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In the restaurant industry, there is a growing interest in applying technology as part of the service process. However, the constant development of technological innovations does not always meet the demand and therefore it would be important to empirically study how the technology based dining experiences are perceived by the customer. Accordingly, collecting information on how the service quality is perceived when technology is playing a major role during the restaurant experience is important, since such research has not been conducted before. Hereby, the aim of this research paper is to examine restaurant experiences from the customer point of view, in which the role of service personnel is reduced due to implementation of a mobile application. In order to achieve this aim, the objective is to identify what creates value for the customers in a mobile application generated dining experience. Thus, following research questions were stated: How does the customers perceive the service quality in a mobile application generated dining experience? and What are the advantages and disadvantages for the customer to use mobile application for the service delivery during the dining experience?

The research used explanatory sequential mixed methods. Primarily, the researchers performed collection and analysis of quantitative data. Additionally, to get a profound interpretation of the research topic, qualitative data was gathered and analyzed. Thereafter, the qualitative data was used for explaining the quantitative findings more in detail. For the sake of this, the research questions were divided correspondingly one for each method. Findings from the descriptive quantitative analysis, indicated that the use of mobile application for the service delivery was mostly positively perceived. Additionally, discourse analysis was conducted from 812 Pincho’s associated TripAdvisor online reviews. The review findings provided more detailed opinions of the customers’ experiences in their own words and brought up possible advantages and disadvantages.

The research findings can provide a small contribution to the knowledge of technology based restaurant experiences. However, as the researchers collected only a small amount of primary data, the validity of the results is limited. Additionally, using online reviews is a highly subjective method and consequently has its shortcomings. Therefore, in order to gain thorough understanding of mobile application generated dining experiences, the phenomenon should be further examined in a larger scale. Together with this, it would be intriguing to conduct a questionnaire based survey in all the Pincho’s restaurants and more specifically examine overall satisfaction of the customers.

The visual dimension plays a significant role in tourism, especially in its promotional materials. In promoting and representing their places and people, destinations participate in negotiations over meaning and identity, whether they do so consciously or not. These negotiations have real consequences, especially for third world destinations and minority stakeholders still grappling with the legacies of colonialism.

This study uses Cuba as a case study to closely analyze the particular role images and representations of tourism play in destinations’ efforts to combat colonialist identities and power relations. Cuba bears many of the features common to other third world (in particular Caribbean) island destinations. There is a rich theoretical background of existing research into the common tropes and consequences of these destinations’ efforts to promote and represent their tourism industries. However, the Cuban tourism context is also very unique, making it a potentially rich area of study in furtherance of this existing research. Cuba is unique in terms of the history of its people and its politics, as well as its tourism industry. After several decades of remaining closed to international tourism, the Cuban government only reopened its borders to tourists in 1989, and tourist relations with the United States were only normalized in 2016. The situation is currently in flux and the future is uncertain. But researchers agree that the reopening of Cuba’s international tourism industry may have profound consequences for the country and its citizens. Many researchers have focused on the potential downsides of tourism for Cuba’s people, places, and identities. Others have expressed optimism that Cuba is uniquely well situated to control its tourism industry and to ensure positive outcomes.

This study aims to learn more about the strategies and consequences of Cuba’s tourism industry, as seen through the lens of its marketing materials and the visual representations of Cuba, Cubans, and Cuban tourism they contain. First, this study conducts an extensive review of the literature on the unique Cuban context. Content analysis is then used to examine the images produced by Cuba’s official destination marketing organization (DMO), as featured on Cuba’s electronic tourism portal (Cubatravel.cu) and the website of the official tourism agency (Infotur.cu).

The results affirm the difficulty postcolonial tourism destinations have in representing their people and places without engaging in stereotypes and essentializing discourses that perpetuate the social, economic, and power imbalances associated with colonialism. However, the results also provide some reason for hope. In comparison with other third world tourism destinations and marketing campaigns subjected to similar analysis, Cuba manages to achieve some progressive outcomes in its promotional materials. The visual representations of Cuba and Cubans assert Cuba’s diverse and unique culture and heritage. They also go much further than other third world destinations in depicting the subjectivity of the destination’s own people. It is recommended that further research look more closely at the racial and gender politics at play in Cuban society and Cuban tourism promotion. In addition, further research might examine the feelings of actual Cubans about the ways Cuban tourism promotions represent them and negotiate identity on their behalf.

