Nordic tourism research – insights from Iceland

Two peer-reviewed articles and one conference paper were published this month detailing Icelandic tourism research in the Nordic and international context.

First an article on tourism and environmental issues was published in a theme issue of the Scandinavian Journal of Hospitality and Tourism. The paper places tourism’s environmental issues in the context of wider debates about humanities place in the so called Anthropocene, were our collective being on planet earth is registered as a geophysical force. The authors are currently working on an edited volume on the topic through Routledge.

Gren, M. and Huijbens, E. 2014: Tourism in the Anthropocene. Scandinavian Journal of Hospitality and Tourism, 14(1): 6-22. DOI: 10.1080/15022250.2014.886100     

Next an article on cluster development in Icelandic tourism is placed in the context of Scandinavian Journal of Public Administration in a theme issue on tourism public policy. The article details the discourse on tourism’s role in economic development in Iceland and particularly how cluster rhetoric has fared in the Icelandic context.

Huijbens, E. Jóhannesson, H. & Jóhannesson, G.Þ. 2014: Clusters without Content? Icelandic National and Regional Tourism Policy. Scandinavian Journal of Public Administration, 18(1): 63-85.http://ojs.ub.gu.se/ojs/index.php/sjpa/article/view/2755

Lastly a conference paper at the 12th Global Forum on Tourism Statistics to be held in Prague 15-16 May (see here). The paper summarizes the conformity assessment of the Icelandic tourism satellite accounting with international standards. The paper can be read here: http://www.tsf2014prague.cz/assets/downloads/Paper%203.4_Cristi%20Frent_IS.pdf