ToLearn, Danish Implementation project: Applying new

information and communication technologies for tourism in

the Wadden Sea area

N.C. Nielsen, SDU-Esbjerg

Background and geographical setting

The effective communication of the attractions and services on offer in an area plays a pivotal

role in its development as a tourist destination. Following this, changes in supply and demand

such as the availability of and preferences for channels of communication can mean that

destinations have to adapt and re-define their strategies in order to be in line with the ways

tourists search and use information. The Danish Wadden Sea area has not traditionally been

seen as a homogeneous destination, due to the very different natural settings and tourism

infrastructure found in the area, ranging from traditional coastal resort tourism along the North

Sea coast to business tourism in Esbjerg and rural tourism in the marsh area and its hinterland.

However, the recent decision by the Danish parliament to designate the un-cultivated parts of

the area as national park from 2009, as well as initiatives in marketing of locally produced

foods, and the development of regional events also indicate an increasing use of the Wadden

Sea label in branding and marketing of the Wadden Sea Area as a tourist destination.

This implementation project is based partly on the aim to follow the possible development of

the Danish Wadden Sea area as a well defined tourist destination, and partly on the recognition

that the tourist experience includes not only travel and accommodation. Also attractions and

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activities linked to the history, nature and culture of the visited areas are of central importance.

The desire of vacationers to differentiate themselves from the mass market and have

individualised experiences is a well-documented trend in tourism. The necessity to develop a

niche strategy focussing on thematic offers such as heritage tourism and wellness, has only

recently been acknowledged in the pilot region and hence, has not been capitalized on to its

full extent. At the same time, on the demand side, development of hybrid forms of tourism is

being observed, in particular the so-called “new tourists” who want to combine vacationing

with learning or voluntary (charitable) work. Furthermore, respondents from the business1

emphasised the need to continue developing family activities in order to attract and retain

families with pre-teens and teenagers. All in all, these trends call for intensified learning

amongst destination managers, combined with higher standards of training and education in

the tourism sector in general, given that improved qualifications are considered a prerequisite

for competitiveness.

Using a learning process to introduce new forms of Information and Communication

Technologies (ICTs) could potentially contribute to putting technological advancements to use

for more sustainable tourism – preferably in combination with schemes for environmental

awareness at various levels: schools, families etc. (an approach that logically follows from the

newly acquired national park status). Recognizing this potential, the University of Southern

Denmark initiated the implementation project described hereafter. The project has the rather

ambitious aim of joining forces between the regional tourism business and cultural institutions

(particularly museums) in order to contribute to the development of information on the

1
Pilot interviews with managers at Fanø and Esbjerg Tourist Bureaus, November and December 2007..

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Wadden Sea area, to be presented and communicated in digital forms to potential and actual

visitors.

Related research on communication in tourism

Since the Centre for Tourism, Innovation and Culture (TIC) was established at the Esbjerg

Campus of the University of Southern Denmark (SDU), one of the central research topics has

been the impacts and potential use of information and communication technologies both on

the supply (business, destination infrastructure) as well as on the demand side (tourist

behaviour, information retrieval, decision making); a process also termed development of

eDestinations. This focus was already reflected in the university’s contribution to the Danish

“spearhead” project on mobile tourist information2. Also the events management and heritage

tourism are topics of research and education at TIC.

In 2007, a post doc position was established at TIC, with the aim to develop models of place-

based communication in tourism, following the evolution from paper maps to Internet and

mobile phones. Particular attention was to be given to the emerging possibilities in marketing

and in communication generally that follow from information being location-based and the

communication medium (mobile phone, PDA or car navigation system) knowing its position

through information from an integrated or attached GPS-device. Also the strong growth in

web 2.0 applications, i.e. information being created and shared by users in a process mediated

by ICT, and the effects of this user “empowerment” on tourism information search strategies

2
As for instance described in Liburd, J.J. (2005): Sustainable Tourism and Innovation in Mobile Tourism
Services. Tourism Review International vol. 9(1) pp. 107-118

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and behaviour will be followed closely3. Large parts of the work assigned to this position

could easily be integrated with the tasks involved in setting up an implementation project for

SDU’s contribution to the ToLearn project.

