This study aims to investigate empirically what attitudes employees in tourism industry have towards participation in publicly funded competence development programmes. Such investigations are lacking in the research on Tourism industry. By competence development here means participation in personal competence development programmes that might have a positive impact on the staff’s learning and on their work places. This impact will be found out through the employees’ subjective perceptions. In this study the terms “competence development programmes” “training programmes” and “skills development programmes” are used as synonyms. Also in accordance with Statistics Sweden terms of “business” and “work place” are used as synonym. The methodological approach used in this study is email-interviews with 12 employees (four women, eight men) that have participated in these programmes during recent years. This includes CEOs, owners, employees and one instructor that also is a business owner himself. A majority of them have academic education and their average working years in the industry is 17. They represent various sub-industries. Their average age is 46 and they mostly come from small sized firms. They participated in different courses that were offered by public organizations for employees and employers, or by private organizations. The courses were paid either by public means, by the firm or by a combination of both. The courses were mostly organized by public organizations but in some cases also by private organizations or a mix of private and public. They expressed that their participation in general had a positive or very positive impact on their workplace, and among others resulted to better knowledge, to acquire a wider network, new ideas, new experiences and opportunities and gave more inspiration, motivation and self-confidence. Concerning effectiveness of courses offered by the public organization the opinions are different; some had no comments about it, some found them very effective, some believed that these courses are effective in some but not in all cases, and finally some believed that courses organized by private organizations are more effective. The largest problems for competence development in the industry are lack of time and money and lack of tailored courses.

The purpose of this research is that through festival participants’ subjective views get a better understanding of how their participation results in positive feelings and well-being. The paper has a qualitative approach based on a delimited part of a larger survey and the content analysis method has been employed. A total of 280 participants, mainly of immigrant origin, answered one of the open-ended questions in the survey: What emotions does celebrating the Fire Festival evoke in you? Please justify your answer. The most common meaning in the answers has been good feelings followed by feelings of integration and community, the return of spring, and nostalgia. The results show that the festival has significance for these peoples’ good feelings and well-being, even though it lasts five hours. This study contributes to increased knowledge of festivals’ positive impacts on individuals, especially on immigrants living in Western countries.

One of the most essential parts of the tourism industry's are events. It is an industry that is constantly evolving and growing. This means that the event is susceptible to trends and continually need to work to develop and create attraction to its visitors. It is of great importance to create attraction strategies to maintain the attractiveness of events and define what category of events to be planned. There are many different types of events, and in this study a public and non-public event will be studied. The study's aim is to contribute to the understanding of the attraction strategies used to attract visitors for Melodifestivalen and Årets Kock. By gaining greater understanding of the event's strategies accordingly to contribute to determine the similarities and differences between a public and non-public events attraction strategies. The study has a qualitative approach with a combination of inductive and deductive research approach, used in which the authors sought a deeper understanding and compared the data collected from previous research and theories. Data has been collected through semi-structured interviews and text analysis to also examine whether described strategies can be identified on social media and the Internet. The study concludes that it is important for event managers to define the category of the event, purpose and audience. Key strategies are to create an event dramaturgy that appeals to the target audience and create excitement and interest, and that there is an interaction between the event and the audience.

Microfinance has spread rapidly since the 1970s and gained a lot of international attention. Advocates mean it is a good way to reduce poverty, but still there is no consensus within the research about the impacts of microfinance and its contribution to poverty reduction.The aim of this study is to assess the members’ perceptions about the impacts of the rural member-based microfinance institutions (MFIs), Savings and Credit Cooperative Societies (SACCOS) and Village Community Bank (VICOBA), on members’ socio-economic situation as well as their perceptions about the contribution to poverty reduction and to identify potential obstacles. The study is mainly based on individual semi-structured interviews with members of SACCOS and VICOBA conducted between February and April 2012 in Babati district Tanzania and earlier research and studies within the area of microfinance and poverty reduction make up the theoretical framework. There is a general agreement among the members interviewed that these MFIs have positive impacts on their socio-economic situation. The results show that it helps to meet consumption needs, pay school fees, run small businesses, increase and diversify the income and the majority also believes that it can be a useful tool for poverty reduction. However, it doesn’t lead to poverty reduction automatically, it depends on how the loans are used and this study identifies several obstacles for SACCOS and VICOBA to be more effective and contribute more to poverty reduction. The main obstacles found are low repayment status, lack of capital and lack of education in both entrepreneurship and how these MFIs operate.

BACKGROUND: Less-­lethal weapons are often used when police officers deal with uncooperative and potentially dan­gerous persons. In recent years there has been growing international consensus regarding the useful­ness of less lethal weapons, such as conducted electrical weapons (CEWs). In 2018 the Swedish Police Authority launched a two­year trial of CEWs in Sweden.

AIM: The current study aims to evaluate the Police Authority's CEW trial, and to explore the public's point of view about the legitimacy of the police’s use of CEW.

METHODS: The study includes a quantitative survey and qualitative data. The survey data was collected at three time points; before, during, and at the end of the trial. Survey data was collected from two groups of police officers; one group that participated in the CEW trial and one control group that was not part of the trial. To increase the understanding of the survey results, in­depth interviews and focus group in­terviews were conducted with police officers who had experience of using CEW during the trial. To understand more about the citizens' perspective on different aspects of CEW legitimacy, focus group interviews were conducted with a convenient sample of the public. Data from the Police work injury system (LISA) was also collected to investigate the CEW’s impact on police officers' injuries.

