Tourism — Led development of Himos in Jämsä region

Commonly European development challenges come from structural changes in service and industry sectors resulting in new working opportunities and unemployment, at the same time. Higher fuel costs and concerns about climate changes also threaten sustainable development. - What are the implications of those challenges for the economic development of a City like Jämsä where populations are shrinking and the paper industry is gradually reducing working opportunities? How can better services and working opportunities for the ageing citizens of Jämsä be guaranteed? How can the positive impacts of investment and development programs on economic growth be maximized? And how can sustainable development be balanced and managed? - To cope with the aforementioned issues Jämsä has gone through an innovation process and initiated the development of the Himos ski area in Jämsä as an all year round tourism and service center. To stay on top of the development visions, Jämsä has leveraged Himos with innovative advanced technology as well as with a creative Himos-LivingLab to render it a springboard for growth. While regional cluster programs are supporting Energy Efficiency (EE) and ICT technology, Jämsä has initiated SmartHimos Program specifically for EE and ICT technology in order to lead tourism development and maximize overall economic growth in the region. SmartHimos is now spearheading the Tourism-Led Development in Jämsä, while Himos-LivingLab provides a test field for SmartHimos. Furthermore, in order to assess and direct SmartHimos and other investment impacts on Jämsä development, "Himos Road Map" (HRM) provides the appropriate benchmarking and tools to guide the economic growth potentials of Himos within an extended-urban-area.