Background Tourism is likely to become the largest single economic activity in the EU. It currently accounts for 5.5% of the EU’s GNP. Environmental questions and the concept of sustainable tourism are considered under the EU Commission’s Action Plan to Assist Tourism, and the Green Paper produced on the role of the EU in the field of tourism. Member States are currently attempting to control mass tourism so as to preserve popular areas. Several member states require environmental impact assessments to be made in connection with new tourism development projects. To manage the environmental impact of tourism, Germany, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom have launched local visitor management initiatives. The LANDSCAPE LAB project sees tourist destinations as landscape laboratories, where tools for sustainable tourism are developed and demonstrated. The test ground is the Ylläs-Levi area in Finnish Lapland. Objectives The project would test the idea of landscape laboratories in the Ylläs-Levi area in Finnish Lapland. A tool-kit for assessing the sustainability of outdoor nature-based tourism would be created and demonstrated. A monitoring package of ecological, cultural and social indicators would be produced. The project would disseminate knowledge of the current state and evolution of the use of sustainable tourism management and land-use planning. This would help prevent negative environmental impacts from tourism, improve the environment at tourist destinations and provide hardy plant species for possible restoration actions. A multidisciplinary planning and management forum would also be created. The project planned to deliver tools and practices to manage increasing tourism volumes. It is obvious that nature protection issues (regulated EU-wide) are receiving a larger role in the construction and expansion of tourism areas. Results LANDSCAPE LAB finalised all technical tasks as planned, and produced several reports about the effects of tourism on nature and landscape characteristics, nature based recreational activities, environmental attitudes and land use, that can serve as assessment and monitoring guides for sustainable tourism in Northern conditions. The project has delivered a lot of dissemination material and popular articles/reviews for the local and national Finnish media. However, though working towards the objectives, the project spent considerable time on background issues. Turning the extensive surveys and information collection into guidelines and recommendations, which could be used further beyond the project sphere, was difficult. The beneficiary is used to mostly sharing its findings with the scientific community. Therefore, the results are generally addressed the scientific community and institutions dealing with sustainable tourism issues but have also a direct value for the local expanding tourism industry and for the related land-use planning and infrastructure development. The number of visitors to Lapland is increasing, and tourist activities are expanding to more sensitive areas and are now taking place all the year round. The project delivered several decision-making and planning aids, which are area- and region-specific. It results could have a significant impact on how tourist areas are planned in the future. There is a demand for participatory planning and decision-making to manage conflicts of interest. A sketchy plan for the continuation of the aims of the project after its official end date was drafted. The plan referred to planned activities to maintain the project's results but also highlighted the scientific aspects. The project might be able to produce some practical tools for planning sustainable tourism in sensitive areas. Certain scientific aspects – for example, studies on birds as early warning indicators – did not deliver any immediate benefits for planners and decision-makers, but might prove beneficial in the long run. Further information on the project can be found in the project's layman report and After-LIFE Communication Plan (see "Read more" section).