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 156
- Downloads 0
Relevant Aspects of International Legal Regulation of the Arctic Shipping
The critical aspects of the international legal regulation of shipping in the Arctic discussed on the international Arctic agenda are analyzed. The authors examine the specifics of the Northern Sea Route legal status fro...
The Arctic with Chinese Characteristics
Year by year, the Arctic is becoming an increasingly complex geopolitical and geoeconomic epicenter of interaction and simultaneous confrontation between Arctic and non-Arctic actors in international relations. In partic...
Forecasting the Economic Growth Limitations in the Northern Regions Based on the “Sustainability Windows” Assessment
In modern conditions, the issues of assessing the sustainability of regional development are of particular relevance. The complex problems of interrelation of economic growth, environmental pollution and population well-...
Innovative Potential of the Regions in the Russian Arctic Zone: State and Spatial Differentiation
The article considers the components of the innovation potential of Russian regions that are fully or partially included in the Arctic zone. The purpose of the article is to analyze and evaluate the state and dynamics of...
Contribution of Northern European Universities to the Implementation of Research Policy in the Arctic
The Arctic region has long been at the center of world politics and economy. One of the reasons for the transformation of the global fringe into a center of attraction for the economic, geo-ecological and geopolitical in...