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This chapter explores the relation between folklore, food, and tourism in the Swedish part of the cross-national country of Sápmi, the land of the indigenous Sámi. Tourism has been labelled as an experience industry, offering opportunities for entrepreneurs in remote regions to create unique stories as a tool for marketing, product development, and branding. However, when heritage is commercialised, issues related to control are vital in order to remain respectful. Two examples of Sámi food tourism initiatives are described here, both based in the region Västerbotten and operated by Sámi organisations. Together, they illustrate how food, heritage, and communication can be performed in virtual as well as tangible ways, offering both economic and sociocultural potential.

This research note elaborates on a perspective used in ongoing explorations of tourism development in northern Scandinavia, which regards public structures such as regional development organizations as part of the tourism production process and the officials thus part of the tourism workforce.

Viewed through a politico-economic lens, Nordic countries share what is often referred to as the 'Nordic model', characterised by a comprehensive welfare state; higher spending on childcare; more equitable income distribution; and lifelong-learning policies. This edited collection considers these contexts to explore the complex nature of tourism employment, thereby providing insights into the dynamic nature, characteristics, and meaning of work in tourism. Contributors combine explorations of the impact of policy on tourism employment with a more traditional human resources management approach focusing on employment issues from an organizational perspective, such as job satisfaction, training, and retention. The text points to opportunities as well as challenges relating to issues such as the notion of 'decent work', the role and contribution of migrant workers, and more broadly, the varying policy objectives embedded within the Nordic welfare model. Offering a detailed, multi-faceted analysis of tourism employment, this book is a valuable resource for students, researchers and practitioners interested in tourism employment in the region.

This chapter tells the story of a small inland village in northern Sweden. Historically this area was only home to the Sami population, but with time colonization and the extraction of raw material have changed the conditions radically. This chapter explores the circumstances that have shaped the tourism sector in Malå and discusses how tourism is integrated in the development of the local economy. The geographical location was key to creating wealth from forestry and mining in the past, but this did not create the infrastructure or layers of investments that today are important for economic development in other sectors. However, this study shows that Malå has managed to diversify its historic paths by branching into the new knowledge economy, and the direct dependence on jobs in its primary industry has decreased even though it remains one of several pillars of the local economy. Tourism is seen as a way to further decrease the historic dependence on primary sectors. Municipal officials argue that tourism is to be regarded as a complement and should not be seen as replacing what is already successfully transitioning and developing. Tourism in Malå is predominantly concentrated on the winter season, with weekend return tourists coming mainly from the coastal municipalities. Although it is a major skiing destination in Västerbotten County, second only to Hemavan-Tärnaby in terms of sold ski passes, there are indicators that identification with the traditional resource sectors remains strong among Malå's inhabitants. However, tourism seems to be a successful local development strategy, given its complementarity to other industries and the realistic expectations based on accurate appraisals of existing conditions for development.

Multi-actor involvement and cooperation are emphasized elements of destination development. Whereas prior research has addressed challenges involved in creating inclusive structures and trust through bottom-up approaches, this paper’s focus is on the less explored attitude of acceptance of a top-down structure. The case study of Ostrobothnia in Finland shows a regional destination organization that went from broad involvement to less inclusiveness and transparency. Through interviews with public and private stakeholders, it was found that the formal exclusion was accepted by all actors, even those who were excluded, based on their common high expectations of enhanced effectiveness of the new organization. Building on institutional theory and inclusiveness, it is suggested that the long-lasting formal collaboration had created the trust needed among the stakeholders for a new, lean management to replace the old. However, lasting formal collaboration may also lead to development of informal networks that hinder further interaction. Any formal collaboration or partnership between the public and private sectors therefore needs to acknowledge the local socio-political context to overcome established social hierarchies and open up for new influences. Co-determination should be held as a potential solution rather than an imposed structure, as it depends on expectations and local conditions.

