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Cultural Tourism Green transition Just Governance Linnaeus University Meeting News Sustainable Tourism Sweden

TourNord goes to Kalmar, Sweden!

Sustainable tourism – justice, green transition and cultural tourism were the main topics for TourNord’s 6th network meeting in Kalmar, Sweden. Hosted by the Linnaeus University and Associate Professor Marianna Strzelecka, the network meeting served as a forum for exchanging best practices and experiences for education and knowledge development within Nordic Tourism. We were treated to two days of fantastic presentations, discussions and an insight into the coastal community of Kalmar and its neighbouring island, Öland. In true TourNord fashion, the weather also delivered so we were able to see the south-east coast of Sweden at its best!

Day 1: Justice in tourism, co-creation with cultural tourism and excursion to Öland

The beautiful Kalmar Slott set the scene for the first part of our network meet. After a warm welcome from TourNord Project Lead Christian Dragin-Jensen, the group was given a tour around the historic Kalmar Slott. This was then followed by an exciting presentation given by Marianna Strzelecka from Linnaeus University on one of their current research projects.

Kalmar Slott (source: Christian Dragin-Jensen)

The project, titled “Energy justice for rural communities – Towards pathways to empowerment in sustainability transitions”, aims to bring justice to the residents of rural areas in sustainable energy transitions. It seeks to provide knowledge about energy injustices by exploring how they are perceived and reproduced in rural settings. As a specific example – if wind turbines are installed in a rural setting – close to houses, communities and/or nature, how can authorities and communities ensure a just distribution of the boons/costs they bring?

A very relevant project when considering the “not in my backyard” mentality that has dominated the energy transition landscape.

Presentation by Marianna Strzelecka (source: Christian Dragin-Jensen)

Marianna’s presentation was followed by her colleague, Senior Lecturer Per Pettersson-Löfquist, who presented an ongoing project called “Innovative Cultural Entrepreneurship in Collaborative Co-creative Research”. Quite a mouthful of a title, yet Per deftly highlighted several aspects of the larger project, and dove into depth the parts he was directly involved in. More specifically, Per gave a rousing presentation about his work with cultural tourism actors, and how many of these cultural tourism offers are for many tourists the main “reason to go”, but hardly ever the biggest recipients of the income of tourist spend. That is, accommodation and restaurants tend to capture the lion’s share of tourist spending, despite not being the main reason to go. Per went on to show great local examples in the Småland region (of which Kalmar is a part of) on how hotels can collaborate with local glassmakers.

In an age of of co-creation, and with calls for better forms of tourism where we have to look at destinations more holistically, Per’s work certainly brought novel perspectives and food for thought for the TourNord network!

Presentation by Per Pettersson-Löfquist (source: Christian Dragin-Jensen)

After Per’s presentation, Marianna followed up by sharing their team’s vision for a knowledge environment for sustainable tourism at the Linnaeus University. This was an inspiring presentation on all the processes, politics, and necessary organizational structures needed to create such a knowledge environment at an institution of higher education. There were good lessons for all the TourNord partners who wished to perhaps try the same at their own institutions. This also permitted Marianna to receive feedback from other institutions on how to progress with such a knowledge environment, as well as to extend an invitation to further collaborate on such matters. The discussion also dove into the status of tourism students, the makeup of new study programs and how some schools have tried to tackle the downturn in tourism students. A truly Nordic cooperative meet!

After a wonderful vegetarian lunch at the castle, we were in for a real treat as we were given a tour of Kalmar’s neighbouring island, Öland. The tour was spearheaded by associate professor Ludvig Papmehl-Dufay. Ludvig’s unique knowledge of Öland was not only due to his background as an archaeologist, but also as a resident of the island. Driving around the island, we were treated to insights on the unique flora and fauna of the island, the natural phenonemons such as the Stora Alvaret – a large limestone plain home to many unique and rare species. We were shown how history, nature and tourism interweave on the island, and how the island naturally segments the different types of tourists who arrive (for example – the northern part of the island attracts more ‘traditional’ beach and sun tourists, whereas the southern part attracts more nature-based tourists). We also had an in-prompt discussion on the island’s untapped potential (and pitfalls!) of surf-tourism!

TourNord visiting Öland (source: Christian Dragin-Jensen)

We also visited several farm shops (a unique and critical component of tourism localness in the Småland region), as well as the famous Station Linné, home to world-leading research on flowers, insects and Alvaret’s nature.

Station Linné (source: Christian Dragin-Jensen)
A local farmshop on Öland (source: Christian Dragin-Jensen)

Day 2: Workshop, TourNord business, and tour of Kalmar oldtown

After a good’s night rest, we started out bright and early at the beautiful Linneus University campus. As this was our 6th and last Nordplus financed network meet, we needed to discuss how we wished to continue with TourNord – and in what format.

