Arctic tourism is usually promoted as a remedy for structural challenges such as unemployment and outmigration. However, the ability of tourism to contribute to local and regional development is contingent on structural preconditions as well as employment and ownership patterns. This chapter reviews current literature on political-economic perspectives on tourism and outlines a research agenda for assessing the economic impacts of Arctic tourism. The chapter argues that tourism in the Arctic, despite being variegated, is highly embedded in global economic networks. Here, a global industry is increasingly coming to dominate the production of Arctic tourism, while local stakeholders are often dependent on the presence of global players and structural change in surrounding economic sectors and society.