‘Rewilding’ and Tourism Entrepreneurship A practice theory approach in Swedish Lapland

Wageningen University and Research Department of Environmental Sciences Cultural Geography Chair Group

Master Leisure, Tourism and Environment Course code: GEO-80436 Submission date: December 2017

Name student: Charles van de Kerkhof Registration number: 871129428130

Supervisor: Arjaan Pellis Examiner: Prof. Dr. V.R. René van der Duim

‘Rewilding’ and Tourism Entrepreneurship A practice theory approach in Swedish Lapland

Wageningen University and Research Department of Environmental Sciences Cultural Geography Chair Group

Master Leisure, Tourism and Environment Course code: GEO-80436 Submission date: December 2017

Name student: Charles van de Kerkhof Registration number: 871129428130

Supervisor: Arjaan Pellis Examiner: Prof. Dr. V.R. René van der Duim

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Table of Content

I. List of figures ...... 5 II. Executive summary ...... 6 1 Introduction ...... 7 1.1 General background ...... 7 1.1.1 Rewilding Europe ...... 7 1.1.2 Nature-based economies ...... 8 1.1.3 Concept of rewilding ...... 8 1.1.4 Enterprise opportunities ...... 9 1.2 Defining the research area ...... 10 1.3 Practices of Rewilding Lapland ...... 10 1.4 Tourism enterprises and their practices in Swedish Lapland ...... 11 1.5 Problem statement ...... 11 1.6 Scientific objective and research questions ...... 11 1.7 Relevance of the study ...... 12 1.8 Outline of the thesis ...... 13 2 Theoretical Framework ...... 14 2.1 Tourism enterprise development ...... 14 2.1.1 Characteristics enterprises ...... 14 2.1.2 Balancing economic, sociocultural and environmental values ...... 15 2.1.3 Entrepreneurship in the context of Rewilding Lapland ...... 15 2.1.4 Relationship between entrepreneurship and sustainable development ..... 15 2.2 Power Relations and institutionalization ...... 16 2.3 Practice theory ...... 18 2.3.1 Generations of practice theorists ...... 19 2.3.2 Practice theory by Shove, Pantzar and Watson ...... 19 2.4 Meaning, competences and materials ...... 20 2.5 Practitioners ...... 20 2.6 Practice arrangement bundles ...... 21 2.7 Zooming in and zooming out ...... 22 2.8 Development of practices ...... 22 2.9 Conceptual model ...... 23 3 Methodology ...... 24 3.1 Data collection ...... 24 3.1.1 Qualitative research method ...... 24 3.1.2 Ethnographic method ...... 24 3.1.3 Data collection ...... 24 3.2 Respondents ...... 25

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3.3 Interview structure ...... 25 3.4 Data analysis ...... 26 3.5 Limitations ...... 26 4 Results ...... 27 4.1 Tourism enterprise practices ...... 27 4.1.1 Meanings ...... 27 4.1.2 Competences...... 35 4.1.3 Materials ...... 40 4.2 Rewilding practices ...... 51 4.2.1 Meanings ...... 51 4.2.2 Competences...... 58 4.2.3 Materials ...... 60 4.3 Rewilding influence on tourism enterprise practices ...... 62 5 Discussion ...... 64 5.1 Practice theory ...... 64 5.2 Entrepreneurial challenges ...... 64 5.2 Land use challenges ...... 68 6 Conclusion ...... 70 6.1 How has nature-based tourism been developed as a practice in Swedish Lapland? ...... 70 6.1.1 Meanings ...... 70 6.1.2 Competences...... 70 6.1.3 Materials ...... 71 6.2 How has rewilding been developed as a practice in Swedish Lapland? ...... 71 6.2.1 Meanings ...... 71 6.2.2 Competences...... 72 6.2.3 Materials ...... 72 6.3 What is the influence of the concept and practice of rewilding on the practices of nature-based tourism enterprises in Swedish Lapland? ...... 72 6.4 Recommendations ...... 73 6.5 Proposals for future research ...... 73 6.6 Practical application of the results ...... 74 7 References ...... 75 Annex 1 ...... 79 Annex 2 ...... 80

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I. List of figures

Figure 1: Web of institutionalisation 17 Figure 2: The three elements of a practice 20 Figure 3: The conceptual model 23 Figure 4: Material element between six practices 68 Figure 5: Elements of nature-based tourism enterprise in Swedish Lapland 71 Figure 6: Elements of nature-based tourism enterprise in Swedish Lapland 72

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II. Executive summary

Rewilding is a new conservation initiative initiated by Rewilding Europe and has been introduced in nine areas across Europe. This new form of conservation is creating wilder and larger European natural areas, and is therewith creating possibilities for nature-based tourism on the European continent. The focus of this thesis research is on the practices of nature-based tourism enterprises, the practices of rewilding, and how the practices of these tourism enterprises are formed and reformed by the concept and practice of rewilding in Swedish Lapland.

To understand how practices of nature-based tourism enterprises are formed and reformed by the concept and practice of rewilding the practice theory has been used. More specifically Shove, Pantzar and Watson’s (2012) take on practice theory by focussing on how the three elements of a practice, namely meanings, competences and materials, are related and enhancing one another in the practices of rewilding and tourism.

By focussing on the meanings, competences and materials of these practices, this thesis research has shed light on the practices of nature-based tourism enterprises and the practices of rewilding in Swedish Lapland. No direct influence from the rewilding practices on the tourism enterprise practices in Swedish Lapland has been identified at this stage. Mainly because of the novelty of the concept and practice of rewilding, the low-level of innovation of current rewilding practices and due to several obstacles for the tourism industry in Swedish Lapland.

This study provides an extensive overview of tourism enterprise and rewilding practices in Swedish Lapland, and identifies two main challenges for the practice of rewilding to materialise in Swedish Lapland. These two challenges are entrepreneurial and land use challenges. For rewilding’s natural practices to materialise, all social practitioners who use the same material element, namely the land, should be taken into account. From this perspective, the tourism industry is an important part of the implementation of rewilding, due to the economic alternative it creates for land use. Thereby, to increase successful implementation of rewilding in Swedish Lapland it is important to understand the tourism enterprise practices, and how the rewilding practices are viewed by these tourism entrepreneurs. This is all required information to lay basis for social practitioner-relationships and collaboration to implement and maintain both rewilding as tourism practices long-term.

Keywords: rewilding, tourism enterprises, entrepreneurship, practices, practice theory, tourism studies, nature-based tourism, Rewilding Lapland, Swedish Lapland

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1 Introduction

The focus of this thesis research is on practices of tourism enterprises, practices of the new conservation approach called rewilding, and the influence of the concept of rewilding on these tourism enterprise practices in Swedish Lapland.

This chapter will start with providing an introduction to the concept of rewilding and its focus on the tourism industry, after which it will introduce the research area. Followed by the practices of rewilding and the practices of tourism enterprises this chapter will conclude with the scientific objective and research questions.

1.1 General background

1.1.1 Rewilding Europe

Rewilding Europe is a new conservation initiative in Europe with the mission to ‘make Europe a wilder place, with far more space for wild nature, wildlife and wilderness, to bring back the variety of life for all of us to enjoy, and to explore new ways for people to earn a fair living from the wild.’ (Rewilding Europe Annual Review, 2016 p.8)

Formally established in 2011, Rewilding Europe is currently in its fifth year of operation and is focussing on the transformation of problems caused by land abandonment into mutually beneficial opportunities for both man and nature (Rewilding Europe Annual Review, 2016). According to Schepers and Jepson (Annual Review, 2016), this land abandonment is mostly taking place in regions where agriculture is marginal and where land abandonment is resulting in a depletion of skills, experience and energy from these rural areas. Consequently land abandonment has a negative impact on the local and regional economies. The main focus of Rewilding Europe is on nature conservation but social and economic aspects are being considered as important parts of their strategy (Schepers & Jepson, 2016).

Currently Rewilding Europe is focussing on nine areas across Europe, all of which represent a wide selection of European regions and ecosystems, each with their own specific (natural, cultural, political and economic) contexts (Rewilding Europe Annual Review, 2016). According to Rewilding Europe, all these areas have the potential to become world-class destinations for nature tourism, which can offer a range of additional nature-based economic benefits (Rewilding Europe Annual Review, 2016), making tourism development therefore one of the key component of Rewilding Europe’s approach (Schepers & Jepson, 2016).

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1.1.2 Nature-based economies

Rewilding Europe has included nature-based economies in its five specific 10-year objectives (Rewilding Europe Annual Review 2016). Rewilding Europe is working to demonstrate that rewilding can generate new business opportunities, jobs and income for society, and in doing so creating a competitive form of land use for local people, the landowners and the communities (Schepers & Jepson, 2016).

Rewilding abandoned rural areas of Europe creates, according to Rewilding Europe, wilder places where modern society can reconnect with nature. Reconnection with nature often materializes in nature-based activities like wildlife watching. According to Karis et al. (2013), the demand for wildlife watching activities is growing exponentially worldwide.

One of the questions asked during the WILD10 symposium in Salamanca in October 2013, was if there is any money in wildlife watching? Widstrand (2013, p.27) concluded that wildlife watching at a local and small-scale level shows that wildlife is valuable and that it provides local income and job opportunities, as well as that it is open for entrepreneurs, ranging from land owners, leasing contracts, to infrastructure and service providers of transportation, guiding, hotel and restaurant facilities.

Rewilding Europe employs a range of tools to help achieve their objectives, and in the case of nature-based economies the main tools are: Rewilding Europe Capital, European Safari Company, Rewilding Europe Travel Club, promotional support and sales of destinations (Rewilding Europe Annual Review, 2016). An example of a tool is the booking system that will be developed by the European Safari Company to provide these unique natural experiences based on a high yield and low impact principle (Rewilding Europe Annual Review, 2016).

1.1.3 Concept of rewilding

With the potential of nine European world-class destinations for nature tourism and Rewilding Europe’s vision that rewilding will generate new business opportunities, it is important to look at how the concept of rewilding is defined. In Rewilding Europe’s latest Annual Review (2016) the concept of rewilding is mentioned as follows:

‘Rewilding ensures natural processes and wild species play a far more prominent role in our terrestrial and aquatic environments. After initial support, it means that nature is allowed to take more care of itself. Rewilding helps landscapes become wilder, while simultaneously providing opportunities for modern society to reconnect with such wilder places for the benefit of all life.’

Rewilding Europe has identified five reasons to show why rewilding is essential for Europe (Annual Review, 2016). The first reason (1) is that our ecosystems need to

8 recover. Nature does not only need to be protected but also to be restored, and rewilding offers a historical opportunity to do so. The second reason (2) is that keystone species are indispensable in nature. These species are vital to drive ecological processes. Rewilding can accelerate the recovery of particularly large herbivores. The third reason (3) is that nature looks after us. Naturally functioning ecosystems will always provide mankind with what they need. In this way rewilding will link ecology with modern economies in the form of ecosystem services. The fourth reason (4) is that rural communities will benefit from rewilding. Local economies where alternatives are scarce will be boosted by rewilding. For instance by tourism so that local people can earn a fair living from nature-based enterprises. And lastly, the fifth reason (5) is that wild places inspire people. People need to reconnect to nature, which has the potential to improve their health and wellbeing and which will build a shared sense of humanity and pride.

1.1.4 Enterprise opportunities

Rewilding Europe claims that through their work in pilot areas, they continue to demonstrate that rewilding can generate significant new business opportunities, jobs and income for local people, landowners and communities. (Rewilding Europe Annual Review 2016) Before going into details about business opportunities for nature-based enterprises in the rural areas of Europe, the definition of these enterprises will be given. Matthew McLuckie, working for Rewilding Europe Capital, focusses on enterprise development, and defines a rewilding enterprise as: ‘any business or commercial activity that can generate economic and social benefits in a way that meaningfully support a rewilding outcome’ (McLuckie, 2013 p.26).

According to McLuckie (2013) a rewilding enterprise can achieve meaningful support in a number of ways, namely by: generating finance that can support rewilding; redirecting threatening business activities towards more rewilding-friendly alternatives; increase income from ‘buffer’ landscapes to reduce the need to encroach into ‘core’ areas of higher natural value; increasing the economic value of wildlife and wild nature in ways that create incentives to support and conserve it; inspiring key local stakeholders through employment or other benefits in ways that create incentives to further conserve and rewild a relevant natural area; promoting and providing access to the values of a rewilding area for a better enjoyment of and understanding of it. McLuckie (2013) also defined critical ingredients for developing successful rewilding enterprises: a relevant rewilding / conservation context; viable underlying product / market; secured property rights; enthusiastic entrepreneurs and operators; ability, enthusiasm and understanding to create functional partnerships.

Enterprises that want to become rewilding enterprises should meet the previously mentioned supportive measurements aimed at a meaningful rewilding outcome and can receive support from Rewilding Europe. This support consists of the following: business advice, providing technical advice to businesses about operational

9 development; promotion, by marketing businesses through the powerful communication network of Rewilding Europe; financial investment, by financially supporting business through a dedicated investment fund managed by Rewilding Europe which is called Rewilding Europe Capital (McLuckie, 2013).

1.2 Defining the research area

Rewilding Lapland will be taken as a case study for this thesis research. First of all as Rewilding Lapland is the newest addition to the areas where Rewilding Europe is operating, and secondly because Sweden already has a tourism infrastructure in this rural area focussed on nature-based tourism.

The term ‘Swedish Lapland’ is a tourism marketing name for the entire Norrbotten County and the northern part of Västerbotten county. The Swedish province of Lappland is both part of Norrbotten and Västerbotten counties. The area of operation of Rewilding Lapland covers the area of the Norwegian boarder in the west, Abisko in the north, Gällivare in the east and Arjeplog in the south. This area is only a small part of Swedish Lapland. Rewilding Lapland is also undertaking activities in other parts of Swedish Lapland, and therefore this thesis research will focus on the entire part of northern Sweden known as Swedish Lapland and will hence forward mention the area where this thesis research has been undertaken as Swedish Lapland.

1.3 Practices of Rewilding Lapland

Rewilding Lapland is a new player in the area of Swedish Lapland. They started operating in 2016, and have just completed their first year of operation. Rewilding Lapland has identified the Sami community, who are using the entire land of northern Sweden, as a key player for the successful introduction of rewilding practices.

Rewilding Europe has spent three years to better understand the local needs and opportunities in this area. They have fostered good relationships and developed partnership with local actors interested in combining rewilding with entrepreneurship. Rewilding Lapland has started in their first year of operation with four pilot areas. Two areas are the Pite and Råne rivers where river restoration works are taking place. The other two areas are Udtja and Girjas where the focus is on conservation of large- scale reindeer migration. (Rewilding Lapland, 2015; Rewilding Lapland, 2017)

In all these four areas Rewilding Lapland focusses on developing new economic models related to wildlife, untamed nature and indigenous culture. This is the context in which Rewilding Lapland aims at demonstrating that particularly tourism, including wildlife watching, wildlife promotion and other related practices, including reindeer herding and river restoration, can serve as important alternatives to negative, resource-extractive developments that are currently dominant in the region. (Rewilding Lapland, 2015; Rewilding Lapland, 2017)

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1.4 Tourism enterprises and their practices in Swedish Lapland

This thesis research focusses on nature-based tourism enterprises in Swedish Lapland that are offering products for individual leisure tourists, also known as the fully independent travellers (FIT) target group. The majority of the tourism enterprises in Swedish Lapland aiming at this target group are small sized enterprises, which focus both on international as well as on domestic tourists. A strategic tourism development analysis (Kohllechner-Autto, 2011) shows that most of these small sized enterprises are individually or family run enterprises where lifestyle is an important factor in running this kind of tourism enterprise. Due to this, most of these enterprises have a low degree of education and low activity due to seasonality.

What these small-scale tourism enterprises have in common in Swedish Lapland is that they take good care of their clients; they offer genuine experiences; and there is a willingness to cooperate between enterprises (Kohllechner-Autto, 2011). One of the unique selling points of Swedish Lapland is that it is a large area with only a few tourism enterprises. There are only a handful of larger tourism enterprises focussed on international individual tourists interested in nature-based tourism in Swedish Lapland. The incentive market and business travel in Swedish Lapland are of bigger scale, more professional and better organised, but they are not focussed on nature- based tourism, and in doing so have no direct connection to the concept of rewilding.

1.5 Problem statement

From a scientific perspective, little is known about how nature-based tourism enterprises operate in the rural areas of Europe. The new rewilding conservation initiative set up by Rewilding Europe is said to be changing the practices about nature conservation, and in doing so it is also expected to influence the associated practices of tourism enterprises operating in the same area. We know little about the influence of the concept of rewilding on these tourism practices.

To understand if, and how, the concept of rewilding influences the practices of these nature-based tourism enterprises, it is important to understand how these enterprises operate. In order to do so practice theory will be used. Specifically the version of Shove, Pantzar and Watson’s (2012) where practices can be explored as in the hanging together of the three elements of ‘meanings’, ‘competences’, and ‘materials’.

1.6 Scientific objective and research questions

Getting a better insight into how both tourism and rewilding practices resonate, this thesis aims to explore how nature-based tourism enterprises operate in Swedish Lapland and how the concept and practice of rewilding may be off influence. The following research question has been formulated.

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Central research question:

How are practices of nature-based tourism enterprises formed and reformed by the concept and practice of rewilding in Swedish Lapland?

Practice theory provides insights on how people make and transform the world in which they live as participants of particular practices. This theory helps to understand and explain the influences of the concept/practice of rewilding on practices of the nature-based tourism enterprises in Swedish Lapland.

To be able to answer the main question, and to get a better idea of how these tourism enterprises operate and if or how the concept of rewilding influences the practices of these tourism enterprises, the following three research questions have been formulated.

Research questions:

1. How has nature-based tourism been developed as a practice in Swedish Lapland? 2. How has rewilding been developed as a practice in Swedish Lapland? 3. What is the influence of the concept and practice of rewilding on the practices of nature-based tourism enterprises in Swedish Lapland?

1.7 Relevance of the study

This thesis research aims to add to the literature about practices of nature-based tourism enterprises; practices of rewilding; if and what the influence is of the concept of rewilding on the practices of tourism enterprises; and how Shove et al.’s (2012) take on practice theory can be used in tourism studies for understanding practices involved.

