Tourism, Rewritten by Everyone

Imagine a tourism strategy that challenges conventional growth narratives and instead asks: how can tourism create better places to live? That is Turismekollektivet, Visit Sydsjælland & Møn's tourism strategy rooted in collective ownership, co-developed by Group NAO. From Møns Klint to Stevns, from Gavnø Castle to Næstved’s urban pulse, the Sydsjælland area brimmed with potential but needed a unifying narrative that could hold its natural, cultural, and social strengths together. The Covid-19 crisis intensified the need for an agile, value-driven tourism model that could adapt to shifting travel patterns, new local expectations, and a global call for sustainability.

The resulting strategy is guided by four shared principles – the Turismekollektivet’s Code of Conduct: tourism not as a goal in itself but as a tool for community vitality, authentic hospitality based on local identity and narrative, non-negotiable sustainability, and togetherness and collaboration. Rather than aiming to attract more, Turismekollektivet shifted the conversation to better – the strategy rejected growth for growth’s sake and instead put local identity, environmental limits, and the region’s collective well-being at the heart of the destination’s development.