National Identity as Driver of Tourism Development — the Study of Norway
Journal Title: Arctic and North - Year 2021, Vol 42, Issue 42
Abstract
The urgent global need to decrease the dependence on natural resource extraction and find solutions for a sustainable future is also reflected in policies prioritized by the Norwegian government. Among others, tourism has been defined as a promising alternative for future economic development. Tourism in Norway has not remained unaffected by the global growth in international tourist arrivals. This growth is often neither geographically nor temporally equally apportioned, which hampers tourism’s transformative power of generating year-round and well-distributed income. Further, tourists are no longer purely driven by hedonic and relaxation needs: they also want to challenge themselves and deeply immerse themselves in foreign nature, culture, and other types of experiences. We argue that better integration of national identity can draw the needs of tourists and hosting communities nearer to each other and, thus, become a driver of tourism development. Based on a comprehensive literature, this conceptual paper explores the core elements of the Norwegian identity, including political and cultural values, national characteristics, interests, and lifestyles, and their integration by the tourism industry. We find that only some of these elements have been used by the industry and have often been commodified for economic gain. We discuss a few examples of how national identity can be translated into unique selling points that could generate sustainable development. This, however, requires strong governance, and coordinated and integrative destination management that involves stakeholders from within tourism and beyond, particularly local communities.
Authors and Affiliations
Olga HØEGH-GULDBERG, Sabrina SEELER
Keywords
Related Articles
- EP ID EP694040
- DOI 10.37482/issn2221-2698.2021.42.32
- Views 166
- Downloads 0
History and activities of the Arctic Public Academy of Sciences
The founding of the St. Petersburg Scientific Public Organization “The Arctic Public Academy of Sciences”, created at the beginning of the 21st century, is briefly described in the article. The Academy is based on the Ar...
Staffing of the Leading Enterprises of the Shipbuilding, Forest and Fishing Industries of the Arkhangelsk Oblast: the Experience of a Sociological Survey
The article discusses the features of staffing of the shipbuilding, forestry and fishing industries of the Arkhangelsk Oblast. Based on the data of a sociological survey conducted in 2022 among the management of enterpri...
Problems and Prospects for Sustainable Development of the Arctic Local Economies: The Case of the Shuryshkarskiy District
The strategic geopolitical importance of the Arctic and its environmental vulnerability require special attention to the sustainability of the Arctic local economies. In this study, we have proposed a system of sustainab...
Arctic Agenda of SPIEF 2023 — Digital, Economic, Environmental, and Socio-Cultural Aspects
The article summarizes the results of the 26th St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF-2023), which took place in St. Petersburg from June 14 to 17, 2022. V. P. Zhuravel, Head of the Centre for Arctic Studies...
All-Russian Scientific and Educational Project “Preserve the Nenets Language and Culture Together”: Experience of Interaction and Prospects for Implementation
The purpose of the article is to present to a wide range of readers the All-Russian scientific and educational project “Preserve the Nenets Language and Culture Together”, which is implemented at the Northern (Arctic) Fe...