From a scientific point of view, little is known about how tourism enterprises operate, and especially those enterprises that are focused on nature-based tourism in the rural areas of Europe. The same applies to the concept of rewilding, as little previous research has focussed on the influence of this concept on the tourism industry, due to the novelty of this approach in Swedish Lapland. Practice theory will provide insight in how the nature-based tourism enterprises in Swedish Lapland understand rewilding as a practice and how this may influence tourism enterprise practices in this pilot.

Rewilding Europe emphasizes the possibilities of economic growth for local communities based on the rewilding areas. The concept of rewilding is said to create opportunities for entrepreneurs (Rewilding Europe Annual Review 2016). Getting a better understanding of how these local entrepreneurs perceive the concept of

12 rewilding and to find out if the concept of rewilding influences the practices of the tourism enterprises is a relevant question to verify whether the concept of rewilding is actually creating possibilities for these tourism entrepreneurs.

From a policy or management perspective, understanding how these tourism enterprises operate and how they perceive rewilding and its influences, is relevant in making the right decisions for both the rewilding area itself and the tourism enterprises operating there. It is especially relevant for creating possibilities for enterprise development, as it is one of the sphere focus of the rewilding concept for boosting the local economy (Rewilding Europe Annual Review 2016).

1.8 Outline of the thesis

Chapter two will provide the theoretical framework of this thesis research. Chapter three follows with the methodology used to conduct the research. Chapter four presents the results of this thesis research. Chapter five concludes with the discussion on results and the conclusion of this thesis research.

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2 Theoretical Framework

2.1 Tourism enterprise development

Trends observed in tourism indicate an increased demand for small-scale, nature- related and rural tourism (Lordkipanidze, Brezet and Backman, 2005). The tourism industry is one of the economic sectors in which a large degree of entrepreneurial involvement is needed due to its rapid international market growth (Lordkipanidze, Brezet and Backman, 2005; Ateljevic and Doorne, 2000). Lately, entrepreneurship has gained an increasing importance, as the role of tourism entrepreneurs is considered to be vital for the development of rural areas (Chang, 2011; Lordkipanidze, Brezet and Backman, 2005).

Environmentally responsible entrepreneurship is based on resources and experiences offered by nature, whereby special emphasis is given to non-material values and renewable natural resources (Lordkipanidze, Brezet and Backman, 2005; Neblett and Green, 2005). Organizations operating in nature-based entrepreneurship are usually small, and have a catalytic potential to provide a crucial influence in communities in helping to transform local resources into tourism products and services (Lordkipanidze, Brezet and Backman, 2005; Chang, 2011; Ateljevic and Doorne, 2000).

2.1.1 Characteristics enterprises

The role of entrepreneurship is essential in the beginning stages of tourism development, especially in rural and ethnic communities where multinational firms and international hotel chains are less likely to invest due to the relatively small size of the market (Chang, 2011). One of the main characteristics of entrepreneurs is that their motives are more lifestyle and non-economic related, wherewith they are meaningful stimuli for the growth of the small business sector (Ateljevic and Doorne, 2000).

Literature shows that entrepreneurs are predominantly influenced by an economic conceptualization of entrepreneurship characterized by innovation, risk-taking, leadership, and vision (Ateljevic and Doorne, 2000; Blichfeldt, 2009; Tetzschner and Herlau, 2003; Neblett and Green, 2000; Lordkipanidze, Brezet and Backman, 2005). The authors noted that entrepreneurs share the same motivations and desires, such as not being motivated to maximize economic gain, who operate enterprises often with low levels of employment, and who base their management decisions on personalized criteria (Ateljevic and Doorne, 2000; Blichfeldt, 2009; Neblett and Green, 2000; Lordkipanidze, Brezet and Backman, 2005).

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2.1.2 Balancing economic, sociocultural and environmental values

The tourism industry is experiencing a trend of tourists who demand more environmentally friendly holidays (Buckley, 2012), and in the context of this shift and the corresponding demand for differentiated, tailor-made tourism products, the importance of small-scale business has been widely recognized (Ateljevic and Doorne, 2000). Thereby, the ability to position these products in a highly segmented marketplace is dependent on the creative and innovative capacity of individual entrepreneurs to identify and to settle new niche markets, wherein they simultaneously succeed in balancing economic performances, and sociocultural and environmental values (Ateljevic and Doorne, 2000)

2.1.3 Entrepreneurship in the context of Rewilding Lapland

Entrepreneurship differs from normal businesses as they are not a compassionate business management organization or venture capital. Entrepreneurs are directing both financially and physically in new ways for the generation of profit (Neblett and Green, 2000). If entrepreneurship is to contribute to development, it has to be an active process whereby new combinations are being achieved, and were new markets are explored (Neblett and Green, 2000; Chang, 2011).

In the context of Rewilding Lapland, entrepreneurship is fundamental for full implementation of the concept of rewilding, and also in creating employment, increasing tourism, and raising standards of nature conservation (Neblett and Green, 2000). Rewilding Lapland is an innovative project which requires collaboration with entrepreneurs to create something new, and thereby new value and growth (Blichfeldt, 2009), as it is believed that entrepreneurs create new wealth because their innovative efforts challenge the old order (Blichfeldt, 2009). Thereby, for tourism entrepreneurs to be successful, contributors must have the ability to identify and act on favourable opportunities. In case there are no favourable opportunities, innovation and collaboration are essential to produce economic net value for the entrepreneur and for society (Tetzschner and Herlau, 2003).

2.1.4 Relationship between entrepreneurship and sustainable development

According to Lordkipanidze, Brezet and Backman (2005), the relationship between entrepreneurship and sustainable development is concerned with the link between business and environment; they either support or contradict each other.

They state that on the one hand, market opportunities and policies supporting sustainable development (such as Rewilding Lapland) can result in the creation of new organizations and economic activities. Thereby, businesses can find new ways of providing more resource efficient products and services in the context and in line with the Rewilding Lapland concept. On the other hand, businesses may encourage

15 new ecological risks, while environmental pressures such as ethical, social, and safety regulations may hinder business creation (Lordkipanidze, Brezet and Backman, 2005).

Innovation, as a central element of entrepreneurship can be a reaction to environmental problems, whether this is a development or a new eco-friendly product or service (Lordkipanidze, Brezet and Backman, 2005). The key aspect and ingredient for successful Rewilding Lapland therefore includes entrepreneurship based on innovation. Local entrepreneurs are needed to provide input to place the rewilding concept in local context, and they need to be risk-taking, take leadership, and have a vision.

2.2 Power Relations and institutionalization

Social practices are found in the interplay between agency and social structure (Giddens, 1984). These practices consist of routine behaviour, which involves social structures, place and daily routines (Maller, 2012). Tourism enterprises are considered a social practice due to its creation of a practitioner-community relationship (Hung, Tan & Koh, 2006) and whereby their practices can result in social change.

These practitioner-community relationships in the development process have the stamp of power (Dirks, Eley and Ortner, 1994). As Foucault stated, (as read in Dirks, Eley and Ortner, 1994), power exists not as some essential thing or elementary force, but rather as a relation, and where there is power, there is resistance. In the context of community-based development, his resistance often translates into power relation conflicts (Dirks, Eley and Ortner, 1994).

Tourism in developing destinations is often proposed as a tool for local development and the protection of natural resources (Wearing, Wearing and McDonald, 2010). Whenever groups negotiate about the allocation of valued resources, a minimal social-exchange network emerges, wherein both groups impose and advance their own interests (Markovsky and Willer, 1988; Reed, 1997). Where power is not initially equal, the local authorities may be a suitable convener when the issues revolve around the communities’ future growth and development and when resolving a land- use development problem (Reed, 1997).

Power relations are a fundamental element in understanding the characteristics and consequences of community-based planning where tourism is emerging (Reed, 1997). And in cases where all involved organizations, such as the government, entrepreneurs, and local communities, have a high interest, it is unlikely that they will be neutral conveners of power. It is more likely they are purposeful, goal-oriented actors that use their power to their own purposes (Reed, 1997; Markovsky, Willer and Patton, 1988).

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According to Giddens (1984), each practice is shaped by the wider realm of power relations, infrastructure, technologies, and society, while each practice also acts to shape these wider aspects of social systems. This process of institutionalisation is driven by the interactions of social practitioners with different interests, but also with an unequal influence on the establishment of rules, values, beliefs and norms that will govern the behaviour within the field of the tourism industry (Levy, 1999). In most cases, collaboration is the way to overcome power imbalances by involving all stakeholders in a process that meets their needs (Reed, 1997).

To integrate the concept of rewilding within the tourism industry of Sweden, practices needs to be changed and transformed, whereby innovation and routinization are essential in this development process.

The web of institutionalisation [Figure 1, Levy, 1999], consists of four spheres which represent the stakeholders that influence the elements of institutionalisation. These elements are joined together, executed and formed by various groups of people, such as governments on a local, regional and state level; tourism enterprises ranging from accommodation to activities and rental; and local communities such as the local Swedes and the Sami communities. The combination of these elements forms a web of interrelated and linked elements, which reinforce each other (Levy, 1999).

Figure 1: Web of institutionalisation (Levy, 1999)

Institutionalisation is defined by Levy (1999) as the process in which social practices become sufficiently regular and continuous to be described as institutions. In layman

17 terms, this means that institutionalisation refers to the combination of meanings, beliefs, practices and values. This combination will result in a relative homogenisation of organisation (DiMaggio & Powell, 1991). According to Levy (1999) the term institutionalisation contains two important concepts, firstly the concept of flexibility, in which individuals and their enterprises have to generate change and secondly the notion of sustained change.

The process of institutionalisation shows power relations together with their influence and roles. It is believed that collaboration can overcome power imbalances by involving all stakeholders in the process of destination development (Reed, 1997). However, especially in emerging tourism settings, the lack of organizations supporting the process may allow conservative power holders in the community to retain their influence in these key decisions, and that these structural and procedural conditions will act as constraints to collaboration (Reed, 1997; Dirks, Eley and Ortner, 1994), which may even lead to power conflicts.

In the context of Rewilding Lapland, it is therefore important to include all involved parties equally, and to take into account their power relations. Community-based processes are complex, and their establishment implies the creation, destruction and even reinforcement of relations within and without individual communities (Reed 1997). Such a development process is highly dependent of its stakeholders and the power they hold.

2.3 Practice theory

Practice theory has been rarely used in tourism studies but Lamers, van der Duim and Spaargaren (2016), argue that this theory can contribute to tourism studies as it offers a new perspective on tourism by focusing on social practices as an adequate starting point for both theorising and carrying out empirical research. Practice theory is a theory that seeks to explain the dynamic relationships between social structure and human action. Studying these dynamic relationships in tourism suggests ‘taking a comparative and historical perspective dive into the trajectory of specific practices and their changing embeddedness in wider practice-arrangement bundles’ (Lamers, van der Duim & Spaargaren, 2016, p.62). It unravels how practices are made and transferred, and also shows how people participate and transform the world in which they live, their everyday life, and how it changes (Shove, Pantzar and Watson, 2012).

This theory is about studying activities in their social context and to view these daily activities as being part of diverse cultural and social networks (Palm & Derby, 2014). According to Karvonen (2013), this theory is useful in order to understand the context when a great deal of elements are involved and where it is difficult to apply a ‘one size fits all’ approach. Practice theory can help to combine the actors and the structures together in an analysis of social interaction (Karvonen, 2013). As this theory pursues to explain the dynamic relationships between social structure and

18 human action and their changing embeddedness, it is therefore a relevant theory to understand and explain how nature-based tourism enterprises operate and how the introduction of the concept of rewilding is influencing the enterprise practices.

2.3.1 Generations of practice theorists

Practices are interpreted in different ways, and the ideas on practice theory can generally be divided into two generations of practice theorists, whereby Bourdieu and Giddens are two important thinkers of the first generation (Postill, 2008). The first generation of practice theory thinkers have very diverging interpretations of practice theory and developed the foundation of the current practice theory (Shove, Pantzar and Watson, 2012; Postill, 2008). They agreed that there is no such thing as a coherent and unified practice theory, but just a body of highly diverse writings by thinkers who adopt a loosely defined ‘practical approach’ (Postill, 2008).

Schatzki and Reckwitz are important philosophers in the second generation, together with Shove, Pantzar and Watson (2012). These philosophers tested and structured the foundations of the ideas of the first-generation thinkers, and built new extensions to the theory of practice, by adding material elements (Reckwitz, 2017 p.116). According to Schatzki (1996; as read in Shove et al., 2012), practices are a ‘temporarily and spatially dispersed nexus of doings and sayings’.

2.3.2 Practice theory by Shove, Pantzar and Watson

Practice theory is seen by Lamers, van der Duim and Spaargaren (2016) as a relevant theory to obtain an in-depth understanding of tourism practices that represent societal innovations. They state that this theory has already proven to be useful for analysing change and innovations in tourism. Especially Shove et al.’s (2012) conceptual framework is seen by Lamers et al. (2016) as a conceptual framework that can contribute to the understanding of the reproductive challenges or innovations in tourism practices by looking at the elements of meanings, competences and materials. The combination of practice theory explained by Shove et al., (2012) with tourism is a relative new approach (Lamers et al., 2016). By using the take on practice theory by Shove et al., (2012) on how tourism enterprises operate and what the influence is of the concept of rewilding, new potential areas for scientific studies can be opened.

Shove, Pantzar and Watsons’ (2012) study of the dynamics of social practice sheds new light on understanding novelty and persistence. According to these authors, theories of practice have untapped potential for understanding social and material change (Shove, Pantzar and Watson, 2012). To realise this potential, Shove et al. (2012) have developed a means of systematically exploring processes of transformation and stability within social practices and between them. Their slim lined interpretation of practice theory focuses on the integration of the following elements:

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‘meanings, ‘competences’ and ‘materials’ [Figure 2]. They focus on the active integration of these elements in order to conceptualize how practices emerge, persist, shift and disappear when connections between elements of these three types are made, sustained or broken.

2.4 Meaning, competences and materials

In the context of Rewilding Lapland, meanings are symbolic meanings and ideas behind the concept, and the way involved stakeholders perceive it. The aspect meaning includes all associations, opinions, feelings, and ideas stakeholders have about the concept. The competences are skills and techniques needed to practice the elaboration of the concept of Rewilding and to practice entrepreneurial tourism. These skills and techniques are needed to identify and influence the development process of Rewilding, the possibilities, and which materials are required. The materials are tangible and intangible technologies and tools that enable the involved stakeholders to practice the elaboration of rewilding and entrepreneurial tourism. Nicolini (2009), stated that the durability of the practices is derived from the instruments and tools that have mediated it.

Figure 2: The three elements of a practice (from Shove et al. 2012)

2.5 Practitioners

Every practice includes meanings, competences and materials, and it is essential that these three elements co-exist to ensure that practices are to extend or endure (Shove et al., 2012). According to Nicolini (2009), practices are preserved and made durable by people who share the same set of meaning, skills and materials, and who provide elements for change. Thereby, they actively combine the elements of which practices are made of. These people are considered practitioners of the practice, and only through repeating enactments over a longer period of time a recognized

20 cooperation of these elements is established, whereby the concept of rewilding is considered a social practice (Shove et al., 2012; Nicolini, 2009).

The influence of the concept of rewilding has been measured by focussing on the emergence, persistence, shift and or disappearance of practices of tourism enterprise operation by pinpointing where connections between elements of tourism enterprises and of the concept of rewilding have been made, sustained or broken. In Shove, et al. (2012) approach to practice theory individuals feature as the carriers or hosts of a practice. This is a radical departure from more conventional approaches in which understandings, know-how, meanings and purposes are taken to be personal attributes (Shove et al., 2012).

2.6 Practice arrangement bundles

Practice-arrangement bundles are sets of social practices and material arrangements that are bound together. These bundles are loose-knit patterns based on their co- location and co-existence of practices (Shove et al., 2012) According to Lamers, van der Duim and Spaargaren (2016) these practice-arrangement bundles are useful for analysing social phenomena such as the tourism industry. Nature-based tourism enterprises can be seen as such composite bundles of social practices including different practices related to hospitality (e.g. accommodation and service), information provision (e.g. wildlife watching tours), visitation (e.g. activities like dogsledding), connected to material arrangement of nature, people, and wildlife. When unpacking the nature-based tourism enterprise bundle of practices, by using the slim-lined interpretation of practice theory introduced by Shove et al. (2012), it becomes visible how these tourism enterprises operate and co-exist with the concept rewilding, and also gives insight into what influence the concept of rewilding has on the practices of operation of these enterprises.

Relations between practices take different forms, some collaborative; some competitive; some weak; some strong. However, whatever form they take, such relations matter for the trajectories of the elements and individual practices of which composite bundles of practices are made (Shove et al., 2012). Understanding such relationships between practices are relevant for understanding institutional changes (Lamers et al., 2016). According to Lamers et al. (2016), understanding the tourism enterprises and how they are embedded helps to unpack the complexity of the tourism industry and to identify new innovative ways of governing tourism development. By focusing on the (lack of) interconnection between practices Lamers et al., (2016) emphasize the possibility to identify potential interventions for steering towards better outcomes. Practices are shaped by pre-existing practices, and to understand change in the tourism practices, it is important to understand their historical trajectories. Therefore, it is also important to look at the path of practices and their changing embeddedness in wider practice-arrangement bundles (Lamers et al., 2016).

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2.7 Zooming in and zooming out

According to Nicolini (2009), understanding practices involves a double movement of zooming in and out of practice to look at the concept from different angles. This theoretical lens is needed to study the discursive and material parts of the practice (Nicolini, 2009). When theorizing practices, there is a need to look at the situated practice (by zooming in), and a need to look at how local practices are affected and influenced by other practices (by zooming out).

By zooming in on the practice-arrangement bundle of rewilding, it shows a specific focus on the practices and activities taking place. According to Nicolini (2009), ‘for understanding and re-presenting practice, we first need to zoom in by selectively introducing conceptual tools and perspectives that can give a detailed study of its discursive and material accomplishment (p 1392). Additionally, when zooming in on a specific practice-arrangement bundle, other aspects are automatically pushed to the background.

By zooming out on the practice-arrangement bundle of rewilding, it delivers a focus on how and to what extent the relations with tourism entrepreneurship are important to the concept of rewilding (Lamers et al., 2016; Nicolini, 2009). Thereby, it is also possible to follow connections between practices and the relationship between real- time practices and their wider context (Lamers et al., 2016). By theoretically zooming out of practice, visualizes the connected between the here and now of the situated practicing, and the elsewhere and then of other practices (Nicolini, 2009). Thereby, Nicolini also states that ‘by zooming out and trailing effects through these mediators, we can foreground and document how practices extend beyond the scope’ (2009, p 1411), and detect ways how rewilding is integrated as a social practice in the Swedish tourism industry.

