NS29 Session 26

29th Nordic Symposium on Tourism and Hospitality Research
Shaping mobile futures: Challenges and possibilities in precarious times

21-23 September 2021

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Title: Methods measuring sustainability effects of tourism development for benefit of local communities and rural areas.

Organisers: Anna Karlsdóttir, Ágúst Bogason, Anne Thomas, Rikke Brandt Broegaard & Jesper Manniche

Affiliation: Nordregio, Stockholm SE & Center for Regional and Tourism studies/CRT

Description

Numerous methods measuring quantitative and qualitative perspectives of sustainable rural tourism and on the local benefits of tourism have emerged in recent years. Some of them focus on destinations, others on larger regions. It has become important from marketing perspective to showcase that tourism is built on sustainable basis even to the extent that it constitutes a competitive edge. While tourism is an increasingly important topic in regional development strategies, there are not always sufficient data to estimate the other costs (economic, social or environmental) and benefit returns comprehensively. There is more to tourism and benefits of tourism in rural regions than economic transactions and there is need to escape unsustainable tourism paths once tourism revives after Covid (Ionnades & Gyimóthy, 2020). While regional Tourism Satellite Accounts provide knowledge on tourism economic effects there are considerations on how different environmental and social indicators can shed light on local benefits? In Nordic context Regional Tourism satellite accounts have the potential of being a tool for transition if supplemented with additional measurable dimensions. There has been identified a need to seek and create synergies between development of local communities & tourism with broader perspectives and participatory planning (Bogason, Karlsdóttir & Broegaard, 2020, Aagaard Thuesen et.al, 2021). We wonder how tourism development locally is to fulfil economic, social, and environmental sustainability goals? To what extent does that require reorientation beyond the growth and quantity focus? Are perspectives of product development and strengthening of the local experience to support development of local communities involved a relevant approach and how do you develop an applicable indicator to assess that effect? To what extent can micro entrepreneurs significant qualities in relation to place branding be measured? We invite papers and presentations that discuss methods and approaches to capture sustainable tourism that can be of value in the local tourism development in rural regions.

 Abstracts