Destinations and their visitors are crucial to study in city tourism. Identifying destination characteristics related to visitor segments can help to facilitate city strategic planning in order to boost competitiveness (Valls et al., 2013). A discussion how to organise tourism has been conducted for several years in Stockholm. My reserach purpose is to develop a new type of destination governance based on important development areas, using both a human and technology perspective.The destination development project “Besökskraft” is led by Region Stockholm and its first project phase ended in 2023. I am a follow-up researcher using a case study method with a regional perspective. The plan for me is to follow “Besökskraft” until 2027.In the second project phase several development areas have been chosen to study. One area is to study future events and meetings. In addition, there is a discussion in the events and meetings industry after the Corona pandemic if the meetings should be based on digital, human or hybrid product solutions. Companies in the meetings industry seem to choose a main survival strategy.20In Stockholm centre there are eight regional cities. This is a foundation for empowered communities which is discussed in the long-term regional plan RUFS 2050. It is important to find typical functions for these regional cities and how to use digital marketing in some situations.Overall governance principles have been analysed in this development project.. Bellini & Pasquinelli (2017) propose that cities are developed by specific actor groups.. The destination project uses the quadruple-helix method with collaboration between four actor groups. The destination and its network is complex. Therefore, DMOs are an important organisational unit (Spyriadis, Fletcher & Fyall, 2013). Besides the Smart City Concept could give new ideas in the development project in later phases, such as mobility (Smart City Sweden, 2022).

Islands, especially small islands, due to their geographic position, are vulnerable for tourism development and are extra sensitive for unsustainable tourism i.e., overtourism (Butler and Dodds, 2022). Sweden has the largest number of islands in the world (Statista, 2024) which makes it relevant for research on overtourism on islands. This study aims to investigate how the risk of overtourism is perceived by people in two major Swedish archipelago regions, Stockholm and Gothenburg. The theoretical point of departure is the Social Carrying Capacity (Brandolini et al., 2004) that put the number of tourists in relationship with the host destination’s tolerance limits and impact perception. The study has a mixed-methods approach based on 477 surveys online with permanent and semi-permanent residents (second-home owners), and six in-depth interviews. The results confirm that although a majority believe that tourism would not create problem for their islands in the future, still a majority believe that number of tourists can become so large during the peak season that it creates a series of problem for them and for the tourists themselves. This skepticism is much higher among residents in Gothenburg islands. The survey respondents and the six interviewees also give suggestions to how make the tourism more sustainable on their islands. A conclusion here is that residents in Gothenburg islands may resist a future tourism development on their islands. 

References

Brandolini, S. M. D. A., & Mosetti, R. (2004), Sustainable tourism development and social carrying capacity: a case-study on the North-Western Adriatic Sea. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, 76.  

Butler, R.W. & Dodds, R. (2022), Island Tourism: Vulnerable or Resistant to Overtourism?

Highlights of Sustainability 1, 54–64. https://doi.org/10.54175/hsustain1020005 

Statista (2024), The countries with the most islands. Retrived 2024-01-31 from:

https://www.statista.com/chart/15364/the-estimated-number-of-islands-by-country/

Purpose: This study aims to empirically investigate solo travel behavior, comparing decision-making, destination choice, motivations, perceived experiences and constraints between the pre-pandemic and post-pandemic eras. Design/methodology/approach: Using a mixed-methods approach, the study combines quantitative and qualitative data to enhance reliability and flexibility. An online survey attracted 250 respondents, providing demographic data and pandemic-related insights, complemented by eight in-depth interviews. Qualitative content analysis was used to extract key findings on motivations, constraints and destination choices. Findings: The findings reveal that, pre-pandemic, independence and flexibility were key motivators for solo travel, with safety and budget as significant constraints. During the pandemic, half of the respondents continued solo travel, mainly within Europe, facing constraints related to destination choice and health concerns. Post-pandemic, solo travel interest resurged, emphasizing unchanged motivations but reduced concerns over companionship and planning. The study identifies a “traveling for revenge” trend post-pandemic, showcasing a desire to overcome constraints imposed during the pandemic. Originality/value: The study contributes original insights into the nuanced changes in solo travel behavior due to the COVID-19 pandemic, offering a deeper understanding of solo travelers' evolving mindsets. It is one of the few studies to examine the pandemic's impact on solo traveling, providing short-term shifts in motivations and constraints with implications for the travel industry.