The nexus of workforce and destination development is a largely uncharted area within tourism research. The local human capital has above all been in focus when underlining tourism’s potential to create employment even for the inexperienced and less educated. However, a discordant strand of theory holds the low levels of qualified knowledge within the industry responsible for absent destination development in areas struggling to develop competitive advantages. Additionally, the in-migration of a skilled workforce may be hampered by a lack of amenities attracting permanent residents. In order to explore whether the tourism sector is characterized by a less educated share of the workforce, a study was performed using micro-level data on the full working population of Sweden during the years 2000–2010. The workforce in tourism was compared to the total and two other low-skill sectors, and the results show that the educational aspects within tourism are more related to geography than economic sectors. Contrary to general presumptions, the workforce within the tourism sector has a higher level of formal education than the other selected sectors in regions with generally low educational levels. The implication is thus that strategies aimed at creating employment for the least educated in rural areas need to be reconsidered, and not unconditionally target the tourism sector. Above all, tourism development needs to be based on assessments of local preconditions rather than a generalized image.

Conferences are funny events. They are self-evident elements of our lives as academics: meetings that occur, often annually; take place in various locations; and involve (hopefully) like-minded people, aiming to share their latest research findings. Conferences are actually so selfevident that very little research exists analysing what takes place at conferences, why people attend them in the first place, and essentially what the conference does to delegates as participants. This article is, on one hand, a reflective report from an academic conference: TEFI 9 —Celebrating the Disruptive Power of Caring in Tourism Education. But it is also simultaneously an analysis of the implicit and explicit rationale and return on investment for attending academic conferences, in the words of three, at that time, PhD candidate rapporteurs and one professor rapporteur, who acts as this article's narrator.

In academic reasoning, as well as policy rhethoric, much attention has been drawn to the low thresholds to employment and entrepreneurship in tourism. The purpose of this thesis is to go beyond the simplified images and examine the educational characteristics of the tourism workforce in a way that includes both a geographical and work task related aspect. By employing a sequential mix of methods, two perspectives on competence in tourism are presented. First, the actual presence of formal education within the workforce is mapped and discussed based on descriptive analyses of register data. Thereafter, thematic analyses of interviews are used to allow for a discussion on underlying reasoning of recruitment. The theoretical point of departure is that the workforce is a crucial input factor of the production process in labour intense service sectors such as tourism. However, the access to a suitable workforce differs between destinations. It is therefore imperative to scrutinize its characteristics in order to set relevant strategies for development, as well as education.

The thesis contains four individual papers and an introductory section. The first two papers are based on register data on the Swedish national workforce in the years 2000, 2005 and 2010. The results show that the general level of formal education is not exceptionally low in tourism and that it is rather linked to geography than occupational sector. There was also confirmed to be a mismatch between tourism-specific education and work in tourism. In the second part of the thesis, focus is turned to the managerial segment within destination development. The geographical scope includes the northern region of Sweden and one case study area each in Norway and Finland. The empirical material shows that tourism-specific education was not prioritized when recruiting for destination management.

The empirical findings are brought together in the concluding discussion of the thesis. It is there suggested that reasoning on the educational characteristics of the tourism workforce needs to  include the diversity of local preconditions and needs relating to geography and work tasks.            

Purpose: The paper aims to illuminate the discrepancy between the need for knowledge as found in prior research and the requirements formulated by those taking part in destination development. The results are intended to contribute to further research on the role of knowledge in destination management when performed as a strategy for regional development.

Design/methodology/approach: Based on theories within epistemology and tourism, an interview structure was developed and used in 10 in-depth interviews, with a qualitative approach through open-ended questions. This was complemented by a mapping of specific background factors through enquiries with 23 respondents. The paper follows an explorative approach to illuminate one aspect within the research area of destination development.

Findings: It was found that when recruiting much significance is put on understanding the structures of involved actors and local rooting. In contrast to theoretical findings, specific knowledge was not a prioritized requirement, neither in tourism nor marketing. Hence, there is a gap between what is perceived as needed for destination development according to academia and how it is being performed by practitioners.

Research limitations/implications: The study is limited in geography and context. Because the research design was showed to be successful in capturing significant aspects, it is proposed for use in further research.

Practical implications: The paper deepens the understanding of factors explaining success and impediments of destination development. It underlines the need for bridging the gap between theory and practice.

Originality/value: This work addresses a vital, but not fully explored, aspect of an extensively implemented strategy for regional development.