Onset of the project, concept of demonstration case

During late summer 2007, TIC was approached by representatives of an environmental action

group based on the Wadden Sea island of Fanø, which is also an independent municipality,

one of Denmark’s smallest, following the administrative structural reform of 2007 (see

Challenge profile Denmark). A nature restoration project had been designed and funding had

partly been secured. The project includes the creation of a small lake (total project area 30 ha,

surface area of lake 2 ha with a maximum depth about 2m) near the coast between two parallel

lines of sand dunes, and grazing grounds of semi-natural meadows for sheep and cattle along a

restored stream. At the lake a shelter for bird-watching is to be established. Given the

protected status of this area and the surroundings, the use of signs and information plaques

should be restricted to a minimum, leaving the visual environment as un-disturbed as possible.

At the same time, the various stakeholders of the project have different interests in and

objectives of communicating with the visitors to the area. This became clear already in the

planning phase for our local workshop, see subsequent section.

It was thus considered important to gain an overview of the information and communication

needs and expectations for the various aspects of the project, and to identify the values,

3
For a recent literature survey and scenario based examples see Nielsen, N.C. and Liburd, J.J. (2008):
Geographical information and landscape history in tourism communication in the age of Web 2.0. The case of
the Salt River Bay National Park in St. Croix of the U.S. Virgin Islands. Accepted for publication in forthcoming
special issue on ‘Geography and Tourism Marketing’, of the Journal of Travel and Tourism Marketing.

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attractions and possibly the related information that was unique to Fanø and what could be

applied to the entire Wadden Sea area (of which the island constitutes only a fraction, though a

central one and a hot-spot for tourism). The SDU researchers therefore decided to focus the

implementation project on demonstrating the use of Internet and mobile technologies, in order

to facilitate communication to and between tourists in the Wadden Sea Area. To this end, Fanø

Strandsø would function as the demonstration case. After a brief survey of the activities of the

ToLearn project partners (a year after project start) it was clear that much was to be learned

from the German implementation project Nordseerouten that addresses some similar

challenges. Here, an approach with building on advanced but proven technology appears to

have made it possible to set up a working information system within the time frame of the

ToLearn project .

Survey of technology, educational and museum initiatives

In order to know the general state-of-the-art in mobile communication as well as in mediation

of cultural and natural history, an interview- and web-based survey was conducted with a

handful of key persons in Danish tourism, working with place-based information. A literature

survey as well as findings from foregoing projects pointed to the growing use of GPS systems,

not only for car navigation but also for guiding bicycle and hiking tours and more exploratory

walks in rural and urban environments. The literature also pointed to the growing importance

of geo-tagged imagery in travellers’ sharing of experience and advice through web 2.0

applications. In order to test the precision and ease-of-use of such technology, we purchased a

standard, but high-end digital camera, and a compatible GPS-recorder4. In order to further test

and demonstrate how the recorded information could be shared on the web, we obtained a

4
A Sony GPS-CS1 unit.

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licence for the Tiles2kml software that convers GPS-format location data to the .kml format

used for display in Google Earth and Google Maps (de facto standards as map/image

backgrounds for display of volunteered and shared geographic data or data with a geographic

dimension). This equipment and software allowed us to demonstrate the potentials of geo-

referenced information, in general and in a tourism context, as done at meetings with local

stakeholders as well as at the implementation workshop (see following section).

The meetings with local stakeholdes included:

Conference/course organisers at Taarnborg in Ribe, October 2007 (GPS-geocaching

event in Ribe)

Agendagruppen Fanø, November 2007

Topic groups on Beach/Nature use and Communication created for the ErBy5-project,

Fanø January 2008

Miljøgruppen Fanø, March 2008

The respondents in the tourism industries pointed to their frequent use of the GuideDenmark

database, which is developed by the Danish national tourism board in cooperation with local

tourist agencies, and maintained through input form certified local and regional tourist offices.

