We are working with others on preparing an EU  preparatory bid for a transport-related research project. Baltic map

Northpoint provided input to the BALTIC BIRD project www.baltic-bird.eu/, which has involved developing Public Service Obligations (PSO) and Route Development Funds (RDF) for the partner regions.  The focus is developing EU State Aid compliant ways of supporting air route development.  The project involved the short listing of likely air routes for Bodo Airport (Norway), Bydgoszcz Airport (Poland), Liepaja Airport (Latvia) and Savonlinna Airport (Finland).

Tourism Destination Development Guidelines.   This Baltic Bird ancillary 2013 project had four  collaborating clients – Rostock Business Germany, South Ostrobothnia Council, Finland, Nordland County Council and Avinor both of Norway.  The project highlighted tourism promotion best practice in wilderness areas for this Baltic Sea Commission transnational project.  It involved case studies in the British isles (Visitscotland, Tourism Ireland and N. Irish Tourist Board, VisitCornwall), but also desktop case studies on British Columbia and Fiordland National Park in South Island New Zealand.   The four client partners had tourism promotion profiles and a SWOT analysis prepared.  Two best practice visits were arranged to Inverness / Orkney and to Ivalo-Inari-Saariselkä region of Finnish Lapland.  Essentially the theme was how these remote regions were promoting themselves and building significant tourism business in the face of apparent obstacles.  The World Travel Market allowed conversations with key people and the resultant report identified some actions that each of the participants could pursue for their specific regions.   These covered opportunities such as strategic Twinning, Geotourism, Slow Tourism, Sightseeing flights, Collective Marketing and Wellbeing Tourism.  As an aside Basil O’Fee introduced Voigt Travel of Netherlands (2014) – they focus on Wilderness tourism for Benelux – facilitative work on developing their Scottish offer to both VisitScotland and HIAL.  They launched in 2015. more

The Baltic Bird project has now been completed and is celebrated in this brochure Brochure Baltic Bird_web

The photographs above record some of the people involved in these various collaborations. NPP Logo and map Northpoint is also involved in a Smart Peripheral and Remote Airports 2020 (SPARA 2020) ‘preparatory project’ as part of the Northern Periphery programme.  Partners include Hitrans, Trafikverkert, Sundsvall Timrå Airport and Storuman Municipality in Sweden, Ireland’s Northern and Western Assembly, Robert Gordon University, Molde University in Norway, the University of the Highlands and Islands and The University of Sydney in Australia.  Associates include the island councils of Scotland, Donegal and Ireland West Airport, HIAL, Carlisle Airport, Isavia, Eurocontrol, ARC, the Swedish Regional Airports Association and CPMR.  Northpoint has been providing expert and coordination support to the preparations of this exciting project.  The main three year project has now been formally approved and commenced its work with an Implementation Meeting in Inverness in June 2015.spara colour transparent