Turku University of Applied Sciences: Lead partner for Tour Rural Baltic 

About us 

Turku University of Applied Sciences (Turku UAS) is a community of 15,000 students and professionals in Southwest Finland. Beyond education, we actively develop research and innovation across a wide range of fields, including tourism and sustainable mobility. TourRBaltic is a perfect opportunity to bring these two important themes together. 

Meet the team 

Heidi Heikkilä – Project Manager has spent the past five years working at the intersection of cycling tourism and sustainable mobility across multiple projects, such as Bike across the Baltic (BAB) and More comprehensive services and cycling networks trough cooperation (KAPU). Before that, she built a solid foundation in international tourism working with a travel agency. In TourRBaltic, Heidi leads the project and keeps the whole partnership moving in the right direction. 

Annika Kunnasvirta – Communications Manager brings over 15 years of experience in sustainable and inclusive mobility at Turku UAS. Annika’s expertise with accessibility in managing projects like INCLUDES will strengthen the inclusive dimension of TourRBaltic, making sure that sustainable rural tourism works for everyone, not just the few. 

Sophia Rehn – Financial Manager oversees the project’s financial administration, ensuring smooth operations across all five partner countries throughout the project lifetime. Brings solid expertise in different funded projects, including financial management, reporting, and working with different funding programmes and requirements. Sophia has a background in tourism, having both studied and worked in the field, which makes the thematic focus of TourRBaltic especially close to her heart. 

The team will be extended with other professionals according to the needs of the project in different phases.

Our focus area: Pori region 

In Finland, TourRBaltic focuses on the Pori region in Satakunta — a destination where sandy dunes, beach activities, coastal cycling routes and stunning nature scenery come together. It is exactly the kind of place that shows both the potential and the responsibility of rural tourism. The local activities in Satakunta are coordinated by our second Finnish partner, Satakunta University of Applied Sciences. They will tell more about the region in their introduction. 

TourRBaltic paves the way for more equal experiences 

Turku UAS coordinates the entire TourRBaltic project and leads the capacity building and knowledge transfer work across the Baltic Sea Region with active communication and dissemination efforts, organizing events and webinars and participating in events to bring our message forward. Our key contribution is the Green Rural Paths Toolkit, a practical resource that will collect the methods, good practices and lessons learned throughout the project, and make them freely available to destinations and authorities across the region. 

We are genuinely excited to lead a project that brings together two themes that belong together: sustainability in tourism and accessibility for all. Better mobility conditions and more accessible routes and services benefit both locals and visitors, which supports also regenerative approach to tourism. Raising awareness of this approach across the Baltic Sea Region, especially in rural areas that are more vulnerable to the pressures of overtourism, is something we are happy to take forward. 

“We are looking forward to meeting the DMOs, entrepreneurs and communities working with tourism and co-developing with them solutions that help rural destinations become more sustainable and better places to live and visit.”
— Heidi Heikkilä, Project Manager

Programme Manual Online

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