Linnaeus University (source: Educations.com)

A workshop was held on how we wished to structure TourNord going forward, with the following decisions being made:

  • We still wish to meet physically and will pursue funds on how to do so. Until funds are secured, we will meet as a minimum twice a year (1x per semester) online, or more often if needed.
  • Microsoft teams channels will be created, with each channel serving a different function (general communication, different funding possibilities, staff exchange, etc.) to streamline our different acitivities
  • All team members will be proactive in looking at different calls for projects that are of relevance to TourNord institutions
  • Christian Dragin-Jensen will continue as Project Lead
Mia Post-Lundgaard and Christian Dragin-Jensen leading the workshop (source: Trine Thomsen)
Brainstorming! (source: Trine Thomsen)

Christian Dragin-Jensen and Ove Oklevik were also able to present the manuscript of TourNord’s upcoming book “Nordic Coastal Tourism – Sustainability, Trends, Practices and Opportunities”. The book is in its final stages at the publisher and we are hoping that the book will be ready for its release by the end of the year!

The book has been the brainchild of the TourNord network and editors Christian Dragin-Jensen, Grzegorz Kwiatkowski and Ove Oklevik applauded all the hard work done by all the Tournord members and other authors of the chapters for making this book a reality!

The TourNord network also agreed to look into further funding possibilities for science communication regarding the publishing of the book, as well as creating teaching material regarding the book.

With the workshop and Tournord business settled, we were given a tour of the beautiful and historic old town of Kalmar, followed by a lunch.

TourNord touring Kalmar (source: Christian Dragin-Jensen)

All the participating TourNord members would like to thank Linnaues University and its partners for their warm hospitality, and a fantastic program which ensured that our network meet serve:

1. As a forum for exchanging best practices and experiences for education and knowledge development within Nordic Tourism

2. To discover and implement innovative ways of teaching to benefit educators and students in preparing them for the current/future demands of Nordic Tourism

3. To promote & advance student/staff mobility amongst partners for learning, innovation and R&D activities within NT.

Kalmar Slott (source: Trine Thomsen)

Categories
Dania Academy Denmark Meeting News Nordic Tourism Regenerative Tourism Tourism Tourism Education

TourNord goes to Randers, Denmark!

Regenerative and responsible tourism were the central themes of TourNord’s 5th network meeting in Randers, Denmark on the 9th and 10th of April, 2024. Despite the weather not living up to our usual “TourNord sunshine” standards, we none the less had a fantastic program in store in Randers, where TourNord was given firsthand insights from the tourism industry on their take of destination development, sustainability, regenerative approaches and challenges, as well as working with locals and biodiversity.  

TourNord in Randers, Denmark! (source: Christian Dragin-Jensen)

Serving as a forum for exchanging best practices and experiences for education and knowledge development within Nordic Tourism, TourNord had invited speakers from Destination Limfjorden, Visit Ærø, Cold Hand Winery, Randers Regnskov – Tropical Zoo and Dania Academy. We also had time to experience some of the tourism concepts firsthand, as well as discussing and working on our projects, future project applications and cooperation strategies. Read more below to find out what we did!

Day 1: Regenerative Tourism – how does this work alongside destination development, and what can we do as educational institutions?

After a warm welcome from Paul Aspinall from the Dania Academy and TourNord Project Lead Christian Dragin-Jensen, we received a tour of Dania’s campus, highlighting Dania Academy’s wide range of educational programs – from tourism and hospitality management, to optometry and technical design.

After an introduction of the network meeting program, we got stuck right in with our first speaker, Dania Academy’s Karla Løfquist, who came to talk to us about her research project, focusing on regenerative tourism from a Destination Management Organization perspective. We had great discussions afterwards – asking hard questions on how we approach fostering a more “sustainable” (if that is the right word) and responsible future for tourism?

Also, whether Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) based on overnight stays and economic growth are the most appropriate measurements? Or should it be based on metrics such as happiness levels, the number of new established cycling paths, and the diversity of bird species in the local forest?

Ass. Professor Karl Løfquist on Regenerative Tourism (source: Christian Dragin-Jensen)

Before we could get settled for a larger discussion, , Rasmus Friis Sørensen, director of Destination Limfjorden joined us and gave an interesting speech on how their DMO were going to tackle destination development, and what he saw as critical challenges and barriers for success. It was also interesting to see the difference between the first and second presentation, where sometimes great differences lie in what is prioritized in an academic context vs. what is needed in the industry.

Director Rasmus Friis Sørensen on Destination Limfjorden and destination development (source: Christian Dragin-Jensen)

Next up was a practitioner set on implementing regenerative practices on her hometown island of Ærø – Project manager Clara-Stina Amalie Rehde Eidenert, from Visit Ærø. An interesting talk on what challenges are met when trying such an approach with local tourism actors and citizens. This talk also led to interesting discussions on how such an approach can help foster more ‘traditional’ tourism angles – such as growth in the low-season and targeting new segments (such as business tourism).

The last presentation of the day at campus was by Dania Academy’s Morten Winther Hansen – who offered us an excellent insight into how AI can both thwart and thrive sustainability competences for the tourism workforce. His research project offered novel and exciting insights into what practitioners felt the modern tourism workforce needed to have skills and competence wise – particularly with regards to AI and sustainability.

