NS34 Session 5

 

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Title: Ethical and responsible tourism in a changing world: Agency, accountability and limits

Organisers: Siamak Seyfi and Michael Hall

Affiliation: University of Oulu, Massey University

 

Description

Tourism is increasingly framed as a potential agent for positive change in response to climate change, social inequality, geopolitical tensions, and environmental degradation. Concepts such as ethical tourism, responsible tourism, and sustainability now feature prominently in academic debates, policy agendas, and practice-oriented discussions. At the same time, critical scholarship questions the extent to which these ideas deliver meaningful change, particularly when responsibility is shifted toward individuals, travellers, or local communities without sufficient attention to power relations, governance structures, and material constraints. This session invites contributions that critically examine ethical and responsible tourism in a changing world. It asks how responsibility is defined, distributed, and negotiated across tourism systems, and how tourism actors operate as moral agents within unequal social, economic, and political contexts.

Rather than treating ethics as a matter of individual choice alone, the session encourages engagement with the structural and institutional conditions that shape ethical claims and practices.

The session welcomes conceptual and empirical papers that address questions such as: Who defines responsibility in tourism, and who gains from that definition? How do ethical tourism initiatives reproduce or challenge existing inequalities? How are local communities positioned within responsible tourism agendas? To what extent do geopolitical and economic constraints limit ethical practice? What are the structural limits of tourism as a vehicle for climate and social justice? How do digital platforms, public discourse, and governance arrangements influence ethical expectations and accountability in tourism?. Papers may also explore refusal, critique, and resistance alongside reform-oriented approaches.

We welcome contributions that connect ethical and responsible tourism to broader debates on sustainability, justice, wellbeing, political expression, and governance. Submissions may focus on tourists, destinations, communities, workers, institutions, or policy processes. Comparative and critical perspectives are encouraged, as are papers that question dominant narratives and highlight contradictions in ethical and responsible tourism practices.

 

Abstracts

Title: Relational Power in Tourism Governance
Author: Lovisa Ulrica Molin, Norwegian University of Life Sciences

This research examines how power operates in protected area tourism governance by foregrounding the relational dynamics through which visitor flows, encounters, and norms of conduct are shaped. Power is conceptualised as relational and emergent, arising through ongoing interactions among human and more‑than‑human actors rather than residing in formal institutions or regulatory frameworks. As such, it is shown how governance is enacted through the shaping of possible interactions between visitors and place. Empirical insights are drawn from a multi‑sited ethnographic study of tourism in Norwegian protected areas. Main findings show how the Norwegian Trekking Association (DNT) occupies a pivotal position within the relational web of governance through trail marking, a nation-wide network of cabins, volunteer maintenance, and the communication of norms and expectations. These practices structure how visitors interact with landscapes by inciting, enabling, and constraining particular forms of engagement. By operationalising friluftsliv – a Norwegian ideal that emphasises simple, egalitarian, and environmentally responsible outdoor life – as a moral and cultural framework, the Norwegian Trekking Association contributes to promoting specific understandings of sustainability, while simultaneously facilitating increased visitation to sensitive environments. Its relational power thus perpetuates a political trajectory in which tourism growth is reconciled with environmental responsibility, despite accumulating ecological pressures. The study advances tourism research by demonstrating how cultural ideals and everyday practices function as powerful governance mechanisms beyond state institutions. While empirically situated in Norway, the research holds broader significance for protected area tourism where sustainability is pursued through soft forms of guidance, cultural narratives, and relational influence.

 

Title: Ethical Dimensions of AI in Digital Tourism Marketing – Insights from Finnish Lapland
Authors: Päivi Hanni-Vaara, Lapland University of Applied Sciences, José-Carlos García-Rosell, and Richa Agrawal

Recent advances in Artificial Intelligence (AI) indicate that large language models (LLMs) develop internal emotional representations that are consistently activated in the specific context of selected emotion/s (Sofroniew et al., 2026). Though the process leans on mathematically activated vectors generated by nonhumans, past enquiries in this space indicate that AI models can simulate human emotions or emotional representations (Sofroniew et al., 2026), rather well. This change raises an important question about the ethics of simulated emotional interactions and encounters between humans and nonhumans (see Laine et al., 2025). As AI-powered agents and interfaces are increasingly assimilated in tourism and hospitality experiences, these systems must be designed mindfully and thoughtfully to ensure that while they enhance tourists’ emotional and overall experience (Jylkäs et al., 2018), they do not give rise to ethical dilemmas and concerns.

