NS34 Session 1

 

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Title: Resilience for whom? Tourism, vulnerability, and adaptation in Nordic and global settings

Organisers: Siamak Seyfi and Jarkko Saarinen

Affiliation: University of Oulu

 

Description

Contemporary human–environment systems across both the Nordic region and the wider world face accelerating and unequal pressures. The Anthropocene, understood as a phase in which human actions have planetary consequences, shapes environments and societies in ways that remain difficult to predict with confidence. These pressures are clearly visible in Nordic settings where Arctic warming transforms ecosystems, mobility patterns, and long-standing livelihood practices. Similar processes are evident in regions affected by extended fire seasons, prolonged drought, rising seas, and political instability. Tourism operates within these global and Nordic changes and moves through circuits of extraction, mobility, and disturbance that define this period. As visitor flows extend into fragile Nordic landscapes and crisis-prone regions worldwide, questions arise about how communities respond and whose resilience is emphasized in policy narratives. This situation has encouraged growing reliance on resilience thinking in tourism research, planning, and governance. Resilience is often associated with the ability of individuals and communities to absorb shocks, reorganize, and continue functioning. Yet this framing raises important questions. What kinds of disruption are communities expected to accept? Who defines resilience and for what purposes? How are responsibility and risk allocated across institutions, tourism industries, and local residents? Which political and economic decisions shape exposure and protection?

Against this background, this session examines how tourism and community resilience are shaped and questioned across Nordic and global settings under Anthropocene conditions. The aim is to challenge assumptions that present tourism as an automatic route to recovery and to examine cases where resilience is framed as a community obligation rather than a shared institutional responsibility. Contributions may ask whose futures are prioritized in tourism development, which groups are expected to adjust to ongoing pressure, and what forms of social and ecological care are possible when tourism growth takes place alongside climate stress, political instability, and economic uncertainty.

This session welcomes both conceptual and empirical contributions. Studies using qualitative, participatory, or collaborative methods are particularly encouraged. The goal is to support grounded discussion on whether current tourism pathways contribute to fair and ecologically viable futures, or whether they reinforce existing social and environmental strain.

 

Abstracts

Title: Resilience Thinking in Nordic Tourism: Critical Connections with Growth and Sustainability
Author: Jarkko Saarinen, University of Oulu

Resilience has become an important approach in understanding, analyzing and managing change in Nordic tourism. It is also seen as a tool how to transform the industry towards sustainability (Cheer & Lew, 2017). However, the relationship between resilience and sustainability is highly contested in literature and it is not clear how resilience thinking can contribute to sustainable development (see Lew & Cheer, 2018; Saarinen and Gill, 2019). In general, resilience refers to the capacity of a unit or a system to prepare for, respond to, and recover from adverse events and shocks, while maintaining their capacity to function and develop (Folke, 2016). In this respect, it is often seen as a condition but not sufficient for sustainability (Derisses et al., 2011). Furthermore, in tourism development contexts, the constantly transforming nature of tourism and tourism destinations challenges the idea and process of recovery back to a pre-shock status or development path. On one hand, from an evolutionary perspective, resilience thinking could be seen as a multiscalar process involving a transformation or a transition towards a more sustainable basis of tourism development. On the other hand, resilience building may serve the industry’s growth needs. This paper discusses critically the notion of resilience in tourism and its’ operational scales and connections with growth and sustainable development in tourism. in the Arctic contexts.

 

Title: Resilience under Pressure: Communication Strategies for Resilience in Coldwater Archipelagos
Authors: Maria Månsson, Lund University, Jörgen Eksell, and Saeid Abbasian

The aim of this conceptual paper is to advance knowledge on how stakeholder collaboration and communication strengthen resilience in vulnerable coldwater archipelagos and islands. This is important because climate change boosts interest in Nordic destinations as rising temperatures in Southern Europe push tourists northward, a trend called coolcation. Increasing visitor numbers threaten destinations and may lead to overtourism, especially in rural and insular islands that are sensitive to shifts in tourist flows. Since overtourism is primarily studied in urban areas, more research is needed on rural areas. Islands are key, as their limited space amplifies stakeholder interactions and sustainability issues. In an island context, many stakeholders with different interests are involved, which may threaten the resilience of destinations. Despite calls for multi-stakeholder processes, there is a gap between policy and practice. New methods and communication strategies are needed to improve stakeholder collaboration that includes different stakeholder perspectives.