Senior Lecturer Morten Winther Hansen on AI, sustainability and tourism workforce competences (source: Christian Dragin-Jensen)

Towards the evening, we had a wonderful excursion to Cold Hand Winery, where we received both an exquisite dinner and tasting from the legendary entrepreneur Jens Skovgaard, who loved to come and tell us about how his passion for apples has grown into a successful business of making more than 100.000 bottles of fruit wine a year. Equally fascinating, was his dedication to a good story and a drive for excellence, which has resulted in many Michelin-starred restaurants using his wine – recently none other than world’s best restaurant – Geranium in Copenhagen!

Cold Hand Winery (source: Christian Dragin-Jensen)

Day 2: Project Work, looking forward, and an excursion to Randers Regnskov – Tropical Zoo

After a good night’s rest, we started bright and early at Randers Regnskov – Tropical Zoo where we had the most amazing conference room available! Surrounded by snakes, spiders, poisonous frogs and other exotic animals, we received a fantastic presentation from Randers Regnskov on their global and local work with biodiversity, conservation and generating excitement for both adults and children about working with these important messages. Our speaker talked about – rightly so – that zoos in the past had a dark history of contributing to habitat and wildlife population loss, but now have become a critical part in ensuring species and habitats are conserved and cared for. It was therefore interesting to hear Randers Regnskov’s take on blending biodiversity, conservation efforts, and global partnerships with tourism and the experience economy. Without necessarily realizing it, there are many elements in Randers Regnskov’s manner of working which has regenerative approaches which other tourism actors and practitioners could learn from!

Randers Regnskov giving a presentation about their company, and how they work with biodiversity, conservation and the experience economy at the same time! (source: Christian Dragin-Jensen)

There was also time to discuss the significant process we have made on our upcoming Nordic Coastal Tourism book, as well as TourNord admin matters, and a workshop on future project applications within the group. The day was finished with a guided tour of Randers Regnskov and a lunch before we bade farewell to the group.

All the participating TourNord members would like to thank Dania Academy and its partners for their warm hospitality, and a fantastic program which ensured that our network meet serve:

1. As a forum for exchanging best practices and experiences for education and knowledge development within Nordic Tourism
2. To discover and implement innovative ways of teaching to benefit educators and students in preparing them for the current/future demands of Nordic Tourism

3. To promote & advance student/staff mobility amongst partners for learning, innovation and R&D activities within NT.

Categories
Business Academy SouthWest COVID-19 Denmark Koszalin University of Technology Linnaeus University News Research Uncategorized Western Norway University of Applied Sciences

TourNord partners’ research project wins research prize!

The research project, Event Innovation in Times of Uncertainty, involving TourNord partners Business Academy Southwest, Western Norway University of Applied Sciences, Linnaeus University and Koszalin University of Technology received the prize as the research project of the year 2023 by the Danske Erhvervsakademier (The Association of Danish Business Academies).

Selected as the best research project amongst 8 nominations, Christian Dragin-Jensen from Business Academy Southwest received the prize, the project being cited as an exemplary project for the sector, not only contributing with academic and theoretical impact, but also reaching out to many practitioners in several countries on how to promote resilience and innovation in the event and festival sector.

Christian Dragin-Jensen, Business Academy Southwest (left), receiving the prize from Steen Enemark Kildesgaard (right), Dean of Copenhagen Business Academy and Chairman of the College of Deans. Source: Danske Erhvervsakademier

A big congratulations to Christian Dragin-Jensen and all the TourNord partners who collaborated on the project!

About the project:
The COVID-19 pandemic challenged the event and festival industry to its limits. However, during the shutdown, some events and festivals demonstrated resilience and promoted new, innovative solutions. The project explored several countries’ event and festival sectors to promote a new understanding of resilience and innovation to help the industry be better prepared for future crises.

Business Academy Southwest (Denmark), Linnaeus University (Sweden), Koszalin University of Technology (Poland), Western Norway University of Applied Sciences (Norway), explored 150+ events and festivals (sports, culture, music, etc.) in Norway, Poland, and Denmark – from small local events to large international ones. The aim was to highlight strategic and practical areas crucial for the event and festival industry, necessary for building resilience and providing examples of best practices in the industry that promote innovative, adaptive, and transformative event and festival environments.

The research has resulted in the development of new models for measuring resilience and innovation in the event industry (but can also be used in other sectors!). These models have been published as articles in several internationally recognized journals, disseminated, and implemented by various stakeholders.

Knowledge output:

  1. Research paper 1:  Effects of COVID-19 infection control measures on the festival and event sector in Poland and Norway (2021), published in Sustainability.
  2. Research paper 2: Event Innovation in Times of Uncertainty (2022), published in International Journal of Event and Festival Management.
  3. Research paper 3: Building a Resilient Event Sector in Times of Uncertainty (2023), published in Event Management.
  4. Book chapter: Innovation in Sports Events during COVID-19 (2022), published in Research Handbook on Sport and COVID-19
  5. Example of popular dissemination at one of Denmarks largest national websites for tourism
  6. Project homepage

Key figures and other relevant information:

  • Articles have become a part of WHO’s (World Health Organisation) COVID-19 Database
  • Project and its results have been presented for +150 students (from AP to master level) in Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Poland, Lithuania and Belgium.
  • Project and its results have been rpesented for +50 event and festival companies, as well as a workshop for +60 event and festival companies
  • Articles have been (as of February 2024) downloadet more than 10.000 times
  • Several of the articles contribute to open science and are freely available to all, as recommended by EU, OECD, Nordic Council of Ministers, etc. ministerråd, m.m.
  • Research paper 1 has been awarded as ”Editor’s Choice” by the journal.
  • Project has been presented to the Polish government as a report

Categories
Business Academy SouthWest Koszalin University of Technology News Nordic Tourism Norway Research Western Norway University of Applied Sciences

New research from TourNord members about Pop-up restaurants, innovation and lifestyle entrepreneurship!