This qualitative study explores tourism and hospitality organisations’ experiences of AI emotional representations in Finnish Lapland. We intend to interview tourism and hospitality representatives, such as entrepreneurs, managers, and destination management organisations (DMOs), about their engagements and experiences with AI emotional representations. We aim to study how they observe AI emotional representation contexts and how they perceive these

contexts in their daily operations and strategies. The study will help us make an objective and compelling case for the incorporation of design elements into AI interfaces and encounters to ensure the integration of AI in tourism is ethically grounded and offers safe emotional experiences.

Our study builds on past studies that examined ethical concerns in AI adoption in tourism. Earlier findings into ethical tourism have focused on ecological concerns, notably electricity consumption associated with AI technologies; authentic imagery, as being essential for maintaining credibility and the appropriate tone in destination branding; and ethical considerations in human and nonhuman interactions, emphasising that AI does not offer an effective substitution for empathy, social intelligence, and cognitive skills unique to humans.

Data will be collected in Spring 2026 through semi-structured interviews. Immediately following data collection, a thematic content analysis will be conducted to obtain preliminary findings, which will be presented at the conference. Data will be analysed to identify ethical dilemmas and concerns. These findings aim to contribute to the ongoing discourse on ethical and responsible tourism in a rapidly changing digitalised world.

The study is part of the EU-funded project “Artificial Intelligence to Support Tourism Sales and Marketing Processes”.

Keywords: AI emotional representations, Ethics, Responsible tourism, Design elements, Tourism and Hospitality.

Sources

Jylkäs, T., Äijälä, M. H.,Vuorikari, T. M., & Rajab, V. (2018). AI Assistants as Non-human Actors in Service Design. Proceedings of the ADMC18 DMI: Academic Design Management Conference, 1436-1444. https://www.dmi.org/page/ADMC2018Proceedings.

Laine, J., Minkkinen, M., & Mäntymäki, M. (2025). Understanding the Ethics of Generative AI: Established and New Ethical Principles. Communications of the Association for Information Systems, 56, 1-25. https://doi.org/10.17705/1CAIS.05601

Schiaffonati, V. (2022). Explorative Experiments and Digital Humanism: Adding an Epistemic Dimension to the Ethical Debate. In: Werthner, H., Prem, E., Lee, E.A., Ghezzi, C. (eds) Perspectives on Digital Humanism. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-86144- 5_11

Sofroniew, N., Kauvar, I., Saunders, W., Chen, R., Henighan, T., Hydrie, S., Citro, G., Pearce, A., Tarng, J., Gurnee, W., Batson, J., Zimmerman,S., Rivoire, K., Fish, K., Olah, C., & Lindsey, J. (2026). Emotion Concepts and their Function in a Large Language Model. Accessed 13 April 2026 https://transformer-circuits.pub/2026/emotions/index.html

Werthner, H., Ghezzi, C. e., Kramer, J. e., Nida-Rümelin, J., Nuseibeh, B. e., Prem, E. e., & Stanger, A. e. (2024). Introduction to Digital Humanism: A Textbook (First edition 2024). Springer Nature Switzerland. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-45304-5.

 

Title: Assembling the Arctic: Technology and the Making of Arctic Imaginaries
Author: Marianna Leoni, University of Oulu

Arctic tourism is increasingly mediated, performed, and experienced through technology and digitalisation. The Arctic is no longer encountered as a remote or inaccessible region, but it emerges through a range of mediated forms and experiences that contribute to making it more visible and accessible. Therefore, technologies are changing the ways in which the Arctic, as a tourist destination, is narrated, accessed and experienced, raising questions about how responsibility and ethical representations are negotiated in tourism.