This paper is grounded in the following theories. Resilience provides a long-term perspective on how destinations adapt and transform under visitor pressure, while stakeholder theory highlights that resilience must be understood in relation to specific actors, their interests, and interdependencies. Social caring capacity operationalises these interests by identifying tolerance thresholds among stakeholders. Taken together, these perspectives allow analysis of for whom, under what conditions, and to what extent destinations remain resilient. By integrating resilience theory, stakeholder theory, and social carrying capacity, this conceptual paper proposes a multilevel framework for analysing overtourism in vulnerable destinations.

 

Title: Second-home Dwellers' Perception of Tourist Flows to Stockholm Archipelago Islands: A Research Idea
Authors: Saeid Abbasian, Södertörn University, and Gustaf Onn

Recent research on overtourism in rural areas worldwide has also included islands and archipelago environments in Northern Europe (e.g., Abbasian & Onn, 2025; Tverijonaite & Sæþórsdóttir, 2024).

This research aims to study the perception of second-home dwellers in Stockholm Archipelago concerning the tourist flows there. Second-home dwellers, as important stakeholders, have not been visible in earlier investigations. They can be considered a part of the problem; they visit the islands mostly during the peak season and through inviting their relatives and friends to the island contribute to more overtourism. Their attitude to the issue is therefore of relevance to the research community and the islands themselves.

Based on this research idea, the researcher did a pilot study consisting of two participant observations during the peak seasons 2024 and 2025 and an interview investigation with 10 second-home dwellers, both on Utö island. In the suggested project, the researchers aim at including between 20-30 second-home dwellers from other islands in the archipelago and get deeper insights into the issue.

References

Abbasian, S., Onn, G. (2025). Overtourism but still not so problematic! Attitudes of Swedish Archipelago residents with link to social carrying capacity. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Insights, Vol. 8 No. 11 pp. 204–220.

Tverijonaite, E., & Sæþórsdóttir, A. D. (2024). Challenges of overtourism in coastal Iceland.

In Nordic coastal tourism: Sustainability, trends, practices, and opportunities (pp. 193-213).

Cham: Springer Nature Switzerland.

 

Title: Coolcation as an Emerging Discourse in European Summer Tourism: A Conceptualisation and Analytical Perspective
Author: Jana Brehmer, Mid Sweden University & Dalarna University

Coolcation has recently emerged across tourism stakeholders’ marketing, lifestyle journalism, and non‑tourism outlets as a term associated with travelling to cooler regions instead of the traditional sun, sand and sea destinations in Europe that are facing increasingly heat extremes (e.g. SAS, 2025; Strawberry Hotels, 2025; Freeman, 2025 for Lonely Planet; Welt, 2025; Visit Sweden, 2026). Despite its widespread, the term and concept remain underexplored in academia. This paper presents a conceptualisation of how the term coolcation is being used, what kinds of discursive elements it relies on, and which broader assumptions about climate and European summer tourism are embedded within it. Reviewing how different stakeholders of the tourism system (Leiper, 1979) use and engage with the term coolcation the paper asks: Who employs the term, in which contexts, and for what purposes? How is climate (especially heat versus coolness) discussed in shaping summer travel choices, and how do these narratives suggest which European regions may appear more desirable than others? What imaginaries of Northern and Southern Europe are produced or reinforced through this narrative?

Drawing on an initial qualitative discourse analysis, the paper critically reflects how coolcation as a developing discourse (1) claims a travel trend before it is statistically proven, (2) shapes expectations of climate and weather comfort in Northern regions which however, same as Southern Europe, face weather extremes (Wilcke et al., 2020), (3) legitimates growth via a climate change adaptation behaviour while further contributing to the climate crisis (Font & Hindley, 2017), (4) reinforces the Northern European power system (Higgins-Desbiolles, 2022; Rastegar et al., 2023) by promotion Southern destination disposability and (5) neglects mobility inequalities (Sheller, 2018).
By framing coolcation as multi‑layered socio‑political discourse the paper aims to open a research discussion for critically examining climate‑related tourism discourses, their implications for European tourism and their meaning beyond the tourism sector.