It is possible for potential visitors to access the database from the national tourist portal

visitdenmark.com, also using a map interface based on Google Maps. The local tourist

agencies have the option to use selected parts of the database and integrate it in their own

websites, based on a common design schedule and having addresses like visitesbjerg.dk or

visitfanoe.dk. This concept of a common database with shared input, central quality control

5
Erhvers- og Byudvikling (Business and Town development), in peripheral areas, a project supported by the
Danish ministry of Welfare and the local municipalities.

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and shared use by licensed partners is rather unique for Denmark. It has correctly been seen as

a good starting point for development of mobile based information and guidance solutions,

such as the Mobile Tourism Information project, that amongst other places had Esbjerg and

Ribe in the Wadden Sea area as test sites6. In spite of these pilot projects, we have not found

evidence of use of mobile services in tourism in the region, apart from basic SMS-services

with alerts7 and promotional offers. Recently, a high-profiled initiative on research in and

promotion of “information by mobile units” has been initiated by VisitDenmark, Aalborg

University and the tourism development agency of region Midtjylland, Midtjysk Turisme.

Among the first outcomes of this cooperation is a seminar to take place in Aalborg in late

May. We have been following the planning of this event through non-formalised contacts with

Midtjysk Turisme (resulting in them sending a participant to our workshop). Midtjysk Turisme

is also responsible for the web site videnomturisme.dk, meaning Knowledge about Tourism,

that provides basic facilities for user driven exchange of information and posting questions.

In the field of culture and heritage, the museums in the area have started to show a strong

interest in adapting new ICT’s, with two large institutions in the area taking the lead: the

Fisheries and Maritime Museum in Esbjerg and the Wadden Sea Centre in Vester Vedsted

near Ribe. Both are involved in projects on new ways to inform the public on the historical

and natural richness of the area. These institutions have the intention of building on

experiences collected by the Heritage Agency of Denmark through participation in the now

6
With tourism researchers at SDU-Esbjerg and the tourist agencies in Esbjerg and Ribe as local partners,
providing the contact point for the tourist who tested the equipment.
7
An important and relevant service being SMS information from the ferry line serving the Fanø-Esbjerg
connection, informing on queue situations and delays due to weather or technical problems.

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finalised project “Nordic Handscape” 8, where the use of mobile platforms in various contexts

relating to heritage in landscape and museums were tested – mostly using already existing

information. As a follow-up project the Open Air section of the National Museum in Lyngby

near Copenhagen has been developing an interactive game, using mobile phones with

integrated GPS. The game is termed “Mulighedernes Land”, i.e. “land of possibilities” 9, and

is being created in close cooperation with an IT-company and a design agency. There is an

obvious risk of leaving behind smaller museums and collections, which do not have the

resources to keep up date with technological advancements and thus may become less visible

and attractive; a threat addressed by the current project. Regarding culture and events, the four

municipalities in the Wadden Sea area have recently agreed on cultural cooperation within the

framework of “Kulturregion Vadehavet”. An agreement has been struck with the Danish

Ministry of Culture, securing financial support until 2010, given co-financing from the

municipalities. A web site has been set up, to facilitate communication between the partners,

related networks and the public and to promote the initiatives.

For teaching at primary school level, a strong network exists in the International Wadden Sea

School (IWSS), a cooperative programme initiated in 2003 by the Common Wadden Sea

secretariat (CWSS)10. Within the area a forum for presenters of nature and developers of

educational materials has been established, termed “Vadehavets formidlerforum”. The

activities within this forum include training schemes for teachers and provision of facilities

and organization of activities for visiting school classes. The forum also maintains the

educational portal vadehav.dk and the educational project for 4. to 7. grade pupils:

8
Sponsored by the Nordic Council, see web site http://www.nordichandscape.net/ (accessed 29. April 2008)
9
Web site so far only in Danish: http://mulighedernesland.natmus.dk/index.htm (accessed 29. April 2008)
10
See web site http://www.waddensea-secretariat.org/ (accessed 29. April 2008).