Building on the Phygital Arctic Tourism (PAT) framework, this work explores how technologically driven museum exhibitions contribute to the emergence of Arctic narratives and imaginaries, and how these are performed, engaged with and experienced by tourists. The study draws on qualitative data from museums in northern Finland and Iceland. The data includes semi-structured interviews with museum managers and field observations of exhibition spaces and visitors. Museums are considered as part of broader infrastructures of the tourist experience: in line with this understanding, the study explores how museum technologies participate in the configuration of Arctic imaginaries and how they are conveyed, encountered, perpetuated or challenged. Arctic museum exhibitions that employ technology could represent an opportunity for local stakeholders – especially underrepresented voices and communities - to change how tourism engages with local values and issues, and to counter or challenge stereotyped imaginaries. However, technologies could also strengthen those stereotypes, by promising “authentic” experiences that reflect dominant narratives in order to attract more visitors. In doing so, they can contribute to further strengthening stereotypes, reproducing existing inequalities.

Keywords: Arctic tourism; museums; digitalisation; Phygital tourism

 

Title: Natural Resource Management Strategies of Nature-Based Tourism Firms
Author: Pinja Leino, University of Eastern Finland, Henna Konu and Esko Sorakunnes

Nature-based tourism (NBT) firms’ offerings are deeply embedded in natural environments and socioecological systems, relying on external natural resources and ecosystem services that they do not necessarily own but that are essential for service provision. These dependencies expose firms to socioecological uncertainties arising from contested resource use and interests, and environmental change. Previous studies highlight the importance of recognising such dependencies (e.g., Fossgard & Stensland, 2021), and sectoral initiatives such as Nature Positive Tourism emphasise tourism’s reliance on nature and encourage companies to invest in nature restoration (UN Tourism et al., 2024). However, it remains unclear how NBT firms identify socioecological uncertainties and risks and how they develop strategies to address them.

This study advances understanding of natural resource management in tourism by examining how dependence on natural resources and ecosystem services shapes the strategic behaviour of NBT firms. Theoretically, the study builds on an extended Resource-Based Theory and the Natural Resource–Based View, complemented by the Natural Resource Dependence Perspective. Empirically, it draws on semi-structured interviews with 25 micro and small tourism firms operating in two UNESCO Biosphere Reserves in Finland.

The findings show that firms face multiple uncertainties related to forestry and other industrial activities, climate change, declining water quality, and tourism growth. Six strategic approaches are identified: securing access to core resources; biodiversity and ecosystem services stewardship; transformative influence; eco-efficiency and sustainability; advocacy; and adaptation to environmental change. Overall, firms’ strategies are pragmatic, situational, and capacity-constrained, highlighting the limits of private action in addressing broader socioecological challenges.

References

Fossgard, K., & Stensland, S. (2021). Broadening the scope of resources in nature: An explorative study of nature-based tourism firms. Journal of Ecotourism, 20(1), 35–50. https://doi.org/10.1080/14724049.2020.1751650

United Nations World Tourism Organization (UN Tourism), World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC), & Sustainable Hospitality Alliance (SHA). (2024). Nature Positive Travel & Tourism in Action. https://sustainablehospitalityalliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Nature-Positive-Travel-Tourism-in-Action-April-2024.pdf

 

Title: Tourism and Social Sustainability in a Context of Ongoing War: The Ambivalence of Local Perspectives
Authors: Johan Hultman, Department of Service Studies, Lund University, Ioana-Gabriela Denes, Syeeda Raisa Maliha, Alina Lidén, and Erika Andersson Cederholm

This presentation addresses the complex dynamics between dark tourism and social sustainability. With armed conflicts increasing globally and tourism’s acknowledged potential to support social sustainability, understanding tourism during ongoing war is vital for both theory and practice. The empirical backdrop of the study is Ukraine, where tourism initiatives are emerging even in a time of war. Drawing on qualitative interviews with local residents, findings show a deeply ambivalent local stance, characterised by ongoing negotiation between perceived benefits and downsides, and between acceptance and rejection of tourism in the context of war. Rather than fully embracing or opposing such tourism, residents engage in a balancing act that acknowledges both its opportunities and challenges. Framing this analysis around the concept of sociological ambivalence offers a nuanced account of how locals navigate the complex dualities of tourism in the context of war and how such initiatives might contribute to social sustainability.