RESULTS: Results from the survey showed no differences between CEW and the control group in experiencing stress in certain given situations. Compared to the control group, the police officers in the CEW group experienced a greater sense of safety in situations that involve a high degree of resistance and/or phys­ical attacks. Similarly, the findings from the interviews showed that having access to CEW reduced stress in violent situations by boosting police officers' sense of safety. The interview results revealed that CEW contributes to police officers limiting the use of other potentially harmful means of violence, such as physical methods and firearms. In the survey, no difference was found between the CEW group and the control group in exposure to threat, violence, and resistance, as well as injuries to police officers or counterpart. The interviewees considered the CEW to be an important tool and saw only benefits with it. They believed it could save lives, reduce injuries to both police officers and counterparts, and improve their working environment. Findings from both quantitative and qualitative data confirm the positive effect of CEW through its contribution to lesser use of violence, for example in the reduction in the use of baton and pepper spray, which often cause more injuries. Participants from the public express that CEW is an effective and useful tool for the police, but emphasizes the importance of an awareness regarding the situations in which it is used in and towards whom.

CONCLUSIONS: Based on the survey results, it is difficult to draw any definite conclusions about how and to what extent using CEW is associated with less injuries among police officers and counterparts. However, the inter­view results indicate that police officers experience a decreased risk of violence and thus, injuries. Ac­cess to CEW can increase the sense of safety in situations involving violence and strong resistance, which consequently reduces stress. CEW can also reduce the use of pepper spray, baton, and to some extent firearms. The CEW is perceived to have a de­escalating effect and can facilitate the process of decision making in relation to which tool to be used in police interventions with a high degree of threat and violence. Participants from the public perceived that the use of violence by the police, including the use of CEW, is in general justifiable. 

Although Georgia has experienced dramatic increases in the number of visitors over the past decade Swedish travellers are absent in the arrival statistics. Visitors from Eastern Europeans account for the majority of the increase in arrivals. This thesis attempts to understand what is missing in order for Swedish tourists to discover Georgia as a destination. This is done by interviewing Swedish tour operators and surveying Swedish visitors to Georgia. The results are analyzed in the framework of Leiper’s theory of destination competitiveness. A SWOT analysis is also used to structure the analysis, and the thesis suggests some benchmark measures that could be used to implement a systematic effort to improve the destination. The thesis concludes that Georgia indeed has a strong attractiveness on Swedish tourists, but that the main problems are connected with low awareness and lack of convenient transportation options. It is argued that these problems can be solved through improved marketing and entrepreneurship. Furthermore, the thesis highlights the need for Georgian destination managers to make choices today in order to shape the image of the country in the future. Georgia has a challenge to strengthen the authenticity that many travellers associate with the country, but is in a position to modernize by preserving traditions. Finally, it is argued that the results from this study are generalizable to include preferences of travellers from Western Europe in general, and therefore the study points to some significant opportunities available to Georgia.

BackgroundIn Sweden there is a debate how urban areas can be planned compared with the societal context in the future. An important starting point is that city destinations are very attractive for visitors (Maitland & Ritchie, 2009). In addition, in Stockholm there has been a discussion for several years how to cooperate and organise the whole region more efficiently concerning tourism and the tourism and travel industry. In a development project “Besökskraft” in Stockholm a new sort of destination organisation and governance is investigated on a regional level. It is led by “Region Stockholm” and its regional development office. A formal project organisation is developed using a steering committee, a project group, a main working group and several reference groups. The project is financed by EU and internally by the regional development office.

Research purposeThe research purpose is to investigate and analyse how institutional governance and Destination Management Organisations (DMO) can support the development of city visitor destinations based on reasons for visitors´ travel. The following six analysis themes are used: City and sub city areas, Governance principles, Destination development areas, Actor networks, Destination Management Organisation (DMO) and Positioning based on travel motivation.

Research methodThe first project phase of the development project “Besökskraft” is November 2022 – October 2023. This will be studied, but the plan is to follow the project for three more years. The chosen destination case is the Stockholm county region. As a “companion researcher” I am conducting a case study based on action research using a regional planning perspective. As sub methods interviews, workshops, observation, action studies, webpage investigations and destination report studies are being used. This paper can be considered as a progress report.

City and sub city areasIn Stockholm centre there are eight regional cities and in addition a large peri-urban area (Stockholm county council, 2018). This is a foundation for empowered communities and place prosperity, which is discussed in the long-term regional plan RUFS 2050. It i  important to find typical functions for these regional cities in order to use the strengths of the place. The functions is closely related to visitors’ travel motivations. This is discussed in the project during 2023. Furthermore, the responsible tourist behaviour will be considered, such as overtourism in cities.