References

Font, X., & Hindley, A. (2017). Understanding tourists’ reactance to the threat of a loss of freedom to travel due to climate change: A new alternative approach to encouraging nuanced behavioural change. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 25(1), 26–42. https://doi.org/10.1080/09669582.2016.1165235

Freeman, B. (April 22, 2025). Lonely Planet: Where to keep things cool on your next summer vacation. Retrieved March 01, 2026 via https://www.lonelyplanet.com/articles/best-coolcation-travel-ideas

Higgins-Desbiolles, F. (2022). The ongoingness of imperialism: The problem of tourism dependency and the promise of radical equality. Annals of Tourism Research, 94, 103382. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annals.2022.103382

Leiper, N. (1979). The framework of tourism: Towards a definition of tourism, tourist, and the tourist industry. Annals of tourism research, 6(4), 390-407

Rastegar, R., & Becken, S. (2025). Embedding justice into climate policy and practice relevant to tourism. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 33(10), 2011–2028. https://doi.org/10.1080/09669582.2024.2377720

Rastegar, R., Higgins-Desbiolles, F., & Ruhanen, L. (2023). Tourism, global crises and justice: Rethinking, redefining and reorienting tourism futures. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 31(12), 2613–2627. https://doi.org/10.1080/09669582.2023.2219037

SAS (June 10, 2025). SAS Trends: Scandinavian Coolcation. Retrieved March 1^st, 2026 via https://www.sasgroup.net/newsroom/sas-aviation-insights/sas-trends-scandinavian-coolcation/

Sheller, M. (2018). Mobility Justice: The Politics of Movement in an Age of Extremes. Verso Books.

Strawberry Hotels (June 17, 2025). Chill out with a Coolcation in the Nordics. Retrieved December 17, 2025 via https://www.strawberryhotels.com/blog/travel-tips/coolcation/

Welt (August 15, 2025). Erste Tourismusregionen setzen auf Reisetrend «Coolcation». Retrieved February 27, 2026 via https://www.welt.de/regionales/hamburg/article689e9c4ab7e38d4fabb2396c/Erste-Tourismusregionen-setzen-auf-Reisetrend-Coolcation.html?

Wilcke, R. A. I., Kjellström, E., Lin, C., Matei, D., Moberg, A., & Tyrlis, E. (2020). The extremely warm summer of 2018 in Sweden – set in a historical context. Earth System Dynamics, 11(4), 1107–1121. https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-11-1107-2020

Visit Sweden (2026). Coolcation in Sweden: 14 ways to keep your holiday refreshing. Retrieved December 01, 2025 via https://visitsweden.com/what-to-do/nature-outdoors/coolcation/

 

Title: Temporary Employment and Financial Performance: A Global Comparative Study of the Hospitality Industry
Author: Dengjun Zhang, University of Stavanger

This study examines the relationship between temporary employment and financial performance in the global hotel industry, using a large dataset of 6,010 hotels across 90 countries from the World Bank Enterprise Surveys. Temporary employment is measured as the proportion of full-time equivalent (FTE) temporary workers relative to total employment. Financial performance is captured through profit margin and sales growth over a three-year period. The results reveal that the impact of temporary employment varies significantly across country groups. While no overall effect is observed in baseline models, the modified models show that higher reliance on temporary workers is associated with improved profit margin in some contexts, particularly in high-income settings. Conversely, in low- and lower-middle-income countries, temporary employment tends to negatively affect both profit margin and sales growth. These findings highlight the importance of institutional and economic environments in shaping labor strategies and their outcomes. Overall, the study contributes to the literature by providing global evidence on the heterogeneous effects of temporary employment in the hospitality sector, offering important implications for managers and policymakers seeking to balance labor flexibility with financial performance.