The Partnership Award
2024
Nominee
Finalist
Shortlist
Winner
Mia & Emil on Tour – Discovery tours for families
Visit Luxembourg
The "Mia & Emil on Tour" project, initiated by the LEADER regions Mëllerdall and Lëtzebuerg West, is a unique tourism initiative designed to engage families with children aged 7-9 through immersive storytelling and exploration. There was no specfic approach so far to reach our youngest guests. This project is a milestone in destination marketing for this target group and reflects their communication behaviour. The project features 20 discovery tours across the regions, each telling captivating stories centered around local landmarks like castles and rock formations. These tours are brought to life through treasure hunts, puzzles, games, and tasks that children can complete along the way, making the experience both educational and entertaining.
Initially conceptualized as a set of physical folders with activity cards, the project faced distribution challenges due to rising print costs. However, thanks to Luxembourg for Tourism’s digital infrastructure, the project was transformed into a digital format, available in 4 languages. This not only made the tours more accessible but also ensured the project's sustainability and resource efficiency. Families can now download maps and activities for offline use, allowing them to enjoy the tours without needing constant internet access.
The "Mia & Emil on Tour" project successfully addressed a critical gap in Luxembourg's tourism industry by creating an engaging and accessible experience for families with young children. This initiative, fueled by a collaborative partnership between the LEADER regions and Luxembourg for Tourism, not only provides entertainment for children but also promotes sustainable and responsible tourism practices.
Judges Comments
The strategy behind Mia & Emil is excellent, it considers a rarely tapped market and one that represents a high quality visitor and focuses on creating rich value at an inspiration, planning and experience level - thus touching on all stages in the visitor cycle.
The decision to focus on the needs of a young market is a smart move as it recognises the strong affinity that can be built-up around a particular destination early and the recognition that engaging families with a suitable and fulfilling offer can lead to life-long affinity with the destination generally. The highly specific nature of the targeting ensures total relevant and therefore is more likely to be successful, whilst it also leaves opportunities to develop iterations, variations or evolutions making this particularly interest.
The gamified educational approach to discovering lesser-known aspects of the destination through illustrated guides and treasure hunts is really novel and makes the overall campaign very complete and experiential. The judges particularly liked how the campaign is built around two characters which children can identify with and felt that the overall concept leaves plenty of room for further development both in the storytelling aspect, the experience aspect.
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