2.8 Development of practices

Practices are generated and changed through introducing new elements to a practice or by combining elements of practices in new ways. The elements, which can be part of several practices at once, have somewhat independent lives of their own (Shove et al., 2012). These elements, namely ‘meanings, ‘competences’ and ‘materials’ are already outcomes of local practices.

The element of meanings is about the definition and understanding practitioners have of, for instance, the tourism industry or nature-based tourism; of their interest in this kind of tourism; what this kind of tourism means to them, and what their motivation is to participate in this kind of tourism. The competence element enhances the knowledge about tourism enterprise operations, as this element gives insight into which techniques and skills are necessary to put their definition of a tourism enterprise into practice. The material element gives insight in which materials and

22 tools are used by the tourism enterprises. If one of these elements changes, by external influence for instance, then everything changes with it. A new tool needs new competences and probably a new meaning. A new meaning needs new competences and materials suited to the new meaning. Therefore, practices change when new elements are introduced or when existing elements are combined in new ways.

2.9 Conceptual model

In order to get a better insight in to how both tourism and rewilding practices resonate, this thesis aims to explore how nature-based enterprises operate in Swedish Lapland and how the concept and practice of rewilding may be of influence. When unpacking the nature-based tourism enterprise bundle of practices, by using the slim-lined interpretation of practice theory introduced by Shove et al. (2012), it becomes visible what elements are involved in tourism enterprise practices and concept of rewilding practices, as well as giving insight into what influence the concept of rewilding has on the practices of operation of these enterprises. This theoretical framework can be summarized in a conceptual model as is visualized in figure 3.

Figure 3: The conceptual model

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3 Methodology

3.1 Data collection

3.1.1 Qualitative research method

This thesis research focuses on qualitative research methods to reveal the rich detail of practices and the ways they unfold. According to Lamers, van der Duim and Spaargaren (2016), qualitative methods are important when describing meanings to investigate what aspects are being taken for granted or made into objects of reflection and discussion. Qualitative methods are perfect to capture this aspect of reflection from the participants. The three core elements of practice theory by Shove, Pantzar and Watson (2012) are used to provide guidance in the research. These three elements, namely meanings, competences and materials are used to answer the research questions. Data concerning meanings, competences and materials encompasses the meanings associated with practices of rewilding and tourism and the competences and materials associated to these practices for both rewilding and tourism enterprises.

3.1.2 Ethnographic method

Ethnography involves the study of groups and people as they go about their everyday lives (Emerson et al., 2011). It is about the study of culture, in other words it is getting to know the people involved in a social setting by observing and learning about their practices, resulting in a written record of these observations and experiences (Emerson et al., 2011). This thesis research is focussing on practices, which are part of social settings and therefore ethnographic methods are preferred by Lamers et al. (2016) in order for the researcher to practically understand and acquire inside knowledge and skills about social settings. By using in-depth interviews as an ethnographic method it was possible to record detailed descriptions of the physical aspects of the local context, as well as the material elements involved and the configuration of both the tourism enterprise practice and the concept of rewilding practice.

3.1.3 Data collection

As a result of undertaking a case study validity and reliability are not as important in this qualitative study as they are with quantitative research methods (Golafshani, 2003). Due to the flexibility and freedom of qualitative research it is difficult to establish credibility, transferability, dependability and confirmability (Trochim and Donnelly, 2007: 149). As such, these findings cannot be generalised, as they are context and location specific, but they have their own intrinsic worth (O’Leary, 2004).

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To triangulate the data-collection method, different actors have been interviewed, ranging from tourism entrepreneurs, tourism employees, and tourism industry affiliated organisations, to economic community associations and nature management organisations.

Data collection started in Swedish Lapland by clustering respondents based on their location. Swedish Lapland is a vast area and for practical reasons interviews were conducted with respondents from the same area. Respondents were chosen with the help of the Rewilding Lapland team leader, as well as by snowballing effect, where respondents mentioned other possible candidates. The interview guide was improved, where deemed necessary, after the first five interviews.

3.2 Respondents

No preliminary groups were made on forehand. For this research, 26 interviews have been conducted with actors from the affiliated network of tourism enterprises in Swedish Lapland [Annex 1]. Of these 26 interviews, one was conducted over the phone and one via Skype, and all other 24 interviews were conducted face to face in Swedish Lapland. Of these 26 interviews, 16 interviews were conducted with tourism enterprises. Of these 16 enterprises five enterprises had more than five staff members; one enterprise has less than five staff members; and the remaining ten enterprises were individually or family run enterprises. With the exception of one respondent who wished to remain anonymous, all respondents gave their informed consent on using their names, company names and information they provided.

3.3 Interview structure

Semi-structured interviews were used to conduct research on this case study. These interviews provided data from expressed professional opinions of tourism entrepreneurs and their associated network operating in Swedish Lapland. Semi- structured in-depth interviews create the flexibility of data collection to capture unexpected information as well as giving the possibility to explore the subject more in detail. Important aspects of in-depth interviews are the possibility to ask follow-up questions, and to ask about someone’s personal opinion (Boeije, 2010). The latter is especially important to get an insight perspective of their practices. Semi-structured in-depth interviews are therefore a good method to capture the meanings of the practitioners. The interviews have been personally conducted with tourism entrepreneurs and people from their associated network.

The elements from the conceptual model have shaped the interview questions [Annex 2], and were aimed at retrieving the previous mentioned expressed professional information about tourism enterprise practices and practices of the concept of rewilding. The interview guide was divided into five categories, namely (1) the background of the organisation; (2) the role of the tourism industry in Swedish

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Lapland; (3) the role of rewilding in Swedish Lapland; (4) the elements involved in tourism enterprises in Swedish Lapland; (5) and the elements involved in rewilding in Swedish Lapland. By using the conceptual model of Shove et al. (2012) the analysis of the data from the interviews is suitable to be linked with the theory and literature research. The interview guide was evaluated after conducting the first three and consecutive two interviews to make sure the research questions could be answered with the collected data.

3.4 Data analysis

The data has been analysed using content analysis, more specifically content analysis with a directed approach (Hsieh & Shannon, 2005). Meaning is interpreted from the collected data by using the conceptual model of Shove, Pantzar and Watson (2012), namely the three elements of meanings, competences and materials. These three elements have been used as codes to analyse the data, looking at the meanings, competences and materials involved in the practices of tourism enterprises, as well as looking at the meanings, competences and materials involved in the concept of rewilding. The elements from the conceptual model have shaped the framework for the interview questions, and in doing so provided a clear outline for the coding process. Themes were identified within each element from expressed opinions of the respondents, and themes were developed during data analysis. Relationships among these categories were identified. A coding scheme has been set up and used to organize the data into the categories but also to ensure trustworthiness of the data analysis (Hsieh & Shannon, 2005).

3.5 Limitations

This research acknowledges limitations that impacted and influenced the interpretation of the findings from this research.

One limitation is that only in-depth interviews have been conducted. Observations have been made during the interviews at site visits with the tourism entrepreneurs. But no tourism activities or long-term stays with enterprises have been undertaken due to the time frame of this research. Observations of the actual practices of tourism enterprises would have provided a more in-depth understanding of their practices. For further research, focussed on the influence of other aspects in Swedish Lapland on the tourism enterprises, it would be recommended to add participant observation.

Another limitation is that the word ‘rewilding’ was used for the concept of rewilding, for the organisations Rewilding Europe and Rewilding Lapland. This meant a limitation in the analysis as there were lots of different expressed opinions about these three entities in one answer. With follow up questions a lot of these combined expressed opinions have been cleared up, but this still resulted in a grey area sometimes.

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4 Results

In this chapter the results from this thesis research will be described. First of all a description will be given of the elements involved in tourism enterprise practices. Followed by a description of the elements involved in the rewilding practices and concluded by the description of the influence of the concept of rewilding on the practices of tourism enterprises.

The results will be described according to the three elements of Shove, Pantzar and Watson (2012) namely: meanings, competences and materials. Each element is divided into several themes and concluded by obstacles (for tourism enterprise practices) and challenges (for rewilding practices) that became apparent concerning the meanings, competences and materials associated with both practices. The choice has been made to include obstacles and challenges as they play a role in how practices emerge, persist, shift and disappear when connections between meanings, competences and materials are made, sustained or broken.

4.1 Tourism enterprise practices

Beginning with the results from the first research question, namely:

How has nature-based tourism been developed as a practice in Swedish Lapland?

4.1.1 Meanings

4.1.1.1 Meaning attributed to the tourism industry in Swedish Lapland

Tourism as a new industry All respondents mention that the tourism industry in Swedish Lapland is a relatively new industry. It has predominantly focussed on domestic tourists visiting the high mountain area. The tourism facilities in this area have been focussed on this target group. The Swedes drive-up themselves and they are keen outdoorsmen. During winter-time they use basic cabins and in summer time they go out camping. According to Erica Mattson (Interview, 2017) the CEO from the Swedish Lapland Visitors Board, 70% of tourists visiting Swedish Lapland are people from Sweden and 30% are international tourists.

The international market in Swedish Lapland has been growing since Ice Hotel started with their ice room concept. ‘It was Ice Hotel which was the first tourism enterprise to receive international guests’ mentions Kerstin Nilsson (Interview Ice Hotel, 2017). Most other tourism enterprises at that time were still fully focused on the domestic tourists. Swedish Lapland is a relatively new destination for international

27 travellers. Respondents mentioned that until the financial crisis in 2008 the international focus of the tourism industry in Swedish Lapland was predominantly on business incentives. Since 2008 the international focus is on individual travellers. The incentive enterprises operating in Swedish Lapland are of a high quality and are well organised, the focus on individual international travellers is rather new as are their associated tourism enterprises.

Areas within Swedish Lapland Swedish Lapland can be divided into three areas, namely: the mountains, the forests and the coastal region. The mountains have always been popular among domestic and international tourists, the forest area was put on the tourism map due to the Tree Hotel, and the coastal area is now gaining popularity as a place to visit in Swedish Lapland.

Seasons and their tourism activities The seasons in Swedish Lapland are very distinct, each with its own tourism related activities and possibilities. The winter season is from December until April and the summer season from May until October. For the international market, the winter season is the most important season, although since the last couple of years the summer season is gaining popularity among international tourists. The reason tourists visit Swedish Lapland is because of the winter experience with darkness, cold, snow, northern lights, quietness, and all the winter related activities. In the summer it is the midnight sun and possibilities to walk and camp nearly everywhere. Summer activities are predominantly hiking, outdoor sports like canoeing, rafting, and fishing. Winter activities range from skiing, snowmobile tours, husky sled tours, ice- skating and snowshoe walking. In this part of Sweden there is not a lot of focus on wildlife-watching tourism yet.

Type of tourists visiting Swedish Lapland A division can be made in the type of tourists visiting during summer and winter. In summer most European tourists drive up as Swedish Lapland is easily accessible and on average these tourists organise a lot by themselves and spend a relatively long time in this area. According to the respondents most of these European tourists visiting Swedish Lapland during summer time are from Germany, the Netherlands and France. During winter time most tourists fly in and spend their entire time in the hands of a tourism enterprise, but they will visit the area for only a couple of days or a long weekend. In winter time it is predominantly tourists from the United Kingdom visiting Swedish Lapland. According to the respondents the latter target group is a more important part of the income for tourism enterprises in Swedish Lapland, as tourists spend more time at accommodations, and want to undertake as many organised activities as possible in a short amount of time. The number of international tourists visiting the area is growing (Terpstra, 2015) and with it the tourism enterprises who offer accommodation and activities to the standard of this growing target group.

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4.1.1.2 Changing role of the tourism industry in Swedish Lapland

Tourism as an industry In comparison to Finland, where tourism is a huge contributor to the national economy, in Sweden, and especially up in Swedish Lapland, the tourism industry has been a fringe industry according to the respondents. The big industries have always been forestry and mining in northern Sweden. At its heart Sweden is an industrial country and a lot of effort has been put into developing industries around natural resources like timber, iron ore and hydropower. The tourism industry has never been seen as an industry option in northern Sweden, and there is little history in the country with a service economy. Annika Fredriksson, Chairwomen of the Swedish Ecotourism Society, explains ‘I think it is our cultural heritage that tourism business is seen as service. And service is not really a paid job, it is something you do. That the women do at home for free. You must have some kind of big car, a good job. Service is nothing that we have in our heritage. So the tourism industry is really a new business’.

The tourism industry has been in a development stage in Sweden. From 1995 onwards more focus has been put on the international market, on product creation and on providing higher quality products and services. Several years later the different tourism destination organisations and the Swedish Lapland Visitors Board were set up. Tommy Holmberg (NordGuide) has been working in the tourism industry in Swedish Lapland since 1994 and has witnessed that ‘the tourism industry has grown from an industry that nobody respected to the biggest growing industry in Sweden’. The biggest change for the tourism industry in Swedish Lapland has been that the local people started to realise the value of the tourism industry, that nature can be used for tourism purposes as well as protecting it, and they understand the importance of the tourism industry by looking at the tax benefit that is created from this industry. ‘Nobody believed you could live from tourism at that time, but I have done it for 22 years now’ mentions Tommy Holmberg (Interview NordGuide, 2017).

Erica Mattson (Interview Swedish Lapland Visitors Board, 2017) clearly sees that ‘20 years ago the tourism industry was seen as a hobby industry, whereas nowadays the tourism industry is seen as the new and very important industry for Swedish Lapland’. She even states that the tourism industry is as important as the forest and mining industries. According to her, tourism creates lots of job opportunities as tourism is attracting new people to this area and tourism creates an attractive image about the region to the rest of the world. ‘I think we are finding our way, we are not that concentrated as, if you look at northern parts of Finland. We are scattered around with small lodges, often more high-end, so it makes it possible to grow in a sustainable and responsible way, both socially and environmentally’ says Erica Mattson (Interview Swedish Lapland Visitors Board, 2017).

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According to Fredrik Broman (Interview Aurora Safari Camp, 2017) ‘Sweden in general was not professional about how to approach the international travel trade system for tourism and how to build a destination properly’. The tourism industry is getting more professional; more tourism enterprises are working together; and there is more marketing done for the region by the several tourism destination organisations and by the Swedish Lapland Visitors Board.

Tourism in Swedish Lapland The main focus of the tourism industry in Swedish Lapland was on the mountain area and the Ice Hotel. Only because the Tree Hotel started operating in the forest area a shift has taken place to tourism development in the forested area of Swedish Lapland. ‘The Tree hotel made us believe in the tourism possibilities of this area’ explains Fredrik Broman (Interview Aurora Safari Camp, 2017). Because tour operators were interested in Tree Hotel the tourists started visiting the forest area and now other tourism enterprises have been developing this forest area. More and more enterprises are starting up who offer tourism related services according to Niklas Wede (Interview Arctic Retreat, 2017). ‘Most of the tourism enterprises here are small scale, which is nice, tourists hardly run into other tourists here’ says Niklas Wede (Arctic Retreat). Love Rynbäck (CreActive Adventures) thinks that more and more tourism enterprises are trying to get more into the high-end, and produce higher quality products. Love Rynbäck (CreActive Adventures) sees that the high-end is increasing, ‘a lot of tourism enterprises have released that they will never become a mass tourism destination like Finland ,parts of Norway or Iceland.

Tourism as a job opportunity Erica Mattson (Swedish Lapland Visitors Board) thinks the tourism industry has gone to a more professional role of the entrepreneurs. Now the tourism industry is about creating lots of small enterprises, creating local jobs, and supporting people who want to start their own enterprise according to Fredrik Broman (Interview Aurora Safari Camp, 2017). An example of creating local jobs is with the guiding industry in Swedish Lapland. The guiding mentality changed in Sweden explains Mira Andersson (Laponia Adventures) ‘we have no strong guiding culture in Sweden, people in Sweden just go out in the nature by themselves’. The Swedish tourism organisation (STF) played a big role in getting the first guides to take people out into the Swedish nature. These were guides who worked seasonally on a voluntary basis. Nowadays guiding is a profession and people get paid to work as a guide. So the tourism industry is actually creating guiding jobs in Swedish Lapland. According to Mira Andersson (Interview Laponia Adventures, 2017) there is a difference between those people who work for a season and those who work the full year. Most seasonal guides are foreigners who do it for a life experience. According to Britta Lindvall (Interview Tree Hotel, 2017) there is still a big demand for more tourism enterprises in Swedish Lapland: ‘we need more enterprises, more accommodations, more activities, everything is going up, not fast but slowly, but we need more options the whole year around’.

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Growth of tourism On a critical note it is said that the tourism industry has been growing in the last 10 years, but that is statistically. Several respondents gave the examples of Gällivare and Arvidsjaur. Gällivare says that they have many tourists, but the people staying there in the hotels are working in the mining industry and are included in these tourism statistics as well. The same applies to Arvidsjaur, where staff of the car testing facilities fly in during the week and spend the nights at the local hotels. These overnight stays count as tourism, but these people are only there to work mention several respondents. Tomas Jönsson (Konfactiv) is quite sceptical about tourism growth: ‘Swedish Lapland Visitors Board said we have grown enormously. In my eyes we have not. We have turned the figures in this region. Service related economy is all measured in the tourism part. So tourism is increasing on statistics, but not all service related economies are tourism related. So the statistics are not trustable’. According to Tomas Jönsson (Interview Konfactiv, 2017) leisure and tourism is not growing that much, as there is no need for more staff or more tourism education. Fredrik Broman (Interview, Aurora Safari Camp, 2017) believes the opposite, according to him the tourism industry is ‘growing in figures. When I started my camp I had more guests, now I will have fewer guests but bring in more money and provide more local jobs. You can measure it by looking at the local jobs. Local jobs in the tourism industry are improving a lot, and fast. There are statistics about that from all regions, all the data for Swedish Lapland’. This example shows that the interpretation of the information provided on tourism statistics is twofold.

4.1.1.3 ‘Meaning’ obstacles for the tourism industry in Swedish Lapland

As can be concluded from the above two paragraphs about the meaning of the tourism industry in Swedish Lapland, there are several obstacles for the tourism industry in Swedish Lapland. First of all, an understanding of the Swedish government of the tourism industry, and their focus on the more industrial industries, and secondly the mentality of the local people and their understanding of the tourism industry.

