Useful funds, disappointing framework: tourism stakeholder experiences of INTERREG

ABSTRACT Cross-border tourism cooperation is a fruitful form of engagement between borderland destinations, helping them boost their profile and minimise problems arising from operating near a border. European cross-border tourism cooperation is often supported by a European Union project funding arm known as INTERREG. Our study explores the perceptions and experiences of stakeholders involved in three INTERREG projects between tourism destinations in the Scandinavian borderland region of Jämtland-Trøndelag. The aim of the study is to understand why tourism actors in the region decide to apply for INTERREG funds, what their perceptions are towards the project framework, and how their experiences of INTERREG influence their assessment of the programme as a tool for successful cross-border cooperation in tourism. Emerging from a qualitative approach based on in-depth semi-structured interviews, we reveal that the stakeholders involved in the projects see INTERREG as a valuable source of funding in an otherwise under-funded border region, but that they experience a number of problems within the INTERREG framework. The omnipresence of short-term, supranational funded projects is perceived as detrimental to the establishment of sustainable cross-border tourism development within the study region. We recommend that tourism practitioners be more cautious when thinking of (re)applying for INTERREG funding.