Project's baseline reports

During the spring 2019, ARCTISEN partners conducted nearly hundred interviews among start-ups, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), local destination management organisations (DMO) and other tourism actors. These interviews included questions about business environments, product development and capacity-building needs. The focus of the interviews lied on questions of agency and self-determination, but also on issues related to the use of cultural resources in tourism.

The purpose of the ARCTISEN baseline reports have been to build knowledge of the current tourism practices in the project area. They give us important guidance when planning and conducting, for instance, benchmarking trips, workshops and different kinds of educational materials.

 

TRANSNATIONAL baseline report

Name: Looking at Arctic tourism through the lens of cultural sensitivity : ARCTISEN – a transnational baseline report

Authors: Kjell O. Olsen, Mette S. Abildgaard, Camilla Brattland, Daniela Chimirri, Cecilia De Bernardi, Johnny Edmonds, Bryan S. R. Grimwood, Chris E. Hurst, Emily Höckert, Kari Jæger, Outi Kugapi, R. Harvey Lemelin, Monika Lüthje, Nuccio Mazzullo, Dieter K. Müller, Carina Ren, Ritva Saari, Lateisha Ugwuegbula & Arvid Viken

Summary: This transnational report approaches current tourism development in the Arctic through the lens of cultural sensitivity. What does cultural sensitivity mean? In which ways can Indigenous peoples and other local communities utilize their cultural heritage and contemporary life in creating successful tourism products and services? Based on a tourist survey and interviews among tourism actors, the report offers an overview and cross-national comparison across the project areas of Canada, Finland, Greenland, Norway, and Sweden.

Permanent address of the publication: http://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-952-6620-39-8

 

GREENLAND national baseline report

Name: Toward culturally sensitive tourism - Report from Greenland

Authors: Carina Ren, Daniela Chimirri & Mette S. Abildgaard

Summary: This report examines ongoing tourism development in Greenland through the lens of cultural sensitivity. What does cultural sensitivity mean to actors directly involved in or connected to tourism? In what ways can local communities and businesses utilise their cultural heritage and contemporary way of life in creating successful tourism products and services? Based on interviews among tourism actors, this report offers an overview of the tourism landscape in Greenland, with a particular emphasis on Nuuk and Sisimiut.

Permanent address of the publication: http://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-952-6620-45-9

 

NORWAY national baseline report

Name: Cultural sensitivity and tourism - Report from Northern Norway

Authors: Camilla Brattland, Kari Jæger, Kjell Olsen, Elle Mari Dunfjell Oskal & Arvid Viken

Summary: This national report approaches community participation in Sámi tourism in Norway and its relationship with cultural sensitivity. To what extent does participation and empowerment guarantee cultural sensitivity in tourism? In which ways can Indigenous peoples and other local communities utilize their cultural heritage and contemporary life in creating successful tourism products and services? Based on interviews among tourism actors, the report offers an overview and discussion of cultural sensitivity in Sámi tourism in Norway.

Permanent address of publication: http://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-952-337-207-8  

 

NORWAY national baseline report/ In Norwegian 

Name: Kulturell sensitivitet og turisme : Rapport fra Nord-Norg

Authors: Camilla Brattland, Randy Bruin, Kari Jæger, Kjell Olsen, Elle Mari Dunfjell Oskal & Arvid Viken

Summary: Denne rapporten undersøker kulturell sensitivitet og lokal deltakelse i turisme som tar utgangspunkt i Samisk og lokal kultur. Det stilles spørsmål om deltakelse og innfytelse i seg selv er en forutsetning for kulturelt sensitiv turisme og i hvilken grad samisk og lokal kultur og kulturarv kan benyttes i turisme produkter? Basert på intevjuer med aktører i turismenæringen gir rapporten en oversikt og diskuterer kulturell sensitiv turisme i Nord Norge.

Permanent address of publication: http://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-952-337-243-6  

 

SWEDEN national baseline report

Name: Reflections on culturally sensitive tourism - The case of Sweden

Authors: Dieter K. Müller & Cecilia de Bernardi 

Summary: This report for Sweden highlights the situation for the entrepreneurs operating in tourism, both from a Sámi perspective and from other local and non-local stakeholders. Based on the interviews, there are several issues that have been identified connected to the expansion of tourism. One is sustainability, but also the use of culture in tourism and different structural problems related specifically to tourism entrepreneurship. Even though not mentioned specifically as cultural sensitivity, a more ethical treatment of Sámi culture in tourism is something that is important for the respondents to achieve.