Governance principlesOverall governance principles have been discussed in the development project. For example, Hall (2011) has identified four types of governance: Hierarchies, markets, networks and communities, and Cizel, Ajanovic and Cakar (2015) propose that stakeholders´ ideas related to destination governance in Antalya were extracted under three main themes: shared vision, goal congruence and interaction. Bellini & Pasquinelli (2017) propose that cities are developed with their suburbs by specific actor groups, such as the tourist and travel industry through innovation, entrepreneurship etc. However, the overall governance principles, will be developed in the second phase of the project in 2024.

Destination development areasAs a starting point the question “What to DO within the region of Stockholm county?” has been used in the development project. The idea has been to find possible working areas and later on to discuss the planned destination organization. Therefore, during the first destination workshop twelve important development areas were identified for the region. After an analysis by the project group three starting development areas have been chosen: competence, infrastructure and positioning. In the next phase about ten more development areas will be chosen. In order to find potential development areas benchmarking with other destination has been conducted. Besides the Smart City Concept could give new ideas in the development project in later phases. For example, Smart City Sweden (2022) proposed that with economic rethinking the areas: climate, energy & environmental, mobility, digitalisation, urban planning and social sustainability could be used.

Actor networksThe destination project uses the quadruple-helix method. The general principle is about collaboration between four actor groups: government, industry, research institutes and society. In Stockholm these destination actor groups are related to each other in a complex network. Andersson (2016) has developed an analysis model of the tourism department’s network, where the following six network content dimensions were found during the literature review: stakeholders, reciprocal relations, relation exchange, network driving forces, network management and purpose. One can also ask who has potential how to take the lead position and if there should be a top-down or bottom-up planning approach in the region. Wray (2015) support that the state should take a lead position in managing and coordinating destination stakeholder activities related to tourism product and experience development, destination marketing and management, and sustainable tourism planning. So far the regional office has taken the lead position, but all actors are aware of that only guidance can be used.

Destination Management Organisation (DMO)The destination and its network is complex and dynamic. Therefore, DMOs are an important organisational unit. The DMOs need to embrace and engage all bodies (public and private) who are concernd with actions that engage the industry to develop and to improve supply (Spyriadis, Fletcher & Fyall, 2013). There are different levels within the region’s destination structure. On the one hand there is a local destination organisation which has a physical representation task and it works with concrete business products. On the other hand, there is a regional destination organisation which has a digital representation task and it works with supporting activities for tourism. During the development project about 20 more formal DMOs have participated in focus group interviews. It is obvious that local DMOs is really working with local products and individual tourist. However, the biggest DMO owned by the municipality of Stockholm has already taken marketing and planning initiatives which often cover the whole Stockholm region. Therefore, it has to be a coordination of working areas for Visit Stockholm and a planned overall regional DMO.

Positioning based on travel motivationThe character of the destination will give some ideas about visitors’ travel motivation. In addition, these travel motivations have to be prerequisites for destination trademarks in relation to the destination image. Within the development project this development are visitors. Furthermore, some cities’ conditions are associated with both positive and negative image, but they have still a great potential (Andersson & Abbasian, 2018). Attractive image of city and regional centres with positioned city tourism products is a prerequisite for new destination structure and actors.

Tentative conclusionsThis is the first preliminary research report and the project will continue until at least December 2024. However, some tentative conclusions can be proposed. Within the actor groups in Stockholm there is a positive attitude to a new formal regional destination organisation, even though there are several questions about it: such as financing and the organisations’ objectives. Connected to the development project in Stockholm several governance principles will be discussed in later reports, such as the use of the quadruple principles in the destination network. Furthermore, the role of different DMOs will be discussed and their relations to the whole city and sub-cities. There is also a consensus on what development areas are important to start to work with in Stockholm, such as transportation. A model of different development areas, city area structure and related destination organisation questions will be developed.

ReferencesAndersson, G. (2016). An analysis model of tourism academic networks: a Swedish case study triangulated with an EU research project. Journal of Teaching in Travel & Tourism, 16(3), 195-212.Andersson, G., & Abbasian, S. (2018). Analysis Dimensions of City Destination Character and Image Positioning. Almatourism-Journal of Tourism, Culture and Territorial Development, 9(17), 33-54.Cizel, B., Ajanovic, E., & Cakar, K. (2016). Prerequisites for effective and sustainable destination governance. Anatolia, 27(2), 155-166.Hall, M. (2011). A typology of governance and its implications for tourism policy analysis, Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 19:4-5, 437-457.Maitland, R., & Ritchie, B. (Eds.). (2009). City tourism: National capital perspectives. Cabi.Mehraliyev, F., Cheng Chu Chan, I., Choi, Y., Ali Koseoglu, M., & Law, R. (2020). A stateof-the-art review of smart tourism research, Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing, 37:1, 78- 91.Rivera, J. P. R., Gutierrez, E. L. M., & Roxas, F. M. Y. (2022). Re-thinking governance in tourism: Harnessing tourism’s post-COVID-19 economic potential. Journal of Quality Assurance in Hospitality & Tourism, 1-27.Stockholm county council. (2018). Regional Development Plan for Stockholm – RUFS 2050.Wray, M. (2015). Drivers of change in regional tourism governance: a case analysis of the influence of the New South Wales Government, Australia, 2007–2013, Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 23(7), 990- 1010.

