‘After glaciers?’ Towards post-Arctic tourism

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“Walk the line”:an ethnographic study of the ritual of crossing the Arctic Circle—case Rovaniemi

Abstract The Arctic Circle is the most commonly used border to delimit the Arctic region, and has been used in this way to such an extent that across the circumpolar North, municipalities and local communities have built various types of signs, shops and tourist centers for its celebration. This is especially the case in Rovaniemi, Finland, with the creation of the Santa Claus Village, “right” on the Arctic Circle, leading to several thousands of tourists crossing the magical line every year. This article focuses on tourists’ practices around Arctic Circle landmarks in Rovaniemi. This study acknowledges the hegemony of the selfie era that is indubitably linked to what is referred to in this article as “border-crossing postures”, pertaining to the ritual of performing specific practices, actions and postures that suggest the crossing of a borderline. However, it is argued that in the case of the Arctic Circle in Rovaniemi, these specific postures come from the physical aspect of the landmarks, rather than the tourists recognizing the Arctic Circle as a border

Digital Rovaniemi:contemporary and future arctic tourist experiences

Abstract Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate tourists’ representations of the Arctic through the lens of the photo-sharing social network Instagram. The study focuses on the particular tourist experience of crossing the Arctic Circle in Rovaniemi, Finland, as in tourism, it represents the “official” entry to the Arctic. The study also aims at drawing assumptions about the future experiences of crossing the Arctic Circle, with the development of new technologies such as augmented and virtual realities. Design/methodology/approach: Data were gathered with netnography methodologies on the Instagram social network. The first stage was the observational part and consisted of “lurking” at specific hashtags and locations, both referring to the Arctic Circle in Rovaniemi. Data were gathered in December 2018 and consisted of images and descriptions of Instagram posts published by users between June 1, 2018 and December 31, 2018, so data collection encompassed both summer and winter seasons. The second stage was the analysis part and involved interpretive understanding, and especially phenomenological sociology. Findings: Results show that three dominant representations of the Arctic emerge when tourists cross the Arctic Circle. The region is either seen as a frozen fairytale wonderland due to the close proximity of the Christmas industry, as a far and northern destination participating in the realization of the self, and as a territory where summer weather conditions are not necessarily synonymous with the Arctic. In addition, the study acknowledges the future challenges of conceptualizing “Arctic tourism” due to the development of virtual reality technologies that could provide immersive Arctic experiences outside the region. Originality/value: The paper investigates connections between social media studies and tourist experiences in the Arctic context. It also questions the future of Arctic tourist experiences with the development of new technologies enhancing experiences and, thus, potentially threatening the exceptionalism of the Arctic and what makes the region a unique tourism destination

The making of the Tour de France cycling race as a tourist attraction

Abstract The Tour de France (TDF) cycling race has become the world’s biggest annual sporting event. Every July, it attracts approximately 11 million tourists along the roadsides of France, as well as several millions of TV spectators worldwide. Using MacCannell’s sight sacralization process, this study examines the gradual development of the TDF as a major economic tourist attraction. By deconstructing how the TDF became a tourist attraction, the goal of this article is to reveal economic and sustainability implications for communities in hosting such a mega event. The article suggests that the TDF, both as a sporting event and a top tourist attraction, represents an opportunity for local development and economies in the form of short-term peaks in hospitality, direct financial benefits, as well as in the promotion of cycling as a sustainable means of transportation. The study also explores how challenging hosting a stage of the TDF can become in terms of environmental sustainability for remote and rural communities

Rethinking Arctic tourism:tourists’ practices and perceptions of the Arctic in Rovaniemi

