Culturally sensitive tourism in the Arctic

Session is hosted by Carina Ren (Aalborg University, Denmark), Emily Höckert (University of Lapland, Finland), Kjell Olsen (Arctic University of Norway), Bryan Grimwood (University of Waterloo, Canada), Outi Kugapi (University of Lapland, Finland)

The purpose of the session is to gather around the notion of cultural sensitivity in tourism settings. Expanding tourist interest in the Arctic is bringing unforeseen opportunities and demand for new tourism products and services that draw on the cultural and natural resources of the region. Simultaneously, limited knowledge of indigenous and other local cultures in Northern communities calls for more open and responsible dialogue among different tourism actors. In these settings, we wish to continue the ongoing discussions about the ways in which indigenous and local cultures can be defined, categorized and utilized in sensitive and meaningful ways across the Arctic (see Viken & Müller 2017). The session welcomes conceptual, methodological and empirical explorations around cultural sensitivity. The research papers can draw attention, for instance, to the values of sensitivity and responsibility in tourism entrepreneurs’ work, and how tourism researchers and practitioners engage with tourism development in general (see Höckert 2018; Ren, Jóhannesson & van der Duim 2017). The session is open for critical examination of the conventional division between culture and nature in the ways we think, investigate and develop tourism within, and beyond, the Arctic (see Grimwood 2015). The gathering is co-hosted by members of ARCTISEN-project (2018-2021) http://sensitivetourism.interreg-npa.eu/.

Read more about the Symposium here.