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mitvadehav.dk (literally “my Wadden Sea”). These sites are also accessible through the

temporary web site that was set up as part of the information campaign concerning the

ToLearn implementation workshop (see the following section). The institutions involved in

teaching activities have expressed strong interest in taking part in the development of place-

based equipment and content, foremost GPS-based devices and software.

The conclusions from the survey on how to proceed was, that we should rather concentrate on

facilitating learning and exchange of “tips, trick and ideas” between relevant parties in the

region than start setting up a technologically challenging web solution, not knowing if the

relevant actors have interest in and resources to, become familiarised with it or to contribute.

In short, we found more technological options to build on and integrate than expected, as well

as professional networks that can be useful as channels for dissemination of information11.

Thus, there is no need to start “from scratch”!

Organisation of regional workshop, dissemination of information

Following the efforts to map out the technological options and identify stakeholders, we set

out contacting representatives of local NGOs and people in relevant administrative functions

who might be interested in taking part in a regional workshop. At the same time, we identified

potential speakers who could contribute innovative and inspiring ideas to be applied in culture

and tourism in the pilot region. The date and venue for the workshop was fixed in early

January, at the same time as the preliminary agenda for the day was drawn up. The process of

setting a relevant agenda and getting people interested proved to be more time consuming than

expected, and time had to be drawn from preparation of background materials, where the

11
See web site http://www.kulturaftale-vadehavet.dk/ (accessed 2. May 2008)

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original intention was to prepare a CD or DVD with information on the use of ICT. Instead,

the information selected was put on a temporary web site, hosted on SDU’s server and

maintained by TIC staff. We also used postings on the aforementioned website

videnomturisme.dk to reach stakeholders in the tourism sector. In late March, before the

workshop, a press release was sent out to local and regional media, which resulted in

mentioning of the workshop in journals and regional radio news. The final list of speakers at

the workshop ended up composed as such:

- Professor Martin Rheinheimer, Centre for Maritime and Regional Studies, Esbjerg, welcomed
the participants on behalf of the university and talked about historical dimensions in tourist
information and destination branding;
- Janne J. Liburd, leader of Centre for Tourism, Innovation and Culture (TIC) at SDU-Esbjerg,
on challenges facing tourism in the area;
- N. C. Nielsen, post doc at TIC, presenting the background for the implementation project and
preliminary findings;
- Søren Vinding from Fanø, representing the local Agenda 21 group and the Local Action Group
(LAG), presenting the physical and administrative setting for the Sønderho Strandsø project.
- Poul Therkelsen, head of the Tourism and Business department at Fanø municipality, on the
current situation and challenges with regards to communication at destination level;
- Palle Jørly Jensen, web editor at VisitDenmark talked about the structure and use of the
GuideDenmark database in relation to the national and local web site directed at visitors –
followed by an introduction to the project “Digital Experience Map”12, managed by Syddansk
Turisme (tourism development organisation of Danish region Syddanmark, see Challenge
Profile);
- Klaus Støttrup Jensen, curator at the National Museum’s Open Air Museum, introducing and
demonstrating the GPS- and mobile-supported edutainment product “Mulighedernes Land”
(land of opportunities).
- Christian Galonska, Geo-Medien, Chr. Albrechts Universitet, Kiel, introduced and
demonstrated the visitor and planning web sites nordseerouten.de and ostseerouten.de,
contributing parts of the German implementation project.

