Abstract
In this chapter, our focus is on issues faced when developing tourism in a region located in and on the fringe. To illustrate our discussion we use the Dalarna region in southern central Sweden as an example. This region is perceived by many of those involved in tourism development as a homogenous entity. We suggest that, at least in part, this is a representation of Dalarna as the ‘Heart of Sweden’ situated in a mythologised past. In order to problematize current thinking we make use of two specific cases, namely ski resort development in the Malung-Sälen municipality in the north-west of the region and a rural festival focused on locally produced food and drink in the southern part of the region. Dalarna is represented as an imagined idyll, a land of heroic deeds and iconic images. As such, the region acts as more than merely a geographic fringe space, with its proximity to Stockholm. It also works as a kind of chronological fringe, a space between past and present. However, we suggest that late modernity disrupts the imagined idyll used by tourism developers. Dalarna is no less a modern, complex space as other regions in Sweden. It is the reality and desires of local people living in Dalarna as an evolving and lived-in space that needs to be considered. Our discussion and examples illustrate the complexities that need to be taken into account to ensure sustainable, meaningful and most importantly inclusive tourism development.
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Notes
- 1.
Possibly one of the most common suggestions is the role played by local people in the region during the escape of Gustav Vasa, the future king of Sweden, in the 16th century. The escape of the future King from ruling Danish pursuers was re-enacted as a 90 km cross-country ski completion in the early 20th century (Sporrong, 2008). The 90 km Vasaloppet is now the world’s longest and largest ski race.
- 2.
Whilst food becomes motivation to travel not all tourists motivated by food should be labelled simply as food tourists. Individuals’ different motivations and practices determine classification. For example gastronomic tourists are often motivated by destination restaurants; culinary tourists by cooking schools and cultural activities, whilst food tourists are often motivated by wider foodways including engagement in rural and agricultural landscapes (See for example Hall, Mitchell, Scott & Sharples, 2008).
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Scott, D., Pashkevich, A. (2019). Dalarna, Sweden: Conflicted Touristic Representations of a Place on the Fringe. In: Koster, R., Carson, D. (eds) Perspectives on Rural Tourism Geographies. Geographies of Tourism and Global Change. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-11950-8_4
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