Stockholm archipelago’s exalted position in the national narrative of Sweden wasinvented during the second half of the 19th century when writers and artists startedto depict the archipelago as an idyllic rural region. Previous studies have shown thatthe landscape imaginaries of Stockholm archipelago have successfully migrated overdifferent media for more than a century. However, it has not been investigated whethersocial media has influenced the imaginaries. The aim of this study is to investigatehow the landscape imaginaries of Stockholm archipelago have been influenced byrepresentations of the region on Instagram. By utilizing Instagram posts pertaining toStockholm archipelago, the present case study aims to investigate how establishedlandscape imaginaries appear in the light of visual conventions, online environment,and social codes that accompany social media. The analytical approach stems from theconcept of landscape imaginaries, how collective understandings and representationsof landscape render space. The method combines thematic analysis, netnography,and semiotic analysis. Research on how Instagram influences landscape imaginariessuggests that Instagram induced landscapes have the ability to change material life incertain places and that it has the capacity to rejuvenate criticized dormant discourses,like colonial ones. This study, however, suggests that the landscape imaginaries ofStockholm archipelago on Instagram not only cement, but reinforce the establishedimaginary archipelago. This is especially done through conventional romanticlandscape pictures which defy the idea of social media’s anticipated proliferation ofindividual and unique representations of the world.

This conceptual paper argues that there are unrealized benefits from a cross-fertilization between research on sustainable tourism and sustainability transitions studies. With the aim to stimulate such cross-fertilization, the paper identifies three contemporary streams in sustainability transitions studies that are particularly relevant for sustainable tourism: deep transitions, transitions in practice, and the geography of transitions. These three streams present complementary perspectives, which can help reach a more nuanced understanding of transition processes in the tourism sector. The paper concludes that while research on sustainable tourism can benefit from theories, concepts, and frameworks from research on sustainability transitions, research on sustainable tourism can support further conceptual developments in sustainability transitions studies.

It has been argued that digital platform firms leverage their position at spatial bottlenecks in such a fashion so as to allow operations in local labour markets while at the same time insulating themselves from the regulatory provisions that govern those local markets. This is not necessarily a stable condition, but as long as platform firms exert power, they may shift the social relationships that platforms embody in their favour: domination trumps mutuality and autonomy. However, this does not have to be so. Depending on the context, opportunities for breaking out of this mould exist. Specifically, we focus on the institutional context provided by coordinated market economies to argue that, depending on pre-existing forms of cooperation, platforms can be designed and applied in a manner that enables the building and maintenance of trust through an emphasis on mutuality and autonomy rather than inevitably drifting towards the pole of domination. Using the example of the hospitality industry and focusing on training and certification in geographically fragmented labour markets, we set out to explore the possible role of the institutional setting in shaping platform use as recruitment needs are to be resolved.

This paper aims at from the perspective of the social exchange theory (SET) gaining an understanding of how promotion of halal concept in Sweden is perceived by Swedish hoteliers. A mixed-methods approach has been used consisting of 62 completed surveys with closed-ended and open-ended questions, follow-up comments and five in-depth interviews with hoteliers in the mid-Sweden region. Content analysis has been employed. Three categories of meanings are the main findings: general perception, safeguarding Swedish secular values and financially unjustifiable have been discovered. Most of the respondents have been sceptical towards halal and Muslim-friendly hotel concepts due to financial and cultural challenges these two concepts have for the Swedish tourism and hotel industries. Based on the SET, this entails more costs than benefits and is especially at odds with Swedish-rooted secular values. This study provides practical implications and increased knowledge for tourism stakeholders including hotels in Sweden. This is one of the very few studies on halal tourism in Scandinavia and the first Scandinavian study on hoteliers' attitudes towards halal tourism.