Government An important obstacle for the tourism industry is that the Swedish government is still not seeing tourism as a real industry. According to Matti Holmgren (Interview Jokkmokkguiderna, 2017) the mentality of the local people is that tourism is not a real industry, and not a real job. Where only the industrial jobs are real. This mentality will change soon. ‘People who think this way, they will die in the next couple of years’ says Matti Holmgren (Jokkmokkguiderna). As mentioned before Sweden is a strong industrial country and tourism has only relatively recently been added to the agenda of the government. According to Love Rynbäck (Interview CreActive Adventure, 2017) ‘in Sweden the government puts a lot of effort in selling natural resources, instead of selling tourism products. We in the tourism industry have little support from the Swedish state’. Tourism has been a fringe industry and not much focus has been

31 on the tourism industry until the last five till ten years. There is a shift from the Swedish government in awareness and understanding of the value of the nature from a tourism perspective. Even though there is a shift, several respondents still mention that their local municipalities still believe that not everyone can live from tourism. Respondents mentioned that local governments still have the mentality that their municipalities will invite industrial companies to set up factories or mines in their area. ‘Municipalities put a lot of money into getting industrial companies to come here, instead of marketing the area to bring in tourists’ says Love Rynbäck (CreActive Adventure). According to Annika Fredriksson (Interview Swedish Ecotourism Society, 2017) the tourism industry is challenging the power systems of local politics in some way. The cultural heritage that tourism is a service, and so cannot be seen as a real job still plays a role in decision-making.

Looking at the tax income statistics from the service industry, of which the tourism industry is a part, these are growing massively in Sweden. Especially when compared to the people working in this industry. The tourism industry is only a part of this service industry. But Matti Holmgren (Jokkmokkguiderna) gives a clear example about the influence of the tourism industry and other service related industries in Jokkmokk: local people ‘start seeing that there are more people in the shops, there are 14 restaurants only in Jokkmokk, that is a lot! As there are only 3000 people living here. So we have a lot of service here if you compare it to another village with 3000 people. And that is because of the tourism industry’. By looking at tax income and other related services the local people and the government are getting more aware of the impact of the tourism industry.

Annika Fredriksson (Chairwomen of the Swedish Ecotourism Society) thinks that the tourism business has been growing in the shade in Sweden, but that since the last couple of years tourism has taken more attention in politics. She mentions that there is a process going on for more collaboration on a national, regional and local level. And that the government understands now that the tourism industry is a really complex ecosystem with a lot of actors doing small parts. However in Sweden the government is not used to handling these complex businesses. Especially as the tourism industry is a very young industry. ‘Due to the government we do not have some kind of authorities, a structure surrounding this kind of business. We want the government to have the directive. The task to promote and provide growing tourism businesses, in eco-tourism style, not mass tourism’ mentions Annika Fredriksson (Interview Swedish Ecotourism Society, 2017).

Local communities It is not only the government who had a total different view on tourism, but also the local community. Fredrik Broman (Aurora Safari Camp) emphasizes that ‘most of the time the first question people asked me was: can you make a living of the tourism industry?’ Most of the respondents in this thesis research mentioned that local people thought that if you worked in the tourism industry you were just playing outside in

32 nature. Only hardware jobs, governmental jobs, or local community jobs were real jobs in the eyes of local people. A lot of local people understand now that tourism is a real business according to Fredrik Broman (Interview Aurora Safari Camp, 2017), ‘they encourage their kids to go into tourism, and that is a huge change’.

Mira Andersson (Interview Laponia Adventures, 2017) mentions that local people still perceive tourism as something fun. According to her, tourism is something that people would like to work with, but one of the obstacles is that you cannot earn enough money working in the tourism industry. Wages are five times as high in the mining industry and in the mining industry you have the certainty that you will have work and will be paid, instead of working seasonally with more uncertainties and for lower wages in the tourism industry. Economic and security benefits do not weigh up for local people to start working in the tourism industry. But those people who do work in the tourism industry do it because of a lifestyle choice. ‘It is something you do because you like it’ says Mira Andersson.

Suzanna Törnlind (Interview Ouroboros, 2017) mentions that it will take some time for local people to work in the tourism business or to start up their own tourism enterprise. People do not know a lot about tourism. Susanna Törnlind (Interview Ouroboros, 2017) mentions that tourism is not part of the tradition. ‘Local people do not think about this place as a tourist destination and they definitely do not think that tourism is a job, more like a thing you do in your spare time. They probably do not put a lot of worth on the tourism industry’ says Suzanna.

Hansi Gelter (Interview Guide Natura, 2017) brings the obstacles of the tourism industry in Swedish Lapland even further into perspective. ‘If you want to have leisure tourism we need cafés, restaurants and attractions open. And the summer season is short. To get the destination ready for international tourism, a lot of things have to work, one of the basic things is opening times of shops, as in a tourism area you need to be able to shop on Sunday’. These basic necessities for the tourism industry to fair well are not yet in play throughout Swedish Lapland.

A mentality from people of northern Sweden is called ‘jantelagen’, which means that it is inappropriate to have individual success, that no one should have more rights or benefits than anyone else. This mentality of not sticking out of the crowd and not to perform to your fullest potential is caught in one word in Sweden. Namely ‘lagom’, which means just enough, just right or moderate. And according to several respondents this suits the Swedish people, but this mentality of not performing to the fullest and keeping in the same line as other people does not help to create enterprises and make a business successful mention several respondents.

As mentioned before there are more and more tourism enterprises being set up. But Eric Schlemme and Suzanna Törnlind (Ouroboros) mention that there have not been more tourism enterprises that started up in the Luleå area. According to them

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(Interview Ouroboros, 2017) it is a local mentality of Swedes not to be the first, to wait for some time and see how other enterprises develop, and to understand that it is possible to make money from the tourism industry. According to Eric Schlemme (Interview Ouroboros, 2017), who is from the United States of America, there is plenty of potential in the area for tourism to grow. Susanna Törnlind (Interview Ouroboros, 2017), who was born and raised in Swedish Lapland, mentions that ‘local Swedes are probably not so entrepreneurial, they do not see the possibilities for tourism on an international level’. Hansi Gelter (Interview Guide Natura, 2017) thinks local people are entrepreneurial as ‘you need to make a living up here, especially to live in the country side, you have to be multi-functional. In the south you have your employment. Up here you need your own business or ideas to survive up here’. Britta Lindvall (Tree Hotel) thinks that local people like to find a job in the tourism industry, but that finding the right people to set up tourism enterprises in Swedish Lapland will be difficult. ‘They must be a special type of people to set up their own company’ says Britta Lindvall. Most people want security with a job and salary. Not the risks that an own enterprise comes with.

Several respondents mentioned that the mentality of the people in the northern parts of Sweden is to take things one step at a time. So considering tourism enterprises, which are already relatively new type of enterprises, this is something that local people still have to get used to. Tommy Holmberg (Interview NordGuide, 2017) mentions that ‘everything foreign is strange, and that changes are not very positive for the local people’. When local people get used to these kinds of enterprises and the activities they offer, and when they can see that it works, then they will accept it. According to Eric Schlemme and Suzanna Törnlind (Interview Ouroboros, 2017) ‘the local people are quite stuck in their way of doing things’. Suzanna Törnlind (Interview Ouroboros, 2017) mentions that in Swedish Lapland people are more conservative than the rest of Sweden. ‘That is the mentality of the local people, to be suspicious, don’t just jump in, think about it… and they are still thinking about it!’ says Susanne Törnlind (Ouroboros). Local people in Swedish Lapland are very careful, too careful, and several respondents mentioned that financial support to push people and to get them started is what is needed in this area.

The essence of the mentality of the people from Swedish Lapland is, according to Tommy Holmberg (Interview NordGuide,2017), that the people who take a chance and start a tourism enterprise are strong and creative people. Tommy Holmberg (NordGuide), ‘it is possibly the essence of all the strange people in Swedish Lapland who are tourism entrepreneurs. And they are hard to keep in one direction.’

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4.1.2 Competences

4.1.2.1 Level of the tourism industry in Swedish Lapland

Lack of competences According to most of the respondents there is a lack of competence in the tourism industry in Swedish Lapland focussing on individual international tourists. ‘Even if Swedes are fairly hospitable, the service quality seems low on an international level. We have to learn a lot, I usually say Sweden is a developing country in tourism’ says Hansi Gelter (Interview Guide Natura, 2017). Love Rynbäck (Interview CreActive Adventure, 2017) mentions that the tourism industry needs ‘people with a high education getting into this business’. Several tourism enterprise respondents mentioned that they have no direct background in the tourism industry. They came from other industries and started up their own tourism enterprise. They started on a hobby level or they made a lifestyle choice to work in the tourism industry. The tourism system was new to them, with its infrastructure, communication, and products. Some had little experience with international tourism or understanding of the international standard of quality. ‘In general a lot of tourism enterprises are still far away from the international level, and that is the big problem, understanding what the tourism industry needs’ says Hansi Gelter (Interview Guide Natura, 2017). According to Matti Holmgren (Interview Jokkmokkguiderna, 2017) several enterprises have lots of guests one year but the year after the number of guests goes down. According to Matti Holmgren (Interview Jokkmokkguiderna, 2017) this has to do with the infrastructure of the enterprise. If an enterprise is too busy with lots of guests, the enterprise will lose marketing power, and if no effort will be put into marketing, then next year will be less busy. But then that year with less guests the enterprise will have more time for marketing, so the year after it will be busy again. And so it will continue. Time and structure are important aspects according to Matti Holmgren (Interview Jokkmokkguiderna, 2017). Especially time as in small enterprises without a lot of employees entrepreneurs have to do everything themselves. According to several respondents structure and creativity are key aspects to small tourism enterprises in Swedish Lapland. These enterprises need the creativity for their products and guest interactions, but need to be well-structured in the sense of administration, marketing and management. In several respondent enterprises these aspects were found in two people working for the enterprise, either as a family or as enterprise partners.

Tourism as a lifestyle Most existing tourism enterprises in Swedish Lapland are small scale and a key aspect that most respondents mentioned is that their choice to work in the tourism industry, or to set up their own enterprise in the tourism industry is a lifestyle choice. These people often want to spend more time outdoors, do the tours or just be out in nature. The respondents do not want their enterprises to grow too big. They want the place to be genuine and they do not want to exploit the area. All respondents love

35 their area they live and operate in and most of them mentioned they want the next generation to be able to live in these areas as well, as Matti Holmberg (Interview Jokkmokkguiderna, 2017) explains ‘I know I have one life and I want it to be good, and if possible I want to give something to the next generation’. The other side of the coin mentioned by the respondents is that it is hard to earn a living working in the tourism industry or running your own tourism enterprise. Several respondents need to have other jobs which provide their main income. Most respondents mentioned that they hope that they can earn a solid income from tourism throughout the year. Aspects like a focus on local products, high quality service, small groups and a connection to the people and the place are seen as important by the respondents. Most respondents are positively minded concerning their future in the tourism industry. Michelle Staaf (Interview MBS-Guiding, 2017) mentioned that ‘if my enterprise would not work out, than being a fishing guide can be a lifestyle choice for fun and some extra cash, which is fine as well’. Several respondents mentioned that current tourism entrepreneurs operating in Swedish Lapland are people who came from this area but who have studied in the south of Sweden, or have travelled the world, have worked in the tourism industry on different continents or are people who came from other regions of Sweden. Their view about the world and the tourism industry is different to the view of local people who have grown up and lived in Swedish Lapland their entire live. These tourism entrepreneurs made a lifestyle choice to move to, or back to Swedish Lapland to start a tourism enterprise. Fredrik Broman (Interview Aurora Safari Camp, 2017) mentions that he had all his elements in place when he wanted to set up a safari camp in cold climate. ‘The idea was there, the network was there, the logistics were thought about, everything was there except for the specific location in Swedish Lapland’ explains Fredrik Broman (Interview Aurora Safari Camp, 2017).

Competences needed in the tourism industry in Swedish Lapland Important competences as seen by the respondents are speaking languages, especially English, which the majority of the Swedes do. According to Britta Lindvall (Interview Tree Hotel, 2017) social skills are important in the tourism industry. ‘We can teach them everything else. The difficulty is meeting people and solving problems. Everything is about relationships. The rest we can teach them. The relationship is the most important’ says Britta Lindvall. Fredrik Broman (Aurora Safari Camp) tries to get young people from the region to work for him, but he states that there might be problems with their skills, ‘they need to know how to host, they need to know languages, they need a perspective on where the guests come from and how to communicate with them’. Good knowledge about local nature and culture is another part that is seen as important by the respondents. Tourism enterprises need to be versatile in the products or activities they offer as the seasons are so different. With each season come different activities and different competences to undertake these activities. So apart from the social skills there are many hard skills that are needed to operate activities in all different seasons. The most important things according to Eric Schlemme (Interview Ouroboros, 2017) are passion and

36 enthusiasm, ‘you need to be knowledgeable about what you are doing, but your heart needs to be in it. That feeling of passion and enthusiasm is important’. Sitting down and learning from each other is something that has to happen more often mention several respondents. ‘There is quite a positive attitude among entrepreneurs and lots of energy here in Swedish Lapland, which is marvellous, everyone is happy to learn from each other’ says Hansi Gelter (Interview Guide Natura, 2017)).

The individual tourism level where this thesis is focussing on could learn something from the level of the incentive industry in Swedish Lapland . According to Tomas Jönsson (Interview Konfactiv, 2017) the level of the incentive industry in Swedish Lapland is very high due to the many years of experience in the incentive world and the change in less and less business incentives choosing Swedish Lapland as a destination. The incentive tourism industry has had to focus on delivering very high standard and high quality products.

4.1.2.2 Improving the knowledge of tourism enterprises

It is the mentality of people in cold climate to invest in hardware according to Fredrik Broman (Interview Aurora Safari Camp, 2017). He explains that when investments were made in Swedish Lapland for the tourism industry the people invested in infrastructure, in building cabins and trails. No attention was given to soft skills, like marketing, or educational programmes. These days more emphasis is put on those soft skills. Organisations like the Swedish Lapland Visitors Board and local tourism destinations of Swedish Lapland are helping tourism enterprises with competence development. ‘We work with the aim for the tourism industry to grow and prosper. We do that in three different area, namely destination development, business development and market development’ says Erica Mattson (Swedish Lapland Visitors Board).

Marketing Marketing is one of the aspects where the tourism destinations and the Swedish Lapland Visitors Board are helping with to develop the destination. According to Fredrik Broman (Interview Aurora Safari Camp, 2017) the Swedish Lapland Visitors Board has the right network, infrastructure and skills, which are needed to build up the tourism industry in Swedish Lapland. Hospitality management is one of the programmes that are offered to develop the enterprises. It covers service and knowledge about the local region. This programme is offered on three levels concerning regional area, the local clusters and working on management levels. Management competences are important with for instance improved logistical planning and guest management for enterprises. Other aspects of business development are trainings about starting up an enterprise, about packaging tours, and these trainings are also a way to get to meet other enterprises from the area. Other programs are working on development with international markets, these programmes are specified on learning to calculate, working with pricing, working with

37 the international travel trade. And courses are provided in digital communication, how to work with social media strategies, web strategies and how to work with booking platforms. Eric Schlemme and Suzanna Törnlind (Ouroboros) have been to Iceland with destination Luleå in order to see how the tourism industry in Iceland works, how enterprises are working together, and what kind of system they are using. An important aspect mentioned by several respondents is the data provided by Visit Sweden about the tourism industry. This data helps the enterprises understand the tourism industry in Swedish Lapland as it mentions what type of tourists come, what they want to undertake, and what they want to learn.

Supporting new tourism enterprises Local municipalities set up their tourism destinations and want to attract more tourists to their municipalities. These destinations are pushing local enterprises or local people who think about setting up an enterprise to work in the tourism industry. One way of doing that is by supporting new tourism enterprises in Swedish Lapland. These municipalities want younger people to move into the countryside and be successful with tourism. They support new entrepreneurs with knowledge about setting up a company, with taxation, and with budgeting. Michelle Staaf (MBS- Guiding) explains that her local municipality has provided her with a manager, who is paid by the municipality, who can help her with whatever questions she has regarding her tourism enterprise.

Seeing possibilities One of the aspects mentioned by several respondents is that the owners of most of the tourism enterprises who operate in Swedish Lapland are either from this area but have travelled the world, or are not originally from Swedish Lapland. ‘You cannot see all the benefits from a place where you have grown up’ says Annika Fredriksson (Chairwomen of the Swedish Ecotourism Society). So for local people who have always lived in Swedish Lapland it is difficult to understand the resources and benefits of their local region. These tourism entrepreneurs who have worked abroad or who have moved into this area, they see the possibilities. In a way the current tourism enterprises with their tourists are teaching the new entrepreneurs and the local people about tourism possibilities in Swedish Lapland mention several respondents.

4.1.2.3 Tourism education in Sweden

As mentioned before tourism has not been regarded as a serious business. This comes back in the tourism education programmes offered in Sweden. There are only a few university programmes focused on tourism in Sweden. There are a hand full of high school universities with tourism programmes, and there are several guide educational programmes, specialised in nature guiding, mountaineering and fishing guides. Tourism education is something that is needed in the tourism industry in Swedish Lapland according to Britta Lindvall (Interview Tree Hotel, 2017). But ‘the

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Swedish education system is not providing enough competent students for the tourism industry’ says Annika Fredriksson (Chairwomen of the Swedish Ecotourism Society). In 2015 there was an evaluation on these tourism programmes mentioned Hansi Gelter (Interview Guide Natura, 2017), and he continues by mentioning that the quality of these educational programmes was not too good.

The two most often mentioned tourism educations on university level are Mid Sweden University in Őstersund and Dalarna University in Falun who both have tourism research centres. Most students who do a master programme in tourism in Sweden are foreigners according to the respondents. The majority of the tourism education programmes in Sweden are focussed on working in the tourism industry at tourism destination organisations, in visitor centres or as a guide. But not on entrepreneurship, which is needed for the increase of tourism enterprises mentions Hansi Gelter (Interview, Guide Natura, 2017).

