The village of Fjærland is highly regarded in tourism, but must meet new trends and new tourist groups with the knowledge of how to be a good host and entertainer and how to increase revenue in local tourism businesses. The Norwegian book town in Fjærland is a unique attraction, which together with other tourism companies in the village, must be able to find innovative solutions in order to achieve future goals and increase revenue. Use of research methodology should reduce the risk of mistakes and help the Norwegian book town emerge from crises. 

Western Norway Research Institute conducted a R&D pre-project for the Book Town in Fjærland with financial support from Sogn og Fjordane County Municipality to find out what are the critical input factors, and what is needed to achieve the increase of visitors number and turnover in the book town in Fjærland.

In order to gain background knowledge, a survey was conducted based on a modified service performance (SERVPERF) tool with guests and locals in Fjærland, which specifically addressed possible problem areas. The questionnaire was available online and in paper version at the offices of project partners: The Norwegian Book Town, The Norwegian Glacier Museum, Fjærland Guiding, the food store Fjærland Joker, and Fjærland Fjordstove Hotell.

The survey together with the observation and interview of the project partners contributed to the problem analysis and development of possible solutions.