Green Energy Technologies for Tourism Growth – GLOW2.0

GLOW2.0 will apply a Green Business Model to pilot and learn how to develop sustainability methodologies in SMEs with a focus on companies and social enterprises serving the Dark Nights Tourism Economy. It thus will enhance sustainable growth and competitiveness of SMEs and job creation, which will involve them in productive investments. The project will support enterprises and public organizations in developing tourism flow during the dark winter months by enabling the application of immersive technologies at an enterprise level and developing common-use applications presenting the night sky (developed during the project). These will be integrated into existing tourism strategies and offers on natural and cultural heritage to develop a marketing platform, which will enable the enterprises to reach beyond their existing markets. These will enable enterprises to develop their own green business models. Green businesses can grow economically and reduce the use of resources.

The project will integrate techniques for green business with immersive technologies for maximum impact. A bridging study has involved enterprises, tourism, and local authorities in workshops to determine their priorities and what they can absorb, which has determined the feasibility of the project. There are three main aspects: enhancing the capacity of SMEs, and in delivery, marketing, and promotion of a tourism offer including dark skies; technology development of a virtual planetarium, 360-degree photography, and star gazing applications, to be shared and adapted across the region; and validation and promotion of Dark Skies tourism as a regional offer across the NPA area, which also serves as means of safeguarding natural assets. The three aspects are mutually supported. Enterprises gain technical and business capacity. Regions enhance their overall tourism offer and this is disseminated across the NPA.

The project is led by Karelia University of Applied Sciences. ArcLog/UiT Narvik is involved in developing ImT-solution for dark sky tourism and will be a learning journey destination for the project. The project period is December 2022 – November 2025.

Budget 

Total budget € 1,798,328.64 
EU Funding € 1,366,645.00 

Duration 

12/2022 – 11/2025 

Partners