In society today there is a heated debate about sustainable development. It is argued that event organisations must take responsibility for sustainability, although they may lack appropriate development tools. The purpose of this article is to study how event companies and organisations can develop a sustainability process in a societal system context and the need for certification in their events. The analysis was based on the study of relevant literature, an investigation in Sweden and a systems analysis. A triangulation technique was used to combine the different methods. It is argued that there is a sustainability event system in a societal context, within which event organisations have a central role. A model of sustainability and certification process for an event organisation and its events is developed, which consists of criteria, activities, certification, effects and obstacles. This recognised certificate could be a motivator and guideline for sustainable event development. The certification's focus has to be on the event organiser's management. However, event organisers need to certify their own organisations, either including all future events or only some specific events. This would give the organisations and the event industry a positive image and recognised role in a sustainable world.

There has been a paradigm shift from heritage being only preserved, to also being shown as a tourist attraction. One of two diverse approaches amongst scholars to define heritage tourism is to use a visitor-experience perspective (Apostolakis, 2003). Different segments of tourists have their own unique experiences of the heritage. Specific aspects can be used to explain the experience, such as the “classical” aspects by Pine & Gilmore (1999). In addition, in the last few years other experience aspects have been identified, such as kick, comfort, competence and contact (Kairos Future, 2011). The concept of “the experience room” (Mossberg, 2003) is used to present an experience context. The assumption of this study is that the experience landscape is made up of perceptive signals that cover the human senses. Although one can ask how this approach supports the development of attractions. Cognitive and affective experiences were discussed at conferences on memory tourism in Estonia 2013-14, used in the pilot study to this research. The purpose of the present study is to enhance the knowledge about how tourist's experiences of heritage attraction can be analysed into aspects of experience for different segments of tourists, and secondly, how the human senses influence the tourist's cognitive and affective experiences. An overall case study method will be used to study four maritime tourist attractions. The study consists of unstructured ethnographical interviews, experimental observation of tourists, and tourist's own evaluations during the experience. The research contribution is to shed light to how meaningful aspects of experience can represent the experience of heritage attractions for different target groups. This is based on an analysis on whether tourist experience aspects can emerge from the sensory impressions of tourists' experi­ences (Agapito et. al, 2014). Another contribution is to figure out how the sense perception can be connected to affective and cognitive aspects that result in a joint experience of an attraction. The pilot study showed that enhanced customer investigations of tourist's experiences are needed, which will be further more analysed. In the end this research will hopefully give attraction developers new tools to generate innovative and well-attended heritage attractions.

All tourism destinations have unique characteristics that constitute their identity (Valls et al., 2012). Tourism companies, in turn, exploit these when planning and marketing product concepts for different market segments. In recent decades, the cities in the Baltic Sea region (BSR) have undergone a change considering their profiles as more well-known tourism destinations. Meanwhile, even the degree of professionalism in the tourism industry has increased. This opens opportunities for new forms of image marketing (Lucarelli & Berg, 2011). In order to understand city tourism better a comparison between urban and rural tourism will be made. Each destination and the associated companies have to develop their products and marketing campaigns in order to effectively promote themselves to various tourist segments. The purpose of this research project is to investigate the characteristics of city destinations, and how tourist segments translate them into destination images, and further how the image influences motivations for travel choice. Our theoretical framework consists of city destination concepts, destination characteristics and images, tourist segments' motivations and destination branding. In our pilot study, typical characteristics and tourist segments were found in the case of destination Stockholm. This result will be used when investigating how different tourist segments translate characteristics to an image perception. The planned research will take a multidisciplinary approach with an explorative purpose. A case study of two typical BSR-cities will be conducted, using interviews, statistical data, web site analysis and destination document studies. The knowledge contribution relates primarily to new forms of city destination characteristics and their impact on visitor travel motivators. Furthermore, a model for investigating segments' “image positions” will be developed based on a new kind of demand of city tourism and a more professional tourism industry, even though it is a complex task to determine image positions (Stepchenkova & Mills, 2010). Our hypothesis is that tourist segments are more interested in what city destination can offer today, but the supply side needs more knowledge how to influence the segments' travel motivators. We hope that the acquired knowledge will support destination organisations (DMO) and tourism companies to develop their tools for image marketing.

År 2006 tog sig popkulturen återigen in i nattklubbarnas epicentrum. Genom ett ägarbyte på Spy Bar övertogs svenskt nattlivs mest kända institution – efter att länge varit ett tillhåll för tv-kändisar med mycket pengar – av modefolk, konstnärer, DJ: s och skribenter. Många förstod inte vad som hände, men i mitten av nittiotalet var det de människorna som var med och utvecklade svenskt nattliv. Kanske är det återigen dags för ett maktskifte? I tre artiklar berättar vi om ägarbytet, om människorna och musiken.

Av: Kristofer Andersson

Reportage: Ljudet av en kulturkrock sida 2 - 5

Faktaartikel: I hjärtat av technon sida 6 - 8

Personporträtt: Med kärlek till klubbkultur sida 9 - 11

The purpose of this study is to investigate how seven different municipalities in Sweden develop and adapt their visitor services in an increasingly digitized society. The study is based on a qualitative research methodology consisting of seven semi-structured interviews. The empirical data is based mainly on the respondents' responses to the subject, secondary data from the respective destinations website as complementary material to the study has also been used. Results indicate that the role of the traditional tourist information centers has changed due to technological development. The tourism organizations' development of visiting services is thus an adaptation to society and how visitors seek information today. Furthermore, the result shows that the combination of digital- and personal interaction is a crucial factor in creating added value to visitors. The digital hosting is primarily about being available on different digital channels with the purpose of reaching out to visitors before their visit and the personal meeting is mainly about being in place where the visitor is located.

