After the trip to beautiful Latvia, our groups started to design new concepts for the municipality of Tukums. The field trip gave us more insight into the nature tourism opportunities and challenges in the area. Also, how sustainability is taken into account by entrepreneurs who operate in the area. Tukums have a diverse nature. They have a seaside with long sand beaches, a one-of-a-kind swamp area, and forests. These create a great opportunity to offer multiple different kinds of experiences for different customer groups.

Importance of clear guidance

As diverse nature offers many places to see for a tourist, it also creates a challenge. One of the biggest challenges of Tukums was the lack of transportation. Multiple different places to visit spread around big municipality. I don’t think we would have been able to see as much as we did if we hadn’t rented cars. The places we visited were far away from each other and were in rural areas. Public transportation is not easily available in this situation. Also, another issue related to transportation was the lack of signposts. It was difficult to find the wicker farm. Google Maps did not work properly which is probably the most used app to find a destination. That is the reason why having more signposts is important. We were lucky to have a guide with us. Otherwise, we would probably still be lost in a forest trail in the middle of nowhere.

Photo by Julia Vuollet

Pioneer in sustainable practices in tourism industry

As sustainability has been a rising trend for years, it was positive to see how all the entrepreneurs we met were operating responsibly. The use of local resources was visible, and utilizing nature to create experiences for customers. Often we might think that making sustainable investments would be expensive for a small business. However, it was great to see how entrepreneurs in Tukums region had built their business operation on sustainable practices. I would highly recommend any small or big-scale entrepreneur to visit Tukums region. They surely would learn a lot about sustainability.

Photo by Julia Vuollet

I learned a lot tourism experience design and I am able to utilize this knowledge in working life in the future. Sometimes the most simplest idea can be turned into innovative and profitable service which will also bring joy for people. Cannot wait to see what the future holds!

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