During the spring, SMEs within the Visit Lohja tourism network participated in a series of co-creation workshops aimed at strengthening collaboration among regional tourism actors and building a foundation for an ecosystem-based operating model.
The workshops explored new approaches to innovation and collaboration, the opportunities of AI and digitalization in business development, the creation of shared experiences and service packages, as well as responsibility and sustainable development. A cross-cutting theme throughout the workshops was the transition toward closer joint development, where companies’ services, expertise, and stories become interconnected as part of a broader Lohja tourism ecosystem.
From Ideation to Joint Action
The first workshop focused on ideating a new experiment that would deepen collaboration. A shared concrete initiative emerged: the idea of a future travel fair in Lohja.
Participants developed ideas related to the fair and were provided with their own “fair canvas,” a tool for planning company-specific fair projects. The canvas helped illustrate how an individual company’s content, service, or product could become part of a shared fair experience.
At the same time, common goals were outlined: how sustainability and digital visibility could be better achieved together, what “the spirit of Lohja” means, and how it could evolve into a recognizable strength of the tourism network. A key insight was the shift from working individually to building a shared experience. The joint experiment inspired participants and highlighted how much more can be achieved when companies plan, communicate, and operate together.
Shared Stories and Experience Packages Build Ecosystem Content
The second workshop focused on developing shared Lohja stories and experience packages. The goal was to strengthen the overall customer experience of the region and to create service offerings tailored to selected target groups. Participants ideated and presented jointly developed experience packages where services from different companies complemented one another.
The process helped clarify how individual services can be combined into clear, attractive, and easily purchasable packages for customers. While the idea itself was not entirely new, the workshop made it concrete. It provided tools for articulating collaboration and encouraged participants to consider how services could be more visibly presented in digital channels. The stories and experience packages not only enriched individual offerings but also laid the foundation for ecosystem-based work: a shared understanding of what Lohja is as a destination and how its attractiveness can be built together.
Digitalization and AI in the Everyday Life of SMEs
The third workshop examined the role of new digital tools, especially artificial intelligence, in developing SMEs in the tourism sector. The aim was to increase understanding of the opportunities digitalization offers both for individual businesses and the entire tourism network. Discussions emphasized the responsible and practical use of AI. AI was seen as a tool that can support content creation, ideation, customer insight, marketing, and service development. At the same time, participants reflected on the capabilities and courage required from companies to adopt new tools.
The workshop encouraged participants to experiment with digital solutions in their daily operations. For many, an important realization was that adopting AI does not have to begin with large systems or major transformations. Even small experiments can deliver success, save time, and open new perspectives for business development. The goal is that these experiments will not remain isolated but that digitalization will continue to be integrated into the development of both individual companies and the tourism network as a whole.
Toward More Effective Collaboration
The fourth workshop moved toward concrete planning of the ecosystem’s collaboration model for the longer term. The goal was to ensure that the joint work initiated during the workshop series would continue beyond the project.
Discussions defined the structures, roles, and practices for future collaboration. A need emerged to clarify how the network stays connected, how new ideas are advanced, which joint actions are prioritized, and how responsibilities are shared. At the same time, the idea was reinforced that the Lohja tourism network aims to develop as part of the broader Finnish tourism landscape with its own profile, strengths, and recognizable local identity.
Key Outcomes of the Workshops
The atmosphere of the workshops was enthusiastic and open from the start. Participants got to know each other and each other’s offerings, which proved to be one of the most important steps in development. This shared understanding formed the foundation for genuine collaboration.
Key insights included that working together generates more visibility and impact than individual actions, that shared stories and service packages enhance the region’s attractiveness, and that digitalization, responsibility, and sustainable development should be integrated into the entire network’s operations.
The concept and implementation of the future travel fair, developed during the workshop series, concretized the power of collaboration. The Live, Love, Lohja fair was successfully held on March 21 and demonstrated that a jointly built whole truly is more than the sum of its parts. The ideas and forms of collaboration developed in the workshops will be implemented during the coming summer, and development work is set to continue even more purposefully in the autumn.
A particularly important factor in the success of the work was that the change originated from within the network itself. The workshops enabled encounters, shared thinking, and appropriately sized concrete experiments through which the value of collaboration became visible. The ecosystem work did not remain at the level of ideas—it was initiated, took concrete form, and continues in the next joint steps.
Feedback from the Workshops
Based on participant feedback, the workshop series was successful, receiving an overall rating of 4.3/5. Feedback especially highlighted the power of collaboration, joint ideation, open discussion, and the inclusion of different perspectives. The workshops were experienced as inspiring, encouraging, and thought-provoking. Participants appreciated the positive atmosphere, the knowledgeable facilitation, and the opportunity to reflect together. Many also noted that the workshops sparked new ideas and strengthened the sense that long-term, impactful collaboration for Lohja tourism can be built through working together.
The English translation of this article was prepared with the assistance of AI tool (Copilot).