Tourism, Nature and Sustainability

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Tourism, Nature and Sustainability Tourism, nature and sustainability A REVIEW OF POLICY INSTRUMENTS IN THE NORDIC COUNTRIES Tourism, nature and sustainability A review of policy instruments in the Nordic countries Hogne Øian, Peter Fredman, Klas Sandell, Anna Dóra Sæþórsdóttir, Liisa Tyrväinen and Frank Søndergaard Jensen TemaNord 2018:534 Tourism, nature and sustainability A review of policy instruments in the Nordic countries Hogne Øian, Peter Fredman, Klas Sandell, Anna Dóra Sæþórsdóttir, Liisa Tyrväinen and Frank Søndergaard Jensen ISBN 978-92-893-5622-0 (PRINT) ISBN 978-92-893-5623-7 (PDF) ISBN 978-92-893-5624-4 (EPUB) http://dx.doi.org/10.6027/TN2018-534 TemaNord 2018:534 ISSN 0908-6692 Standard: PDF/UA-1 ISO 14289-1 © Nordic Council of Ministers 2018 Cover photo: Unsplash.com Print: Rosendahls Printed in Denmark Disclaimer This publication was funded by the Nordic Council of Ministers. However, the content does not necessarily reflect the Nordic Council of Ministers’ views, opinions, attitudes or recommendations. Rights and permissions This work is made available under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license (CC BY 4.0) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0. Translations: If you translate this work, please include the following disclaimer: This translation was not pro- duced by the Nordic Council of Ministers and should not be construed as official. The Nordic Council of Ministers cannot be held responsible for the translation or any errors in it. Adaptations: If you adapt this work, please include the following disclaimer along with the attribution: This is an adaptation of an original work by the Nordic Council of Ministers. Responsibility for the views and opinions expressed in the adaptation rests solely with its author(s). The views and opinions in this adaptation have not been approved by the Nordic Council of Ministers. 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Photo rights (further permission required for reuse): Any queries regarding rights and licences should be addressed to: Nordic Council of Ministers/Publication Unit Ved Stranden 18 DK-1061 Copenhagen K Denmark Phone +45 3396 0200 [email protected] Nordic co-operation Nordic co-operation is one of the world’s most extensive forms of regional collaboration, involving Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, and the Faroe Islands, Greenland and Åland. Nordic co-operation has firm traditions in politics, economics and culture and plays an important role in European and international forums. The Nordic community strives for a strong Nordic Region in a strong Europe. Nordic co-operation promotes regional interests and values in a global world. The values shared by the Nordic countries help make the region one of the most innovative and competitive in the world. The Nordic Council of Ministers Nordens Hus Ved Stranden 18 DK-1061 Copenhagen K, Denmark Tel.: +45 3396 0200 www.norden.org Download Nordic publications at www.norden.org/nordpub Contents Preface ......................................................................................................................................7 Executive Summary .................................................................................................................. 9 Recommendations ............................................................................................................10 1. Introduction....................................................................................................................... 13 1.1 Sustainable and unsustainable tourism....................................................................14 1.2 Tourism and megatrends ....................................................................................... 16 1.3 Tourism development and the Nordic countries ...................................................... 17 1.4 Literature search and selection............................................................................... 19 1.5 The main aims and structure of this report ............................................................. 20 2. Tourism in the Nordic countries – current trends ................................................................21 2.1 Iceland ................................................................................................................... 22 2.2 Sweden .................................................................................................................. 26 2.3 Finland ................................................................................................................... 29 2.4 Norway ................................................................................................................... 33 2.5 Denmark ................................................................................................................. 37 3. Public rights of access in the Nordic countries ....................................................................41 3.1 Norway ...................................................................................................................41 3.2 Iceland ................................................................................................................... 42 3.3 Denmark ................................................................................................................ 42 3.4 Sweden .................................................................................................................. 43 3.5 Finland ................................................................................................................... 44 3.6 Summary ............................................................................................................... 44 4. Instruments involved in sustainable tourism management ................................................. 47 4.1 Sustainability .......................................................................................................... 47 4.2 Economic instruments ........................................................................................... 48 4.3 From hard to soft visitor management approaches ..................................................55 4.4 Policies and administrative instruments ................................................................. 59 5. The applicability and consequences of implementation of policy instruments in the Nordic countries............................................................................................................... 63 5.1 Public rights of access and mass invasion ............................................................... 65 5.2 The paradox and dilemmas related to the public rights of access ............................ 65 5.3 Developments of infrastructure as a response to the influx of tourists......................67 5.4 Economic instruments in Nordic contexts ............................................................... 68 5.5 Soft visitor management approaches in Nordic contexts ......................................... 73 5.6 Policy and planning in Nordic contexts ....................................................................76 5.7 Legal and administrative regulation of visitation ..................................................... 77 5.8 Horizontal and vertical integration in planning process: the case of second homes in Norway ................................................................................................................... 77 6. Conclusions and recommendations....................................................................................81 6.1 Recommendations ................................................................................................. 84 References .............................................................................................................................. 87 Sammendrag...........................................................................................................................97 Anbefalinger ..................................................................................................................... 98 Preface Tourism is one of the fastest growing economies of the word. This does not only imply that economic growth is increasing, but also that more travellers demand a greater variety of destinations and attractions and that the experiences tourists are seeking are becoming diverse. In view of these changes sustainable development of tourism are becoming an increasingly complex matter to achieve. Recently, the Nordic countries have experienced a rapid growth in numbers of visitors. At some popular nature attractions this has resulted in crowding, environmental damage, costly rescue operations and overload on public infrastructure. Economic instruments such as entrance fees are frequently proposed to regulate and manage the volume of tourists to vulnerable sites and nature in general. While being common in many countries
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