Members from Business Academy SouthWest, Western Norway University of Applied Sciences and Koszalin University of Technology have recently published an article titled “Cooking up prosperity: Pop-Up restaurants, innovation, and lifestyle entrepreneurship” in Gastronomy & Tourism.

The study focused on the concept of Pop-Up Norge as a case study, where they investigated they way they do (and wish to do) business being a testament to their embodiment of innovation and life-style entrepreneurship. The entrepreneurs in Pop-Up Norge revelled in a sense of freedom, creativity, and the pursuit of uniqueness, and this continuously drove them to enhance and offer novel experiences.

A great Nordic success story that others can learn from!

This is also a success story for TourNord, as this was a collaboration started at our TourNord network meeting in Bergen, where an idea of supporting each other’s PhD students came to life.

Photo Source: Pop-up Norge

You can read the abstract below, and the article is freely available here.

Abstract: Entrepreneurship is central to diversifying and enhancing the competitiveness of tourism offer-ings. The current literature underscores a critical oversight in nurturing entrepreneurship for tourism innovation and urges further exploration of entrepreneurial motivations in tourism start-ups. This is particularly relevant because the tourism sector heavily relies on new ventures to drive innovation, as established firms often struggle to meet the growing demand for distinc-tive and unique travel experiences. This study examines the entrepreneurial journey and inno-vation process within the tourism scene. Through comprehensive desk research and an in-depth entrepreneur interview, we aim to deepen our insights into the motivations driving entrepre-neurs and the innovation processes behind their tourism products and services. Specifically, our research focuses on pop-up restaurants, illuminating their embodiment of innovation and life-style entrepreneurship. The findings reveal that a sense of freedom, creativity, and the pursuit of uniqueness stand out as key motivational factors of establishing pop-up restaurants. These motivations extend into a continuous business innovation cycle, as the drive to enhance and offer novel experiences remains paramount. This study elucidates the uncharted territory of tourism entrepreneurship and offers valuable insights into the driving forces and innovative dynamics within this evolving market.

Categories
Business Academy SouthWest Denmark Finland News Research University of Turku

TourNord partners successfully publish research on Collaborative Problem Solving

Wicked problems are hard to solve! Working together is complex, but necessary to solve these wicked problems! Ever heard these comments before?

Well, our TourNord partners from the University of Turku and Business Academy SouthWest have just published an article in the Nordic Journal of Vocation and Education titled “Collaborative Problem Solving: A pedagogy for workplace relevance” where they studied the pedagogical approach of collaborative problem solving in the context of work-based learning and complex (wicked) problems.

A truly collaborative project, 72 students were included (ranging from vocational students, university of applied science students and university students), 9 teachers and 5 industry professionals across 4 separate workshops in Finland and Denmark.

Students in Sønderborg working collaboratively on a complex problem (reducing food waste in a Hotel). Source: Christian Dragin-Jensen

The article is open-access and freely available to all here. Want to read a bit more? Check out the abstract below!

A big congratulations to Timo Halttunen, Christian Dragin-Jensen, Céline Kylänpää and Anders Karkov on the work!

Questions about the research? Contact Timo Halttunen, corresponding author.

This article is part of a larger project! You can read more about it here!

Abstract

Collaborative problem solving (CPS) is a widely used pedagogical approach in work-based learning. To facilitate the complex process of situated learning, researchers have emphasized the need for scaffolding to enable learning of skills while engaged in problem-solving. While CPS as a pedagogical practice has mainly been examined in classroom situations, a research gap exists in studies of CPS in real-world contexts. In this study, we contribute to the understanding of CPS by examining the contextual characteristics that shape students’ and teachers’ experiences in situated learning. Consequently, we present a multi-case study to investigate involvement of a business professional as a source for scaffolding on site, in a hotel business environment. We employed a qualitative, multi-case methodology in the study. An ill-structured, real-world problem of food waste in the hotel service sector was presented to students (N = 72) and their accompanying teachers (N = 9) from second and tertiary education. They were provided with access to expert knowledge and opinion by industry professionals (N=5) on site. We collected data via observations, interviews, and questions from the involved stakeholders in three physical locations in Denmark and in Finland. Additionally, we documented their experiences using an online collaboration tool in each case. Despite the scaffolding provided by the business professionals, students underused the resources available for their learning in the extended learning environment. Students benefited from guided exploration of the problem space, structured feedback, and teacher interventions, resulting in improved perspective taking, participation, social regulation, task regulation and knowledge building.

