In the search of holistic cycling experience : Helsinki-Hanko self-guided cycling product and a promotional blog

Tourism is one of the leading service fields in the world and the market is evolving to include important subcategories of active, nature based tourism niches. The contrary movement back to the nature is a driving force to develop new products in the field of nature tourism and companies are searching for new ways to connect with the rising customer groups in need of individual, personal and self actualizing needs. Finland has a strong potential to be the answer to the demand of carefully built experiences based on nature. The Finnish Tourism Board has invested to develop the field mentioned above. This project- oriented thesis was commissioned by Outdoors Finland and was part of Outdoors Finland South project funded by EU and done in co-operation with the Finnish Tourism Board. During the thesis process the product evolved from creating only a self-guided cycling product from Helsinki to Hanko into a promotion- al blog for the use of Outdoors Finland, based on the cycling experience done in the summer 2014. The objective of this study is to answer a question: what are the components needed to create a self- guided cycling experience using customer understanding as a base? The methods used in the thesis were literature review in the theory base and gathering information from the cycling trip as committed ob- serving. As an outcome of the thesis, a promotional blog is presented. The theory part introduces different types of tourism, concentrating on cycling tourism. The theories of customer needs are studied as creating customer based experience the understanding on customer needs and expectations is vital for company to succeed. The different experience theories give a frame- work for making memorable experiences, and from applying these theories and combining the observa- tions from the cycling trip, the components needed to create a cycling experience are found. In order to answer the study question a holistic experience triangle was created, presenting the importance of nature environment, self development and customer understanding inside the experience elements. The triangle can be used as a designing tool when building a self guided cycling experience by taking all the present- ed components into consideration in predict development phase. As a product-oriented thesis, the paper presents the process and planning of the cycling trip and as well as the writing of the promotional blog. The chosen goals for the product, the blog, were three adjectives chosen to describe the blog; inspiring, entertaining and activating, and four themes used in writing the blog entries taken from experience economy theory using the realms; Entertainment, Educational, Esthet- ic and Escapist. The blog entries captured these adjectives and themes. The final success of the blog can be measured by the amount of engagements when the texts go viral in Outdoors Finland webpage

The Game of Unity?: The 2007 Cricket World Cup as a Catalyst toward Caribbean Identity Construction

It was paramount for the English-speaking Caribbean to host a successful 2007 Cricket World Cup and field an outstanding West Indian cricket team for the international sporting mega-event. For CARICOM and the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB), there were two principle goals – first, to exhibit regional Caribbean identity, and second, to be triumphant under the leadership of the West Indian cricket team’s captain, Trinidadian Brian Lara. Identities are multifaceted and intricate, negotiated and renegotiated, based on a history of economic, political and cultural forces. This thesis interrogates Caribbean identity through textual analysis of the broadcast of the opening ceremony and regional newspaper coverage of the spectacle as well as ensuing events that were held in eight of the Caribbean countries from 11 March to 28 April 2007. The thesis questions whether this mega-event served as a catalyst toward Caribbean identity construction

The BG News July 14, 2010

The BGSU campus student newspaper July 14, 2010. Volume 100 - Issue 158https://scholarworks.bgsu.edu/bg-news/9261/thumbnail.jp