Lack of graduates and jobs Because there are so few education programmes focussed on tourism there are about two to three hundred bachelor students who graduate in Sweden every year according to Hansi Gelter (Interview Guide Natura, 2017). He thinks that only a few of those will actually work in the tourism industry. Most of them at tourism information centres. About the same amount of students is being educated to become a guide in Sweden. One of the issues with working in the tourism industry is that there are not enough big tourism enterprises who can take on employees, so to find a job in the tourism industry, for example as a guide is difficult. Especially a well-paid full year contract, as most guiding jobs are seasonal and with low wages. This employment issue has two sides. First of all it is hard for tourism enterprises who are looking for employees to find the right Swedish person, with the right tourism education, mind- set, and skills. Secondly these tourism education programmes on all levels are not focussed on entrepreneurship, and that is what is needed at this point according to Hansi Gelter (Interview Guide Natura, 2017), ‘the entrepreneurial part is very important for the tourism industry in Sweden, we have very few big tourism enterprises and lots of potential for small scale tourism enterprises’.

There used to be one programme focused on the experience production in Piteå. It was a programme from Luleå University focussed on tourism, communication, festivals, marketing and students came from the entire country. The programme was for the tourism business, and not about the tourism business. But it closed down last year explains Hansi Gelter, former professor of this educational programme ‘it was the perfect programme, the right fit for the tourism industry, students got a job or started up new businesses’ (Interview Guide Natura, 2017).

What is needed to improve the tourism industry in Swedish Lapland is education at every level. Respondents believe that education for tourism students, for new enterprises, and for existing enterprises is necessary. At this point there are

39 educational programmes for people working in tourism offices, there are education programmes for guides, but what is lacking is an educational programme on a strategic level says Hansi Gelter (Interview Guide Natura, 2017).

4.1.2.4 ‘Competence’ obstacles for the tourism industry in Swedish Lapland

As can be concluded from the above three paragraphs about the competences of the tourism industry in Swedish Lapland, there are several obstacles for the tourism industry in Swedish Lapland.

First of all, to increase the amount of tourists visiting Swedish Lapland the tourism industry needs competent people, good product development and lots of marketing. As mentioned in the above paragraphs the competences of tourism enterprises in Swedish Lapland are relatively low. It is difficult to get competent people working in the tourism industry as the industry itself is still seen as something new and local people still need to believe it is possible to make a living from this industry instead of working in the tourism industry as a life choice.

Secondly, this understanding of tourism also results in a lack of tourism education, especially on entrepreneurial education, as that is seen by the respondents as a key aspect in improving the tourism industry in Swedish Lapland. The competences of current tourism enterprises in Swedish Lapland, for instance on product development and marketing, are improved through the help of organisations like the Swedish Lapland Visitors Board and the regional tourism destination.

4.1.3 Materials

The above mentioned meanings and competences concerning tourism enterprise practices are fairly straightforward. The material element encompasses a broad range of ‘materials’ like objects, infrastructure, tools, hardware, and rules (Shove et al., 2012), which together provide an insight into what material elements are part of the tourism enterprise practices.

4.1.3.1 Natural resources

Important natural resources for the tourism enterprises are the rivers, the sea and its archipelago, the forest, the mountains, the 24 hour midnight sun in summer time, the 24 hour darkness in winter time, and the northern lights. Tourists want to experience the really cold weather, the snow, the ice roads the arctic. Swedish Lapland is a huge area consisting of the high mountains, the forests and the coastal area. According to Tomas Jönsson (Interview Konfactiv, 2017) it's ‘a diversity in subarctic climate, and great resources to develop tourism products with culture, history, land and people’. A good working ecosystem, clean water, not too much clear cut forests are important aspects according to the respondents. Fredrik Broman (Aurora Safari Camp)

40 emphasizes that ‘solitude, the empty spaces, the quietness and no light pollution, these are the big things here’. Several unregulated national rivers were identified as well by the respondents as important natural resources.

From both a tourism as a rewilding point of view wildlife is an important natural resource. However, wildlife-watching is not a big part of nature-based tourism in Swedish Lapland yet. Mira Andersson (Laponia Adventures) thinks that there would be potential for wildlife-watching here, as ‘guests often ask about possibilities to see wildlife, and they are very happy when we see some reindeer or swans’. For the rewilding concept large herbivores are important. However for both rewilding as for nature-based tourism there are several issues concerning large herbivores and possible carnivores in Swedish Lapland.

The reindeer, which are relatively large herbivores, are semi-domesticated and owned by the Sami herder community. The Sami reindeer herding is seen as an important cultural aspect of this area, both for local people as tourists. Julia Rouet- Leduc (2017) recommends, in her master thesis about the compromises of rewilding, that the reindeer could be a keystone species to act as a bridge between the natural and cultural aspects of the Rewilding Lapland area.

Another large herbivore is the Elk (Alces alces) or Moose, as it is known in North America. The population of this deer species is heavily managed in Swedish Lapland, mostly because the forestry industry is not a fan of Elk as they eat, and in doing so damage, the young trees.

Carnivores are a delicate matter in Swedish Lapland. As Sami reindeer herding and large carnivores do not go hand in hand, the Swedish government has provided compensation for carnivore-livestock conflicts. Wolves (Canis lupus) are not allowed in Swedish Lapland by law because of the Sami reindeer herding, and the number of Brown bears (Ursus arctos) is managed in Swedish Lapland.

4.1.3.2 Human resources

Tourism industry employees Finding good people to work in the tourism industry is the hardest part. Not just in Swedish Lapland but everywhere in the world. Operating a tourism enterprise in a small community makes it even harder to find the right staff members. Tourism work is often seasonal, and staff members change jobs quickly. This makes it very tricky to build up a sustainable business if the staff changes every season. People who want to work in the tourism industry need to be very motivated, flexible, and creative. It is seasonally based, mostly short term contracts, it might be working in one part of Sweden during the winter and in another part of the country in summer time. If you want to work in tourism it is something that you have to be willing to do.

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Looking at the activities, there is lots of potential to find local guides. A lot of local people from Swedish Lapland love being in the outdoors doing all kinds of activities. There are lots of guide educations in Sweden as well. There are however, not a lot of university educated people working in the tourism industry in Swedish Lapland.

One of the downsides of having employees in Sweden is that employees are expensive because of the taxes on the salary. Taxation on wages is high in Sweden, as are the other expenses involved in employing people. The tourism industry needs more staff members, but from an economic point of view it is too expensive for a tourism enterprise to have staff members. Small tourism enterprises look for other options. Friends with the same lifestyle and with tourism activity experience are setting up their own one man enterprises so they can be hired as for instance as guides for certain activities. In this way it is easier for tourism enterprises to hire extra staff members when they are needed.

Apart from the high costs of having employees due to the taxation on the salary, the wages on the hotel and restaurant contracts are quite low, so not a lot of people would be willing to work for those wages. Most small organisations pay the staff helping them out much over the normal wages, like Love Rynbäck (CreActive Adventure) ‘I will pay the people working for me very well so I know that they will deliver a good product’. Low wages in the tourism industry result in a lot of seasonal employees who work in the tourism industry in Swedish Lapland mostly for the experience. To get more people to settle down in the countryside of Swedish Lapland and working in the tourism industry, the wages are an important factor according to the respondents.

Tourism and the local community There is an interest from local and international people, who see tourism potential in Swedish Lapland, to move into a rural community and set up a tourism enterprise. But there are several aspects which make it difficult to move into such a rural community. According to Jenny Engstrom (Interview Råek Ekonomiska Förening, 2017) ‘housing is the main problem, there are no houses for sale’. People who inherit a house, keep the house as a summer cabin or for the weekends. The prices of the houses are so low that they do not have to sell them to make a lot of money. House prices are probably so low because they are in the countryside, away from the big cities where people can work. Buying a house in a city is a good investment, but buying a house in the countryside will mean it will not be possible to get the money back that was invested in it. People who move to the countryside and buy or build a house, make a decision to stay there for a long time. But for people to move into a rural community there need to be schools, a day care, houses and better roads according to Jenny Engstrom (Interview Råek Ekonomiska Förening, 2017). She also emphasizes that younger people who want to come back to this area demand higher standards, most houses here are 40 years old and barely touched. Young people who want to settle here are not just looking for a house, they also want a garden

42 where they can keep some animals and grow vegetables, they want a lake in front, but there are not a lot of places that offer all those aspects.

Tourism and the Sami The Sami are often mentioned as one of the key aspects why international tourists visit Lapland. The Sami are the indigenous people who live in the land of Sápmi, which stretches over four nations in northern Scandinavia. The Sami are mostly known for their reindeer herding, their way of singing called ‘yoiking’ and their colourful costumes (Samer, 2016). Niklas Wede (Arctic Retreat) sees the Sami as a ‘big and mystical part which works well with the nature based experience, especially as the Sami have been so close to nature for thousands of years’.

Having Sami people operating in the tourism industry is therefore an important aspect. Several tourism enterprise respondents mentioned that there is a need for more Sami to start working in the tourism industry, to be able to teach people about their culture, their lifestyle and of course their reindeer. But according to Niklas Wede (Interview Arctic Retreat, 2017) it turns out to be quite tricky achieve this. ‘It is a peoples question, we need to find the right Sami person, both light weight and in depth. It is difficult to find as we need an ‘entertainer’, something that people can understand but also decide what level of depth they want to hear’. The Sami do a lot with tourism, especially in the northern parts of Swedish Lapland, but most respondents are not quite sure what the Sami view is upon the tourism industry, especially not in combination with their everyday life.

Matti Holmgren (Jokkmokkguiderna) mentioned that for the Sami, especially the reindeer herders, the tourism industry is a ‘new colonialist’. As all these industries have come into northern Sweden and just taken over the land for forestry, for mining, and these days the tourism industry operates in a different form of land use. Often resulting in negative impacts on Sami reindeer herding. Matti Holmgren (Jokkmokkguiderna) thinks that ‘Sweden must start valuing the reindeer herder and Sami culture in a different way’. He also emphasizes that tourism enterprises must understand that Sami reindeer herding comes before their tourism activities. Tourism enterprises must be in dialogue with the Sami reindeer herders. Åsa Jonsson (Laponiajuottjudus) believes that local tourism enterprises have really good connections with the local Sami reindeer herders.

4.1.3.3 Tourism infrastructure resources

One of the advantages of Swedish Lapland is that it is huge, with lots of natural areas from the mountains to the sea side. But to take advantage of these different locations from a tourism perspective a transportation infrastructure is of the essence. One of the issues in the tourism industry in Swedish Lapland according to Annika Fredriksson (Interview Swedish Ecotourism Society, 2017) is that ‘the natural areas, where tourism enterprises are located, are a long distance from airports and train

43 stations’. Several respondents mentioned that traveling to Swedish Lapland is relatively expensive. It is possible to reach Swedish Lapland by car, by train from Stockholm or by airplane. Tatiana Rynbäck (Interview CreActive Adventure, 2017) mentions that the biggest struggle is that ‘we don’t have direct flights from Europe, we are such a long way north, the flight connection infrastructure is bad. Still after 20 years. In my eyes they have to concentrate on the tourism infrastructure, on direct flights’. The guests who join Mira Andersson (Laponia Adventures) on one of her tours and who like to fly into Swedish Lapland often choose Gällivare airport, but the airline who flies there goes bankrupt all the time Mira Andersson (Laponia Adventures) explains, ‘there is no certainty, we cannot count on them to fly to Gällivare’.

But it is not just the airline infrastructure, Dirk Hagenbuch (Vildmarksbyn Solberget) has been able to make the train from Stockholm to Lapland stop at Nattaavara, so that tourists can actually reach his place. Otherwise it would have been very hard for him to get tourists to visit his tourism enterprise.

Transportation from the airport or train stations to other cities or tourism highlights is nearly not existing. According to Matti Holmgren (Interview Jokkmokkguiderna, 2017) the problem is infrastructure with busses. ‘We don’t have it, they never looked at it, in the old days every village wanted their own airport. But it would have been better to set up two or three big airports in northern Sweden and then make a bus transfer system from that. But they never did that’.

Gun and Magdalena (Årrenjarka Fjällby) probably operate their tourism enterprise in one of the most remote regions of Swedish Lapland. Gällivare is the closest town with an airport, but it doesn’t have a lot of flights, and as mentioned earlier by Mira Andersson (Laponia Adventures), it is not certain they will operate. Kiruna and Luleå airports are the same distance away from Årrenjarka. Kiruna has a lot of tourists visiting so it is quite an expensive and busy airport. So the best option for Gun and Magdalena (Årrenjarka Fjällby) is Luleå airport. In the summer time international tourists can drive up themselves, either with their own car, or a rental car from the airport. But during winter time international tourists cannot drive themselves, and there is no other type of transportation organized between airports and bigger cities, let alone with places like Årrenjarka. Gun and Magdalena (Årrenjarka Fjällby) wanted to attract international guests in January and February, but because of the transportation issues they are not able to do this.

4.1.3.4 Tourism industry resources

All respondents mention that local tourism enterprises are working together. There are of course exceptions and sometimes people say that they work together but eventually do not. Cecilia Andersson (Sörbyn Turism) emphasizes that collaboration is important for the industry, ‘we work closely together with tourism enterprises in this

44 area. In the future that will be our strength I think, we are all small businesses, we keep it small, keep a high standard on the service.’ A lot of respondents mention that most of the tourism enterprises in the Swedish Lapland area are small scale, with a high level of activities and services, and that there is a willingness to work together. In practice this mostly results in working together with enterprises who are the same size. As Eric Schlemme and Suzanna Törnlind (Ouroboros) mention: ‘big hotels probably do not want to work with the small guys. We want to work with small companies like us so we can help each other’. Suzanna Törnlind (Ouroboros) even specifies that they ‘are working with those companies that we feel good about, where we have a connection with. We need to have the same values to take care of guests. Looking at people with new products, meeting our core values of doing things different, unique experiences, working together with companies to enhance both of us, and not compete’.

Nearly unanimous all respondents state that there are not enough tourism enterprises in Swedish Lapland. Both on small and larger scale. There are not enough accommodations catering for international guests and there are not enough activity companies. Dirk Hagenbuch (Interview Vildmarksbyn Solberget, 2017) and Gun and Magdalena (Interview Årrenjarka Fjällby, 2017) mention that there is a very high demand for dog sledding, but that several of the dog sledding enterprises are always fully booked, so there is a big demand for more of these kinds of activity enterprises.

A lot of tourism enterprise respondents mentioned they are working together, of have worked with tour operators and travel agencies. But the majority states that the commissions are too high, which has a direct impact on the profit of these small enterprises. These enterprises are then only able to pay salaries and therefore this decreases the possibilities for the enterprise to grow.

4.1.3.5 Rules, regulations and laws

Some respondents do not see any issues or obstacles with the Swedish rules, regulations and laws, as they know they are getting something in return. Obstacles that have been voiced by other respondents will be mentioned in this paragraph. A lot of rules, regulations and laws are not directly applicable to the business where tourism enterprises are operating in. A recurrent theme is that tourism enterprises just accept all the rules and try to work with or around them.

Control of rules, regulations and laws. According to several respondents there is no control over the rules that need to be followed as a tourism enterprise. The area of Swedish Lapland is too large to control and there is not enough money to control such an area. Respondents voiced that there is limited control on fishing, on using the land for commercial activities, and hunting. Local tourism enterprises know most of the rules and act accordingly, but

45 respondents mentioned that tourism enterprises from abroad just come in, with their own guides and equipment for winter activities, and do not adhere to local rules and there is no institution controlling them.

Allemansrätten Allemansrätten is a law in Sweden that people have the right to roam, they can go wherever they want in nature for recreation or leisure purposes. This right is applicable to individuals, as it gives them personal responsibility. For most respondents it is not clear how tourism enterprises can or should conduct their activities based on this right. Other respondents see Allemansrätten as a great thing as you can go out into the nature wherever you want. Because this law is not black and white it is difficult for tourism enterprises to adhere to this law. An example given several times by respondents, is that it is possible to go into a national park individually, but not as a commercial activity. According to respondents foreign tourism enterprises use Allemansrätten in this way that they just walk in without any permission as they walk in as ‘individuals’. The Swedish tourism enterprises should give the right example and get permission to go into the national park. This comes back to the control of rules, regulations and laws, but also to growth possibilities of local tourism enterprises. It is harder to compete with foreign enterprises when you want to live by the law and have to spend a lot of time on gaining permissions. A current debate on this kind of issue with Allemansrätten is about Thai berry pickers who use this right to go everywhere to pick berries for commercial reasons.

Protected areas and tourism enterprises Everywhere else in the world national parks and national reserves would technically be good natural resources for the tourism industry. But in Sweden there are lots of rules and regulations regarding access to protected areas such as national parks for commercial enterprises. This comes from the point of view that these areas need to be protected. But the obstacle is in the fact that individual people, based on Allemansrätten, can go into the national parks for their leisure. Commercial enterprises need permits to enter the same areas with their guests. Respondents have trouble understanding why they need to be permitted to enter the national parks. Several respondents only see positive benefits in entering a national park with a guide as guests learn more about the nature and culture, and that the guides take good care of nature and know exactly what to do and what not to do concerning the natural environment.

The national parks within the Laponia world heritage site, where these tourism enterprises would like to operate in, are Padjelanta, Sarek, Stora Sjöfallet and Muddus. Laponiajuottjudus is the organisation which is managing the Laponia world heritage site. This organisation has only recently started and is looking at the tourism industry possibilities at this moment. Åsa Jonsson (Interview Laponiajuottjudus, 2017) mentions that ‘getting a permission to enter the national park with a group is not a problem’. These permissions used to be for a one year period, but with such

46 short terms a tourism enterprise cannot operate, so Laponiajuottjudus changed it to a five year permit. Several respondents still think that getting a permit is too much work as there is a lot of administration involved in getting the permit, in contacting the Sami reindeer herders, in writing reports about their tours and debriefing the management organisation about the tours undertaken every season.

How tourism enterprises can perform in spaces like national parks and national reserves is an important aspect according to Annika Fredriksson (Interview Swedish Ecotourism Society, 2017). ‘A lot of tourism enterprises want to have more influence in how to develop and use the national parks. Municipalities want to protect the national parks or reserves, but if tourism enterprises cannot work easily within these boundaries, that creates big obstacles for the tourism industry’. In other places in the world tourism is prospering around national parks. Accommodations in the form of lodges can be build outside and even inside the boundaries of protected areas in some places of the world. But in Sweden it is very hard to do that according to Erica Mattson (Interview Swedish Lapland Visitors Board, 2017) ‘the regulations about building on protected land are very strict and the procedure is old fashioned’.

