TAMK hosted Erasmus Intensive Programme in Sustainable Tourism

Grilling sausages in Seitseminen National Park

The last two weeks we had extremely nice and instructive time during the project course about Sustainable tourism management! Course’s aim was to analyse three different destinations in Tampere from sustainable point of view: city centre, Pyynikki and Seitseminen national park. So we had a great time by making these destinations familiar for our visitors from Spain and United Kingdom! Based on our experiences and lectures we had to make a presentation in mixed groups about our proposals for those destinations.

On a first day all three nationalities had presentations about their culture which was really interesting and good opening for the weeks. The visitors could even taste a little piece of Finland: Finnish salmiakki, but it didn’t get so great admiration. I just have to wonder why!;) We Finns also arranged a welcoming party where everyone had a good chance to make new friends and enjoy their time.

Our first destination was city center where the majority of students went to see Tuomio church, the Main Square, Finlayson, market hall and Vapriikki-museum. There was a little snow storm during our walk, but we solved the problem by drinking hot cup of coffee in Vapriikki-museum till snowing was over.

The trip to our second destination, Pyynikki and Pispala area, was a whole new experience for the majority of our visitors! They were thrilled about wooden residential area of Pispala, tasted the best donuts of Tampere in Pyynikki observation tower and walked on an icy like for the first time. In addition the weather was lovely because sun was shining.

Walking on a lake in Pyynikki

City Tour and Tallipiha

Our final destination was Seitseminen national park where we Finns arranged different kind of activities outdoors. First there was a short document about the nature of Seitseminen and after that we had a walk in a forest. Few people took a sled with them and there was a lot of screaming when they went down the hills! After our nice walk we grilled some sausages on a campfire and enjoyed our delicious picnic lunch. Before leaving we played football in the snow, skied a little bit and played Finnish game mölkky.

Team working

After long days of teamwork finally every team succeed and made good presentations. Now it is time for the final party and we have to say good bye.

Writer: Niina Väisänen, student in Tourism in Ikaalinen Campus