Sámi indigenous tourism empowerment in the Nordic countries through labelling systems

1 Hosts and Guests in Participatory Development

“…It has been argued that, for many Indigenous people, tourism is an opportunity to earn extra income, show others part of their culture, disseminate knowledge (Tuulentie, 2006) and gain community control and ownership of tourism. Good examples of previous projects in tourism that have been planned and led by Indigenous and other local communities include the cultural and environmental Sápmi Experience that was created by VisitSápmi in Sweden (see de Bernardi et al, 2018) and the guidelines for responsible and ethically sustainable Sámi Tourism produced by the Sámi Parliament (2018) in Finland.…”

“…The conceptualisation of empowerment has been used in research that focuses on the issues of gender equality (Hashimoto, 2014: 223-225;Miettinen, 2007) and Indigenous issues (de Bernardi et al, 2018;Nicholas & Thapa, 2018), in the context of tourism development. It has been argued that external contacts, self-esteem, pride and confidence can have a positive influence on empowerment, whereas a lack of knowledge about tourism, a lack of self-confidence or a lack of skills might lead to disempowerment even though people are seemingly participating in tourism development (de Bernardi et al, 2018;Höckert, 2011).…”

“…In Scheyvens and Biddulph's (2017) view, the idea of inclusion consists of two basic aspectsfirst, who are included or excluded in tourism and, second, on what terms. These questions have been discussed in the context of inclusive business growth (Hall et al, 2012), accessible tourism (Buhalis & Darcy, 2011;Darcy, 2010), social tourism (Minnaert et al, 2011), labelling processes (de Bernardi et al, 2018), social justice (Aitchison, 2007;Jamal, 2019), social entrepreneurship (Haanpää et al, 2018) and digitalism (Minghetti & Buhalis, 2010). While searching for new ways to enhance inclusive tourism practices, these studies underline the importance of participating in tourism activities based on one's own conditions, needs and interests (de Bernardi et al, 2018;George et al, 2009;Höckert, 2018;Jamal & Dredge, 2014: 195-197;Schilcher, 2007: 59).…”

“…These questions have been discussed in the context of inclusive business growth (Hall et al, 2012), accessible tourism (Buhalis & Darcy, 2011;Darcy, 2010), social tourism (Minnaert et al, 2011), labelling processes (de Bernardi et al, 2018), social justice (Aitchison, 2007;Jamal, 2019), social entrepreneurship (Haanpää et al, 2018) and digitalism (Minghetti & Buhalis, 2010). While searching for new ways to enhance inclusive tourism practices, these studies underline the importance of participating in tourism activities based on one's own conditions, needs and interests (de Bernardi et al, 2018;George et al, 2009;Höckert, 2018;Jamal & Dredge, 2014: 195-197;Schilcher, 2007: 59). In other words, the idea of inclusive and participatory tourism development should also contain the possibility of free choice to not participate; that is, to remain 'excluded' from tourism projects.…”

A critical realist appraisal of authenticity in tourism: the case of the Sámi

“…The Sámi are an indigenous population comprising different groups who speak different languages and live in different parts of Sweden, Finland, Norway and Russia, which the Sámi collectively call Sápmi. The Sámi are traditionally reindeer herders but now mostly have ordinary jobs; and tourism is one of their occupations (de Bernardi, Kugapi, and Lüthje 2017). This paper will first discuss the conceptualization of authenticity in tourism scholarship as well as its connection to marketing and issues of representation.…”