Nostalgia is an important concept in the study of heritage tourism, especially as a push factor, but less attention is devoted to how nostalgia influences place attachment and vice versa, especially in relation to both individual and collective community experiences. While place attachment has been discussed in the context of second homes, nostalgia has received little attention, with none directed specifically at historic second home communities or those which had recently experienced a disaster. Therefore, this paper presents an analysis of semi-structured interviews conducted among second homeowners in Ocean Beach, New York, which is a century-old second home community with a rich local heritage that was hit by Hurricane Sandy in 2012. The findings show that the respondents display different aspects of nostalgia, in particular endo- and meso- nostalgia. This work conceptualizes meso-nostalgia as an umbrella term for the previously discussed nostalgias which focus on the gray area between personal and collective memories. The findings also show the respondents’ deep connection to the second home landscape, but there was a marked difference between respondents with inherited second homes and those who had purchased them wherein inherited homeowners’ nostalgia was closer to those of permanent residents in previous studies.

This report presents on a data collection that took place in the biggest winter tourism destination in Sweden, Sälenfjällen, during week 9-13 in 2020. The study was conducted as a part of the InterReg project MARA_mobility (Mobility and Accessibility in Rural areas). The overall purpose of the InterReg project is to improve the accessibility and mobility in touristic remote areas of the Baltic Sea Region by increasing the capacity of transport actors. One part of the project involves crosschecking the actual mobility demand of tourists with current mobility offers. The specific purpose of this study is to analyse mobility and accessibility for Sälenfjällen as being the Swedish case within the overarching InterReg project. Data collection was made on-site using a questionnaire and Public Participation Geographic Information System (PPGIS) adapted for the Sälenfjällen case area. A total of 162 responses entered the final analysis. Results of analysis findthat the trip characteristics influence the transport mode choice. Also, there are differences in the tourists’ perception of the mobility situation depending on transport mode chosen. Moreover, the perception of the mobility situation has a link to the overall satisfaction visit to the area, however, the relationship is weak.

Sporting events, which are part of broader tourism industry, bring a range of benefits to the hostcities and regions. These benefits include increase in business activity, job creation,infrastructure development and publicity. Cities and regions spend huge amount of money tohost sporting events. A number of researchers have attempted to investigate the determinants ofvisitors spending at sporting events. However, the factors that influence the visitors spendingappear to be case specific. This study examines the determinants of visitors spending at NordicWorld Ski Championships, Falun 2015. The results suggest that income, number of days spent atthe event and being foreigner are the main determinants of the spending. The results also showthat education, marital status, gender, party size, distance traveled and satisfaction level have nosignificant impact on visitors spending.

The 2007–2008 Global Financial Crisis profoundly impacted the housing markets, particularly of the so-called PIGS countries. Main cities in Portugal, Italy and Greece have seen a sharp decrease in house prices and rent value since 2010. At the same time, the rise of Airbnb has contributed to the reframing of housing market demand in cities, with an increase of temporary lettings in prime urban tourist areas. Understandably, this has direct implications for local residents, with renters’ displacement, tourism gentrification and raising cases of tourismphobia. This article provides insights from three cities – Athens, Lisbon and Milan – to show how the dynamics in the housing market and the boost of Airbnb over the last decade are steadily changing the urban populations of the aforementioned cities. This research builds upon the rent gap theory and the Luke’s’ Power Theory to illustrate how Airbnb is fostering a new form of urban displacement at a faster rate than traditional housing gentrification, with the renting of prime residential areas to tourists.

