Fishing tourism

Fishing tourism and a viable fish stack go hand in hand, that is why RETROUT is focused on connecting the stakeholders in these areas. This is done by education on good fishing practice and marketing of business relying on recreational fishing. All fishing guides in the network will follow the ethical code (https://balticseafishing.com/ethical-code/) set up by the project so that the tourist looking for a fishing experience will know that they are making a sustainable choice. RETROUT will help with marketing in different channels such as a web portal and on sport fishing fairs. To find out more about the wrok that is being done reads about each activity.

Person stadning in the water, fishing in the sunset

Destination development process for coastal fishing tourism

The aim of the destination development is to produce strategies and plans for five demonstration sites for the new Baltic Sea fishing tourism product, which are to be used as guidance when planning for post-project activities and to attract new financial resources. The strategies will include mapping of fishing sites, requirements for infrastructure investments, identified key stakeholders and communication strategies.

A destination development company will pilot the transnational destination development process including providing guidance on strategic planning, preparation of business plans and manuals, and mentorship. The local organisational set up will be strengthened by establishing local clusters and connecting them with each other into a transnational network aiming at developing the concept

Educational products

The project centres around five selected destinations, having the prerequisites for pioneering the eco-branding of the Baltic Sea fishing and becoming an inspiration for other tourist destinations and coastal municipalities. The potential and methodology for developing competitive and sustainable coastal fishing tourism destinations will be demonstrated and piloted at five locations.

The contracted destination development consultant will be assigned to present the piloted model process and to compile all the educational products and workshop materials developed throughout the project so that it can be used as an educational product in follower municipalities. The educational package will be in the format of an online course. Key lectures and training sessions will be filmed during national destination development workshops and up-loaded together with all the educational products on www.retrout.org. The model process is made available in the public domain and will become state of art and no intellectual property rights can afterwards be claimed on any of the project outcomes neither by the project’s participants nor other actors outside the project.

Marketing of eco-branding concept

The project will develop and design a joint marketing package for fishing tourism destinations where sea trout is one of the targeted species. The key tasks involved are setting up organisational structure, establish an ECO-brand and prepare marketing packages. This group of activities will develop the eco-branding concept for coastal fishing tourism destination and marketing packages. The coastal fishing tourism destinations, developed and marketed by the project, will meet environmental considerations, as far as possible.

Web portal and Destination Management organisation

The aim is to develop one joint transnational web portal for international marketing and on-line booking services of the coastal fishing tourism destinations. This will be done by the development of the website www.balticseafishing.com, where tourists are able to find information about destinations, companies and packages. The operators that have their own websites will be able to share their information on www.balticseafishing.com and link to their own pages. Those who do not have their own website will develop one during the project. In parallel, there will be sites with customised content for Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.

The online booking system will allow different suppliers to come together and offer joint package trips. The intention is that the angler will be able to find their entire sea trout fishing experience, travel, lodging, fishing licenses, fishing guide, etc. in one place.

Marketing at sport fishing fairs

The aim of this section is to create marketing packages and online booking solution for five demonstration destinations. The aim is to pilot the eco-branding and marketing packages initiatives for Baltic Sea fishing as well as the online booking services of fishing guides, accommodation, etc. The implementation approach is to jointly launch the five fishing tourism destinations at three sport fishing- and tourist fairs and on different online platforms.

As a result of this exercise the project will be able to deliver an evaluation report of the joint marketing methodology and an information and communication technology platform. The transnational value lays in the thematic expertise produced and the documented basin-wide learning experience.