Abstract
Arctic tourism has recently experienced considerable growth. However, it is not a single form of tourism; different physical preconditions, but also not least varying socio-economic, institutional and geopolitical preconditions, imply that Arctic tourism has to be seen in the context of its setting in marginal regions. This chapter aims to provide an overview of recent Arctic tourism and tourism research, and reports mainly from a research project conducted in Northern Sweden, the Nenets region in Russia and Canada’s Yukon. It is argued that, along with some differences, there are also common traits in recent development. Tourism is most often seen as an opportunity, but weaknesses in institutional arrangements appear to hinder development. Moreover, increasing competition for land use and climate change are forcing tourism providers to adapt to quickly changing conditions, even affecting their businesses. It is concluded that there is a struggle for development in the North, but a vision of what development is desirable and how this should be achieved varies across Arctic nations as well as within them.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
ADHR. (2004). Arctic human development report. Akureyri: Stefansson Arctic Institute.
Byström, J., & Müller, D. K. (2014). Tourism labor market impacts of National Parks: The case of Swedish Lapland. Zeitschrift für Wirtschaftsgeographie, 58(2–3), 73–84.
Christaller, W. (1964). Some considerations of tourism location in Europe: The peripheral regions – underdeveloped countries – recreation areas. Papers in Regional Science, 12(1), 95–105.
de la Barre, S. (2013). Minding the boom: Governance, organizations, and tourism in Sweden’s Heart of Lapland. In R. H. Lemelin, P. Maher, & D. Liggett (Eds.), From talk to action: How tourism is changing the polar regions (pp. 21–40). Thunder Bay: Lakehead University Centre for Northern Studies.
Government of the Northwest Territories. (2013). 2010–2011 NWT Visitor Exit Survey Report. Yellowknife.
Grenier, A. A., & Müller, D. K. (Eds.). (2011). Polar tourism: A tool for regional development. Montreal: Presses de l’Université du Québec.
Gunton, T. (2003). Natural resources and regional development: An assessment of dependency and comparative advantage paradigms. Economic Geography, 79(1), 67–94.
Hall, C. M. (2007). North-south perspectives on tourism, regional development and peripheral areas. In D. K. Müller & B. Jansson (Eds.), Tourism in peripheries: Perspectives from the far north and south (pp. 19–37). Wallingford: CABI.
Hall, C. M., & Saarinen, J. (2010a). Tourism and change in polar regions: Climate, environment and experience. Oxon: Routledge.
Hall, C. M., & Saarinen, J. (2010b). Tourism and change in polar regions: Introduction – definitions, locations, places and dimensions. In C. M. Hall & J. Saarinen (Eds.), Tourism and change in polar regions: Climate, environment and experience (pp. 1–41). Oxon: Routledge.
Hoppstadius, F. (2012). Varierade förutsättningar och eventuella hinder för samiska turistföretagare: Resultat av en telefonintervjustudie med samiska turistföretagare i svenska delen av Sápmi. Umeå: Working paper. Institutionen för geografi och ekonomisk historia.
Huijbens, E. H., & Alessio, D. (2015). Arctic ‘concessions’ and icebreaker diplomacy? Chinese tourism development in Iceland. Current Issues in Tourism, 18(5), 433–449.
Jóhannesson, G. Þ., & Huijbens, E. (2010). Tourism in times of crisis: Exploring the discourse of tourism development in Iceland. Current Issues in Tourism, 13(5), 419–434.
Keskitalo, E. C. H., Malmberg, G., Westin, K., Wiberg, U., Müller, D. K., & Pettersson, Ö. (2013). Contrasting Arctic and mainstream Swedish descriptions of northern Sweden: The view from established domestic research. Arctic, 66(3), 351–365.
Lemelin, R. H., Dawson, J., Stewart, E. J., Maher, P., & Lück, M. (2010). Last-chance tourism: The boom, doom, and gloom of visiting vanishing destinations. Current Issues in Tourism, 13(5), 477–493.
Lemelin, R. H., Maher, P., & Liggett, D. (Eds.). (2013). From talk to action. How tourism is changing polar regions. Thunder Bay: Lakehead University Centre for Northern Studies.
Lück, M., Maher, P. T., & Stewart, E. J. (Eds.). (2010). Cruise tourism in polar regions: Promoting environmental and social sustainability? London: Earthscan.
Lundgren, J. O. (1995). The tourism space penetration processes in northern Canada and Scandinavia: A comparison. In C. M. Hall & M. Johnston (Eds.), Polar tourism: Tourism in the Arctic and antarctic regions (pp. 43–61). Chichester: Wiley.
Lundgren, J. O. J. (2001). Canadian tourism going north: An overview with comparative Scandinavian perspectives. In B. Sahlberg (Ed.), Going north: Peripheral tourism in Canada and Sweden (pp. 13–45). Östersund: Etour.
Lundmark, L., & Müller, D. K. (2010). The supply of nature-based tourism activities in Sweden. Turism, 58(4), 379–393.