(Source: Halttunen, T., Dragin-Jensen, C., Kylänpää, C., & Karkov, A. (2023). Collaborative problem solving: A pedagogy for workplace relevance. Nordic Journal of Vocational Education and Training, 13(2), 45–73. https://doi.org/10.3384/njvet.2242-458X.2313245)

Categories
Arctic Tourism Business Academy SouthWest Dania Academy Greenland Icelandic Tourism Research Centre Linnaeus University Meeting News Nordic Tourism Sustainable Tourism Tourism Tourism Employment Tourism lessons learned: from remote locations Turku University of Applied Sciences University of Greenland University of the Faroe Islands Western Norway University of Applied Sciences

TourNord goes to Nuuk, Greenland!

The prospects and challenges of arctic tourism were the central themes of TourNord’s 4th network meeting in Nuuk, Greenland on the 15th and 16th of August, 2023. Blessed with fantastic weather and an incredible program in Nuuk, TourNord was given firsthand insights from tourism industry leaders on the evolution of tourism in Greenland as a whole, as well as looking towards the future of tourism development as an Arctic destination.

TourNord in Nuuk! (Source: Christian Dragin-Jensen)

Serving as a forum for exchanging best practices and experiences for education and knowledge development within Nordic Tourism, TourNord had invited speakers from Air Greenland, Visit Greenland, Sustine Consult and the University of Greenland to enlighten and inspire us on Greenland’s exciting development as an Arctic destination. We also had time to experience some of the tourism concepts firsthand, as well as discuss and work on our projects, future project applications and cooperation strategies. Read more below to find out what we did!

Nuuk (Source: Greenland Travel)

Day 1: The evolution of tourism and travel in Greenland – great possibilities, but also complex problems!

After a warm welcome from Gestur Hovgaard from the University of Greenland and TourNord Project Lead Christian Dragin-Jensen, we received a tour of the new campus – with its impressive buildings melding seamlessly into the majestic backdrop of Nuuk’s fjords and mountains.

University of Greenland (source: Christian Dragin-Jensen)

After an introduction of the network meeting program, we got stuck right in with our first speaker, CEO of Air Greenland and a native of Nuuk, Jakob Nitter Sørensen. He came to speak with us about new airports and the challenges to Greenlandic air transport and tourism – where he highlighted that no airline faces challenges quite like Air Greenland does due to the extreme weather conditions in Greenland. This was an incredibly apt way to start his talk as several of our TourNord members had not arrived as their flights from Reykyavik had been cancelled the night before due to weather conditions!

Jakob talked about the upcoming expansion of Nuuk’s landing strip and airport facilities, which will completely change the tourism realm in Greenland. Until now, the only way to get to Greenland by air is from Copenhagen or Reykjavik – with only large planes being able to land in Kangerlussuaq. Only small planes are able to land in Nuuk, and are very susceptible to the quickly changing weather conditions. With the expansion of the landing strip in Nuuk, the capital city will now be able to receive large planes from near and far!

CEO Air Greenland Jakob Nitter Sørensen (Source: Christian Dragin-Jensen)

This therefore also means that with the possibility to send more travellers to Greenland, the infrastructure also needs to follow suit – one of Greenland’s biggest challenges with regards to tourism. Jakob sees Air Greenland as an integral part of the Greenlandic community, and that they bear a great deal of responsibility to help strengthen Greenland as a nation – be that by educating and hiring a Greenlandic workforce, owning, expanding and operating lodges around Greenlands tourism destinations, or leading the charge for sustainable development. The latter was recently done by completely upgrading the fleet to more sustainable airplanes, as well as being one of the first airlines in the world to use sustainable aviation fuel. Much of this was done at a cost to the bottom line, but as Jakob humbly reiterated several times, Air Greenland’s mission is to “be the natural first choice that lifts Greenland. We will secure everyday life and create adventure. And we do it sustainably”.

After lunch, we received a visit from Linda Kleist, Destination Development Manger at Visit Greenland – who also happened to be a graduate from our TourNord partner Dania Academy! Linda showcased the great diversity of Greenland’s 6 different DMOs, and how their recent award-winning campaign to overcome wrong stereotypes of Greenland had been met with tremendous success – both nationally and internationally. Check out their award winning video below “Date a destination”.

Date a Destination: Visit Greenland

Linda then presented their ambitious tourism development strategy, which harboured around the concept “from more to better tourism”. The strategy highlighted several key concepts which TourNord were very happy to hear as tourism educators and researchers, namely: community is king, attracting the right travellers, and eating with the locals. Linda showed us how the most lucrative segment, adventure travellers, could help boost Greenlandic tourism and its local communities due to their desired activities, and would not overburden communities as far fewer are needed to reach the same economic KPI’s (as opposed to say, cruise tourists).

Visit Greenland’s Destination Development Manager Linda Kleist (Source: Christian Dragin-Jensen).

The last concept – eat with the locals – was then tested by TourNord’s members in the afternoon! Heading out in a Nuuk Water Taxi, TourNord members had the chance to see Nuuk’s majestic fjords (in unusually good weather conditions!), catch their own fish (Cod and Acadian Redfish), where they were then prepared by locals in the village of Qooqqut.

TourNord catching cod! (Source: Christian Dragin-Jensen)
Our fish being prepared in the village of Qooqqut (Source: Christian Dragin-Jensen)

After a fantastic meal, we were in for a real treat, as the captain of the boat learned that humpback whales had been spotted in the Fjord next to ours. We were offered to reroute on the way home and were lucky enough to catch a view of a pod of humpback whales just outside Nuuk!

