Tourism imaginaires of Lapland: a content analysis of the views of domestic tourists

Looking at the growth numbers, the tourism industry in Finnish Lapland has been a success story. Until 2020, the annual growth rate of the industry in Finland was approximately 9 percent. Most of the growth has come from inbound tourism. However, the travel account is still negative as many Finns choose to travel abroad on their holidays instead of choosing a domestic holiday. In recent years, there has been a growing number of discussions around domestic tourism in the media. At the latest it was the pandemic which showed the importance of domestic tourism. Since then, there have been more studies on the state of domestic tourism. One key message in the surveys of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment is for instance, that domestic tourism needs to be developed. To know how domestic tourism should best be developed, it is important to know peoples’ current views. The object of this thesis is to bring to light the experiences and imaginaries of domestic tourists. In the focus are the tourism imaginaries regarding Lapland. The main research question of this qualitative study was What kinds of tourism imaginaries the Finns have about Lapland as a tourism destination. The question was divided into three sub-questions, taking a closer look at the imaginaries of place, people, and practices of Lapland. As research data, I have used the comment chains of four different online conversations. The conversations were analysed with content analysis. The results indicate that above all, Lapland is seen as a nature-based destination. People connect many uniquenesses of nature to Lapland and appreciate the possibilities for doing outdoor activities. The barriers to Lapland tourism discussed in this study include the expensiveness and accessibility, both to and within Lapland. The findings also indicate that there is a demand for new kinds of products and services that better take into consideration the needs and wants of the domestic tourists