Protected areas conservation There are lots of rules, regulations and laws concerning protected areas. This could create obstacles for the tourism industry as mentioned in the previous paragraph, but these rules, regulations and laws also provide protection for these protected areas against for instance the mining industry. The mining industry cannot go into a national park because of strict regulations. Many respondents mentioned that these rules and regulations are very important for the national parks, but also the possibility for their tourism enterprises to operate in these natural landscapes if they remain natural.

4.1.3.6 ‘Material’ obstacles for the tourism industry in Swedish Lapland

As can be concluded from the above five paragraphs about the materials involved in the tourism industry in Swedish Lapland, there are several obstacles for the tourism industry in Swedish Lapland.

Firstly, the natural resources are under pressure from the industrial industries. Secondly, on a human aspect there are few tourism employees with the right competences, it is relatively expensive to employ staff in Sweden and entrepreneurship in tourism is rather risky. Thirdly, looking at the tourism infrastructure in Swedish Lapland there are several obstacles concerning transportation. In addition to the first three obstacles, there are two aspect which have been mentioned very often by the respondents, due to the understanding of the Swedish government of the tourism industry, namely (fourthly) the value added tax (VAT) taxation and (fifthly) funding possibilities. Both of which will be mentioned in more detail.

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Taxation The Swedish government is lagging behind in taxation rules according to several of the respondents. VAT rules are strange for tourism enterprises as there are so many different systems. Without going into the specific percentages that are applicable in Sweden some obstacles that have been voiced by the respondents will be mentioned here.

One example is the VAT on guided tours. For instance a guided tour in a museum is 6% VAT, while a guided tour in a natural area is 25% VAT. According to the respondents the government is changing this as we speak. Several respondents mention that if they change this, it would mean that it could be possible to earn more with the same amount of guests, so that for a lot of tourism entrepreneurs it could be actually possible to live just on their tourism enterprise. Other respondents mentioned that if the government lowers the VAT they think about decreasing the amount of guests per activity so the quality of the activity would be higher. Another interesting example is that the VAT on renting out sport related items is 6% VAT while renting out touring related items it is 25%, an example of an item like this is a sport canoe and a touring canoe.

What is needed according to the respondents is that the government and the tourism industry need to sit down together. For tourism destinations it should be clear what is needed and that should be provided for tourism enterprises to operate successfully in this industry in Swedish Lapland. One aspect that is mentioned by the respondents is a reduction of the VAT on services, food and transportation. The government wants to expand into tourism but they do not have the right structure according to Niklas Wede (Interview Arctic Retreat, 2017), ‘that is the big difference between here and Finland. In Finland government, tourism companies and local relational offices all work together for the same goal’.

Another obstacle is competing on an international level. The VAT taxation on activities in Sweden are much higher than in their competing countries. Several respondents mentioned that if the VAT on related tourism practices will be reduced that they can actually compete on an international level with their products.

The taxation and industry subsidies do not apply in the same way for different industries. Love Rynbäck (CreActive Adventure) gives a nice example ‘I am an export company, I export nature, I do not destroy nature, I do not cut down trees or anything. But I do not have any transport subsidies like the heavy industry have. I have full VAT on my products, while you can sell hardware in Europe without putting VAT on the products’.

Funding There are lots of good tourism ideas, but according to Annika Fredriksson (Interview Swedish Ecotourism Society, 2017) ‘it is really hard to find investors and funding

48 these kind of projects in rural areas. It is a combination of being in the rural area and that the tourism industry is not really accepted yet’.

If you want to start an enterprise in the rural areas of Swedish Lapland it will be a challenge to be able to get funding to renovate, build or buy a house or a tourism accommodation. Basically the worth of the building is less than the money needed to renovate, build or buy it. Most banks think it is a bad investment. Many respondents mentioned that at one point they contacted their bank to buy hardware or properties and received an answer that it was not possible to get a loan. Several respondents mentioned that if they asked for the same amount of money for items used in the mining industry it would not have been a problem to get a loan from the bank. Coming back to the understanding of the tourism industry by the Swedish government, nearly the same applies to the understanding about the tourism industry by the banking world. With exception respondents have found a way to communicate with their banks and enlighten them on the possibilities of the tourism industry.

One way to get funding to set up an enterprise in a rural area is through the rural development fund. This is a fund where up to 40% of the investment can be provided (with a maximum of 200.000 euros). The enterprise should run for at least five years otherwise the amount has to be paid back. The problem with this fund is that everything needs to be described in meticulous details. The applier needs to be well versed in writing and budgeting. The applying process takes between six and nine months. This takes too long for small enterprises as it is not possible to survive this amount of time without an income. Basically this fund is a funding for people who have money or for an enterprise who are looking to expend. But for beginning enterprises it is very difficult to get a rural development fund.

Risk capital is something that is needed for enterprise development according to several respondents. There are possibilities in Sweden and the Swedish Lapland Visitors Board has been educating enterprises about risk capital. The state of Finland gave risk capital to the tourism enterprises setting up there according to Love Rynbäck (Interview CreActive Adventure, 2017), but compared to Finland there is still a long way to go in Sweden. Cecilia Andersson (Interview Sörbyn Turism, 2017) mentions the incentives used by Norway, where people who move to a rural area and who want to set up an enterprise will get a financial incentive to do so.

It is possible to set up a tourism enterprise in Swedish Lapland, but personal capital, or someone to provide capital is of the essence. The majority of respondents do not see lots of tourism enterprises pop up in Swedish Lapland any time soon. Risk capital provided by the state is seen as a step in the right direction by the respondents.

Tourism project funding is another issue in Swedish Lapland. Most projects are funded by European Union money, and these funding projects are not looked upon positively by most respondents. ‘They just dive into projects here without checking

49 the local knowledge or the local projects first. And there are some really good local initiatives that have been overlooked’ says Fredrik Broman (Aurora Safari Camp). Another aspect is that these projects have a short time span of mostly three years. There is no constant funding to get something off the ground in a way that is sustainable. Most projects just stop working when the funding dries up, which is a shame according to the respondents as some very good initiatives were set up with this funding. What is needed according to Love Rynbäck (Interview CreActive Adventure, 2017) is a steady funding for tourism projects and tourism enterprises.

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4.2 Rewilding practices

This part of the results chapter will be provided the results from the second research question, namely:

How has rewilding been developed as a practice in Swedish Lapland?

4.2.1 Meanings

4.2.1.1 Meaning of ‘rewilding’ as a word in Swedish Lapland.

Out of 26 interviews conducted nine respondents had never heard about rewilding, or had heard the word but had no idea what the concept of rewilding was, let alone the European and Swedish organisations attached to this concept. Seven respondents knew about Rewilding Europe, Rewilding Lapland and the concept of rewilding and expressed themselves on an issue that occurred when Rewilding Europe first came to Swedish Lapland several years ago. The other ten respondents only came into contact with Rewilding Europe, Rewilding Lapland or the concept of rewilding recently and their understanding of the practices of the organisations and what the concept entails ranged from basic to good. All respondents who knew about the concept of rewilding were very enthusiastic about it. And all the respondents mentioned that they had the hope that rewilding practices would have a positive impact on both the natural and social aspects in Swedish Lapland in the future.

‘Rewilding’ as a new word Rewilding is a new word in Swedish Lapland; most respondents had never heard of the word and were not sure what the word meant. Meanings appropriated to the word rewilding could be divided into environmental-, social-, and cultural meanings.

Environmental meanings are meanings given by the respondents to the word ‘rewilding’ concerning ways to take care of nature. Some direct quotes from respondents about the environmental meaning given to the word rewilding are:  ‘The ability to try and rectify what has been done to the environment. Making nature the way it used to be and then to value that’ Eric Schlemme (Ouroboros, 2017).  ‘If we have the ability to set things right in nature we have to do so’ Suzanna Törnlind (Ouroboros, 2017).  ‘To let the forests grow without cutting them down. And let the forest industry use tourism as an income instead of cutting down forests’ Tommy Holmberg (NordGuide, 2017).  ‘Support wildlife to come back’ Mira Andersson (Laponia Adventures, 2017).  ‘Rewilding is the wrong word, we do not have to rewild here in Swedish Lapland, and we have to preserve what we have here. Of course with little improvements’ Michelle Staaf (MBS-Guiding, 2017).

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Social meanings are meanings given by the respondents to the word ‘rewilding’ concerning the ways to live with nature and to improve social wellbeing. Some direct quotes from respondents about the social meaning given to the world rewilding are:  ‘Trying to live right and realising we are not the only living beings on the planet, and that with rights come responsibilities’ Eric Schlemme (Ouroboros, 2017).  ‘People who grew up in rural areas want to make them more urban, while more and more people are moving into rural areas who want to keep these areas rural. Within one community there are several views about what is wanted or needed. With the younger generation traveling around the world and coming to live next to people who have never left Sweden, in that way these latter people get influenced by what is going on in the rest of the world. That is also rewilding to me’ Fredrik Broman (Aurora Safari Camp, 2017).  ‘In Swedish Lapland rewilding is more a social thing then a natural thing. Rewilding Lapland is working for better fishing in the rivers. That is good for nature, but also benefits the people. So looking both at nature and people’ Åsa Jonsson (Laponiajuottjudus, 2017).

Cultural meanings are meanings given by the respondents to the word ‘rewilding’ concerning the cultural background of the combination of the people and the landscape in this region. Some direct quotes from respondents about the cultural meanings given to the word rewilding are:  ‘The term rewilding is a misfit for this area. This is not a wilderness, this is a cultural landscape, but people do not know what to look at. Just because there are not a lot of people living here, it does not mean it is a wilderness. It is a cultural landscape. But I think that is also part of rewilding to make it more natural and how it was’ Åsa Jonsson (Laponiajuottjudus, 2017).  ‘Letting the nature be as natural as it can be. That people have to in some way live in balance with nature. So if nature will take over, like totally rewilding, there is no place for humans to exist in this. It has to be a natural and cultural aspect. And it is like social and culture sustainability I think. Otherwise I do not think it is sustainable. By meaning in different kinds of dimensions: social, economically, ecological, cultural. You have to have the perspective of all this’ Annika Fredriksson (Swedish Ecotourism Society, 2017).  ‘The concept rewilding wilderness there is a contradiction in the word. Wilderness is wild, it is wild for the tourists, it is not wild for the locals. So the wilderness concept is perceived as a problem here’ Hansi Gelter (Guide Natura, 2017).

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‘Rewilding’ as an English word Rewilding is an English word, and from a northern Swedish perspective, especially a Sami perspective, everything that is new and English is strange. From questions and direct observation it became clear that respondents who did not know a lot about rewilding, reacted hesitantly on the word rewilding and required more information before continuing the interview.

‘Rewilding’ one word with three meanings The word rewilding is used as one word for the concept of rewilding, Rewilding Europe and Rewilding Lapland. These three are not seen as separate entities by the respondents. Practically, several follow up questions were needed during an interview to make sure if respondents were talking about the concept; the European-; or the Swedish organisation.

4.2.1.2 Meanings of rewilding according to respondents

Rewilding Europe The aim of this paragraph is to provide an overview of the expressed opinions on the elements involved in the concept of rewilding. Due to several expressed opinions about issues concerning Rewilding Europe, the choice has been made to not directly quote any respondents in these paragraphs about Rewilding Europe and the current relationship. This choice has been made because these paragraphs focus on the content and this thesis research wants to maintain the privacy of the respondents concerning their expressed opinions on these issues.

The values of the concept of rewilding are seen as a good thing, but seven respondents expressed themselves about Rewilding Europe as an organisation concerning an issue that occurred when Rewilding Europe first came to Swedish Lapland several years ago. Some of the respondents who expressed this, lost trust in Rewilding Europe and what it stood for. ‘This was a bad start for the relationship between Rewilding Europe and the people in Swedish Lapland’ says one of the respondents. According to the respondents it was not clear what Rewilding Europe wanted to do in Swedish Lapland. The respondents knew about the rewilding projects in other parts of Europe and it was clear to them that Rewilding Europe wanted to undertake the same kinds of practices in Swedish Lapland. Projects like increasing the amount of predators and creating a big natural area. According to the respondents the person who had to introduce Rewilding Europe and the projects in Swedish Lapland did not act very diplomatic; was not sensitive to the local context; and caused a lot of friction with local people. ‘He made the Sami people angry, and he made me angry’ says one of the respondents. The way this person handled the introduction of Rewilding Europe in Swedish Lapland has left its marks on local people’s perception about Rewilding Europe as an organisation. ‘He actually pulled down Rewilding Europe’ mentions a respondent, in a way that not a lot of local people trusted the organisation and their goals. Some of the respondents mentioned

53 that the issue caused a lot of energy loss with the local people. The respondents understand that what happened had nothing to do with the concept of rewilding, but with the people and practices involved in the introduction. ‘I understand that, but I do not know if the other entrepreneurs and Sami people understand that as well’ according to one of the respondents.

The majority of the respondents who expressed themselves about this issue were present when the issue took place. Other respondents who expressed themselves about the same issue had heard it from word of mouth. ‘I heard they did not have the understanding of the culture and the area to actually get this project running. Putting wolves and more bears in Sami areas is like shooting yourself in the foot before starting the project’ mentions one of the respondents and he continues with ‘I have heard this story, but never had the time frame, I assumed it was a long time ago, not several years ago. It is a thing that is so naïve so it could be from the 1980’s’.

Current relationship In the meantime Rewilding Lapland as an organisation has been set up and has been operating for one year. The respondents who have expressed themselves about the above mentioned issue also expressed themselves about the current practices of Rewilding Lapland. What the local community wants to do and what Rewilding Lapland wants to undertake in Swedish Lapland was not synchronised with the previous team leader mention the respondents. But since Håkan Landström is the new team leader of Rewilding Lapland there is a better relationship with Rewilding Europe and with Rewilding Lapland mention these respondents. Although some respondents are still waiting for the new team leader of Rewilding Lapland to organise a meeting to sit down together and talk about what both sides want so people can work together to a main goal. Many respondents have good direct contact with the new team leader and several respondents have expressed that they have trust in the present team leader and in the organisation Swedish Lapland.

Current understandings of Rewilding Europe as an organisation are still divided. Some respondents are very positive about Rewilding Europe. One respondent who had a meeting with the people behind Rewilding Europe explained that they mostly asked questions about how the tourism enterprises perceived the local area. This respondent mentioned that it was nice that ‘this organisation comes in at an early stage and says these are our values, this is what we do, what we think, what we think about your area, and what we see as possible scenarios. He also mentioned that in the ‘worst case scenario it gets you thinking but you do not actually do anything about it. Best case scenario is that you do something with it and in the future contribute, or try to accomplish something’. On the other hand another respondent mentioned ‘I like the basic idea of rewilding, but I have a lot of issues with Rewilding Europe’s approach and their appearance’. These mainly entails the way in which the organisation communicates about their organisation and the work they do.

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Rewilding Lapland Most of the respondents mention that Rewilding Lapland is new to the area. They think Rewilding Lapland is still trying to establish itself and most respondents are not yet sure what the organisation is focussing on at this moment. ‘Right now rewilding is an organisation with nice brochures. I do not see much happening now’, says Matti Holmgren (Interview Jokkmokkguiderna, 2017). According to several respondents it is important that an organisation like Rewilding Lapland is trying to improve nature in Swedish Lapland. ‘People do not think that a lot of nature is disappearing, but we can see changes in the rivers, with global warming, the winter season gets shorter. So we could use more of these kind of concepts’, mentions Love Rynbäck (Interview CreActive Adventure, 2017).

Two organisations which work directly with Rewilding Lapland are Degerselsbygdens samfällighetsförening and the Piteälvs Ekonomiska Förening. According to Urban Sandberg (Interview Degerselsbygdens samfällighetsförening, 2017) ‘Rewilding Lapland is playing a major role when it comes to restoring the Abramsån river. We have had difficulties to finance everything we wanted to do, so rewilding means a lot that they can finance the project, that is really crucial’. Since a year ago Rewilding Lapland is providing this funding to be able to restore the spawning areas for several fish species on the Abramsån river. Besides helping to fund nature restoration projects like these Rewilding Lapland also helps with networking to work together more efficiently. ‘Rewilding Lapland has a lot of contacts with the Sami community, and that is very good for us, we have to work together with them. And rewilding helped us with support from competent people in their organisation and with contacts for companies to come work here’, mentions Jan Isaksson (Interview Piteälvs Ekonomiska Förening, 2017).

Several respondents mentioned that a lot of small projects have been undertaken by local organisations or local governments in Swedish Lapland concerning nature conservation, but no one tried to do it on such a big scale and with such a long term perspective like Rewilding Lapland. Rewilding Lapland is seen by the respondents as an organisation that could provide the bigger picture concerning the environmental aspects of Swedish Lapland. To see the area as a whole, with a long term vision, connecting the smaller projects. Everyone has to work together mention several respondents, as the projects influence a lot of different people. Rewilding Lapland could give these smaller projects, like the river restoration at Råne river, a platform to let their voices be heard. And this works both ways mentions Urban Sandberg (Interview Degerselsbygdens samfällighetsförening, 2017) ‘Rewilding as an organisation could give us a bigger voice, and use us as a good example’. Several respondents see the long term view as important, especially as it will take a long time before the effect is seen of projects like river restauration. An important role for Rewilding Lapland in nature conservation in Swedish Lapland is to fund these local projects. For example the funding provided by Rewilding Lapland to restore these rivers and create spawning areas for several fish species is appreciated by all

55 respondents and several respondents feel that Rewilding Lapland should fund projects like these more often. These efforts have a direct impact on the tourism enterprises in that area, ‘we try to build this tourism enterprise on nature-based tourism, so for us it is super important that river restoration projects like this succeed’ says Cecilia Andersson (Interview Sörbyn Turism, 2017). An example of nature- based tourism activities are fly fishing, so the river restauration is important to improve the spawning areas in order to increase the fish numbers in the rivers.

Concept of rewilding As mentioned before the respondents who knew about the concept of rewilding were very enthusiastic about it. When the concept of rewilding was explained to the respondents who knew less about it, they thought it was a good idea. Eric Schlemme (Interview Ouroboros, 2017) mentions that when he heard about the concept of rewilding, he thought ‘it is interesting we can fix it! That we can actually do something to reverse the damage done to nature, I never thought it would be possible to fix it’. Most respondents mention that they look at nature and see that it looks natural, but that it has been altered by man for decades. ‘Most forests are cultivated, just because you see green it does not mean it is wild. Tourists do not see this, it is local people who see this’ says Eric Schlemme (Interview Ouroboros, 2017).