Day 2: Tackling sustainable tourism in Greenland, and how the hotel industry is gearing for evolution in Nuuk’s changing landscape

After a good night’s rest, we started out the day with a visit from sustainability consultant Stine Selmer Andersen from Sustine Consult. She highlighted the schism between Visit Greenland’s sustainability initiatives and how this doesn’t necessarily translate to concrete actions as needed by EU’s upcoming European Commission ESG measurement requirements. While Greenland does not fall under these requirements, Stine noted that the vast majority of tourists coming to Greenland are European, and European tour operators are getting them to Greenland (who will be bound by these requirements). This means that Greenlandic tourism actors and operators who cooperate with European companies need to be able to report their ESG key figures as part of the tourism value chain. Stine further displayed headaches to come with this as most Greenlandic tourism actors don’t have the financial resources or know-how, as they tend to be entrepreneurial SME’s. Group discussions with Stine revealed that Visit Greenland should consider taking on a stewardship role and facilitate workshops and maybe even provide consultants to local actors to help them transition to more concrete measurements of their sustainability initiatives.

Sustainable Tourism in Greenland – Stine Selmer (Source: Christian Dragin-Jensen)

A quick break, and next up was Christian Loiborg Tang, Hotel Manager at Hotel Hans Egede Group, who gave us a fascinating 40 year historical insight into the development of the Nuuk hotel industry. Interestingly, Nuuk has traditionally been dominated by business travel, but are now getting ready for an increase in leisure tourists as capacity has been reached at Ilulissat and the upcoming expansion of Nuuk airport. Christian also presented the challenges a Nuuk hotel faces – particularly with recruitment and retainment of (un)skilled labour, as well as training staff with soft skills (in this case – problem management). Rapid, customized internal training, as well as hiring a global workforce (ranging from Thailand and the Philippines to Danish and Greenlandic staff) were some of the solutions Christian offered.

The hotel industry of Nuuk by Christian Loiborg Tang from Hotel Hans Egede Group (Source: Christian Dragin-Jensen)

After lunch, we got down to business on progress reports on our upcoming book – Nordic Coastal Tourism, discussed HORIZON project application possibilities, discussed future dates for our 5th and 6th network meetings (in Randers, Denmark and Kalmar, Sweden), as well as possible staff exchanges.

Two excursions were on the agenda in the afternoon, namely a visit to the Visit Greenland office, situated at the beautiful colonial harbour in Nuuk, where we met all the staff, including the editors of the award winning campaign video – there were some starstruck TourNord members 🙂

Nuuk’s Colonial Harbour (Source: Guide to Greenland)

Later on, we received a very unique, and incredibly insightful tour by Steven Arnfjord, Associate Professor and Leader of the Arctic Center of Welfare Studies at the University of Greenland. Having lived in Nuuk since a child, Steven walked us through all of Nuuk’s nooks and crannies, all the while delivering us fantastic anecdotes and stories highlighting the incredible speed at which Nuuk is changing. Modernization and urbanization of the country’s capital is happening faster than anyone has realised, and there is a sense of a lack of a coordinated city planning strategy. Steven also ensured we left the tourist bubble to see the “other side” of Nuuk – showing that while the city has made great advances, it also has social challenges in the form of homelessness, suicide rates, and housing problems. An inspiring talk full of charisma, humour and a good dollop of reality!

Steven Arnfjord (right) leading TourNord on a guided walk through Nuuk (source: Christian Dragin-Jensen)
Graffitti in Nuuk protesting the rapid modernization of the city (source: Christian Dragin-Jensen)

For the evening, we capped off our network meeting by sampling Nuuk’s burgeoning restaurant scene – where we tried Greenlandic tapas! An incredible meal where we sampled local delicacies with a modern twist, such as cod fish soup, muskox tartar and seared reindeer.

Muskox Tartar at Tapasimut (source: Christian Dragin-Jensen)

All the participating TourNord members would like to thank the University of Greenland and its partners for their warm hospitality, and a fantastic program which ensured that our network meet serve:

1. As a forum for exchanging best practices and experiences for education and knowledge development within Nordic Tourism
2. To discover and implement innovative ways of teaching to benefit educators and students in preparing them for the current/future demands of Nordic Tourism

3. To promote & advance student/staff mobility amongst partners for learning, innovation and R&D activities within NT.

Categories
Greenland Meeting News University of Greenland

TourNord: Coming soon to….Greenland!

Just a bit over a week to go!

Just 1 week until TourNord meets for their 4th network meeting, and this time we are meeting in Nuuk, Greenland! We are very excited to visit the Greenlandic capital and are looking forward to meeting our hosts, the University of Greenland, old network members, as well as new ones!

Our host has created an exciting program – focusing on the prospects and challenges of Arctic Tourism. We are looking forward to hearing from Air Greenland and Visit Greenland on their viewpoints on managing the destination development challenge, Greenlandic sustainability challenges from Sustine Consult, as well as research from the University of Greenland on poverty, welfare and town planning – and how tourism can help with this.

