Call for Papers – Special Issue on Rural Drive Tourism in the Scandinavian Journal of Hospitality and Tourism

Introduction
The Scandinavian Journal of Hospitality and Tourism hereby launches a call for papers for a special issue on Rural drive tourism: Navigating rural futures through mobility, infrastructure and experience. The special issue is linked to the recent establishment of Rural Drive Tourism Research Network[1], which works to establish a robust field of research around rural drive tourism in different geographical, political, and cultural contexts.

The special issue starts from a premise that tourism is largely dependent on mobility systems and transport infrastructures. In the rural North, these systems are often mainly based on roads with limited availability of public transport, which makes drive tourism the dominant travel genre (Barðadóttir & Bjarnadóttir, 2024; forthcoming). Travelling by car gives access to a large variety of roads and routes in rural areas; increases the flexibilities of travel schedules; opens possibilities for nearer contact with rural daily life in multiple ways (e.g., Mei, Lerfald, & Bråtå, 2016); and simply allows an experience and enjoyment of such roads (Mykletun, 2024; Sigurðardóttir, 2024). Often, the tourist chooses different routes as compared to other drivers, such as craftsmen, long-distance busses, and lorries. Moreover, different preferences are found between different tourist segments (Díez-Gutiérrez, & Babri, 2020). Further, as noticed by Larsen (2001), the sense of freedom arising from contemporary car tourism may be a function of a “flânerie”, where the static tourism gaze is replaced with a visual “cinematic” experience of moving landscapes. Rural drive tourism also includes travelling with inhabitable vehicles (Rogerson, & Rogerson, 2020); however, it is not clear whether this mode of traveling fosters distance from or closer contact with the environment and the daily life of local societies.

Rural Drive Tourism: At the Crossroads of Rural Tourism and Drive Tourism
Conceptually, rural drive tourism is a meeting place between two lines of research: rural tourism and drive tourism. Rural tourism is a well-established niche in tourism research (Helgadóttir, & Dashper, 2021; Karali, Das, & Roy, 2024; Rosalina, Dupre, & Wang, 2021). However, drive tourism has so far received less attention from tourism researchers (Prideaux, 2020), and this also applies to the Nordic region (Cruz et al., 2022; Fjelstul, & Fyall, 2015; Hattingh, 2022; Vada, Dupre, & Zhang, 2022). Exceptions include studies on Norway’s tourist routes, which have caught some attention (Berre, nd.; Brenna, & Larsen, 2016; Hvattum, 2016; Hvattum et al, 2013; Jacobsen, 2016; Jacobsen, & Haukeland, 2002; Larsen, 2016; Lauritzen, 2020) and how, for instance, roads are seen in relation to food tourism (Mei et al., 2016). Dahl and Dalbakk (2015) has provided some insights into tourists’ experiences when traveling through scenic nature and the countryside in the High North. Further, Hermansen (2021) has shown how painters and photographers in the early days of tourism in Norway influenced the appeal of scenic Norway amongst English and later German tourists, and how today’s drive tourists can be seen to follow these footprints. This was also mentioned by Fojuth (2022) who has shown how Norway became a destination for German car tourism from 1920 and onwards. Moreover, several books have been published with descriptions of former times road construction with great tourism potentials (e.g., Folgerø, 2021, 2022). However, these historical accounts have rarely been studied from a tourism perspective. An exception is Østby (2013), who has provided insights to the historical development of car and camping tourism in Norway, and Wagner (2013) with a focus on the rise of car tourism in Danish leisure practices.

In addition to these contributions, Prideaux & Carson’s (2010) edited book on drive tourism stands out as an invaluable contribution to the field, including research focusing on rural drive tourism (Prideaux, 2010; Van Heerden, 2010; Walker, 2010). Other noteworthy contributions include Prideaux’s (2020) recent work reviewing the international drive tourism literature; Rogerson and Rogerson’s (2020) review on international research on camping tourism, which intersects with rural drive tourism; existing research on recreational vehicle tourism (Hardy, Gretzel, & Hanson, 2013; Tang et al., 2024); and Hardy’s (2006) work on self-drive tourism in British Columbia.

The Special Issue
Despite these valuable contributions, scarce attention has been paid to the infrastructure of rural drive tourism, including roads themselves as core tourism experiences. We argue that roads are not just transport corridors, but they might be the main experiencescapes. Key aspects such as road aesthetics—how roads ‘fit’ into the surrounding landscape—and their role in shaping tourist experiences have remained underexplored, particularly in relation to environmental concerns and sustainability. These gaps manifest in a variety of ways, such as in the absence of focus on historic roads and road history; nature experience from the roadside; the joy of driving; and contact with local culture and industries. While some of these aspects have been addressed in disciplines outside the field of tourism, this special issue seeks to bring them into the tourism research agenda. This effort will further benefit from interdisciplinary perspectives on rural drive tourism.

Against this background, this special issue contributes to the emerging field of research of rural drive tourism by examining it as both a mobility practice and an experiential engagement with the landscape, emphasizing how roads themselves function as key experiencescapes rather than merely transport corridors. The special issue calls for publications addressing gaps in existing research and invites contributions that explore how road infrastructures, tourism practices, and local engagements shape the dynamics of rural drive tourism. This work is called for to bridge rural tourism and drive tourism research, incorporating perspectives on mobility, infrastructure, and place-making to advance a more nuanced understanding of how tourism is co-produced through movement, landscapes, transport systems and local encounters. Herein also the concerns about car traffic’s air pollution, as well as the noise from tourists’ vehicles, together with other negative consequences of increased visitor volumes and traffic come into focus. We encourage contributions that explore the role of roads and road infrastructures in shaping tourism flows, the impacts of drive tourism on rural communities, and how tourists experience and interact with the landscape through roads.

Contributions may focus on topics such as (but not limited to):
• Rural drive tourism in the North
• Roads as routes
• The aesthetics of the road
• The joy of driving rural roads
• The road and the landscape
• Break-out from driving for hikes or camping in nature or in cultivated areas
• Meeting local culture, food, beverages, and work activities
• Multiple uses of the road – source of fascinations and/or conflicts
• Rural drive tourism with inhabitable vehicles (motorhomes, campervans, caravans)
• Roads as heritage in rural tourism
• Roads as experiencescapes or as means to transport between destinations
• Impacts of (branded) tourism routes in rural areas
• Rural host communities and their reactions to rural drive tourism
• Developments in rural drive tourism
• Impacts of (branded) tourism routes in rural areas
• Rural drive tourism and entrepreneurship
• Mobility systems and road infrastructure
• Road tourism and tourist taxes
• Sustainable mobility within rural drive tourism
• Managing and mitigating environmental impacts of rural drive tourism
• The role of electric vehicles and emerging mobility solutions in rural tourism

[1] https://www.rmf.is/en/moya/page/rural-drive-tourism-research-network

See call for papers on the journal's website.