The opening of the Suoperä–Kuusamo border-crossing point was seen as creating new opportunities in the already well-established cooperation between Koillismaa and Louhi regions in, for example, border area tourism. Th e goal of the project was to develop business activities related to tourism from Northwest Finland to Russia and to combine the tourism strategies of the regions and use them as a foundation for a mutual tourism development strategy. An additional goal was to initiate development processes between the diff erent counterparts related to tourism so that they could create a foundation for travel business that could be implemented on both sides of the border. Th e goal was to develop operations in the following areas: improving expertise, utilising information technology in business activities, improving the tourism infrastructure, motivating stakeholders, communication and marketing.