Its strong dependency on weather conditions makes winter tourism especially vulnerable to

climate change. Ski industry operators’ knowledge about the possible scale and effects of

global warming is essential for adopting effective mitigation and adaptation measures. This

study it’s focused in the ski resort located in Sierra Nevada, Spain, the southernmost ski

resort in Europe. Using a qualitative approach, in-depth interviews were conducted. Although

the findings generally indicate a good knowledge of climate change, the stakeholders

perceive the issue as a global phenomenon. Stakeholders downplayed the scale of the

phenomenon at regional scale. They did not perceive climate change as a real or immediate

risk to the ski industry in Sierra Nevada. Consequently it was found a poor perceived need to

adapt to the issue. Furthermore, no adaptation strategies were found directly linked to climate

variability. Stakeholders identified technically produced snow as a business strategy to deal

with the increasing demand and competitiveness. Adaptation to climate change in Sierra

Nevada’s ski tourism was found reactive and autonomous. The main limits found to

adaptation were the lack of accurate and region-specific information about climate change

and the lack of cooperation and communication between the private and public sector.

Seasonality is a common phenomenon in the tourism industry around the world. Húsavík, a town on the northern coast of Iceland, has experienced tremendous growth in tourism in recent years and is sometimes recognised as the „Whale Watching Capital of Europe‟. However, Húsavík faces extreme seasonality with high demand mainly during the summer months and limited or no demand at other times of the year. As is emphasised in the tourism literature and widely in practice, seasonality is frequently seen as a problem for the tourism industry which has to be tackled. Academic research has never before been done on seasonality in Húsavík and the aim of this thesis is to understand the nature of seasonality within the tourism industry in Húsavík and discover potential ways to reduce seasonality in Húsavík tourism. In order to fulfil the aim, qualitative semi-structured interviews were undertaken with six tourism managers in Húsavík to investigate their perceptions of seasonality and if and how it could be managed. The results confirmed that the peripheral location of the destination stimulates seasonality and it poses major economic challenges for tourism businesses in Húsavík. Managers would prefer a longer tourism season. Several recommendations were provided for how to reduce seasonality such as develop other attractions than whale watching, improve accessibility, focus marketing on seasons outside the summer, and offer winter packages for foreign and domestic tourists.

This paper focuses on the evaluation of a rural event, both from a social perspective evaluating the event and the tourist and visitors it attracts and from an economic perspective. Given the modern situation of rural destinations and its shifting economy, the importance of turning towards event tourism becomes paramount. The research presents the case of the Classic Car Week, a rural festival held during week 31 in Rättvik, in the region of Dalarna, Sweden. The study is based on surveys collected during the 2016 edition. The authors analyzed the data and extrapolated statistical information to gather knowledge on the average visitor and its interests. The social focused tourism and event section of the research revolves around Crompton’s instrument of motivator measurement to establish the pull factors which attract visitors to the event. This is done by analyzing their expectation, satisfaction and decision-making. The economic analysis of the study presents the calculations made by the authors on the total estimat accomodation expenses based on guest nights in Rättvik (35000) during week leading up to the event and during CCW, week 30 and 31. A estimated max and minimum senario was made were the calculated max accomodation expenses was 7 031 793 SEK while the minimum was estimated to 4 714 177 SEK. Similarly, a max and min scenario was also calculated on the estimated total daily expenses, resulting in a max approximation of 7 087 107 and a min of 4 746 521. Together the estimated max and min accommodation and daily expenses was summed to create a max and min scenario of the total spending in the area. With a max scenario of 14 118 900 SEK and a minimum scenario of 9 460 698 SEK. Illustrating a part of the economical impact that he municipality receives as a direct result of the event.

Travelling to, from and within the destination area accounts for a high level of tourism emissions. Yet, little has been done to improve and direct the travelling pattern at reducing carbon dioxide emissions. By encouraging visitors to use public rather private transport also limits traffic congestion and increases the use of public space by means of walking and cycling therefore enhancing destination competitiveness. Although there have a number of attempts to encourage the use of public transportation over car use, it still remains a challenge. This paper reports the findings of surveys of tourists who visited Sälen during the peak season of Easter break and projected their travel choice and spending patterns within the destination. The results shows that there is a relationship between location, accessibility and tourist expenditure.

Therefore, understanding the pattern of visitors’ expenditures within a destination can serve as a strategic element in economic sustainability and capturing factors that have a high expenditure at a destination.

