University lecturer Monika Lüthje from the University of Lapland, the coordinator of the conference arrangements, reports that 200 participants are expected on-site, a large number of them from Sámiland. Dr Lühtje encourages everyone to participate who is interested in the topic.

‘The conference offers an excellent opportunity to gain new perspectives with regard to responsible, ethically sustainable tourism business operations, to exchange experiences, and network internationally,’ Dr Lüthje says.

The topic of the Research Symposium to be held on Tuesday 20 May is tourism and the Indigenous cultural heritage. The keynote speaker will be doctoral researcher Áile Aikio from the University of Lapland. The other presentations of the day will go deeper not only into the situation in Sámiland but also in Australia, Alaska and Canada. In the Sámi handicraft workshops organised during the day, the conference participants can make a belt or a reindeer leather key chain. The day will end with a Sámi cooking workshop organised by the Máhtut project. The workshop will feature chef Heikki Nikula and traditional cooking knowledge holder Maarit Länsmann.

On Wednesday 21 May and Thursday 22 May, the conference will focus on the practice of ethically sustainable Indigenous tourism. The more specific topics are certificates utilised in tourism, sustainable tourism, and the selling and marketing of Indigenous tourism. Wednesday’s keynote speaker, film director Suvi West, will reflect on how responsibility and asking for permission belong to her work, and how they could be part of responsible tourism. On Wednesday, the Sámi Parliament’s new certificate for responsible and ethically sustainable Sámi tourism companies in Finland will also be presented. Moreover, experiences of the Original Original certificate used in Canada will be heard.

On Thursday, John Barrett and Frank Antoine will be among the guest speakers. Barrett is a pioneer of Maori tourism and member of the Leadership Council of WINTA. He will explain what sustainability means to his family company in New Zealand. During his turn, Antoine, the Chair of WINTA, tourism entrepreneur and chief will talk about Indigenous marketing. Other presentations of the day will highlight the development of tourism in Sámi Museum Siida and Greenland, as well as introduce Destination Original Indigenous Tourism (DO-IT), the new global Indigenous tourism marketing organisation. At the end of the day, the Máhtut project will organise a Sámi cooking workshop for local tourism entrepreneurs. The workshop will be led by chef Heikki Nikula.

Register for the conference

For online participants, there is no registration fee. For onsite participants, there is a fee to cover the costs of meals. The onsite participants also pay their own travel and accommodation costs. Registration for the conference is here: https://matkailu.samediggi.fi/en/eitc-2025/#ilmoittautuminen 

The Finnish Ministry of Education and Culture has granted funding for the conference arrangements. Sustainable Indigenous Tourism in the Nordic Arctic has invited Indigenous tourism entrepreneurs from Greenland, Norway and Sweden to the conference as guests. The project strengthens sustainable Indigenous tourism development in the Nordic Arctic through networking and cooperation and produces an open access report on the conference. The project is funded by the Nordic Council of Ministers’ Arctic Cooperation Programme.

Further information

EITC 2025 website: https://matkailu.samediggi.fi/en/eitc-2025/#info

Monika Lüthje, University of Lapland
+358 40 484 4198
monika.luthje(at)ulapland.fi