Den här uppsatsen analyserar tolv texter från Svenska Turistföreningens medlemstidning Turist. Texterna är hämtade från 1964 till 2014 med två nedslag vart tionde år.

Syftet med uppsatsen är att ta reda på vem turisten i de analyserade reportagen är, hur hen ser på sig själv och på andra som hen möter under sina resor och hur landskap, väder, miljöer och människor beskrivs.

Analysen är gjord med ett frågeschema som skapats med stöd från massmedieretorisk och narratologisk metod. De aspekter som undersöks handlar framför allt om hur människor på resmålet beskrivs, hur landskap, djur och väder beskrivs och används i berättelserna, hur turisten ser på sig själv och andra och vilka värderingar som framkommer.

De teoretiska ramar som används utgår från romantikens syn på besjälade landskap samt en postkolonial syn på turism och turister och deras påverkan på turistmål.

Resultatet visar att turisten ser både resmål, miljö och människorna på resmålen med exotifierande ögon. Turisten längtar efter äkthet och strävar under sin semester efter att bli en mer äkta, rejäl och hälsosam människa. Det framkommer också att bildspråk och sätt att skildra naturen har starka kopplingar till romantikens strömningar. Landskapet beskrivs som besjälat och vädret speglar turistens sinnesstämningar.                        

Inspire by article 1 of the Human Rights Declaration, which states that every human is born free and equal, this thesis highlights gender equality and the process towards political empowerment, using the example of Rwanda. A country known for being one of the world’s leading countries regarding women’s representation in the parliament. The purpose of the thesis is to explore Rwanda's gender equality process within the political sphere using feminist approaches. Results have been produced through a literature study and some elements of empirical material from interviews with people from Rwanda to give them a voice on the matter.

The results of this thesis illustrate two main factors behind the increase of gender equality and women's political participation; (1) the effect that the genocide against the Tutsi had on the country, and (2) the regime’s commitment to gender equality. Our results also illustrate that there are differences concerning political opportunity and participation between urban and rural parts of Rwanda. Concluding that, even though women have the opportunity to participate in politics and are politically empowered, there are still issues regarding gender equality in the political sphere.

The purpose of this study was to look into different individuals' experiences of a language trip as well as the significance of the trip for them. This was done with a qualitative interview study that has generated 12 interviews and a qualitative survey study that has generated 40 answered surveys. By interviewing 12 different individuals and completing those with the 40 answered surveys the authors got a general picture of the subject. The results from the studies showed that the experience from the language trip has affected the participants positively and the majority would like to go on a language trip again for a longer period.

This essay aims to show how to integrate archaeological techniques, methods, and principles into practical policework at an outdoor crime scene.“The pig project” is an attempt by me and others to teach crime scene investigators forensic archaeology. By showing how the police authority and the traceability (chain of custody/CoC) gains from using forensic archaeology in practical policework at an outdoor crime scene the author attempts to concretize how this may be done by using “The pig Project” as an example.

This study investigates the development of creating a new tourism product and is based on the project with shipwreck-trips to the public within a future marine park in Dalarö. The shipwreck-trips require technical equipment on board the boat and an underwater camera (ROV), which focuses on the wrecks. It also examined in this paper how the marketing might look like and how they can become more attractive and salable. This study is based on qualitative interviews with people familiar with the project, an observational study of Dalarö as a destination and a document study of the documents collected in Haninge. The previous research used has been studied in three parts; shipwreck tourism, visiting reasons and marketing. The result of this has shown that there are significant challenges in developing wreck tourism in the archipelago. But the conclusions are still that if these obstacles can be overcome, there are opportunities to become an attractive tourism product through professional storytelling and marketing through for example the Vasa Museum. There are both positive and negative side effects by making the shipwrecks available to the public. Negative effects include littering of the marine environment as well as destruction of the shipwrecks. Positive effects include regulation through the nature reserve provisions and that this provides the conditions for research of the shipwrecks.

Business travel and trade fairs have been around for ages, the first World Expo was conducted already in 1851. The MICE-industry (Meetings, Incentive, conference and exhibition) increasingly extends across the world. This has resulted in the development of an increasing number of facilities and other resources. Recently, a concern has arisen about the expansion potentially oversaturating the market. What resources are required for a destination to be interesting for MICE-events? This study attempts out to investigate this through interviews with event businesses in the MICE-industry in order to take the empirical material towards previously researched information regarding this. The study carried out six qualitative semi-structured interviews with event businesses based in Sweden. Informants from the six companies were interviewed about the companies approach to organizing a MICE-event, and what resources they see as important on a destination suitable for MICE. The results showed that most of the resources for themselves where not of great importance, since different types of events require different types of resources. There were some resources the informants gave greater importance than others, such as transportation, partnership and creativity. A conclusion was reached that the destinations who will be the most successful in the future MICE-industry are the ones that in a creative way get their unique qualities out to the market.

