Urban tourism in the Arctic

The roles of urban places in Arctic tourism, whether as destinations in their own right or as gateways to rural experiences, are poorly understood. At the same time improved accessibility has created in some places at least seasonally tourism impacts that are perceived as problematic. Reykjavik and Tromsø are examples of places that have experienced dramatic increases of tourism and the development is sometimes depicted as overtourism. In the meantime, urban places are increasingly portraying themselves as Arctic in marketing, trying to use the Arctic properties to exotify themselves on the global market place.

The second project year led by Umeå University addressed issues such as how tourists and tourist companies consume Arctic urbanities and how they integrate them into itineraries as well as the experiences of tourists and local populations concerning the recent boom of urban Arctic tourism. Moreover, linkages between urban places and their rural surroundings – that remain so far unexplored – were included in the framework. 

Researchers, graduate and postgraduate students as well as tourism actors gathered together also in the second project year for a five-day workshop. The purpose of the workshop organised in Umeå, Sweden, in October 2019 was to explore questions related to urban tourism in the Arctic. Based on the data gathered during the workshop the international research team produced a TemaNord series' report Arctic Tourism in Times of Change: Dimensions of Urban Tourism. 

The report brings together expertise and case studies from several Arctic and northern peripheries in Finland, Sweden, Norway, Iceland and Canada. The case studies indicate that the Arctic dimensions of urban tourism are not always self-evident and tourism has not developed in relation to the northern culture of these places. However, in a global competition for capital and people, urban places seem to be increasingly using the Arctic as a way to boost local economies and reimage their places in order to achieve individual, local, regional and national development goals.