Permanent address of publication: http://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-952-337-208-5

 

FINLAND national baseline report  

Name: Toward culturally sensitive tourism - Report from Finnish Lapland

Authors: Outi Kugapi, Emily Höckert, Monika Luthje, Nuccio Mazzullo & Ritva Saari

Summary: The report offers an overview of tourism development in Finnish Lapland with a focus on cultural sensitivity. What does cultural sensitivity mean? Why it is important to discuss culturally sensitive tourism in Finnish Lapland? How could cultural sensitivity be enhanced, and what kinds of challenges might it present? These questions are approached with a special emphasis on the Sámi cultures. The publication is based on 44 interviews with tourism actors across Finnish Lapland.

Permanent address of the publication: http://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-952-337-209-2

 

FINLAND National baseline report / In Finnish

Name: Kohti kulttuurisensitiivistä matkailua: Suomen Lappi

Authors: Outi Kugapi, Emily Höckert, Monika Lüthje, Nuccio Mazzullo & Ritva Saari.

Summary: Julkaisussa luodaan yleiskatsaus Suomen Lapin matkailun nykytilaan ja tulevaisuuteen kulttuurisensitiivisyyden näkökulmasta. Mitä kulttuurisensitiivisyys tarkoittaa? Miksi sen huomioiminen Lapin matkailussa on tärkeää? Miten sitä voitaisiin vahvistaa ja mitä haasteita siihen sisältyy? Kysymyksiä tarkastellaan erityisesti saamelaisten kulttuurien näkökulmasta. Julkaisu pohjautuu 44 lappilaisen matkailutoimijan haastatteluun.

Permanent address of the publication: http://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-952-6620-42-8

 

CANADA National baseline report

Name: Existing Guidelines and Certificates for Culturally Sensitive Tourism in Canada

Authors: Chris E. Hurst, Lateisha Ugwuegbula, Bryan S.R. Grimwood & Harvey R. Lemelin

Summary: This report examines existing guidelines or certificates for culturally sensitive tourism and attempts to assess guideline use by tourism businesses with cultural experience offerings in the Canadian Arctic. Additionally, the report highlights potential challenges and opportunities for tourism development within the constellation of legal treaties and Comprehensive Land Claim Agreements that formally define relationships between various levels of Canadian government and individual Indigenous nations. Based on a review of formal agreements, guidelines, and business websites, the report found potential opportunities for tourism development within formal agreements with Indigenous nations, and a lack of conclusive evidence for the application of existing guidelines by tourism businesses in the Canadian Arctic, and specifically within Yellowknife, Northwest Territories.

Permanent address of the publication: http://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-952-337-211-5

 

Academic publications

Monika, L., Höckert, E. & Kugapi, O. (in press) Pathways to Culturally Sensitive Tourism Policies and Practices. A. Carr & R. Butler (Eds.) Handbook of Tourism and Indigenous Peoples. Routledge.    

Viken, A. (2022) Tourism appropriation of Sámi land and culture, Acta Borealia. https://doi.org/10.1080/08003831.2022.2079276

Brattland, C., Ren, C., Bembom, E. & Bruin, R. (2022) The Domestic Turn in Post-pandemic Indigenous Arctic Tourism: Emerging Stories of Self and Other. Tourism Culture and Communication. https://doi.org/10.3727/109830422X16600594683337 

Viken, A., Höckert, E & Grimwood, B.S.R. (2021) Cultural Sensitivity: Engaging Difference in Tourism. Annals of Tourism Research, 89. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annals.2021.103223  

Höckert, E., Kugapi, O. & Lüthje, M. (2021) Hosts and guests in participatory development. In A. Harju-Myllyaho & S. Jutila (Eds.) Inclusive Tourism Futures (pp. 15-32). Bristol: Channel View Publications. 

Hurst, C., Grimwood, B.S.R., Lemelin, R.H. & Stinson, M. J. (2020). Conceptualizing cultural sensitivity in tourism: a systematic literature review. Tourism Recreation Research. https://doi.org/10.1080/02508281.2020.1816362 

Kugapi, O., & Höckert, E. (2020). Affective entanglements with travelling mittens. Tourism Geographies. https://doi.org/10.1080/14616688.2020.1801824

Ren, C., Jóhannesson, G.T., Kramvig, B., Pashkevich, A. & Höckert, E. (2020). 20 years of research on Arctic and Indigenous cultures in Nordic tourism: a review and future research agenda. Scandinavian Journal of Hospitality and Tourism. https://doi.org/10.1080/15022250.2020.1830433

Saari, R., Höckert, E., Lüthje, M., Kugapi, O., & Mazzullo, N. (2020). Cultural sensitivity in Sámi tourism: A systematic literature review in the Finnish context. Matkailututkimus, 16(1), 93-110. https://doi.org/10.33351/mt.88061

 

Other interesting readings

Videos