The Business of Literature
Spot-lit is a major new three-year literary tourism pilot programme that will launch across four Northern European countries this autumn.
Literary tourism is an emerging niche sector within the wider cultural tourism sector, where places with literary heritage offer author and fiction-related literary tourism opportunities along with opportunities arising from literary festivals, trails and bookshops. Spot-lit aims to grow the literary tourism sector in the Northern Periphery and Arctic region by supporting the organisations and businesses in this culturally-rich region to grow, collaborate, and better engage audiences together.
Funded by Interreg Northern Periphery and Arctic Programme, the regions participating in the Spot-lit programme area are Western Ireland, Northern Ireland, Eastern Finland and South-West Scotland. All share a number of common features such as low population density, low accessibility, low economic diversity, abundant natural resources, and high impact of climate change.
Collectively, the region is home to world-class literary icons and landscapes; however, research suggests there is potential for this sector to work together and grow significantly. Current low levels of joined-up literary tourism activity in the Northern Periphery and Arctic region make it a sector that is ripe for development.
Spot-lit addresses the need for shared development and marketing of existing assets and the development of new ones, which respond to emerging literary and cultural consumer needs. This will result in a better cultural tourism offering and deliver greater economic impact than projects developed in national isolation.
The programme will include the development of a cluster network across the regions, a series of support workshops, the development of 20 new literary products or services and shared learning and transnational marketing.
Speaking on the occasion of the launch of the project, Tomás Ó Síocháin, CEO of the Western Development Commission, said:
“We are delighted to launch this programme today following an extensive period of research and development. Spot-Lit has the capacity to deliver tangible benefits to under-tapped regions across Europe through the literary tourism sector which we know has the potential to be a major economic driver. We encourage any organisation or business in the literary tourism sector to visit our website and sign-up for our information roadshows in early October.”
This autumn, the Spot-lit partners in Ireland, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Finland will deliver a series of workshops for businesses interested in literary tourism development.
Workshop 1: Building successful literary tourism experiences for visitors
Workshop 2: Designing and developing your literary tourism product or service
Workshop 3: Knowing and growing your market
Following on from the workshops, businesses will be invited to participate in a literary business support programme. The programme will be open to SMEs, social enterprises, community groups and literary associations with a unique idea for the development of literary tourism in their area.
This bespoke programme will involve a series of monthly engagement workshops, learning journeys, business advice clinics and individual mentoring supports. The programme will engage with 5 businesses in each country and will include a €10,000 innovation voucher. The focus of the business idea/product will be for the development of literary tourism.
The project will officially launch on 25th September with a new website at www.spot-lit.eu, dedicated social media channels @spot_lit_eu, followed by a call-out for literary businesses and organisations to register their interest for upcoming events and workshops. The project will run until September 2021.