Stockholm, Helsinki, Turku and Tallinn are building a practical model of regional collaboration, one meeting at a time
Some of the most useful developments in an international organisation do not begin with a formal programme. They begin when people recognise that their neighbours are facing similar questions and decide to sit around the same table.
That is what happened in 2025, when Skål International Stockholm invited the clubs of Helsinki, Turku and Tallinn to the first Nordic–Baltic meeting. The idea was straightforward: create an annual occasion where the four clubs could learn from one another, compare their experiences, and help each other develop.
Stockholm hosted the inaugural gathering. From 2026 onward, the meeting is intended to rotate annually among the four participating clubs. This year it moves to Helsinki from 9 to 11 September, alongside the celebrations marking Skål International Helsinki’s 90th anniversary.
Behind this apparently simple arrangement is something strategically valuable: a regional network created by clubs themselves, grounded in practical needs and strengthened by personal relationships.
From Reporting Activities to Comparing Directions
The working part of the meeting dedicates half a day to the clubs. Each presents its current position, the challenges it faces and the direction in which it wants to develop. The discussion that follows is not limited to exchanging compliments or describing past events. Participants offer advice, share contacts and compare approaches that have worked in their own environments.
The topics are familiar to clubs throughout Europe. How can Skål attract new members while retaining those it already has? How can members become active contributors rather than occasional attendees? How can clubs bring energetic people into their boards and prepare future leadership?
The four clubs also examine how events can respond to the subjects currently being discussed across the tourism industry. A professional association competes for attention with many other networks. Its programme must therefore be relevant enough to bring together people from different tourism sectors, generations and professional backgrounds, while remaining open and attractive to women and men alike.
These are not uniquely Nordic or Baltic questions. They are European questions being addressed through a regional conversation.
Communication Before, During and After
Visibility forms another part of the discussion. The clubs compare how they present themselves and their activities through social media and newsletters, before, during and after an event.
This distinction matters. Photographs published afterwards demonstrate that an activity took place. Communication before an event allows members to participate. Communication afterwards can then preserve what was learned, connect it with future work and help other clubs benefit from the experience.
For Skål, communication is therefore more than promotion. It is part of how an organisation creates continuity, makes participation possible and carries knowledge from one board or generation to the next.
Sustainability Rooted in Local Activity
Sustainability is also part of the Nordic–Baltic exchange. The clubs discuss how to become involved in local projects and how to keep sustainability present when planning and delivering their activities.
This local dimension is important. Sustainability becomes credible when it is connected to destinations, communities and decisions that members can influence directly. By sharing different local experiences, the four clubs can help one another move from general commitment toward visible practice.
Stockholm President Henrik Johansson particularly values the friendship and cooperation developed with Helsinki President Ville Riihimäki, whose sustainability experience has contributed to this exchange. It is a reminder that institutional cooperation often becomes effective because people trust one another enough to share both achievements and difficulties honestly.
Financing Participation, Not Only Events
The meetings also address a subject that clubs sometimes discuss less openly: financial resilience.
Stockholm has shared its experience of working with sponsors and encouraging venues or companies to support events, or particular elements of them. The purpose is not simply to reduce the cost of one evening. Additional revenue can allow a club to invest in its members, including helping more of them participate in international meetings and anniversary celebrations.
Seen in this way, sponsorship is not separate from membership development. It can widen participation, strengthen international relationships, and bring new experience back to the club. A regional meeting provides a useful environment in which clubs can compare these approaches without pretending that one model will fit every local context.
Networks Become Real When Members Meet
The programme includes attractions and social occasions, but these are not peripheral to its purpose. They allow members of the four clubs to meet one another and connect their professional networks. Advice exchanged between presidents and boards is valuable; relationships formed among members give the initiative a wider life.
This is where the Nordic–Baltic cooperation expresses a very recognisable Skål spirit. International friendship is not treated as an abstract value. It is created through repeated encounters, shared hospitality and the willingness to help another club succeed.
“In a short period, we created a great platform for talks and ideas within the area’s clubs and fostered friendships among our clubs,” Henrik Johansson explains. For the Stockholm President, this combination of practical cooperation, friendship and energy represents Skål at its best.
A Small Network with Wider Relevance
Four clubs do not constitute a large structure, and that may be part of the initiative’s strength. The group is small enough for participants to speak openly, understand one another’s circumstances and follow the development of ideas from one annual meeting to the next.
Its value to the rest of Europe lies not in presenting a formula that every region should copy. It lies in demonstrating a principle: neighbouring clubs can create their own space for mutual learning while remaining connected to the wider Skål movement.
The Nordic–Baltic meeting does not need to become more complicated to become meaningful. Its significance will grow if the clubs preserve what they learn, communicate their progress and turn useful discussions into continuing action.
Stockholm, Helsinki, Turku and Tallinn have begun that process. Their experience deserves attention, not only as a regional success story, but as an invitation to consider what European clubs can achieve when cooperation starts close to home.
