Cultural Tourism Becomes the Centre of Sustainable Development

Together with Museum Kolding, Billund Municipality's Museums and Kongernes Jelling (Jelling of the Kings) Design School Kolding will work to rethink cultural tourism in the Destination Triangle Area.The project is one of a total of five cross-disciplinary tourism projects that have been awarded a total of approx. DKK 22 million from the Danish Business Promotion Board.

The Destination Triangle area, which is a relatively new destination, is leading the joint project, where several prominent players are rethinking cultural tourism in order to create tomorrow's sustainable cultural experiences and attract tourists outside the peak season.

Covid-19 has hit the tourism industry the hardest. Legoland has had far fewer visitors, and the number of overnight stays in the Triangle area has fallen by over one million from 2019 to 2020.

Based on the New Normal created by the pandemic, a number of cultural institutions and corporations will collaborate to further develop and rethink cultural tourism across three municipal boundaries: Billund, Kolding and Vejle.

The Destination Triangle area is leading the project, which focuses on keeping tourists in the area for a longer period of time outside the peak tourist season among other things by creating attractive cross-cultural experience packages.

Cultural tourism as a lever for tourism development
The project involves several partners from major cultural institutions: Billund Municipality's Museums, Museum Kolding and Kongernes Jelling (Jelling of the Kings) collaborate with Design School Kolding (Design for Play and Social Design), and a consultant in museology to develop the top class attractions of the future:

-The core of the project is cultural tourism and the belief that culture is a growth catalyst for sustainable tourism development in and of itself. When, for example, you travel to France, you do not go there because of the delicious little shop or café, but because you want to experience an attraction, such as the Louvre or a beautiful castle. A restaurant or a boutique has opened because of the many visitors to the attraction, and growth has been created based on the attraction, says Maria Sommer, project manager at Visit Vejle. She explains:

-This is how we look at cultural tourism in this destination. The development of the museums and the cultural experiences can create growth for cafes, shops and entrepreneurs. At the same time, it’s our goal to ensure that the tourists get world-class experiences at the museums and the attractions but also have the opportunity to visit the delicious little café or boutique – and that they do so outside the peak tourist season and stay here for several days, explains Maria Sommer, who is in charge of the project as well as the application to the Danish Business Promotion Board.

Sustainable efforts
There is an urgent need for long-term strategies within sustainable tourism development, and this is one of the core elements of the project:

-The Destination Triangle area and its partners must make an effort to disperse the tourists in order to create a better flow between the major attractions. In particular, the guests need to have easy and convenient access to the area's museums which work across disciplines to create common experience packages, Maria Sommer explains. She elaborates:

-We work with the concept wayfinding, which concentrates on dispersing the tourists between several attractions. It creates an incentive to stay longer at the destination. Several museums in our destination collaborate in order to share experiences on attraction development and sustainable initiatives. They will also collaborate on developing products that will make the guest want to experience the destination over several days – especially outside the peak tourist season. The basic goal is to develop our most important cultural institutions, which contributes to the fulfilment of the ambitions of being world-class attractions. In addition, of course, we want to motivate the tourist to experience our beautiful area for several days.

More user involvement and focus on user-based development
The project keeps the guest in focus! Therefore, a collaboration has been initiated with Design School Kolding, which will carry out user-participation surveys. At Kongernes Jelling (Jelling of the Kings), which is both a World Heritage Museum and a technological beacon, a new attraction will be developed:

-The upcoming Jelling Viking Test Center will be a test centre where you play with communication. The development is based on empirical data and user involvement. All museums thus gain access to new knowledge and experiences. It will be a huge ‘wow’ experience that you, as a guest, can contribute to developing a UNESCO World Heritage Site. We can use this especially in our international marketing, where the message is: Come and help create the UNESCO Viking World Heritage of the future, concludes Maria Sommer.

Facts

• A Triple Helix steering group is the driving force of the project.
• Several of the Destination Triangle area's museums are collaborating. These are Museum Kolding at Staldgården and Skamlingsbanken, Kongernes Jelling, Christiansfeld and the Billund Museums.
• Design School Kolding contributes to the project as a knowledge partner together with a private consultant trained in museology at the University of Aarhus.
• Figures from VisitDenmark show that there was a 35% decrease in overnight stays from 2019 to 2020 in the Destination Triangle area due to the pandemic (the second highest decrease in all of Denmark).