В статье подчеркивается значимость учета геоэкологических аспектов в развитии объектов куль-турного наследия на основе концепции устойчивого развития. В качестве основного направления реализации концепции предложены особенности, принципы формирования культурного ландшафта. Определены подходы концепции культурного ландшафта. Предложен и обоснован выбор информационно-аксиологического подхода.

This thesis aims to examine the motivational factors and to explore possible typologies of groundhoppers. Groundhopping as a special form of sports tourism which has grown rapidly over the last couple of decades. Given the fact, that there has been a lot of research in the field of sports tourism it is quite interesting to see that up to this day, there is hardly any in-depth research about groundhopping in particular. Groundhoppers are a very interesting group to both sport and tourism industry. For the latter, groundhoppers might be a potential target group especially when it comes to the promotion and marketing of certain destinations. Just like other types of tourists, groundhoppers bring money to the destinations, spend it at different occasions and hence contribute to the destinations’ development.

Having an exploratory character, this quantitative research wants to contribute to the lack in current literature, focussing on a German groundhopper online community and its members. A web-based questionnaire has been conducted which had a total number of 909 respondents. Demonstrating the outcomes of the survey, this thesis looks into the individual statistics of the questionnaire and visualises the answers with descriptive tables. Furthermore, with the use of an exploratory factor analysis and a two-step cluster analysis, three potential groups of groundhoppers could be explored.

The findings from this study should be seen as a starting point, an inspiration for further research, as groundhopping is likely to keep growing in numbers. While quantitative studies like this thesis can contribute to get an overall picture, qualitative research will also be required to get an insight on the more individual and personal level of groundhopping. This again could lead to new ideas and concepts for advanced quantitative research. Until then, groundhopping will remain a mostly unknown niche in the field of sports tourism.

This study analyses how residents of urban communities perceive the impact of tourism on

their community, as well as the attitudes that these residents have towards tourism. Most of

the previous tourism literature is focused on the visitor point of view. Although there are

some studies on residents’ perceptions and attitudes, almost all of them are located in small

rural communities and resort-type destinations. Therefore, there is a lack of research into

residents’ perceptions and attitudes in urban destinations. It is generally argued that

destinations have different characteristics, and therefore determinants of perceptions and

attitude formation might be different in each case. Barceloneta is a port neighbourhood in

Barcelona, which has been increasing in popularity since 1992, and is now one of the most

popular tourist areas in the city. Originally populated by sailors and fishermen, Barceloneta

now has a considerable part of the community living off tourism. However, an important

portion of the community has been protesting against the negative effects of mass tourism

since the summer of 2014. This paper has conducted 11 semi-structured in depth interviews

in order to look into perceptions and attitudes as well as the factors influencing them.

The results of this study have shown that residents perceive positive and negative impacts

regardless of their general opinion of tourism. The Barceloneta community seems to be

heterogeneous when it comes to their perceptions, where each individual develops different

attitudes as a result of observation and evaluation of the effects of tourism; this relates to the

Social Exchange Theory. The findings of this paper aim to assist urban planners with making

tourism development strategies with higher rates of acceptance within the community. More

acceptance of tourism development would contribute positively to the host-visitor

relationship, as well as to visitors’ overall satisfaction and destination image.

The aim of the present master thesis was to analyze what factors contribute to communitycapacity, in order to add to the understanding of what can make tourism as a developmentalstrategy more efficient. Community capacity was assessed at the example of MuungoniVillage on Zanzibar along a capital assets approach. The setting is represented in terms of theparticipants and their viewpoints that were captured in semi-structured in-depth interviewsduring a research trip on the Tanzanian island. Several strong, as well as weak indicatorscould be elaborated to estimate to what extent the community currently has the capacity as aprecondition to involve in tourism. This thesis therewith was able to build a bridge betweenwhat currently appraises the community capacity of Muungoni and which weaknesses have tobe improved in order to further build capacity. It contributes to the research gapencompassing community capacity within the perspective of tourism development.

