Creating an innovative model for managing Helsinki Visitor Experience

The City of Helsinki is developing a new model for managing Helsinki’s visitor experience, and we are very excited to be chosen as their partner for that development task. In order to achieve the strategic goals of the Helsinki tourism and events 2022-2026 action plan, the development of a management model for Helsinki’s visitor experience that combines different tourism and visitor services have been started.

The visitor experience management model is co-created in collaboration with all the important partners of the Helsinki tourism destination who are invited to participate in the joint development. Partners ranging from logistics, hospitality, infrastructure, business development, and culture, to event and nature destination organisations, have been eagerly signing up for collaboration with us.

Our main tasks are to define the shared vision for the visitor experience, identify experience principles and, essential visitor profiles and develop their visitor journeys. We are also identifying areas for development, opportunities for differentiation, and opportunities for safer and more sustainable choices within the visitor’s journeys. Finally, we are creating a metrics system and defining the joint metrics to measure the visitor experience. 

“This project is a great opportunity for us to combine our city design expertise, with our long experience of working with the travel industry”, says Esa Nettamo, Chief Design Officer at Digitalist. “We have for example worked with railways, public transportation providers, airlines, and ferry companies both in Finland and abroad for years. Through this we have a deep understanding of the travel industry from both the service provider perspective and the perspective of travellers”, he continues.

“It’s a pleasure to see that the City of Helsinki is starting to manage its visitor experience in a systematic, goal-oriented, and especially human-centered way. The new management model allows the city to build a visitor experience that delivers on the brand promise and stands up to the competition of other European cities”, explains Mikko Koivisto, Service Design Director, Digitalist.

Read more about the project from the City of Helsinki’s release (in Finnish): Helsinki kehittää suunnitelmallisesti kaupungin vierailijakokemusta

Read more about how we are designing the future of cities: Designing the future of cities, together with citizens