Detta dokument är framtaget som en intern rapport inom MerSam – Meritvärde av samverkansskicklighet, varsprojekttid löpt under 2017 – 2020. MerSam är ett av Vinnovas 17 finansierade K3-projekt. Rapporten utgör ensammanställning av insamlad information från dokument, dialoger, workshoppar, intervjuer och enkäter.Rapporten visar på användning av begrepp och tolkning av begrepp. Syftet är att beskriva en nulägesbild ochutifrån den samla och lyfta fram vilka begrepp som förslagsvis kan användas i projektets slutleveranser. Slutsatser och rekommendationer har tagits fram med delaktighet av hela MerSam projektet och hardiskuterats på projektmöten, projektworkshopar den 17-18 juni 2020 samt den 15 oktober 2020. 

In the essay, Kalmar's investment in sports tourism is being investigated. It has been a new venture since 2012. The purpose was to find out how the investment has affected Kalmar and what effects have arisen from the investment. In the paper, seven interviews have been conducted with people in Kalmar, and a questionnaire has also been conducted to answer the questions of the essay. The study has shown how Kalmar works with sports tourism, what economic, social and environmental impacts have emerged and in which direction the venture has evolved.

Study objects: Three different productions companies which the authors have chosen to be anonymous. Purpose: The purpose with this study is to examine why production companies choose to use 3D-animations in television commercials, and what different kind of aspects affects their decisions. Theoretical: The theoretical chapter reviews the history of 3D-animation andtelevision commercials and other fields that will be relevant laterin the analysis and discussion. Method: A case study has been made on three different companies, two of the companies are active in post-production and the other one is active in the consulting area. Data was collected through semistructured interviews with two of the companies. The last interview was conducted via e-mail. Conclusions: There were different ground aspects (economy, control, targetaudience, consumer impression) that affected a productioncompany’s decision in whether or not to use 3D-animation in theirproductions of television commercials.

Purpose: To evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of second home tourism as a sustainable form of tourism, using the three dimensions economic, environmental and social sustainability, and to discuss the future importance of second homes for sustainable tourism in Värmdö municipality.

Methods: The methods of research include four interviews with respondents connected to the future of tourism and second homes in Värmdö municipality, a survey conducted with locals of Värmdö municipality and an analysis of statistical reports and official documents.

Theoretical framework: The paper is based on theories of sustainability, second homes’ impact on destinations, peak consumption and the future of second homes.

Conclusions: Second homes are a positive complement to the traditional tourism that takes place in Värmdö municipality during the summer, due to the fact that second home owners visit the municipality during the remainder of the year to a greater extent than the traditional tourists. From a sustainability point of view second homes can both have a positive and a negative impact on the local community where the positive economic effects are the most prominent. The traditional tourism in Värmdö municipality is expected to increase as a result of the ongoing destination development projects. The number of second homes is predicted to gradually decrease due to many of them being turned into permanent homes and the limited construction of new second homes. The reduced supply but constant or increased demand is likely to lead to increased prices of second homes. Second homes are expected to continue to play an important role in the tourism industry in Värmdö municipality.

På Solåkrabyn utanför Järna bor och arbetar psykiskt funktionshindrade vuxna. Den socialterapeutiska inriktningen gör att alla ska ha sysselsättning utifrån sin egen förmåga.

I Madelene Knutströms Trädgårdsgrupp är sysslorna årtidsanpassade. Just nu förbereds det för inför julmarknaden, men Afram hinner ändå leta efter småkryp.

Cirka 100 000 personer i Sverige har sjukdomen Alzheimer. Gun, Salvo och Kerstin är några av dem. Bengt Winblad och Miia Kivipelto forskar om den.

Möt personerna som har en sak gemensamt: Alzheimers sjukdom.

Studien syftar till att skapa en översiktsbild av miljöjournalistiken kring Östersjön under 2012. Vi undersöker vilka perspektiv artiklarna har; är de lokala, nationella, internationella eller globala? Vilka miljöproblem är de som får mest utrymme i tidningarna och skiljer det sig beroende på var tidningen finns rent geografiskt och från olika perioder under året? Vi undersöker även vilka huvudaktörer/huvudkällor som får plats i artiklarna, samt vilket kön som dominerar huvudaktörerna/huvudkällorna.

När miljörörelsen tog fart på 60-talet var det mest kvinnor som skrev om miljön i tidningarna och denna undersökning skönjer hur könsfördelningen såg ut under 2012 när det gällde producerade artiklar om miljöproblematiken i Östersjön. Artikelanalysen är kvantitativ men kompletteras av intervjuer med journalister på de olika tidningarna. Totalt har 174 artiklar från sex dagstidningar analyserats. De sex tidningarna som ingick i undersökningen var Dagens Nyheter, Sydsvenska Dagbladet, Hufvudstadsbladet, Norrbottens- Kuriren, Ålandstidningen och Gotlands Tidningar.