 

Title: Making Kin with the Hjuksån River: Rewilding Camps as Experiment in Human-River Relationality
Authors: Maxim Vlasov, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences/Umeå University, Sweden, Eva Gielen, and Jasmine Zhang

Human-river relationships are deeply troubled. The colonial-modernist reduction of rivers to controllable resources and commodities has disrupted ecosystems and displaced river-dependent communities across the world (Cohen et al., 2022). Yet there has also been a recent resurgence of Indigenous river relationalities, alongside legal, philosophical, and ethical frameworks that recognize rivers as persons and more-than-human kin (e.g., Macfarlane, 2025; Boelens et al., 2022).

This contribution examines the potential of tourism and outdoor recreation to cultivate and restore kin-based relationships between humans and rivers. It presents insights from an experiment we call ‘rewilding camps’, organized in the summer of 2026 alongside the river Hjuksån in northern Sweden and Sápmi. Hjuksån is an important tributary of the Vindelälven river and one of many waterways in the region that bear traces of the timber-floating era and industrial forestry. Following a relational and practice-based methodology (Cahoon, 2025; Rantala et al., 2024), we organized two riverside camps, one weekend-long and one week-long, where participants engaged in manual ecological restoration of trout spawning beds, riverbanks, and surrounding forest while living outdoors as a community under simple conditions. Participants abstained from phones, watches, and caffeine; learned traditional skills such as fire-making, foraging, tracking, and crafts; engaged in guided nature-connection activities; and met local elders who shared stories of the river's past.

From the unique position of a researcher-practitioner, this contribution offers insight into how the relational philosophy and ethics of kinning (Van Horn, 2021) are articulated and embodied through the design and facilitation of the camps, and how these commitments are negotiated in practice alongside conflicted ideas of wildness, comfort, spirituality, and hope. The findings further suggest that the transformative potential of the camps stems from their holistic rewilding approach, which combines ecological restoration with cultural rewilding (Bauer, 2026; Vlasov, 2025) and enables participants to develop temporary yet meaningful relationships with the river through sustained immersion in the rhythms of everyday, communal river life. At the same time, we have also found ourselves navigating the positioning of rewilding camps as a model of regenerative tourism by other actors. While this recognition signals a broader and much welcome interest in rewilding, it also raises questions about the vulnerability of such initiatives to institutional and market demands that may commodify ecological restoration and recast it as a form of environmental redemption, thereby obscuring the deeper relational and cultural transformations required for living well with rivers and the more-than-human world.

References

Bauer, P.M. (2026). The human rewilding movement: Iterative application of hunter-gatherer studies at Rewild Portland. Hunter Gatherer Research, 12(1), pp.51-83.

Boelens, R., Escobar, A., Bakker, K., Hommes, L., Swyngedouw, E., Hogenboom, B., Huijbens, E.H., Jackson, S., Vos, J., Harris, L.M. and Joy, K.J., 2023. Riverhood: Political ecologies of socionature commoning and translocal struggles for water justice. The Journal of Peasant Studies, 50(3), pp.1125-1156.

Cahoon, N.P., 2025. Researching" with" Through Practice-Research Methodologies. Sosiologia, 62(1).

Cohen, J.B., Dannreuther, C., Fraundorfer, M., Mackie, C., Martin‐Ortega, J., Mdee, A. and Sutil, N.S., 2023. Riverkin: Seizing the moment to remake vital relations in the United Kingdom and beyond. People and Nature, 5(6), pp.1877-1892.

Macfarlane, R. (2025). Is a River Alive? W. W. Norton & Company.

Rantala, O., Kinnunen, V. and Höckert, E. (2024). Researching with Proximity: Relational methodologies for the Anthropocene. Springer Nature.

Van Horn, G. (2021). Kinning: Introducing the Kinship Series. In: Van Horn, G., Wall Kimmerer, R. & Hausdoerffer, J., Kinship – Belonging in a World of Relations. Center for Humans and Nature Press, pp.1-11.

Vlasov, M. (2025). The art of making fire-with. Journal of Outdoor Recreation and Tourism, 49, p.100840.