Nuuk. Source: Greenland Travel

We are also very much looking forward to the parts of the program where we will get to visit the Qooqqut summer village, as well as the city tour of Nuuk. There will of course also be ample time to discuss our development projects, hereunder a book to be published in 2024 (teaser!).

Greenland, SEE YOU SOON!

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Dania Academy Denmark Linnaeus University Meeting News Sweden

2 more network meetings in 2024 for TourNord!

TourNord will be allowed to continue its network meetings with funding secured from Nordplus

Success! After securing funding at Nordplus Higher Education, TourNord will be able to conduct two network meetings in 2024. These meetings are critical for the network to continue fostering cooperation between our institutions, whether by guest lectures, staff exchange, or joint projects. The meetings also help coordinate our efforts better, as the network has grown significantly in the past years – we are now 11 institutions represented in 9 Nordic and Baltic countries!

Who will host?

Dania Academy will host in spring 2024 in Randers, Denmark. One of the central themes will be regenerative and responsible tourism.

Randers (source – VisitAarhus)

The second network meeting will take in the fall of 2024 in Kalmar, Sweden, with Linnaeus University as hosts. Here we will discuss themes such as nature-based tourism.

Linnaeus University (source – educations.com)

We look forward to see all of our partners at the network meetings!

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Business Academy SouthWest Dania Academy Icelandic Tourism Research Centre Koszalin University of Technology Linnaeus University Lithuania Business University of Applied Sciences Meeting News Nordic Tourism Norway OVertourism Sustainable Tourism Tourism Education University of Gdansk University of Greenland University of Turku Western Norway University of Applied Sciences

TourNord goes to Bergen, Norway!

Resilience, sustainability, regenerative tourism and overtourism were some of the main topics discussed at our 3rd network meeting in Bergen, Norway. On the 6th and 7th March, 2023, Western Norway University of Applied Sciences hosted our largest ever network meeting, with TourNord partners participating from Denmark (Business Academy SouthWest, Dania Academy), Finland (University of Turku), Greenland (University of Greenland), Iceland (Icelandic Tourism Research Centre), Sweden (Linnaeus University), Lithuania (Lithuania Business University of Applied Sciences) and Poland (University of Gdansk, Koszalin University of Technology)!

TourNord in Bergen! (Source: Christian Dragin-Jensen).

Serving as a forum for exchanging best practices and experiences for education and knowledge development within Nordic Tourism, the central themes of the network meeting were:

  1. Innovative and Resilient Tourism
  2. Sustainable tourism: Preparing students for a greener future
Bergen UNESCO World Heritage Site, Bryggen (Source: Bergen Tourist Board).

Day 1: Overtourism and sustainability in Norway? Viewpoints from an industry and academic point of view

After a warm welcome from Ove Oklevik, from the Western Norway University of Applied Sciences, and TourNord project lead Christian Dragin-Jensen, the group introduced themselves (as we had new TourNord partners participating for the first time from Lithuania, Poland and Iceland). It didn’t take long then before we went straight to the heart of the day’s topic – namely dealing with overtourism and sustainability – with a special focus on Norway.

The first presentation of the day was by Ståle Brandshaug, partner and consultant at 2469 Reiselivsutvikling, whose vast experience as not only a tourism consultant, but also as the former CEO of Visit Sognefjord and CEO of Region Stavanger, came to the forefront. Ståle challenged the media and academic notion and perceptions of overtourism in Norway, and instead suggested that due to Norway’s size and population, there was actually a case of undertourism! Ståle also challenged the notion of pointing the finger at cruise tourism as the easy scapegoat, instead suggesting that cruise tourism is easier to manage and limit, thus suggesting that land-based tourism could be the root cause of overtourism (since the tourism flow could not be controlled or managed).

Overtourism – a Norwegian perspective, by Ståle Brandshaug (Source: Christian Dragin-Jensen).

This was in stark contrast to the following presentation done by Ove Oklevik, who presented his paper: “Overtourism, optimisation, and destination performance indicators: A case study of activities in Fjord Norway”. The highly influential paper (published in the Journal of Sustainable Tourism and written with prominent scholars such as Stefan Gössling and Michael Hall), painted a very different picture to what Ståle Brandshaug presented.

These differences clearly highlighted some of the challenges we face in Nordic Tourism – balancing industry and academic viewpoints on how to progress with sustainable tourism (and defining whether we have overtourism or not!). This led to a fantastic discussion by all our partners on how such problems could be tackled and discussed, particularly also with how our tourism students need to be able to balance such different viewpoints.

The day’s program also had a presentation by Western Norway University of Applied Science’s research team – who came by to inform us of different Nordic and European funding possibilities which could be of relevance to TourNord, and led to great discussions, and finally, a decision on going for a project application!

Presentation by HVL’s Research Unit at the HVL Campus Bergen (Source: Christian Dragin-Jensen).

In the late afternoon, our hosts took us on an excursion of Bergen, which finished at the top of Bergen (Fløyen), where we could enjoy the beautiful sunset over Bergen and the fjord! We also found it hard to believe that Bergen is the city with the most annual rainfall when seeing this type of weather!

TourNord partners enjoying the view at Fløyen (Source: Christian Dragin-Jensen).

