Barcelona made that explicit. Cities are operating in turbulent conditions where tourism is no longer judged only by its economic contribution, but by how it shows up in everyday urban life.  Global turbulence, local consequences The keynote from WTTC reinforced something many of us already sense intuitively: global tourism performance cannot be separated from geopolitics, climate pressure, social licence, and institutional trust. What was particularly relevant from a city perspective was the emphasis on reputation as a form of resilience. Destinations that lose credibility with residents, policymakers, or international partners become fragile very quickly, regardless of demand curves or connectivity statistics. What struck me was how closely this global framing aligned wi...
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Around the world in one hour, with a little help from AI

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Today I travelled from London to New York, via Paris and Athens, in about an hour. I did not leave my desk. I spent some time playing with AI-generated images, using ChatGPT’s Create image function and a single reference photo of my own face. I placed “myself” into a handful of familiar city settings and let the system do the rest. I generated several images that might create a sense of travelling. This was partly curiosity, partly play. But it is also very directly connected to my PhD work. My research looks at how rural DMOs can use AI in tourism promotion in ways that are effective, ethical, and grounded in local values. Not to replace real places or experiences, but to understand what these tools actually do, how they feel to audiences, and where the boundaries should be. Using my own face was a deliberate choice. It avoids copyright issues, ensures consent is clear, and keeps the experiment transparent. Every image you see in this post is AI-generated, and every face in those imag...
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