This research explores the experiences that seasonal leisure-service worker have while working in the holiday park if Leksand Resort AB. This is regarded as an important topic, as certain experiences as for example satisfaction or motivation, can be a strong influence on the quality of the services provided as well as an indicator if workers will return in later seasons. Additional, Hickman and Mayer (2003) stated that not enough research has been conducted about the personnel side of holiday park work.

Therefore, two qualitative methods of data collection were implemented in form of semi structured in-depth interviews, as well as observations. While the interviews allowed the researcher an insight into personal opinions and experiences of the workers, to further explore the phenomenon of leisure-service worker experiences, the observations provided data on changes within the company, comparing work-conditions, co-worker relationships, and management contact in 2017 with those that the interviewees mentioned in the interviews from 2016.

The findings show that co-worker relationships were perceived as the most important part for having a good experience at work. Also, several negative influences on the employee experience that employees from 2016 expressed were taken care of by the company in 2017. Still, employees do not feel as if the Management has big interest in their well being. This misunderstanding, can possibly explained by the communication difficulties that some employees expressed.

The focus of this research was not to explore all experiences at Leksand Resort AB, but rather the experiences of a limited number with particular attention on attitudes, and feelings of these workers. For future research it is recommended to regard all divisions of the company, as well as Management.

The research is a valuable addition to research within this field as the employee satisfaction is often being measured with surveys in a quantitative matter, to representatively explore levels of satisfaction (or dissatisfaction). This thesis on the other hand applies semi structured in-depth interviews, to gain understanding of motives and attitudes, and to understand the details that matter to employees.

Studien föranleds av den nya konkurrenslagstiftningen som påverkar gränsdragningen mellan privat och offentligt engagemang inom turismen. I studien görs ett försök att förstå den historiska utvecklingen utifrån institutionell teori. Att över tid följa hur turismen från att ha legat utanför samhällets intressesfär till att i allt högre grad inkluderas i och bli föremål för samhällsåtaganden till att i betydande utsträckning åter överflyttas till den privata sfären blir enligt författarnas mening begripligare om förändringsförloppet förstås i den referensram som den institutionella teorin erbjuder. Den pendelrörelse som på detta sätt kan urskiljas beträffande gränsdragningen mellan privat och offentligt är också en del i hur man skall förstå hur synen på konkurrensbetingelser inte är statisk utan i hög grad konstruerad och framförhandlad från tid till annan. Men det som gälller tid tycks också ha en geografisk dimension där vad som anses tillåtet i en del av landet inte uppfattas så på ett annat ställe. Det som uppfattas som ett juridiskt spörsmål i förstone vilar i realiteten i en komplex kontext med ingredienser av historia, ekonomi och geografi.

This chapter adopts a public policy perspective to tourism workforce formation in Finland, Norway and Sweden. The qualitative content analysis of national tourism strategy, planning and policy documents reveals that aspired labour regimes are predominantly characterised by mobility, flexibility and segmentation. While these practices ensure a competitive operational environment, satisfy seasonal employee demand and provide means for states to integrate immigrants into the labour market, negative societal consequences including precariousness, low-quality employment and inequality arise as well. Although all examined documents advocate sustainable production and consumption for Nordic tourism, workforce is essentially not included in sustainability discourses and initiatives.

Heritage tourism is a form of niche tourism which has emerged as an alternative to mass tourism. However the discourses used to market some heritage products generally appeal to an elite group in society who are demanding. Thus heritage tourism is marketed and packaged in a way to appeal to an exclusive group who are interested in tailor-made products that provide some entertainment value. The aim of this paper is to investigate the marketing strategies and goals for tourism development, from the perspective of two World Heritage Sites (WHS) in Sweden including the Great Copper Mountain in Falun and the Old Church Town in Luleå. Accordingly, the discourses used to sell heritage in the context of Sweden are discussed. A mixed-methods approach was used by the authors to carry out this investigation. The results of the analysis revealed that the heritage presented in the two cases are marketed as exclusive and as such, preclude the participation of some individuals. Furthermore, it was established that enhanced communication between WHS products and Sweden and other tourism products would improve visitation.