Abstract The Arctic is facing rapid and significant social, cultural, economic and environmental changes. In recent years, due to ongoing and forecasted climate change impacts, policy-makers’ and the research community’s interest in the region has increased dramatically within and outside of Arctic countries. This is reflected in increasing public visibility and in the amount of attention the Arctic region has gained in the media. In parallel, tourism in the Arctic has undergone considerable growth and the Arctic is emerging as a popular destination, although tourism in the Arctic has existed for over two centuries. Nevertheless, Arctic tourism is a concept that has been substantially used in academic literature, policy documents, and tourism promotion materials, although there is no current consensus on its definition. The term, often taken for granted, generally refers to tourism in and about the Arctic, wherein the Arctic is characterized by static and external views, overlooking its rich diversity in terms of cultures, landscapes, climates and environments. In this study, my interest is in the (re)conceptualization of Arctic tourism, based on studies about tourist experiences at the Arctic Circle in Rovaniemi, the capital of Finnish Lapland. This thesis contributes to literature on tourist experiences in the Arctic, a topic that has not received a lot of attention in the past, but one that has significant relevance in terms of tourists’ decision-making in response to Arctic communities’ efforts to attract visitors and stimulate regional tourism development. By addressing tourist experiences and border literature, this study also contributes to conceptual discussions on Arctic tourism. This dissertation focuses on the Arctic Circle both as a tourist attraction and as a border for the Arctic region. It aims to shed light on tourists’ practices and experiences of the Arctic in Rovaniemi and to understand ‘how Arctic’ this important destination is. The chosen case study did not consist of a simple location, but of a specific ritual performed and reproduced by tourists: the crossing of the Arctic Circle. In the tourism industry, Arctic Circle landmarks are commonly represented as gateways to the Arctic, and crossing the line signifies entering the region. As such, this particular performance crystallizes tourists’ representations of the Arctic. This study aims to investigate these crystalized representations and is based on empirical materials consisting of qualitative data gathered from multiple ethnographies and secondary materials comprising academic literature, policy documents and promotional tourism materials. Traditional on-site ethnography was conducted through methods inspired by participant observation at different Arctic Circle landmarks located in Rovaniemi. Netnography was aimed at investigating post-trip experiences of crossing the Arctic Circle as reported on Instagram, and autoethnography was used for the purpose of self-reflection related to my Arctic experiences as a tourist. Qualitative data were analyzed from an interpretative approach, and especially using hermeneutics, in order to understand the meanings behind Instagram posts and specific postures when crossing the Arctic Circle. The results indicate that in Rovaniemi, from the tourist perspective, the Arctic is experienced as a nebulous region with no proper boundaries. Tourists do not perceive the Arctic Circle as an absolute border for the Arctic, despite heavy promotion and the performance of border-crossing postures. Rather, the magical line is considered as one of the many items encompassed by the vague representation of what the Arctic is. Other elements like the presence of snow, reindeer and northern lights are also all part of what a full Arctic experience is supposed to be. This suggests that, from the tourist perspective, proper Arctic experiences should be winter-based, which is the foundation for the ‘cryospheric gaze’ developed in this thesis as the definition for current Arctic tourism. The cryospheric gaze, grounded in Urry’s tourist gaze, is also supported by how the Santa Claus tourism industry, highly present in Rovaniemi, extracts and exploits winter-based elements of the Arctic for its own promotion and development. In order to acknowledge the diversity of the Arctic, I argue for a fluidity in space and time of the tourism segment called Arctic tourism. Toward the end of the thesis, the future of Arctic tourism is discussed in relation to climate change and the development of ‘post-Arctic regions’. It explores challenges in terms of equal access to snow, of stereotypical images of the Arctic becoming burdensome for local communities and how current forms of Arctic tourism can still be offered to tourists in ‘cryosphericless’ regions that have built themselves into Arctic tourism destinations

A geopolitical outlook on Arctification in northern Europe: Insights from tourism, regional branding and higher education and research institutions

This paper discusses the everyday bordering practices of non- and sub-state actors in the European Arctic through a geopolitical lens. Specifically, we analyse the mechanisms, aims, and effects of how regional development and higher education and research institutions (HER), as well as the tourism sector, in climatically subarctic Fennoscandia, actively reposition themselves as centrally located in the Arctic. We depart from a critical and economic reading of geopolitics, which enquires into the production of territories of wealth, power, security, and belonging. Given the global publicity of the Arctic in media, research, and politics, the region has become an economic opportunity for sparsely populated areas in the European High North. This rescaling towards the global Arctic, also termed Arctification, offers non- and sub-state bodies the possibility to turn a historically deprived peripheral location into a competitive advantage. Hence, the Arctic moves southwards into Fennoscandian provinces that until recently had shown little identification with the region. The soft borders of the Arctic render the region a relational space that can be adapted and reinterpreted according to the interests of different actors. As such, Arctification appears to be a geopolitical process that alters representations of both the Arctic and the Nordic countries, which is nonetheless rooted in the global circuits of contemporary capitalism.Section IV: The Economics of Geography</p

‘After glaciers?’:towards post-Arctic tourism

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The Arctic in tourism:complementing and contesting perspectives on tourism in the Arctic

Abstract The economic and political importance of the Arctic has grown considerably in recent decades, and the region’s role and visibility in tourism has also significantly increased. The idea of Arctic tourism has been discussed in academia for a long time, but there is no consensus on the definition of the concept. This review paper aims to discuss different perspectives on tourism in the Arctic by utilizing literature and selected examples. The outlined perspectives are spatial, produced and experienced Arctic tourism. They are interrelated and, thus, partly complementary, but they can also challenge each other. The perspectives demonstrate different ways to approach and understand various characteristics of Arctic tourism and diversity in tourism in the Arctic. All perspectives of the Arctic in tourism involve both benefits and limitations when thinking about what Arctic tourism is and what it involves. The paper concludes that there is a need to acknowledge the diversity of the Arctic as a changing idea and a geographical region in and for tourism. By acknowledging this, the Arctic would not be characterized mainly by static or external views in tourism but also by internal needs, knowledge, dynamics and concerns for sustainable tourism development in the region

Bad Santa:cultural heritage, mystification of the Arctic, and tourism as an extractive industry

Abstract This article assesses the construction of cultural geographies of the European far North through an exploration of how Arctic motifs and imaginaries are used in the Christmas tourism industry in Finnish Lapland, and particularly in the city of Rovaniemi, which advertises itself as the ‘Official Hometown of Santa Claus’. Specifically, we draw parallels between Christmas tourism and Arctic mining by examining the similarities and interconnections between them. This highlights how these industries are related to the Arctic landscape they operate in and how both are ultimately embedded in similar cultural perceptions of and engagements with Lapland dating back centuries. A long-term perspective on Arctic geographical imaginaries enables a critical assessment of how the tourism and mining industries are both steeped in the exoticization and mythologising of the Arctic on the one hand and in a tradition of material and symbolic exploitation of northern resources on the other. This approach helps researchers to highlight a problematic character of the current development of Christmas tourism in Lapland