The meetings and events industry, traditionally reliant on physical spaces, faced significant disruptions due to the coronavirus pandemic. This led to the rapid development of alternative digital meeting formats. The industry must now innovate and adopt new business models to enhance resilience and ensure long-term sustainability. Furthermore, there are reasons for strong cooperation between city destinations and event companies. While the impact on city destinations and national tourism has been well-documented, there is limited discussion on the future evolution of this sector (Evenemang i siffror, 2023).This study explores how future meetings and events will be transformed by these developments, addressing key aspects such as the likely shifts from physical to digital platforms, future business models, and necessary assets and capabilities for adaptation.The current study employed mixed methods to explore the answers to these questions. Data was collected through interviews with project managers of 12 large-sized events, surveys from 200 visitors and exhibitors at 3 fairs, and direct observation during 12 events in the Stockholm region between 2022 and 2024. Interview data were analyzed using interpretive approaches, and quantitative data were analyzed with statistical techniques such as ANOVA.The preliminary findings highlight the driving forces behind physical and digital meetings and events. Our analysis determines which events and meetings are likely to migrate to digital platforms and which will maintain their physical presence. The findings suggest that physical meetings and fairs need to enhance their creativity to attract visitors, while digital meetings and events should develop new strategies to provide networking and human interaction experiences. These insights will offer opportunities to develop policies that sustain the capabilities of physical meetings and events, support the innovation of new business models for digital meetings, and explore alternative approaches for the hybrid versions.

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.

The purpose of this research is to get a better understanding of the impact of the Stockholm Fire Festival on the cultural integration of immigrant communities, and particularly its impact on the sociocultural integration of individual participants into Swedish society. The methodological approach is mixed-methods, consisting of participant observation, and a selected part of the data from 280 completed surveys based on answers to open-ended and closed-ended questions. The results indicate that participation in the festival and its celebration have a positive impact at the macro and ethnic community levels in terms of recognition of the festival by the host society, and thereby cultural integration, identity and inclusion of the ethnic community in the entire society. However, the results do not support the idea that participation in this festival has a positive impact on the sociocultural integration of the individual participants into society. Sociocultural integration presupposes intercultural encounters between immigrant individuals, between them and other ethnic groups (including the natives). It is evident that this festival cannot create such a platform for individual participants. This research contributes to the existing body of research on immigrant-oriented festivals in Western societies and strengthens the debates on migration, inclusion, integration, multiculturalism and interculturalism.

The fact that traditional information sources are neglected by tour operators and the statement arguing that digital information sources, contrarily to traditional paper ones, allow the projection of modern and innovative destination images, served as a starting point for this study. The aim of this research is to determine what destination images of Italy are projected by traditional and digital information sources from 15 Scandinavian tour operators. A qualitative method based on secondary data (1306 photographs) and a thematic analysis has been employed. Images from catalogs mainly illustrate Italy with hidden mass tourism, famous Italy, and culture, while images from social media accounts mainly represent Italy with mass tourism, unfamiliar Italy, and culture. Further, each Scandinavian country focuses on specific features of Italy. This research has implications for Scandinavian tour operators, DMOs (Destination Management Organizations) in Italian cities and for Scandinavian tourists to Italy, suggesting how displaying images more consistent with reality would better match the customers’ need for information through photographs and more accurately form and shape their pre-travel expectations.

Introduction and literature review

Overtourism as a sustainability sissue for different tourism stakeholers (Milano et al, 2022;Santos-Rojo et al., 2023) inside and outside destinations has been very explored duringrecent decade. Most earlier studies on the topic have either touched upon localstakeholders on the destination and locals‘ tourismphobia has been frequently mentionedby authors (see e.g. Verissimo et al., 2020; Yrigoy et al., 2023). In the literature, oertourismhas been associated with seasonality, i.e. it happens almost entirely in a peak season(mostly during the summer) and not year round (see e.g. Yrigoy et al., 2023; Ghaderi et al.,2022). From initially having had a focus on some specific coastal European urbandestinations such as Barcelona, Venice and Dubrovnik in many studies (see e.g. Verissimoet al., 2020) the recent years‘ research also has included rural remote places worldwide forinvestigations (see e.g. Eckert et al., 2019; Ghaderi et al., 2022; Lundmark et al, 2020) as wellas new urban destinations that earlier have been unknown as places for overtourism (seee.g. Fedyk et al., 2023).Most earlier attitude investigations on overtourism have had a focus on the destinationsand their local residents and stakeholders (see.e.g. Kim and Kang, 2020; Kuscer and Mihalic,2019). Despites few studies during recent years (e.g. Kainthola et al., 2021)tourists‘ perspective and attitudes on the issue has been less visible in the research.Especially, a lack of knowledge on travellers comming from tourist generating nations orregions and their attitudes towards overtourism in city destinations has been obviouslyinvisible. Thus, the purpose of this research is to fill this gap for Sweden and Swedishtravellers to city destionations. This will be our contribution to existing body of researchon the issue. Following research questions will be answered in this paper:–How Swedish travellers define, perceive and reason around the phenomenon ofoertourism in city destinations?132–What kind of solutions to the problem is suggested by them?