The thesis aims to identify the role of authenticity in the promotion of theme parks. The apparent contradiction of theme parks and authenticity makes this research field so essential to investigate. Theme parks are usually criticised for being fake and banal places where nothing is real or authentic. In fact, the trend goes forward to tourists that search for authentic experiences due to the always desire of singularity, originality, combined with self-realisation in a safe environment. That most of touristic places and destination are constructed and that the assessment of authenticity depends more on the observer than on the observation itself often remains disregarded. That is why, much literature is already dealing with assessment of authenticity as a construct of subjective hopes, views and expectations. The theoretical part treats this assessment and brings it in the context of theme parks. To provide a knowledge base for the analysis, the literature review reveals, that theme parks serve the trend of authenticity due to the chance to escape the daily routine and a predictability of services.

Expanding the current literature, a qualitative approach is used to analyse how authenticity is advertised by theme park suppliers on their home pages. A content analysis using the three different types of authenticity according to Wang (1999) as main categories is conducted.

The study concludes, that mainly objectivist and constructivist authenticity is promoted by the operators, triggering visitors with essential and intersectoral tourism focuses like escape from every day’s life and making unusual experiences. Suppliers play with the hyper-realistic contradiction of a theme park, imitating the outside world same as creating a border to it. On the home pages, common marketing methods like

storytelling and electronic word-of-mouth are combined with authenticity. Synonyms for authenticity, like "real" or "genuine" can be identified. Even cultural differences between the different continents are noticeable.

However, as a qualitative approach is conducted, the study does not aim for high representativeness but for a deep understanding of a limited number of theme parks. It contributes to the after date very limited amount of academic literature about authenticity promotion. Furthermore, the study can be seen as in inspiration for other theme park and touristic entertainment suppliers. However, it is recommended that future researches use quantitative methods to build numerical relations and the ability for generalisation.

This thesis focuses on identifying hindrances of achieving a sustainable tourism development on a base of a World Heritage Site. Using a case study of the World Heritage Site Falun Great Copper Mountain, the thesis assesses the situational context by using qualitative methods. Five semi- structured interviews with influential stakeholders were conducted to get an inside view of the current situation and to identify site-specific issues. The thesis identifies a number of factors that determine the successful implementation of measures leading towards sustainable tourism in the long-run; the most important being the lack of clear guidelines for the whole destination and no holistic planning approach within the municipality. The thesis concludes that despite the increased pressures towards establishment of sustainable tourism, the concept remains challenging to operationalize for the World Heritage Site without frameworks and tools from UNESCO.

Numerous research articles already touched upon the subject of racism in the Netherlands, the denial and ignorance of race and racism is however still there in Dutch society. The aim of this research paper was to determine whether or not the international students studying in the Netherlands feel welcome and satisfied in Dutch society. This was done by online questionnaires. This research examined how cross- cultural adaption (host receptivity and host conformity pressure) and international student encounters with racism affected their overall student satisfaction and likelihood to recommend the Netherlands as favorable country to study to others back in their home country. Out of the survey of 254 international students, 48 had experienced some form of racial abuse. The findings are presented, but it does have to be stated that the required sample size has not been met in this research (a required 382 sample size). Therefore the credibility and reliability of this research paper might be questioned. This also means that the results cannot be generalized to the population of international students in the Netherlands, or any other population. Furthermore, the non-representation of several nationalities might bias the results. The results however did indicate that racial abuse did affect the students’ likeliness to recommend the Netherlands as a favorable country to study to others. Also, the host receptivity score, host conformity pressure score and satisfaction with living and studying in the Netherlands was reported more negatively when the respondent was a victim of racism in the Netherlands.

The sustainable practice of tourism is heavily dependent on its practitioners. Moreover, the education of these practitioners has been an ongoing debate with the sector. The author of this study have chosen to examine how sustainable is the tourism education and how it is been1 structured by analyzing the curriculums of master’s programs in higher educational institution in Swedish universities. The aim is to identify if the programs curriculums are holding the standard for sustainable tourism education. To accomplish this, a literature framework was established which includes transformational education and critical pedagogy. The content analysis method was applied to collect and analyze syllabuses from programs and courses. Results revealed the role of faculties in the pedagogy approach as syllabuses from programs and course in faculties grounded in economics studies had traits that were identified as unsustainable. The analysis also revealed that there were areas in which these syllabuses incorporated EfS principles. Even though the analysis revealed how the content of these syllabuses aligned with the principles of EfS, it also exposes the areas which traditional approaches are still being practiced. This study lays a foundation for future understanding of this area of research.

