The famous liquor factory is located in the village of Koskenkorva. How could the Koskenkorva brand be used better in the region's tourism and how would it be possible to create vitality and new attraction for the region? The people of Kostenkorva are looking for answers to these questions by taking a study trip to Åhus. Åhus is a village in Kristianstad municipality in southern Sweden, and traditional Absolut Vodka has been produced there since 1879. The goal was to see how a town the same size as Ilmajoki has managed to make the alcohol brand a tourist asset and attraction.
The trip, which is part of Liiver's travel theme project, was postponed for almost 2.5 years due to the corona virus, but finally took place in September 2022. People from the village association, villagers, tourism entrepreneurs and Liiver's representative, a total of 16 people, went on the trip.
We got to know the village of Åhus under the leadership of Ida Qvarnström, who works at Platsorganisation Åhus. Ida told about her organization, which is based on the desire to do things together and bring more tourists to the area. The organization includes 150 village companies and associations and the city of Kristianstad. Half of the funding for the organization's operations comes from the city and half from member companies and associations.
The organization coordinates events for different target groups in the community, such as night football on Friday evenings for young people, well-being lectures and events for the elderly, joint activities for companies.
- In the region, we don't see other companies as competitors, but think that together we can do more, he says Hanna Hyvärinen From the Koskenkorva village association.
The organization, which employs 1.5 people, also maintains the Visit Åhus website, where you can find all current information and, for example, the restaurants' menus for the week. Members can add their own events to the event calendar - the aim is to engage members in the activity.
Ida also presented a travel application implemented as a Leader project, which allows you to get to know the locality on foot. There are two different route options in the application. Led by Ida, we also got to know the famous beach in Åhus.
A group of schoolchildren was seen collecting trash on the beach. Everyone was wearing the same Åhus shirts.
- Working together had been taken over by all age groups, Hanna points out.
At the end of the Saturday afternoon, the residents of Rokskorva got to know Absolut's visitor center, Absolut Home. The visiting experience was impressive, it was built down to the smallest detail. The soundscape and lights supported the story told by the guide, and the tour introduced the Absolut brand in several different spaces. The group also got to visit the factory's bottling plant, which was not in operation that day.
We arrived at the Absolut visitor center with a fire. In the photo, Sari and Jaakko Koskenkorva of Koskenkorva Trahteer.
On the third and last day of the trip, the group had time to explore Copenhagen for a few hours before returning home.
- The main thing I remembered from the trip was the beauty of the village of Åhus. Everywhere was extremely clean and it felt like it was more in the south than it was. Even though it was a small place, the number of services there surprised me. Many restaurants were open in the evenings. In addition, I remembered the sense of community and being together, says Hanna.
What kind of ideas did you bring home? In Hanna's opinion, cooperation could be increased. A bigger event could be organized in Koskenkorva in cooperation with the villagers. Organizing a bigger event would bring visibility and when several different communities were involved, it would be possible to distribute tasks to different parties, and the work would not be left on the shoulders of one person.
- For example, it would be possible to organize the entire village's sales or Christmas market together, it would also bring financial benefits to everyone.
One of the goals of the trip was the continuation of cooperation, which could mean, for example, starting twinning village activities.
- It would be nice if we could continue the cooperation, because we are talking about two villages with a similar profile. If, for example, the children from Rokkorva could visit Åhus and see what it's like there. That could be a big goal in the future, Hanna reflects.
Of the destinations, Hanna especially remembered Åhus beach and the services nearby. The areas of Åhus and Koskenkorva cannot be directly compared, because the starting points are so different, but Koskenkorva also has a water body, could the river be used more?
- Would it be possible to get a leisure place here that brings families together, Hanna thinks.