Maher, P. T., Stewart, E. J., & Lück, M. (2011a). An introduction to polar tourism: Human, environmental, and governance dimensions. In P. T. Maher, E. J. Stewart, & M. Lück (Eds.), Polar tourism: Human, environmental and governance dimensions (pp. 3–13). New York: Cognizant Communication Corporation.
Maher, P. T., Stewart, E. J., & Lück, M. (Eds.). (2011b). Polar tourism: Human, environmental and governance dimensions. New York: Cognizant Communication Corporation.
Müller, D. K. (2011). Tourism development in Europe’s “last wilderness”: An assessment of nature-based tourism in Swedish Lapland. In A. A. Grenier & D. K. Müller (Eds.), Polar tourism: A tool for regional development (pp. 129–153). Montreal: Presses de l’Université du Québec.
Müller, D. K. (2013a). Hibernating economic decline? Tourism and labor market change in Europe’s northern periphery. In G. Visser & S. Ferreira (Eds.), Tourism and crisis (pp. 113–128). Oxon: Routledge.
Müller, D. K. (2013b). National parks for tourism development in Sub-Arctic areas: Curse or blessing? In D. K. Müller, L. Lundmark, & R. H. Lemelin (Eds.), New Issues in Polar tourism: Communities, environments, politics (pp. 189–203). Dordrecht: Springer.
Müller, D. K. (2013c). Tourism and the definition of the Arctic. In R. H. Lemelin, P. Maher, & D. Liggett (Eds.), From talk to action: How tourism is changing the polar regions (pp. 9–20). Thunder Bay: Lakehead University Centre for Northern Studies.
Müller, D. K., & Brouder, P. (2014). Dynamic development or destined to decline? The case of Arctic tourism businesses and local labor markets in Jokkmokk, Sweden. In A. Viken & B. Granås (Eds.), Destination development in tourism: Turns and tactics (pp. 227–244). Farnham: Ashgate.
Müller, D. K., Lundmark, L., & Lemelin, R. H. (Eds.). (2013). New issues in polar tourism: Communities, environments, politics. Dordrecht: Springer.
Munro, J. M., & Gill, W. G. (2006). The Alaska cruise industry. In R. K. Dowling (Ed.), Cruise ship tourism (pp. 145–159). Wallingford: CABI.
Pashkevich, A. (2013). Tourism development planning and product development in the context of Russian Arctic territories. In R. H. Lemelin, P. Maher, & D. Liggett (Eds.), From talk to action: How tourism is changing polar regions (pp. 41–60). Thunder Bay: Lakehead University Centre for Northern Studies.
Pashkevich, A., & Stjernström, O. (2014). Making Russian Arctic accessible for tourists: Analysis of the institutional barriers. Polar Geography, 37(2), 137–156.
Robertsson, L. (2014). Tourism development in Swedish Lapland: Problems and opportunities. Working paper. Umeå: Institutionen för geografi och ekonomisk historia.
Sahlberg, B. (Ed.). (2001). Going north: Peripheral tourism in Canada and Sweden. Östersund: Etour.
Sletvold, O. (1997). Hurtigruta – Moderne tradisjon. In J. K. S. Jacobsen & A. Viken (Eds.), Turisme: Fenomen og næring (pp. 153–159). Oslo: Universitetsforlaget.
State of Alaska. (2014). Economic impact of Alaska’s visitor industry – 2012–13 update. Alaska Department of Commerce, Community, and Economic Development.
Statistics Greenland. (2014). Database for Greenland: Overnight stays by region, time, month, unit and nationality. Nuuk.
Statistics Finland. (2014). Statistical databases. Helsinki.
Statistics Iceland. (2014). Overnight stays, arrivals and average length of stay in hotels and guesthouses 1998–2012. Reykjavik.
Statistics Norway. (2014). StatBank Norway database. Oslo.
Statistics Sweden. (2014). Statistical database. Örebro.
Stewart, E. J., Draper, D., & Johnston, M. E. (2005). A review of tourism research in the Polar Regions. Arctic, 58(4), 383–394.
Stonehouse, B., & Snyder, J. M. (2010). Polar tourism: An environmental perspective. Bristol: Channel View.
Timothy, D. J. (2010). Contested place and the legitimization of sovereignty through tourism in polar regions. In C. M. Hall & J. Saarinen (Eds.), Tourism and change in polar regions: Climate, environment and experience (pp. 288–300). Oxon: Routledge.
Viken, A. (2010). Academic writing about Arctic tourism: Othering of the North. In P. Fryer, C. Brown-Leonardi, & P. Soppela (Eds.), Encountering the changing Barents–research challenges and opportunities (pp. 110–118). Rovaniemi: Arctic Centre.
Yukon Government. (2014). Yukon Tourism Indicators, Year End Report 2013. Whitehorse: Department of Tourism and Culture.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2015 Springer International Publishing Switzerland
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Müller, D.K. (2015). Issues in Arctic Tourism. In: Evengård, B., Nymand Larsen, J., Paasche, Ø. (eds) The New Arctic. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-17602-4_11
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-17602-4_11
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-17601-7
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-17602-4
eBook Packages: Earth and Environmental ScienceEarth and Environmental Science (R0)