Exploring domestic tourism in the Nordics VN/5940/2022-TEM-1

Contracting Entity Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment of Finland (hereafter referred to as the ”Contracting Entity”) requests your tender for project "Exploring domestic tourism in the Nordics" as laid out in this call for tenders and the Appendices to it. A contract notice of the procurement has been published at www.hankintailmoitukset.fi (HILMA). Background 1. Background The role of domestic tourism has increased during the Covid-19 pandemic due to heavy restrictions on international arrivals. The unexpected crisis has required flexibility from tour-ism enterprises and ability to update their service supply to better meet the demand of the domestic travelers. The reopening of travelling and tourism has started from the close mar-kets. In the Nordic context, this could mean increased role of domestic tourism and tourism in certain border regions between the Nordic countries. In addition, some predict that popu-larity of domestic tourism will continue to increase in the future years due to rising demand for more sustainable tourism services. Additionally, geopolitical tensions might increase interest towards domestic tourism. The study aims to get insights into the recent and future developments in the Nordic do-mestic travel markets. By domestic markets in the Nordic countries, it is referred to tourism inside national borders (e.g. Iceland) or autonomous regions (e.g. Åland), and in some spe-cific cases between the border-regions of Nordic countries (e.g. Finland and Sweden). The main focus here is to explore the best practices in developing and promoting domestic tour-ism in the Nordic countries. The purpose is to identify and describe those operating models developed during the crisis that would be useful for developing both domestic and interna-tional tourism in the Nordic countries in the longer run. The need for the study has been recognized in the Nordic Tourism Working Group, and is part of an initiative adopted by the Nordic Ministers of Economic Affairs. 2. The goals of the Study The aim of the study is to present best practices in developing and promoting domestic tourism in the Nordics as an answer for Covid-19 crisis. By gaining also knowledge of the future outlook and possibilities of domestic tourism in the Nordic countries, the study aims to support competitiveness and resilience of the organisations and SMEs operating in the domestic and international tourism markets. The project will strengthen the Nordic tourism cooperation. During the service, the Service Provider 1) collects information on the best practices in developing and promoting domestic tourism as well as on the size, management, support needs and potential related to domestic tour-ism in the Nordic countries, 2) analyses the data and provides observations and recommendations on the operating models developed during the crisis that would be useful in developing domestic and interna-tional tourism in the Nordic countries in the future, and 3) presents the results in the form of a final report and a visualized presentation (e.g. ppt) and gives presentation of the results in physical or online event agreed later. A more detailed description of the project is given in Annex 1 Description of the call for tenders The study is part of a project funded by the Nordic Council of Ministers, and there will be a steering group consisting of participating Nordic counties. Tenderers compete only with quality.

The aim of the study is to present best practices in developing and promoting domestic tourism in the Nordics as an answer for Covid-19 crisis. By gaining also knowledge of the future outlook and possibilities of domestic tourism in the Nordic countries, the project aims to support competitiveness and resilience of the organisations and SMEs operating in the domestic and international tourism markets. The project will strengthen the Nordic tourism cooperation. During the service, the Service Provider 1) collects information on the best practices in developing and promoting domestic tourism as well as on the size, management, support needs and potential related to domestic tour-ism in the Nordic countries, 2) analyses the data and provides observations and recommendations on the operating models developed during the crisis that would be useful in developing domestic and interna-tional tourism in the Nordic countries in the future, and 3) presents the results in the form of a final report and a visualized presentation (e.g. ppt) and gives presentation of the results in physical or online event agreed later. In the study, at least the following questions should be answered: 1. What are the best practices in developing domestic tourism in the Nordics as an an-swer for crisis? • In promoting, product development, networking, collaboration etc. 2. What is the future outlook of domestic tourism in the Nordics? • Size, potential, changing preferences (e.g. for certain types of tourism prod-ucts, quality level, sustainability) 3. What support needs are recognized for tourism SMEs operating in the domestic tourism market in the Nordics? • Skills, networks, investments etc. 4. How are domestic tourism activities coordinated and financed in the Nordics? • Is it coordinated? Who is responsible? Has the pandemic brought changes in investments (public, private)? Tourism industry stakeholders should be involved in the project. The methods for compiling and analyzing the data to answer the research questions will be presented by the Service Provider in the tender. The study will explore the domestic tourism markets in the Nordic countries during years 2020-2022 relative to time before this whenever appropriate to indicate chang-es. In addition to this, the future outlook of domestic tourism in the Nordic countries is ex-amined. The data will be collected from and the results presented for all Nordic countries and autonomous regions (Denmark, Greenland and Faroe Islands, Finland and Åland, Ice-land, Norway and Sweden) separately and at the Nordic level together. The project is funded by the Nordic Council of Ministers, and coordinated by the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment of Finland. A steering group, consisting of representa-tives of relevant stakeholders from different Nordic countries, will guide the work. Detailed description of the procurement is given in the Annex 1 Description of the call for tenders Reporting of the results A written final report and visualized summary (e.g. ppt, BI tool, infograph). Presentation of the results in a public event, e.g. online webinar. All the results will be presented in English. The written final report will be published via Nordic Council of Ministers’ publishing system. The Project Owner is responsible for the publishing costs as well as possible costs of or-ganizing the public event for the presentation of the results. All materials (reports, webinar recording etc.) should meet the accessibility requirements. Work must be finished by 31.03.2023.

Schedule and budget The Service Provider will carry out the tasks outlined in this document. The work will begin preferably in June 2022 or as soon as the tendering process is completed, taking into ac-count the optimal timing for data collection. The project will be finalized by March 2023. Working language is English, unless otherwise jointly agreed.