A new thematic and operational programme for tourism has been drawn up in North Karelia. The programme was approved by the provincial government on 20 October 2014. The programme sets out the guidelines and measures to stimulate business-driven growth and development of tourism in North Karelia. In drawing up the programme, the emphasis was on consulting the regional industry and on taking into account development proposals and objectives from the industry itself. One of the main conclusions of the programme was that tourism development activities in the previous programming period were too fragmented. According to feedback from tourism entrepreneurs, tourism development resources have in the past been divided into too many different projects and too many different implementers. Entrepreneurs saw, for example, the growth of international tourism, the competitiveness of tourism hubs and the development of tourism events as important development themes. In order to achieve the above objectives, an initiative was included in the Thematic and Operational Programme for Tourism in North Karelia to launch a new “Tourism Growth Programme”. According to the initiative, the growth programme should be implemented in such a way that a significant part of the development resources available for tourism in the new programming period would be concentrated, through a single project package, on the main objectives identified by tourist entrepreneurs during the period 2015-2017. The main objective of the Tourism Growth Programme project is to increase turnover, employment and investment in the industry in North Karelia. Through the project, the aim is to direct expertise and resources to the international product development of tourism companies, the activation of company-specific investments and development measures, and the promotion of event tourism. The project will be implemented between 1 January 2015 and 31 December 2017. The content of the project is divided into four work packages. Karelia Expert Tourism Service Oy (cost EUR 538.989) is responsible for the coordination and management of the project package and the growth package for tourism in the region. The growth package for the tourism area of Joensuu is provided by Josek Oy, Joensuu region development company (cost EUR 473.160), central Karelian development company Keti Oy (cost EUR 371.502) and Pikes Oy Pikes Oy (cost of the tourism region of Pielinen) (cost EUR 443.753). The proposed structure achieves a cooperation model that clarifies and enhances the division of labour between regional business companies and Karelia Expert in order to promote the tourism industry in the province. The total cost of the project is EUR 1.827.404. The financing of the project is made up of 70 % (EUR 1,279.176), 14 % (EUR 248.708) of the local government contribution (EUR 248.708) and business finance (16 %, EUR 299.520) from the ERDF under the Regional Plan for Eastern and Northern Finland 2014-2020.