The workshop took place Thursday April 3rd starting at 9.00 and closing at 16.00. The

morning was used for the presentations listed above. Following these (and lunch), the

12
See promotional material here: http://www.svuf.dk/filer/Digital%20opleveseskort.pdf (accessed 2. Maj 2008)

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participants gathered in themed groups, based on the topics relevant for discussion, identified

in the survey phase. The four themes or strings for further discussion defined were:

1. Mediating history, with new media based on existing material

2. Mediating nature, through intelligent use of new technologies and media

3. Play, learning and sports activities facilitated by new technologies

4. News, events and family activities

Each of the group discussions was headed by a moderator with specialist knowledge who was

selected from the list of registered participants, and had agreed to take that role. After 1 ½

hours of parallel discussions, the participants gathered again, to hear reports from the different

groups and, if possible draw common conclusions.

In summary, the affiliation of the workshop participants turned out to be distributed like this:

4 researchers, 4 IT professionals, 2 municipality and regional representatives, 2 from media, 8

from museums and similar, 2 NGO representatives, 2 teachers (primary level), 1 from regional

business promotion, 5 tourism professionals.

In total 30 participants, excluding the organisers from TIC, attended the workshop. About 90

potential participants had been contacted, and interestingly it turned out that tourism and IT-

professionals along with museum personnel were more inclined (and willing) to find time to

participate than school teachers and nature guides. For representatives of the NGOs, the

problem was that they have daytime jobs allowing for little flexibility in schedules. To remedy

this, a workshop on specific issues has been proposed for an evening later this year; however,

feedback is still awaited from the interested organisations.13

13
A workshop was held on Fanø 20. Spetember, with representatives from the National Museum, the EUMAN
mobile-IT company and aorund 10 local stakeholders. A working group is currently being organised with the aim
of providing relevant content and raising funds for delvelopment of a mobile guide and/or game.

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Immediately after the workshop, a press release was sent to the local and regional media,

unfortunately this did only result in little press coverage of the workshop/project, but we will

make one or two more during the concluding phase of the project, as results worth

communicating appear.

Outcome of workshop, recommendations for follow-up activities

The summary and conclusions from the workshop are currently (May 2008) being edited and

reviewed by the moderators for distribution to the participants and later inclusion in one or

more of the publications of the ToLearn project. However, a Danish version is being prepared,

and based on that, first findings may be given here:

GPS technology allows location based provision of information, i.e. context based

communication. At the workshop, the introduction of this technology and the examples

given spawned a multitude of ideas, some of which are about to be taken up by groups of

stakeholders.

Mobile technologies are perhaps not for everyone (yet), but rather for fast movers in

specific segments, on both the destination and the visitor sides. Adapting the devices and

their applications for tourist information and marketing could advantageously be addressed

directly, with applications that are considered useful or “cool”.

Internet, on the other hand, is for almost everyone, and tourists are known by the industry

to rely on information found at the Internet in the planning phase of their vacation.

If mobile technologies are to be used within the destinations, a well thought-out content

management system is needed, in order to provide relevant and quality information to the

relevant people at the right time and place.

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Much information on cultural and nature history of the Wadden Sea area is already

available on a variety of web sites, but in order for it to be useful through mobile

applications, where the demands for timely and relevant information is higher, some

degree of editing is necessary.

Some information and experiences are not easily or practically digitised, and should not be

either. Examples mentioned were: using a looking glass to study an insect found in the

field, enjoying the silence on a bench in a remote place. There should be room left for

experiment and improvisation in the experience “space”.

The participants of the workshop were somewhat sceptical about the use of user-generated

information in tourist applications, as in the form of reviews and comments on attractions

or dining places. It was found, that some editorial function would be needed (as known

from existing web logs and chat services).

For stored and edited background materials to be used in the presentation and branding of

destinations, the common message from IT and museum people was: structure, structure

and structure, deemed necessary in order to preserve the information through transfer

across (storage) media and make it readable with different software.

For the relation between technology and content, the message was: content, content and

content, meaning that costs in terms of time and money are severely higher for quality

checked and well mediated information compared to the costs of acquiring and

maintaining the hard- and software of a communication platform.