The intersection between social media, liminality and nature-based tourism experiences hasn't been the focus of previous tourism research. Such intersection, on the other hand, is illustrative of how social media relate to the constitution and performance of tourism spatialities, tourist identities, storytelling and place-making, and can lead to relevant theoretical contributes. We aim to investigate how liminality is expressed in relation to nature-based experiences by tourists on social media, and what role social media plays in mediating liminality during nature-based tourism experiences. The analysis is based on a participatory netnography of images and text posts, as well as online interviews with users of the popular social media Instagram. Findings show that the expression of tourism experiences in nature is closely related to specific notions of liminal otherness as opposed to the urban life and the everyday, where nature and wilderness are expressed as related to the genuine, the authentic and a true inner self. Creative combinations of pictures, captions and hashtags make it easier for tourists to express the contrast between the natural landscape and the everyday landscape once they returned home. These combinations also relate closely to performances of resistant and alternative selves and communities. At the same time, such performances are mediated and contested between freedom of self-expression, surveillance and social norms, an aspect that makes their liminal nature ambiguous.

The purpose of this research is to explore the role of online photography in creating experience value in nature-based tourism, and what types of experience value are conveyed through photography-based user-generated content. The paper draws from existing literature in defining tourism experience value as a subjective, inter-subjective and inter-contextual construct, performed by situated valuation practices. Consequently, the paper presents interpretive and participatory netnography as an effective method to investigate experience value, and identifies online photography on Instagram as both a valuing practice and a valuing place. Results show the capability of online photography-based UGC to create multidimensional values from strategic combinations of textual and visual content. Simultaneously, new dimensions of experience value are introduced, which exist beyond single tourism experiential encounters, but critically contribute to an iterative experience valuation. Finally, Instagram posts introduce valuation timelines that can elude linear models of pre/in-situ/post-experience valuation, and assume subjective and fluid connotations.

Authenticity is considered a very important means to attract tourists. Different enterprises and destinations compete for visitors and authenticity is an important factor for visitors’ travel decisions. Within the context of indigenous and cultural tourism, several studies have criticized the way in which indigenous and local populations are portrayed in order to attract tourists, since they often involve colonial images and descriptions that are no longer corresponding to the contemporary situation. This study presents an alternative perspective on the discussion on tourism marketing in relation to authenticity. Through critical discourse analysis and retroduction, this study has analysed the websites of Sámi tourism companies from Sweden. The discussion put forward in this study is not a generalizing picture of how the Sámi peoples choose to market themselves, but it problematizes how these particular enterprises relate to issues of authenticity in the representation of cultural heritage. This paper also presents a new approach to authenticity seen as a compromise. The results of this study present one side of a multifaceted discussion on the struggle between different discourses on representations and authenticity that are often the main channel to reach and attract potential visitors.

In this paper, I discuss my personal experience of the issues that can arise when adopting critical realism in academic contexts dominated by irrealist (positivist, phenomenological and post-structuralist) methodological approaches. I draw inspiration for my analysis from the concept of Gramscian hegemony and the concept of ‘authenticity’. These concepts are related because hegemonic processes prevent individuals from freely expressing themselves. In my case, academic hegemony has resulted in social pressure to sacrifice my authentic critical realist self in order to achieve academic success. I also discuss groupthink dynamics, suggesting that they are a mechanism by which hegemony–and denial of individual authenticity–can be achieved. This paper is meant to be a theoretical and reflexive discussion, which could be the starting point for empirical studies investigating the situation of a critical realist in a hegemonic academic context. 

