The Boosting the Finnish Boating Industry and Waterway Tourism through Research Collaboration project aims to increase the international competitiveness, innovation, and sustainability of Finland’s boating industry and waterway tourism.

Haaga-Helia University of Applied Sciences began preparing the research project in spring 2024 together with boating industry experts from PookiPro Management. From the outset, the project preparation has also been supported by Finnboat ry. The project’s nearly 30 corporate partners include members of Finnboat ry as well as key players in the tourism sector.

“The project is extremely important and groundbreaking for the boating industry. We have spent decades promoting boat exports, but we expect the project to provide answers on the opportunities that strengthening Finland’s boating DNA through interdisciplinary collaboration can create for advancing boat exports and waterway tourism in international markets,” says Jarkko Pajusalo, CEO of Finnboat ry.

The project examines, for example, how the sharing economy, the rapid development of digital platforms, and the rising demand for experiential tourism are shaping changing markets. In addition, it investigates how the service infrastructure for Finnish waterway tourism should be developed to meet the needs of future tourists in a sustainable way.

The project is funded by Business Finland, the Finnish innovation funding agency, with over 1.5 million euros, and by companies in the boating and tourism sectors with a total contribution of nearly 200,000 euros.