The area of Swedish Lapland is not abandoned land. The area can be divided into the mountains, the forest and the coastal area, and this entire area is used by Sami reindeer-herders throughout the year, with their summer grounds on the mountains and both summer and winter grounds in the forest and on the coastal area. The majority of the forest area is used for the logging industry, as well as parts in the mountains. Several rivers in Swedish Lapland have been dammed for hydropower installations. On several locations in Swedish Lapland mining industries have been set up, and there is the possibility for new mines to open.

According to several respondents rewilding opened their eyes to natural issues around them. They had no understanding of the issues concerning the local rivers for instance. That rivers have been altered by men by changing them for rafting timber down to the coast and by hydropower dams.

4.2.1.3 ‘Meaning’ challenges for rewilding in Swedish Lapland

As can be concluded from the above two paragraphs on the meaning of rewilding in Swedish Lapland, there are several challenges for rewilding in Swedish Lapland.

Several respondents mention that creating larger wilder areas will be difficult as most of the forests are used by the forestry industry and both the forest and the mountain areas by the Sami reindeer herders. Rewilding in the sense of making nature wilder does not fit in Lapland, as these areas are not perceived as wilderness by the local people but as a cultural landscape. A cultural landscape formed by both the Sami

56 and Swedish communities. Several challenges concerning the different communities have been mentioned by the respondents and will be addressed next.

Sami Communities Several respondents mentioned that rewilding in Swedish Lapland should focus on the Sami communities and their issues. ‘I think that the reindeer herding is a part of the rewilding aspect’ mentions Annika Fredriksson (Interview Swedish Ecotourism Society, 2017). The Sami reindeer herds have shaped the natural environment and several respondents mention that if the Sami communities would give up reindeer herding it would be a huge loss from both a cultural and natural perspective. For the Sami reindeer herders the mountains are important in the summer and the forests in the wintertime. Having more natural forests would be an improvement for both the reindeer herds as for the tourism enterprises.

Forest industry Another aspect several respondents mentioned is that rewilding in Swedish Lapland should focus on the forest industry and their cutting practices. Several forestry companies are state owned, and Tommy Holmberg (Interview NordGuide, 2017) mentions that the government could play an important role in creating larger natural areas: ‘the government is getting tax income from the tourism industry, so I think that in the future all the governmental land should be possible to be preserved’.

Support of local people Many respondents see the damming of the rivers for hydropower; using the forests for the timber industry; and the open pit mining for iron ore as the main challenges for Rewilding Lapland. Consequently it is the forestry and mining industries which provide the most jobs in Swedish Lapland. It will be a challenge to change forestry practices, to stop new mines from opening in Swedish Lapland and to improve river systems when these industries provide the main income for the majority of the local inhabitants. It is the support from the local people that is most important mention several respondents. Erica Mattson (Interview Swedish Lapland Visitors Board, 2017) mentions that it is important to work together with the local community, a social sustainability to make sure that there will be no conflict with the local society. Several respondents mention that awareness about the local environmental issues is low among local people. ‘In the long run I hope rewilding raises the awareness level among the locals who have lived in these parts forever, people who usually work in the forest, mining, trucking industries, as these are the common jobs here’, mentions Niklas Wede (Interview Arctic Retreat, 2017).

Rewilding and tourism enterprises in Swedish Lapland Tommy Holmberg (NordGuide) believes the tourism business is going to grow stronger because of rewilding, as it is going to be more attractive to come to Swedish Lapland. According to Hansi Gelter (Interview Guide Natura, 2017) a lot of local people have not heard about Rewilding Lapland yet. Respondents see a role for

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Rewilding Lapland in being more associated with the Swedish Ecotourism Society and the Swedish Lapland Visitors Board, to be a resource for all the projects that are going on already, instead of creating their own agenda. What is needed in Swedish Lapland according to Hansi Gelter (Interview Guide Natura, 2017) is one strong organisation who can give all the stakeholders what they need. The current problem in Swedish Lapland is that there are too many organisations that offer to help tourism enterprises in one way or another. But for small enterprises there is no overview of which organisation should be approached for what. Several respondents see a role for rewilding in working together with other organisations towards the same goals to improve the tourism industry in Swedish Lapland. Sitting down to discuss what direction the local tourism enterprises want to go is the first step identified by the respondents. A structured approach working together with enterprises and local organisations to make an actual difference is seen as the way forward by several respondents. One role of Rewilding Lapland could be to help with funding new ideas or setting up new enterprises. Another role mentioned by the respondents is to combine all efforts by different organisations to raise the competence level among tourism enterprises and to be able to meet international demands.

Rewilding and branding Swedish Lapland Many respondents mention that Rewilding Europe and Rewilding Lapland can help with branding Swedish Lapland. Several respondents are critical about how Swedish Lapland should be branded, especially concerning rewilding. Often Swedish Lapland, and Sarek national park in particular have been dubbed ‘the last wilderness of Europe’. Many local people, both Swedish and Sami, do not like the word ‘wilderness’. Several respondents believe it is important to get rid of this term wilderness in Swedish Lapland, and they believe it is equally important to talk about what kind of image all the local people want to portray about Swedish Lapland. The local people, the Sami communities, the tourism enterprises, etcetera. This will be a challenge for Rewilding Lapland, to brand this area in a way that is appealing to both local people and tourists.

4.2.2 Competences

The concept of rewilding has meanings connected to it, as well as material aspects which will be mentioned after this paragraph. But competences are not directly seen as a part of the concept of rewilding by the respondents. Competences are directly linked by the respondents to the organisations Rewilding Europe and Rewilding Lapland.

4.2.2.1 Competences regarding nature

Awareness As mentioned before, creating awareness about the natural issues among local people is seen as an important aspect by the respondents. Especially in the long run

58 with the next generations to come. Especially those people who work in the forestry or mining industry. Educating the locals about these natural issues is seen as the first step by the respondents. What is seen by respondents as an important part of rewilding is to show politicians the positive impacts of rewilding. To have an active dialogue with the government concerning rewilding issues in Swedish Lapland.

Nature conservation Conserving nature is mentioned by the respondents as a challenging aspect. Many different organisations and local people are using the land, so there are a lot of local interests involved concerning one specific area. For instance state forest companies, private forest companies, private properties who own the land. The Sami reindeer herders, fishermen, hunters and people who use the land for leisure purposes, as well as organisations who want to preserve or improve the natural habitat. Several respondents were not sure what nature conservation is and they see Rewilding Lapland as an organisation that can enlighten the respondents on what nature conservation is and how to proceed with the combination tourism enterprises and nature conservation.

Lobbying The forest industry is seen as one of the aspects where Rewilding Europe and Rewilding Lapland can help with. A handful respondents mentioned that they would like to have a decent talk with land users and hopefully change the ways the forest industry is using the land and cutting down the trees. Respondents mention they want to do this in a diplomatic way, but that they are relatively small, and that there might be a role for Rewilding Europe and Rewilding Lapland to help put political pressure, in Sweden or in Europe, on modern forestry. Not just the forest industry has been mentioned by the respondents, also international fishing in the Baltic Sea and the Gulf of Bothnia is seen as something Rewilding Europe and Rewilding Lapland can help with to lobby with the Swedish or European governments.

4.2.2.2 Competences regarding tourism enterprises

Raising competence level of tourism enterprises Rewilding Lapland is seen as an organisation by the respondents who can help with funding, education and helping to raise the competence level of tourism enterprises in Swedish Lapland. Respondents mention that they find it important when no new networks will be created but that Rewilding Lapland will communicate through existing networks, for instance the Swedish Ecotourism Society or Swedish Lapland Visitors Board. To use the current infrastructure, to synchronise their efforts and help out with competences and funding etcetera where necessary. One example mentioned by several respondents to raise the competence level is to undertake study trips to other areas to learn from each other. As mentioned before some tourism enterprises have visited Iceland to see how the tourism enterprises operate there, and to learn about their success story with their booking program. One of the

59 ideas mentioned was to visit other rewilding areas in Europe to see how those tourism enterprises operate. Several respondents see a role in Rewilding Lapland to educate the tourism enterprises who want to put an effort in rewilding. Most tourism enterprises in Swedish Lapland are small, family run enterprises. Time is a commodity that is not always available, especially not to look into nature conservation projects, or ways to make the enterprise more sustainable. Respondents mentioned that they need to know more about what is happening and how they can contribute to rewilding.

Marketing Many respondents believe that especially Rewilding Europe can help a lot with the marketing of Swedish Lapland. To create more visibility and to put Swedish Lapland on the map as a nature-based tourism destination. More experienced tourism entrepreneurs believe that marketing is something that enterprises should do themselves or something that the Swedish Lapland Visitors Board should undertake.

4.2.2.3 ‘Competence’ challenges for rewilding in Swedish Lapland

As can be concluded from the above two paragraphs on the competences of rewilding in Swedish Lapland, there are several challenges for rewilding in Swedish Lapland.

One of the biggest challenges for Rewilding Lapland according to several respondents is that it does not become another organisation trying to help. According to Erica Mattson (Interview Swedish Lapland Visitors Board, 2017) ‘rewilding should not become a parallel part, it should be an integrated part’. From a tourism perspective several respondents mentioned that rewilding should try to act through existing networks like the Swedish Ecotourism Society or the Swedish Lapland Visitors Board. To help with funding or education of, for instance, the tourism industry, or river restauration through the existing infrastructure, without creating their own network and ways to help funding or educating.

4.2.3 Materials

As mentioned previously not a lot of respondents know about the concept of rewilding. Respondents provided lots of meanings to rewilding, and could consequently add the connected (or missing) competences to this concept. But their understanding of the concept of rewilding turned out to be very limited regarding the materials involved in rewilding. This limited amount of expressed opinions about materials involved in rewilding emphasizes the novelty of this practice.

Several respondents mention that they have no idea about what materials rewilding is focussing on. Other respondents mention the areas of operation as a material for the concept. Areas like the Laponia world heritage site and the Pite and Råne river

60 valleys. Rivers, where the river restauration work is taking place, are mentioned as materials for the concept of rewilding. Some respondents see mammal or fish species as materials where rewilding is focussing on, for instance improving the Salmon population in the rivers.

Respondents who know more about Rewilding Lapland and the concept of rewilding mention the funding as a material aspect. Rewilding Europe and Rewilding Lapland provide funds to act upon the rewilding concept. As money is an obstacle in both nature conservation projects, as setting up tourism enterprises in Swedish Lapland, the possibility to get funding from Rewilding Europe and Rewilding Lapland is seen as a material aspect.

The newly set up European Safari Company is seen as an important marketing tool and thus an important material aspect of rewilding. This new tour operator offers a unique selling point by emphasizing that they are working towards the conservation of the areas where their products are based. Respondents mention that in this way this tour operator uses another selling point, namely tours based on the values of Rewilding Europe, something which most of the tourism enterprises in Swedish Lapland did not think about.

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4.3 Rewilding influence on tourism enterprise practices

In this last part, the results will be provided from the third research question. This part introduces no new results but builds upon the previous mentioned results. The third research question that will be answered is:

What is the influence of the concept and practice of rewilding on the practices of nature-based tourism enterprises in Swedish Lapland?

This study did not reveal direct influences of the concept of rewilding on the practices of nature-based tourism enterprises in Swedish Lapland. The concept of rewilding has not influenced the practices of tourism enterprises for several reasons, namely (1) the novelty of rewilding; (2) the already common project practices of rewilding; and (3) tourism industry obstacles. These will be mentioned in more detail next.

First of all the current practices of rewilding in Swedish Lapland, as they are practiced by Rewilding Lapland, will be repeated briefly. These practices have been mentioned in ‘1.1 General background’ and in ‘4.2 Rewilding practices’ in more detail, and are being practiced in the next four pilot areas: river restoration is practiced on the Pite and Råne rivers and practices of conservation of large-scale reindeer migration is taking place in Udtja and Girjas. Furthermore, awareness is being created among local people about rewilding practices in Swedish Lapland, and the Sami community is considered by Rewilding Lapland to be a key player for these rewilding practices. Partnerships have been developed with actors interested in combining rewilding/conservation with entrepreneurship and new economic models related to wildlife, untamed nature and indigenous culture are being developed.

Understanding of rewilding The first reason why the above practices of rewilding are not directly influencing the practices of tourism enterprises is that the practice of rewilding as an entity is a novel practice. As has been mentioned in ‘4.2 Rewilding practices’ respondents made clear that Rewilding Lapland is new to the area and still trying to establish itself. The novelty of the organisation results in a limited understanding of the respondents on what rewilding practices are in Swedish Lapland. As mentioned in ‘4.2.1.1 Meaning of ‘rewilding’ as a word in Swedish Lapland’ the understanding of the respondents about rewilding as a word is limited. The respondents give three types of meanings to rewilding namely: natural, social and cultural meanings. These three meanings are also mentioned as practices of rewilding in ‘4.2 Rewilding practices’. Examples of these are natural practices in the sense of river restoration; social practices in the sense of creating awareness among local people; and cultural practices in the sense of the reindeer herding by the Sami.

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Practices of rewilding The second reason why the practices of rewilding are not directly influencing the practices of tourism enterprises is that the project practices of rewilding are not novel projects, nor do they directly influence the practices of tourism enterprises in Swedish Lapland. As laid out in ‘4.2 Rewilding practices’ the respondents mention that the river restoration projects have been operating for a longer time and Rewilding Lapland recently helped these existing projects with funding and networking. These river restauration projects are seen by the respondents as the materials of rewilding. In the eyes of the respondents the practices of rewilding on supporting these river restauration projects are good and necessary. Several respondents emphasize that these restoration projects have a long term perspective, and will not have any direct results for the improvement of the natural environment, nor for direct tourism development.

Tourism industry obstacles The third reason why the practices of rewilding are not influencing the practices of tourism enterprises is because of the present obstacles in the tourism industry. As has been made clear in ‘4.1 Tourism enterprise practices’, the tourism industry in Swedish Lapland, and especially the nature-based tourism enterprises, face several obstacles. These obstacles are part of the reason why the tourism industry in Swedish Lapland is still in a development stage, as the tourism industry has no solid foundation as an industry in Swedish Lapland. The practice of rewilding focussed on creating nature-based economies, more specifically tourism enterprises, does not solely rely on improving the natural aspects. It also relies on the practices of tourism enterprises, of which competences of this sector play an important role.

To conclude this part, the concept of rewilding does not influence the practices of nature-based tourism enterprises in Swedish Lapland at the time when this thesis research was undertaken. The concept of rewilding is a long term process and several challenges have been identified in this thesis research. These can be split up in two main challenges, namely (1) entrepreneurial challenges and (2) land use challenges. These are challenges for the practice of rewilding, focussed on the tourism industry, to materialise in Swedish Lapland. These two challenges will be explained and discussed in the next chapter.

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5 Discussion

This chapter will link the findings from this study with existing research. First of all, the findings will be discussed in relation with the existing research brought forward in the theoretical framework. Secondly the two challenges such as the entrepreneurial and land use challenges for rewilding, focussed on the tourism industry to materialise Swedish Lapland, will be addressed.

5.1 Practice theory

This thesis research focused on practices of nature-based tourism enterprises and the practices of rewilding, and used theories and literature about practice theory, entrepreneurship and rewilding. The analysis sheds light on this literature in several ways and has enriched the existing literature with new findings and discoveries. Practice theory, and more specifically Shove et al.’s (2012) conceptual framework, has only sporadically been used in tourism studies, and therefore this study has contributed to existing literature.

This theory has showed that by focussing on the elements ‘meaning’, ‘competence’ and ‘material’ it was possible to collect in-depth knowledge about the tourism enterprise and rewilding practices and their challenges. By looking at the path of practices, their historical trajectories, it was possible to get a better understanding of how tourism practices changed. Practice theory and especially Shove et al.’s (2012) conceptual framework has provided this thesis research with a perfect framework for data collection and data analysis. Thereby discovering the main challenges that prevent the concept of rewilding to materialise in Swedish Lapland and by identifying the main obstacles of the tourism industry to institutionalise.

5.2 Entrepreneurial challenges

Entrepreneurship One of the practices of rewilding is enterprise development. Rewilding Europe is working to demonstrate that entrepreneurial rewilding can generate new business opportunities (Schepers and Jepson, 2016). Entrepreneurship is considered vital for the beginning stages of tourism development, especially in rural areas and ethnic communities (Chang, 2011; Lordkipanidze, Brezet and Backman, 2005). The motives of entrepreneurs are more lifestyle and non-economic related, and they are responsible for development growth due to innovation, risk-taking, leadership and vision (Ateljevic and Doorne, 2000; Blichfeldt, 2009; Tetzschner and Herlau, 2003; Neblett and Green, 2000; Lordkipanidze, Brezet and Backman, 2005).

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Entrepreneurship is fundamental for full implementation of the rewilding concept, in raising standards of nature conservation, and especially to increase tourism (Neblett and Green, 2000). Rewilding is a complicated and innovative concept which requires collaboration to create something new, and thereby new value and growth (Blichfeldt, 2009). It has to evolve into an active joined-forces process whereby new combinations are made and achieved, and where new markets and industries are explored and developed (Neblett and Green, 2000; Chang, 2011).

Rewilding The concept rewilding ‘ensures natural processes and wild species to play a more prominent role in terrestrial and aquatic environments’ (Annual Review, 2016, p.12). Rewilding Europe has identified five reasons to show why rewilding is essential for Europe that focus on (1) recovery of our ecosystems and to restore nature, (2) recovery of top predators and large herbivores to drive the ecological process, (3) link ecology with modern economies in the form of ecosystem services, (4) benefitting local communities, and lastly (5) to inspire people and to reconnect them to nature (Annual Review, 2016 p.11).

The fourth reason is specifically focused upon boosting local economies. Rural communities will benefit from rewilding, as the local economies where alternatives are scarce, will be boosted by rewilding. Tourism is a good example whereby the local people can earn a fair living from nature-based enterprises, whereby rewilding practices have a direct impact on the practices of these tourism enterprises.

Challenges tourism enterprise development Based on this study, I argue that nature-based tourism enterprise development is not solely only depending on the practices of rewilding. Environmentally responsible entrepreneurship is based on resources and experiences offered by nature, whereby the main focus lies upon non-material values and renewable natural resources (Lordkipanidze, Brezet and Backman, 2005; Neblett and Green, 2005).