Day 2: Sustainable hotels in Bergen, sustainable lawmaking and practices in education, and centres for excellence with regenerative tourism

Our second day started at the historic Grand Hotel Terminus, a part of “De Bergenske”. It was therefore only fitting that the first order on the program was a presentation by De Bergenske CEO and Owner, Kjertil Smørås. Kjertil highlighted the uniqueness of the chain, in that they wanted to “go deep” into Bergen – becoming the foremost experts on hotels and restaurants in Bergen, as opposed to just scratching the surface in multiple cities in Norway. This was also a testament to De Bergenske’s desire to be an integral part of the Bergen identity, both on social and environmental sustainable dimensions. Kjertil also highlighed how their forthcoming hotel would be a testament that they weren’t “working with sustainability”, but rather that sustainability was at the heart of every decision, and would be as natural as a part of the hotel’s DNA. Lastly, Kjertil highlighted what type of tourist would lead to more sustainable tourism in Bergen (the cultural tourist), and how cruise tourism would be detrimental to such a strategy.

Kjertil Smørås, CEO De Bergenske, presenting at Grand Hotel Terminus (Source: Christian Dragin-Jensen).

Next, a presentation came from Western Norway University of Applied Sciences’ Project leader on Sustainability, Tom Skauge. Tom provided us with a fascinating insight on how the upcoming EU-taxonomy and governmental sustainability regulations will have an impact on both the tourism industry and the educational system in Norway. His examples of zero-emission requirements for cruise ships in the Norwegian fjords, as well as the steep increase in interest in sustainability from students at their universities, highlighted the omnipresence of the climate crises, and how governmental regulations from both Norway and EU will be fundamental for securing sustainable mindsets and industries.

A slide from Tom Skauge’s presentation on implementing SDG in Norway Higher Education (Source: Tom Skauge).
University of Turku discussing centres for excellence with a focus on regenerative tourism (Source: Christian Dragin-Jensen).

After a lovely lunch at the hotel, there was then a group discussion led by the Sari Nyroos and Johanna Aaltonen from the University of Turku, who presented an idea of how to create a centre of excellence with a focus on regenerative tourism. There were interesting concepts used here with regards to education – particularly that of open badges and micro credentials, thus lending further credence that the future of tourism education needs to evolve in order to secure the workforce that is sorely needed. Afterwards, Christian Dragin-Jensen and Grzegorz Kwiatkowski provided an update on TourNord’s book: Nordic Coastal Tourism.

The last order in the meeting room was looking forward to our 4th network meeting, which will take place in Nuuk, Greenland! Gestur Hovgaard from the University of Greenland presented some great practical information, tips (and even a bit of history about Greenland!), so we are ready to head to Greenland in August 2023!

Finally, we had an excursion to the historic UNESCO World Heritage Site Bergen Bryggen and the nearby Bergen Castle.

TourNord members investigating Bergen Bryggen (Source: Christian Dragin-Jensen).

All the participating TourNord members would like to thank the Western Norway University of Applied Sciences and its partners for their warm hospitality, and a fantastic program which ensured that our network meet serve:

1. As a forum for exchanging best practices and experiences for education and knowledge development within Nordic Tourism
2. To discover and implement innovative ways of teaching to benefit educators and students in preparing them for the current/future demands of Nordic Tourism

3. To promote & advance student/staff mobility amongst partners for learning, innovation and R&D activities within NT.

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Business Academy SouthWest Dania Academy Icelandic Tourism Research Centre Koszalin University of Technology Linnaeus University Lithuania Business University of Applied Sciences Meeting News Norway University of Gdansk University of Greenland University of Turku Western Norway University of Applied Sciences

TourNord: Coming soon to….Bergen!

Just a little bit over a week to go!

We are all getting very excited for our upcoming network meeting, which will be taking place in Bergen, Norway on the 6th and 7th of March, 2023!

Our hosts, Western Norway University of Applied Sciences, has prepared an exciting program for us. In line with the theme of the visit – innovative and resilient Nordic tourism – we will be looking at areas such as overtourism in the Nordics, as well as sustainability and resilient tourism in Norway. Presenters at the network meeting includes Academics, Tourism consultants, sustainability coordinators and a CEO of a Norwegian hotel chain!

One of our two host sites: Western Norway University of Applied Sciences – Campus Kronstad Bergen. Source: HVL.no

We will also be making on-site field visits to learn of how tourism has developed in Bergen. There are scheduled visits to Fløybanen, Bryggen and Bergenhus Castle.

There will also of course be time for discussing new projects within Nordic Tourism and Education. As you can see, we are going to have some busy days!

One of our two host sites: Grand Hotel Terminus Bergen. Source: Grand Hotel Terminus

This will be our largest network meet to date, with participants coming from Business Academy Southwest (Denmark), Dania Academy (Denmark), University of Turku (Finland), University of Greenland (Greenland), Linnaeus University (Sweden), Icelandic Tourism Research Centre (Iceland), Lithuania Business University of Applied Sciences (Lithuania), Koszalin University of Technology (Poland), University of Gdansk (Poland), and of course, our hosts from Western Norway University of Applied Sciences (Norway).