I studien kan vissa mönster urskiljas. De flesta artiklarna i undersökningen hade internationella perspektiv och det var vanligast hos de större dagstidningarna Dagens Nyheter och Hufvudstadsbladet. Gotlands Tidningar använde sig av många lokala perspektiv och skrev mycket om färjtrafiken. Ålandstidningen hade många lokala perspektiv i sina artiklar men trots det också många internationella perspektiv.

Det vanligaste miljöproblemet som diskuterades i samtliga tidningar var fiske tätt följt av utsläpp och övergödning. Den vanligaste typen av huvudaktörer/huvudkällor var myndigheter följt av forskare och politiker. Det visade sig att män dominerar starkt över kvinnor när det kommer till huvudaktörer/huvudkällor som får synas i texten. Det var också män som hade skrivit mest om miljöproblematiken i Östersjön under 2012 i motsats till vår tes att det skulle ha varit fler kvinnor. 

This thesis is a study of Swedes' travel motives to Majorca. The thesis consists of three areas of study. The first area deals with the travel motives today, the other area looks at the development of the travel motives since the 1960s and the last area focuses on the travel agent's view of their customers and their travel motives to Majorca. The essay consists of a qualitative part and a quantitative part of the empirical data. The primary component in the study consists of the quantitative collection method. It consists of a survey in which 91 respondents participated and answered questions about their travel motives to Majorca. The qualitative part consists of interviews made with two tour operators and one travel agent who answered questions about which their customers are, what their travel motives are, developments of the motives during a 50 years period and which trends can be seen in the charter tourism industry. The theories that are used in the paper are based on two different theory families; one family is about theories related to the concept of travel motives and the other dealing with the theories linked to studies of travel personalities. The results are presented in the essay in form of graphics and text that concludes responses from interviews and questionnaires. The result shows the travel motives now and the motives since the 1960s. Next up is the analysis section where we connect theories and empirical findings and find connections between them to understand why the result ended up like it did. In the conclusion, we describe what we come up with in this whole investigation. The main conclusion is that the warm climate is the primary travel motive and has been throughout the whole period. 

Background: In the year 2030 Stockholm is going to be a metropolis and a city of world class events, in accordance with the City of Stockholm's Vision 2030. Until then, among other objectives for greater entrepreneurship and development in tourism, increased quality in education and increased collaboration between the private and public sector must be achieved and realized. The Stockholm Arena is part of that vision, as a piece of the infrastructure puzzle needed to attain the status of being an event city of world class.

Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to obtain understanding of how participants in the Stockholm Arena project work together to create a successful event destination and point destination. We intend to shed light on the factors that influence the development of the Stockholm Arena as well as how the project affects its immediate vicinity and Stockholm as a destination.

Questions at issue:

• Which circumstances within factors of location, marketing, safety and environment as well as economic resources lay the foundation for the successful development of the Stockholm Arena?

• How does the communication and collaboration between the different participants involved in the project with the Stockholm Arena manifest itself?

•  How does a building project like the Stockholm Arena affect its immediate area and the city itself?

Method: The authors of this thesis have conducted qualitative interviews. The interviews include people from the companies involved in the building of the Stockholm Arena and local residents in the near vicinity of the arena.

Theory: As theoretical framework the authors have used theories of; destination development, urban tourism, information and effective communication as well as theories of NIMBY, sport arenas and sporting events and how they affect their environment.

Conclusion: A number of factors influence how successful the Stockholm Arena project will become: good cooperation, a well-planned communication within the project and towards the public and also long-term plans and strategies. The authors believe that the Stockholm Arena together with the Stockholm Entertainment District in the long-term will promote and benefit Stockholm as an event location.

This study examines the possible incompatibility between environmental conventions and agreements promoting international trade. More specifically, it aims at discussing the Precautionary Principle and the WTO agreements on trade and how they might contradict each other on the international arena. The study focuses on the international trade with genetically modified organisms and discusses probable needs of reformulating the principles and/or conventions concerned if these are to function as tools of equal importance when handling environmental problems through policy making. The controversy is illustrated through a case-study of a trade dispute where the conflicting principles: the Precautionary Principle and WTO agreements on trade are involved, namely a dispute where a formal complaint to the WTO by the US, Canada and Argentina about the European Community supposedly applying a de facto moratorium on genetically modified organisms had the final outcome of the European Community being found to contravene international trade rules. The study concludes that actors on the international arena are still opinions apart concerning the way to perceive possible risks connected to biotechnology and genetically modified organisms. This incongruence is also found to apply to the status of the Precautionary Principle as a rule of international law as well as to which of the conventions that were applicable to the concerned dispute.

Uppsatsen syftar till att undersöka om ett ökat turismflöde är önskat eller oönskat av lokalbefolkningen i Åre. Uppsatsen har haft en pendelrörelse mellan induktiv och deduktiv ansats, samt ett kvalitativt synsätt. Metoderna som har använts för att få ett mer relevant resultat är kortare intervjuer med lokalbefolkningen och djupare intervjuer med en arrangör samt med två lokalt boende. De ställda frågorna berörde bland annat åsikter om turism, effekter av turism, hur lokalbefolkningen påverkas av turismen, arrangörernas förväntningar av ett evenemang med mera. För att besvara syftet formulerades tre frågeställningar som behandlade hur lokalbefolkningen ställer sig till ett ytterligare arrangerande av ett alpint mästerskap, sociala effekter och hållbarhet.