At the moment, the institutionalisation of the tourism industry in Swedish Lapland is the main challenge for tourism enterprise development. Elaborating and analysing the fourth reason why rewilding is essential, namely benefitting local communities, gives insight in the actual challenges of the practices of rewilding.

The first part of the explanation shows; ‘rewilding boosts local economies where alternatives are scarce’, however in Swedish Lapland there are plenty of other economic alternatives, mainly in the forestry and mining industries. The second part shows; ‘We work towards situations where nature tourism flourishes and local people earn a fair living from nature-based enterprises’, however as mentioned by the respondents it is hard to make a living working in the tourism industry. Both differences are due to the level of institutionalisation of the tourism industry. I argue

65 that tourism enterprise development is not solely dependable on rewilding practices, but on the institutionalisation of the tourism industry in Swedish Lapland.

Institutionalisation Institutionalisation is about social practices becoming sufficiently routinized and continuous. It refers to the process of embedding a similar mind-set and practices within an industry (DiMaggio and Powell, 1991; Archel et al., 2011). In order to institutionalise a social practice, it is essential that similar meanings and understandings of the practice are routinized. The process of institutionalisation is powered by the interactions of social practitioners with different interests, but also with an unequal influence on the establishment of rules, values, beliefs and norms that will govern the behaviour within the field of the tourism industry (Levy, 1999, DiMaggio and Powell, 1991; Archel et al., 2011). It depends on the flexibility of individuals and their enterprises to create change and the notion of sustained change in the total web of institutionalisation (Levy, 1999).

Institutionalisation of the tourism industry The results from this thesis research emphasize that the tourism industry has not reached this level of institutionalisation where it is considered routinized and continuous. The respondents see the tourism industry as a new industry, and it is emphasized by the respondents that Sweden has no service economy history, and that there is limited authority or structure for the tourism industry in Sweden. Respondents mention that the tourism industry is currently challenging the power systems of politics in Sweden, due to more attention given to the tourism industry in politics and the understanding of people that the tourism industry is producing an ever-increasing tax benefit for the country. In doing so the tourism industry creates an economic alternative for the natural materials in Swedish Lapland.

The low level of institutionalisation of the tourism industry in Swedish Lapland is not a new finding. As mentioned by Steene (2012), Swedish politics did not consider tourism as a job-creating activity. The Swedish state did not believe that tourism contributed to improving the country’s account balance. One of the findings from this thesis research is that the competences in the tourism industry need to be improved, both the competences of current enterprises as of tourism education programmes. The history of the institutionalisation of the tourism industry plays an important role here.

According to Steene (2012), institutional factors such as the creation of the Swedish Tourist Board was a positive influence. But the institutional factor, such as the yearly funding issues for tourism programmes, created uncertainties for these programmes to continue, and was a negative influence. Even these days, there are several major issues regarding tourism education and research in Sweden (Steene, 2012), which range from funding, international quality and contacts, and more skill creation in the tourism industry for students to get better market expertise.

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Developing the tourism industry In order for the tourism industry to develop in Swedish Lapland, several competences are essential and required. A tourism development analysis from 2011 for the Barents Region (Kohllechner-Autto, 2011) identified tourism enterprise quality and quantity as one of the aspects that needs to be improved in order to increase the number of export and tourism businesses in Sweden. The respondents in this study stated that the Swedish tourism industry has been in a development stage, and from 1995 onwards more focus has been put on the international market but there is still a long way to go.

They also stated that the biggest change for the Swedish tourism industry has been the involvement of the local people, as they started to realise the value of the tourism industry. They discovered that nature can be used for tourism purposes as well as protecting it, and they also understand the importance of the tourism industry by looking at the tax benefit that is created from this industry. However, there are still three important issues that interfere with the development, implementation and institutionalisation of both rewilding and the tourism industry:

1. Tourism expertise The most important aspect is to increase tourism expertise, as the lack of innovation is still a challenge. According to Lordkipanidze, Brezet and Backman (2005), the key aspect and ingredient for successful destination development includes entrepreneurship based on innovation. Therefore, it is crucial for the institutionalization of the tourism industry that there is more tourism expertise, either gained through tourism education programs or through cooperation with experienced, innovative entrepreneurs.

2. Cooperation between stakeholders Another important aspect is to increase the coordination and effectiveness in the cooperation between enterprises and the rewilding destination. Rewilding Lapland is an innovative concept which requires collaboration of all involved stakeholders, such as entrepreneurs, the government and the local communities such as the Sami. Especially because there are power imbalances, cooperation and collaboration is needed to overcome these unequal influences (Levy, 1999; Reed, 1997).

3. Risk capital The third aspect that is important relates to attracting risk capital for investments in the tourism infrastructure. Accessibility is a challenge in Sweden and this makes it difficult for tourists to reach the destination, and for tourism enterprises to operate and to make a living. Risk capital is essential for the development of tourism infrastructure and to make the destination more accessible.

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For Rewilding Lapland to ‘demonstrate that tourism, including wildlife watching, wildlife promotion and other concepts, including reindeer herding and river restoration, can serve as important alternatives to negative, resource-extractive developments’ (Rewilding Europe, 2017), an improvement movement needs to evolve starting at governmental level, the top of influencers, to develop the tourism industry in Swedish Lapland.

5.2 Land use challenges

The results from this study showed that the way in which the concept of rewilding is implemented in other areas in Europe, does not apply similarly in Swedish Lapland. For example, Rewilding Europe focuses on reinstating nature, where after initial support nature can take its own course in a large area. However, this approach is not suitable in Swedish Lapland due to the fact that the selected areas are used by many stakeholders, such as tourism enterprises, the Sami community, and major industries. Each with their own use of the same land.

Taking the land as the most important material element in Swedish Lapland I argue that one of the main challenges for rewilding to materialise in Swedish Lapland, are all the different practices involved around the same material element of ‘the land’. This is visualised in figure 4.

Figure 4: Material element between six practices

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Impact I argue that for rewilding practices to materialise in Swedish Lapland it is important to take all land users into account. The three meanings given to rewilding: natural, social, and cultural, can be used to conceptualise land use. From a cultural point of view, Swedish Lapland is a cultural land, it is not a wilderness, nor consists of untouched nature. It is a culturally shaped landscape by the Sami and their reindeer, and in that sense important both for the Sami communities and for the tourism industry. From a natural point of view, it is important for both the tourism enterprises and the Sami reindeer herders. Both actors need a healthy natural environment to practice their tourism and reindeer herding practices. From a social point of view, it is important for all the local people living in Swedish Lapland, to be part of nature and to look after nature.

There is also an economic point of view in place which is important, due to the mining, forestry, and hydropower industries. These industries rely heavily on the natural materials found in Swedish Lapland and are the biggest threat to rewilding practices. However, the tourism industry can create an alternative economic income from land use, and in doing so goes hand in hand with rewilding practices.

Power relations of stakeholders According to Reed (1997), power relations are a fundamental element in understanding the characteristics and consequences of community-based planning where tourism is emerging. The practitioner-community relationships in the development process have the stamp of power (Dirks, Eley and Ortner, 1994), and where power is, there is resistance. In the context of community-based development, this resistance often translates into power relation conflicts (Dirks, Eley and Ortner, 1994). The stakeholders in these relationships all have diverging interests, are purposeful and goal-oriented, and they will use their power to their own purposes (Reed, 1997; Markovsky, Willer and Patton, 1988). Additionally, in the current situation, the tourism industry is disadvantaged by these three institutionalised and powerful industries that are also good for the local economy. These disadvantages and lack of collaboration are evolving power imbalances into power conflicts.

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6 Conclusion

This thesis research aims to find out what the practices of nature-based tourism enterprises are and what the influence is of the concept of rewilding on the practices of these tourism enterprises in Swedish Lapland. To answer the scientific objective of this research three sub-questions were developed. The collected data provided the answers to these three sub questions and provided a full in-depth answering explanation and description about the practices of tourism enterprises, the practices of rewilding in Swedish Lapland and the influence of the concept of rewilding on the tourism enterprise practices. The final conclusions will be presented in this chapter, along with several recommendations, proposals for future research, and the practical application of the results

6.1 How has nature-based tourism been developed as a practice in Swedish Lapland?

The three elements of the practice of nature-based tourism enterprises in Swedish Lapland are concluded and summarized in figure 5.

6.1.1 Meanings

The tourism industry in Swedish Lapland is a relatively new industry, and only recently have the local people and government realised the value of the natural landscape. Several entrepreneurs have realised this over the past twenty to thirty years, and have set up small-scale tourism enterprises focussed on nature-based activities for individual international tourists. These entrepreneurs can be described as genuine people who made the lifestyle choice to work in the tourism industry and who offer good quality service and products. One of the main obstacles for the tourism industry in Swedish Lapland is that even though the tourism industry is growing in figures, the awareness and understanding of local people and the government about (the possibilities of) the tourism industry is still limited. In other words, the tourism industry is not yet fully institutionalised in Swedish Lapland.

6.1.2 Competences

Generally speaking, there is a lack of competences in the tourism industry in Swedish Lapland focussing on individual international tourists. Current entrepreneurs in the tourism industry have had little tourism education. These entrepreneurs can be described as people who have seen other parts of the world, after which they went to Swedish Lapland to apply their gained knowledge and experiences; they are eager to learn, enthusiastic, and they learn on the go. Moreover, they are keen to work with other tourism enterprises in their areas of operation. One of the main obstacles for

70 the tourism industry in Swedish Lapland is the improvement of the competences in this industry in order to develop it as a tourism destination. This can be split into two challenges, namely: focussing on improving the competences of the current tourism enterprises and improving the tourism education to focus better on what the industry needs.

6.1.3 Materials

There is an abundance of natural and social materials for the tourism industry in Swedish Lapland, with two explicit seasons and associated experiences and activities. One of the natural material aspects that the tourism enterprises are not yet focussing on is wildlife watching. Some of the obstacles for the tourism industry are getting people to work in this industry; the state of the tourism infrastructure, especially during winter time; and the rules, regulations and laws to which the tourism enterprises must abide.

Figure 5: The elements of nature-based tourism enterprise in Swedish Lapland

6.2 How has rewilding been developed as a practice in Swedish Lapland?

The three elements of the practice of rewilding in Swedish Lapland will be mentioned and will be summarized in figure 6.

6.2.1 Meanings

There is a limited understanding of rewilding as the word; the concept and the organisations attached to it are new and unknown to many people. Respondents give environmental, social, cultural meanings to rewilding. Economic meaning is given to the land which both rewilding and the industries use. Even though there is a limited understanding of the respondents, once they know what rewilding is as a concept they perceive this new type of conservation as something that is needed and necessary in Swedish Lapland. The main challenge for rewilding to materialise in Swedish Lapland is working together with the Sami communities, the local people, the tourism enterprises, and the forestry; mining and hydropower industries.

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6.2.2 Competences

Rewilding competences are attributed by the respondents to competence development by the organisations Rewilding Lapland and Rewilding Europe. These competences of rewilding can be divided in two parts, namely natural and enterprise development. For the natural aspect, creating awareness among local people about rewilding and rewilding issues in Swedish Lapland is seen as important, as well as lobbying with national and international governments on forestry and fishing practices. For the enterprise aspect, competence development in the form of improving marketing, funding and improving the competences of the tourism enterprises are seen as important. The main challenge for rewilding is not to become an additional network to the one already existing, but that rewilding acts through the existing networks in Swedish Lapland.

6.2.3 Materials

Due to the limited understanding of rewilding, the materials associated with rewilding are the projects the respondents are aware off, such as river restoration; old forest preservation; and increasing fish populations. Respondents see funding as a material tool, which Rewilding Lapland provides, as well as the European Safari Company which is seen as a marketing tool by the respondents.

Figure 6: The elements of nature-based tourism enterprise in Swedish Lapland

6.3 What is the influence of the concept and practice of rewilding on the practices of nature-based tourism enterprises in Swedish Lapland?

This study did not reveal direct influences of the concept of rewilding on the practices of nature-based tourism enterprises in Swedish Lapland. The concept of rewilding has not directly influenced the practices of tourism enterprises due to the novelty of rewilding; due to that the projects undertaken by Rewilding Lapland have been taking place for a longer period of time; and lastly the concept had no direct influence due to

72 the already existing obstacles in the tourism industry as a result of the low level of institutionalisation of this industry.

Two challenges for rewilding to materialise In the context of Rewilding Lapland, the main stakeholders are the local government, the tourism entrepreneurs, and the local community including the Sami. They all have different interests and they also have different understandings and meanings of the concept rewilding. Thereby, the challenges such as the lack of institutionalisation of the tourism industry, and the powerful mining, forestry and hydropower industries are hindering the development of rewilding.

For tourism to institutionalise, there needs to be a power shift towards the tourism industry by the government. According to the entrepreneurs interviewed for this study, there has been a shift in awareness and understanding of the natural value from a tourism perspective at governmental level. It is essential that the government starts to see the tourism industry as an equal to the mining, forestry, and hydropower industries, and realize that the tourism industry needs the natural and cultural heritage to offer tourism activities and to attract tourists.

6.4 Recommendations

The concept of rewilding does not influence the practices of nature-based tourism enterprises in Swedish Lapland at the time when this thesis research was undertaken. But this thesis research did identify two main challenges for the concept of rewilding, focussed on tourism enterprises, to materialise in Swedish Lapland. Firstly the entrepreneurial challenges, in order for rewilding practices to provide entrepreneurial possibilities regarding nature-based tourism enterprises the tourism industry needs to be better institutionalised. Secondly the natural challenges regarding the land use in Swedish Lapland. Several practitioners are using the land as part of their practices. In order for rewilding practices to materialize, these practices of all practitioners who use this material element of ‘land’ should be better understood. Further research on these challenges is recommended to create a better understanding of the possibilities for both the tourism industry as for the concept of rewilding to materialize in Swedish Lapland. One of the outcomes of this thesis research is that rewilding practices in Swedish Lapland are more focussed on social than natural aspects, and so are the two main challenges for rewilding.

6.5 Proposals for future research

From a methodological perspective, further research could be undertaken on the tourism enterprise practices, and especially by using observations to get a better understanding of these specific tourism enterprise practices.

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As mentioned several times during this thesis research, the Sami communities are seen as a key aspect in the development of Swedish Lapland. Not only are they key players in the area, they are also seen as key players in the tourism industry. In agreement with the Sami community, future research could be undertaken on how the Sami community perceive their local area; how the Sami community perceive the tourism industry; what the demand is from the tourism industry in Swedish Lapland regarding products focussing on Sami culture and reindeer herding.

As mentioned, it is not clear to the respondents what the word rewilding means, resulting in several meanings given to the word. Further research could be undertaken on the discourse of the word rewilding. As well as on how this limited understanding and several meanings affect the concept of rewilding.

Institutionalisation of the tourism industry is another aspect that came from this thesis research. Further research could be undertaken on the Sami and Swedish rules and on the institutionalisation tensions, which affect the tourism industry practices, as well as rewilding practices.

6.6 Practical application of the results

This thesis research will be send to the team leader of Rewilding Lapland, who mentioned that both the board of the Rewilding Lapland Foundation as well as the team leaders in the other eight areas of Europe are keen to read this research.

Naturally this thesis research will be shared with the respondents who took the time to answer all my questions.

A more specific overview of all the ideas, and future views, mentioned by the respondents on the practices of Rewilding Lapland will be set up and send to the team leader of Rewilding Lapland. This will be done to give the team leader a clearer overview of ways in which the respondents currently think they can work together with Rewilding Lapland, or where the organisation should focus on.

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Annex 1

Table 1: overview respondents Organisation name Position Date Length of interviewee(s) interview Arctic Retreat Enterprise owner 18-01-2017 58:59 CreActive Adventure Enterprise owners 20-08-2017 01:11:41 Råek Ekonomiska Förening Executive director 22-08-2017 49:26 Sörbyn Turism Executive director 23-08-2017 55:44 Vildmarksbyn Solberget Enterprise owner 27-08-2017 34:51 Konfactiv Enterprise owner 29-08-2017 51:13 Aurora Safari Camp Enterprise owner 30-08-2017 01:11:52 Degerselsbygdens Chairman 30-08-2017 55:25 samfällighetsförening Piteälvs Ekonomiska Förening Chairman 01-09-2017 55:12 Hide and See Enterprise owner 01-09-2017 01:26:12 Ouroboros Enterprise owners 02-09-2017 01:12:51 Aurora Safari Camp Employees 03-09-2017 01:14:01 Rewilding Lapland Team leader 03-09-2017 01:13:31 NordGuide Enterprise owner 05-09-2017 55:46 Peaks and Safaris Kenya Enterprise owner 05-09-2017 37:04 Swedish Lapland Visitors Board CEO 06-09-2017 41:59 Årrenjarka Fjällby Enterprise owners 07-09-2017 34:21 Jokkmokkguiderna Enterprise owner 08-09-2017 01:35:33 Laponiajuottjudus Director 08-09-2017 52:50 Laponia Adventures Enterprise owner 09-07-2017 01:01:35 MBS-Guiding Enterprise owner 12-09-2017 32:31 Tree Hotel Enterprise owner 12-09-2017 51:25 Private fishing expert Teacher and author 15-09-2017 01:23:23 Swedish Ecotourism Society Chairwomen 15-09-2017 01:09:44 Guide Natura Enterprise owner 15-09-2017 01:10:18 Ice Hotel Senior advisor 27-09-2017 53:32

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Annex 2

Interview guide

Topic 1: Introduction of the organisation Short description of the interviewee Short description of the organisation

Topic 2: Role of the tourism industry in Swedish Lapland What has the role of tourism been in Swedish Lapland for the last 10-20 years? How is this role of tourism changing?

Topic 3: Role of rewilding in Swedish Lapland Awareness off Rewilding Europe, Rewilding Lapland and the concept of rewilding? In the changing role of tourism, what role does rewilding play? What does rewilding mean to you? What is rewilding in Swedish Lapland? What about rewilding is important? Does rewilding help to change (practices of) tourism? What materials are important for rewilding? What competences are important for rewilding?

Topic 4: Elements of tourism enterprises Natural resources Human resources Tourism infrastructure resources Tourism industry resources Governmental resources

Topic 5: Elements of the concept of rewilding Does rewilding include or exclude certain things? How can rewilding support the tourism industry? How can the tourism industry support rewilding?

Are there any things/aspects you want to tell me about which I have not asked?

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