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In this study, we present data from a study exploring local food entrepreneurs understanding of the impacts arising from the COVID-19 pandemic. The study took place in the Dalarna province, one of Sweden's most important tourism regions. Earlier studies from this area identified an emerging local food network that has become an integral part of the Southern part of the Dalarna province's (contested) touristic landscape. The established network gained traction in 2006 with a special event organised as a "Harvest Party" (Skördefest in Swedish) (Scott & Pashkevich, 2019).As research has shown, food is no longer merely a support function that facilitates tourism but has become a significant attraction. This rise in demand for food experiences in tourism is part of a broader societal and cultural narrative where food (for many) is no longer merely sustenance but a vital leisure pursuit (Scott and Duncan, 2020). Importantly, we situate the production and consumption of food as contested spaces where individual and collective identities are represented and re-represented through often diverging ethics and morals. One of the conclusions based on our previous investigations of local food entrepreneurs' motives to become part of the was that the food festival was a way to mobilise local inhabitants and enhance the sense of solidarity both among the villagers and those involved in the broader agricultural sector.Our follow-up study's preliminary results show that the summer season of 2020 has revealed unexpected but exciting impacts of the pandemic. The 2020 "Harvest Party" was more successful than ever, returning a year-on-year increase in turnover and visitors of over 40%. The event organisers proudly reported that they had adapted appropriate practices regarding pandemic, and restrictions were rigorously adhered to, including adherence to social distancing. Many producers claimed that conditions caused by the pandemic influenced the core of the local food experience. Furthermore, visitors encounters and interactions with regional food culture were noticeably different.The circumstances of this year's event, taking place during a pandemic, resulted in new knowledge that members openly shared. This open sharing has facilitated future collaborative opportunities, including a discussion to prolong the season for the first time. By sharing knowledge and experiences, members collectively realise that the event is attractive to local folk and second homeowners and urban visitors interested in the place(s) in which the members live and work. In moving their focus outside the 'local', they recognise (from bottom-up) opportunities for tourist-driven development.

In this chapter, our focus is on issues faced when developing tourism in a region located in and on the fringe. To illustrate our discussion we use the Dalarna region in southern central Sweden as an example. This region is perceived by many of those involved in tourism development as a homogenous entity. We suggest that, at least in part, this is a representation of Dalarna as the ‘Heart of Sweden’, situated in a mythologised past. In order to problematize current thinking we make use of two specific cases, namely ski resort development in the Malung-Sälen municipality in the north-west of the region and a rural festival focused on locally produced food and drink in the southern part of the region. Dalarna is represented as an imagined idyll, a land of heroic deeds and iconic images. As such, the region acts as more than merely a geographic fringe space, with its proximity to Stockholm. It also works as a kind of chronological fringe, a space between past and present. However, we suggest that late modernity disrupts the imagined idyll used by tourism developers. Dalarna is no less a modern, complex space as other regions in Sweden. It is the reality and desires of local people living in as an evolving and lived-in space that needs to be considered. Our discussion and examples illustrate the complexities that need to be taken into account to ensure sustainable, meaningful and most importantly inclusive tourism development.

In this paper we highlight the contribution which an understanding of mobilities brings to an analysis of hospitality work. The complex mobilities of hospitality employees are playing an increasing role within global tourism and hospitality sectors. Our discussion explores notions of voluntary mobility as motivated by work and lifestyle factors. We challenge the commonplace conceptualisation of tourism and hospitality employment which has been predicated upon the nature of the work itself rather than on the diverse experience backgrounds; social and geographical origins; and motivating attributes of those who work in the sector. In taking this approach, we question conventional management discourses of hospitality labour processes and illustrate the value of adopting a mobilities framework within tourism and hospitality studies.