Teorierna och den tidigare forskning som författarna valde att arbeta med berör evenemang, positiva och negativa sociala effekter ett evenemang kan generera i, Doxey’s irridex som behandlar om hur välkomnande lokalbefolkningen är, enligt de själva, gentemot turisten och i vilket stadium de anser att destinationen ligger på när det kommer till bemötandet av turisten. Vidare används en hållbarhetsteori som innehåller ett antal indikatorer som visar på hur hållbar en destination är.

De resultat som framkom av djupintervjuerna och de kortare intervjuerna var att turismen är önskad i Åre samt att en ökning av den skulle gynna byn i en positiv riktning. Ytterligare arrangerande av ett Alpint Världsmästerskap är också det önskat, även om lokalbefolkningen anser att evenemang under andra årstider skulle vara uppskattat. Detta för att säsongsproblematiken var ett bekymmer som kunde identifieras i undersökningen.

Undersökningens slutsats är att det är svårt att definiera exakt vad en lokalbefolkning egentligen innebär. Vi ställer oss undrande till om det är möjligt att nå den kategori av lokalbefolkningen som inte påverkas av turismen i sitt arbete på en ort som är beroende av turism som Åre är. Stora delar av befolkningen arbetar inom turismsektorn, och blir därmed indirekt påverkade av turismen, och blev då enligt oss partiska i sina svar.

This study aims to examine two daily newspapers and three travel magazines’ production of Dark Tourism, and find out what differences and similarities the petitions have. The aim is also to find an in-depth understanding of Dark Tourism and the different perspectives and common features found in the articles. The empirical material consists of 25 articles, of which 15 were from daily newspapers and 10 come from travel magazines. A critical discourse analysis has been applied as a method in this study and the results show that two different discourses, one of which is melancholic and the other is sanguine, characterizes these journal genres. It is also clear that the discourses that prevail in the newspapers can have a big impact on people's perception of the phenomenon of Dark Tourism.

Keywords: Dark Tourism, Discourse, Newspaper Articles, Critical Discourse Analysis, Media

The aim of this study is to obtain a better understanding of what factors affect the motivation for visiting Dark Tourism sites and the way that these sites are regarded. By providing such an insight this study contributes to a greater understanding of Dark Tourism.  In order to find answers to our questions, we interviewed several representatives at different sites and also carried out observations at three Dark Tourism attractions to reach a better understanding of the visors’ motivations for visiting this kind of tourist attractions. In our study we have concluded that people have become increasingly interested in visiting such Dark Tourism sites even though these may seem scary or uncomfortable. Our research has helped us to find answers to the questions that we asked and we have concluded that people have become more curious and want to know more about terrible events and why they took place.

Service quality occurs in service encounters where both customers and employees come together in an interaction. It is therefore important that the staff give their best because the interaction usually takes place in real time, which is referred to as the moment of truth.

The aim of this study was to find out how luxury hotels are working to ensure good service quality, and how the staff are motivated to deliver this service. We wanted to examine this from a management perspective, and an employee perspective. Information was gathered through various interviews, where the staff at the Hotel Kämp in Helsinki and at the Sheraton Hotel Stockholm participated.

Survey results show that employee motivation, training and empowerment have a significant impact to provide service in high quality. The results also show that the surveyed hotel, to certain level work in the same way, but it reveals some differences even when both hotels are part of the same concern.

The purpose of this study is, from a destination development perspective, to study the hotel sector’s collaboration with the tourism promotion agency Stockholm Visitors Board, in Stockholm.

It is shown in this study that tourism is of great importance for the world economy, and for Sweden. Destinations, as well as corporations, are competing with each other to attract tourists. To become more competitive, the destination can, through cooperation, streamline their marketing to get all parties to pull together. Stockholm Visitors Board, who has the primary responsibility for the promotion of Stockholm, became the object under examination. Since there is a goal to increase the number of guest nights in Stockholm, the hotels in Stockholm became the second survey item.

To answer the study's two issues, four hotels have been chosen to discuss the hotels' role in the cooperation with Stockholm Visitors Board.

The conclusion that can be drawn from the study is that Stockholm Visitors Board did not reach out to all hotels which may be due to a lack of communication, high cost, and that many hotels do not see the benefits of cooperation.

Flygbranschen har de senaste åren befunnit sig i en kris. Många menar att flyget gått igenom ett stålbad. Olika världshändelser har skakat flygbolaget SAS och bolaget är extremt pressat av konkurrens från lågprisbolag, skenande bränslepriser och ett inre motstånd bland personalen. Inom bolaget har arbetsmiljön förändrats drastiskt och de anställda berättar i den här artikelserien hur flygbranschen var förr om åren och hur den är idag.

The impact work leading to the in-depth understanding of quadruple helix co-creation in social sciences and humanities is based on the ACCOMPLISSH project, that has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 693477. This paper is based on one of the reports written up there, shows illustrations of co-creation as discussed in focus group interviews of quadruple helix partners at 14 European universities and presents first-hand excerpts of the report. Our ambition is to rewrite the paper into an article publishable in peer-reviewed academic journals and based on previous studies published in other academic journals.