The number of incoming tourists in the world rises every year (World Bank, 2016), and this has an impact on the goals for the 2030 Agenda especially regarding climate change, sustainability of ecosystems and the availability of water (UN, 2016). Despite the internal and external controversies surrounding tourism scholarship, it is a field that has much potential to contribute to the achievement of the goals of the 2030 Agenda. In tourism research, there are still well-established and strong divisions between quantitative and qualitative research. The quantitative approach usually relies on positivism, while the qualitative approach increasingly commits to phenomenological, hermeneutic, postmodernist and constructivist positions. Furthermore, research underpinned by these assumptions often does not clearly state nor discuss epistemological or ontological issues, taking the previously mentioned positions for granted almost as they were the accepted norm.

In this paper, I review the latest 200 articles that have been published in each of the three top tourism and hospitality journals. I comment specifically on their epistemological and ontological assumptions. I then use this review as the basis for a philosophical discussion in which I argue that critical realism can underlabour for tourism scholarship. That is, it can provide tourism scholarship with an ontology and epistemology that will allow it to effectively discover and tackle the issues that are connected to overcrowding and unsustainable destination development to ensure that the goals of the 2030 Agenda are met.

References:

UN. (2016). Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development .:. Sustainable Development Knowledge Platform. Retrieved April 5, 2018, from https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/post2015/transformingourworld

World Bank (2016). International tourism , number of arrivals. Retrieved April 5, 2018, from https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/ST.INT.ARVL

Authenticity is discussed and considered relevant in a number of different tourism enterprises. Authenticity has had a strong, but debated conceptual role in tourism, while from a heritage management perspective it has been conceptualised according to more practical implications. In this paper, authenticity is mainly related to the information advertised in marketing and to the potential role of a new authenticity conceptualisation based on compromise. The discussion also considers the possible effects on Sámi tourism and Sámi heritage. Sámi tourism companies are involved in issues concerning authenticity, but from a slightly different perspective than the ones usually advanced in research. Sámi cultural heritage has been a relevant attraction for several decades and many issues have been identified with the use of Sámi culture in Nordic tourism. One of the biggest problems is the fact that the Sámi are an indigenous population composed of different groups with different languages and cultural aspects. The Sámi have to balance their culture’s connection to the past and the lively contemporary cultural manifestations in a way that is attractive to the tourists. In this regard, it is relevant to discuss the role of labels and certification in Sámi tourism enterprises and the potential upsides and downsides of adopting labelling schemes to different aspects of Sámi cultural heritage.  

This paper is concerned with one aspect of a doctoral project and it focuses on the potential role of authenticity and labels. This study will present some of the labels that are in use in the context of Sámi tourism. Furthermore, the paper focuses on a cultural label created by Sámi entrepreneurs in Sweden, which will now be taken into consideration in a newly financed European NPA (Northern Periphery and Arctic programme) called ARCTISEN. Cultural labels are conceptualised as a potential way to sustain, promote and protect cultures such as Sámi culture, which have been subjected to the negative sides of tourism promotion and visitation. The paper will also outline current movements from Sámi institutions to promote the growth of different kinds of labels. The main goal is to present how authenticity and labels have a strong potential for different aspects of Sámi heritage involved in the tourism industry.

Numerous research articles already touched upon the subject of racism in the Netherlands, the denial and ignorance of race and racism is however still there in Dutch society. The aim of this research paper was to determine whether or not the international students studying in the Netherlands feel welcome and satisfied in Dutch society. This was done by online questionnaires. This research examined how cross- cultural adaption (host receptivity and host conformity pressure) and international student encounters with racism affected their overall student satisfaction and likelihood to recommend the Netherlands as favorable country to study to others back in their home country. Out of the survey of 254 international students, 48 had experienced some form of racial abuse. The findings are presented, but it does have to be stated that the required sample size has not been met in this research (a required 382 sample size). Therefore the credibility and reliability of this research paper might be questioned. This also means that the results cannot be generalized to the population of international students in the Netherlands, or any other population. Furthermore, the non-representation of several nationalities might bias the results. The results however did indicate that racial abuse did affect the students’ likeliness to recommend the Netherlands as a favorable country to study to others. Also, the host receptivity score, host conformity pressure score and satisfaction with living and studying in the Netherlands was reported more negatively when the respondent was a victim of racism in the Netherlands.