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The participants in discussion group 4 agreed to the model shown in the figure below,

outlining a setup for a destination information system, incorporating volunteered14

information and comments, plus information on events and offers to be updated regularly.

This model obviously is only a crude sketch, but useful to build on in further discussions of

providers, controllers and distributers of destination information; and we intend to use it in the

follow-up process to the workshop.

The findings, compared to generally accepted trends in design of ICT for tourism and to

communication and learning aspects of sustainable destination management, will be reported

14
In principle with anybody taking interest in a specific place or area and/or subjects relating to it – and with
access to some medium of communication.

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in an article to be submitted to an international peer-reviewed tourism journal. They have also

been used in the press materials sent out in order to promote the final ToLearn conference on

Sylt, which is within driving distance of the Danish Wadden Sea area.15

Comments on the process and setting within the ToLearn project

Contributing to ToLearn has indeed been a learning process for us here at TIC in Esbjerg, as

we have been guided through it by the preparation of challenge profiles, good practice

examples and pilot region studies – and not least the implementation project. Considering this

last building block, there has perhaps been put too much emphasis on the workshop part; given

the spirit of the project, more efforts should have been put into providing texts and tools to the

community or specific target groups. Such were however hard to identify, and the tangling out

of the various groups of stakeholders with their differing interests and expectations became a

part of the project instead of a clearly identified project prerequisite. Still, we hope that the

process initiated by the workshop will contribute to the development of the Danish Wadden

Sea area as an attractive, innovative and sustainable tourism destination. However, in

September 2008, TIC entered in dialogue with Esbjerg Museum (regional cultural/historical

museum) and the Wadden Sea nature gudie coordinator based at the Fisheries museum. We

agreed on cooperation within a pilot project on GPS-enabled cultural-historical bicycle tours

in the area immediately around Esbjerg. This is work-in-progress at the time of writing (Oct.

08).

15
Unfortunately with very limited Danish participation, surely due to limited and scattered promotional efforts
and the limited press coverage.

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At the end of the implementation process, one central question remains: What’s to be learned

from this implementation initiative for other pilot regions and destinations throughout the

NSR? The lessons are to be drawn on two levels, one concerning the process and weighting

the outcome against the efforts, the second level being the practical recommendations for

destinations elsewhere. We dare summarise as follows, first with regards to the process and

the project work form

- Be clear about the objectives, spend the main part of the preparatory phase identifying

the stakeholders and then get to know the challenges they face.

- Be realistic: can the demands of the stakeholders in the pilot region be met by us as

research institutions, or are they policy-related or simply dependent on general

economic trends?

- Communicate broadly in the region, and be aware that establishing useful channels of

communication with the relevant recipients (as well as getting feedback) can be a

tedious process.

- Inform project partners; find groups with similar interests and exchange ideas and first

results as early as possible in the process (also a task for the project management to

enable and facilitate regular communication).

Then, finally with regards to the practical outcomes:

- Be well aware of the developments in GPS technology and the convergence of devices,

and the implications for tourism – use Internet to provide coordinates and map data to

those interested, even if they are still a minority;

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- Heritage and nature can be used actively for increasing the attractiveness of a

destination though new ways of storytelling and “edutainment” facilitated by mobile

media.

- Do not get blinded by the possibilities of new technologies, rather look to what central

segments of visitors are using AND to what first movers are taking up;

- Training of practitioners in the business (and possibly education in colleges etc.)

should focus on web 2.0 technologies, in order to be prepared for more direct and

equal interaction with visitors through electronic media and facilitation of visitors.

communication with each other. Also be prepared to use electronically available

materials from museums and teaching institutions in tourist information and marketing.

- The best way to be prepared for new technologies is to have relevant and well edited

content to provide, and as far as possible a common data structure among partners

interested in providing information through a common, flexible system.

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