MethodologyThis study is explorative in its nature and is based an online survey. The authors initiallyadopted a predominantly quantitative approach to reach a large number of respondents tocater to representativeness (Bryman 2016). Thus, several questions and comment optionswere also purposely given to the respondents to get deeper insigts of their attitudes andperceptions of the topic. The survey that contained 15 questions was firstly screened forethical issues by the host university. The authors guaranteed total anonymity to therespondents through considering the European GDPR (General Data ProtectionRegulation) that concerns protect of personal issues in research. Then the survey waspublished at tens of Swedish social forums (public and private pages on Linkedin andFacebook). After two months (February- March 2023) and several reminders we got 370completed surveys.

Preliminary Findings

A look at the sample shows that 55% of the respondens (202 individuals) are women andthe rest are men. A predominat majority of them (74%) are older than 40 year and they areeither employed (56%), retired (31%), students (9%) or others (4%) and a predominantmajority (83%) of them has postseconday/academic education. Over 70% of them state thatthey travel abroad twice or more each year, and 54% has travelled to abroad more than 16times during last ten years. A majority answers that they have good knowledge onovertourism and almost all of them define the term with their own words. Also theydescribe typical examples of situations of ourtourism that they have been witnessses to.Based on their experiences they mention many urban destinations in the world that theyperceived as places with ourtourism. This includes already known places as well as notexpected places, major metropolitain areas as well as small less known towns and specificareas or districts in urban regions. 75% of the respondents beleive that overtourism is aproblem and they point to many enviromental issues, tentions, crimiality, increased prices,negative tourism experiences, etcetera that are linked to overtourism. 25% of therespondents that would not consider it as a problem reason among other things thatovertourism is a temporary phenomenon during short time of peak season, that this is goodfor the destinations economy and standard of living, it facilitates cultural encounters,etcetera. Those that beleive overtourism is a problem suggest as solution more research,knowledge to the general public, quota system, regulations, restrictions, seasonprolongation, etcetera.133

Preliminary Conclusions

The respondents in this research point to a very complex phenomenon with multifacettedproblems as the consequence and that also needs to be solved in a multifacetted way withdifferent actors/stakeholder both in tourist generating regions and in tourist receivingregions i.e. destinations exposed by overtourism. As a part of the respondents mean, onecannot prevent people to travel but people can get important and necessary help beforedeparture but also at the destinations to enjoy the travel without being harmful tothemselves, to other tourists, residents and to the sensitive historical sites and naturalenvironments.

References

Bryman, A. (2016). Social research methods. Oxford, England: Oxford university press.Eckert, C., Zacher, D., Pechlaner, H., Namberger, P., & Schmude, J. (2019). Strategies andmeasures directed towards overtourism: a perspective of European DMOs. InternationalJournal of Tourism Cities, 5(4), 639–655.Fedyk, W., Sltysik, M., Rolczynski, T., Taheri, B., Borzyszkowski, J., and Okumus, F.(2023), Overtourism in a City Destination from the Perspective of Entrepreneurs:Evidence from Wroclaw, Poland, Journal of Environmental Management and Tourism 14 (2),pp. 442- 457.Ghaderi, Z, Hall, M.C., and Ryan, C. (2022), Overtourism, residents and Iranian ruralvillages: Voices from a developing country, Journal of Outdoor Recreation and Tourism Vol.37, 100487.Kainthola, S., Tiwari, P., & Chowdhary, N. R. (2021). Overtourism to zero tourism:Changing tourists’ perception of crowding post COVID-19. Journal of Spatial andOrganizational Dynamics, 9(2), 115-137.Kim, S., and Kang, Y. (2020), Why do residents in an overtourism destination developanti-tourist attitudes? An exploration of residents’ experience through the lens of thecommunity-based tourism, Asia Pacific Journal of Tourism Research Vol. 25, Issue 8, pp. 858-876.Kuscer, K., and and Mihalic, T. (2019), Residents’ Attitudes towards Overtourism fromthe Perspective of Tourism Impacts and Cooperation—The Case of Ljubljana,Sustainability 11, 1823.Lundmark, L., Müller, D. K., & Bohn, D. (2020). Arctification and the paradox ofovertourism in sparsely populated areas. Dipping in to the north: Living, working andtraveling in sparsely populated areas, 349-371.134Milano, C., Novelli, M., and Cheer, J.M. (2022), Overtourism. In Buhalis, D (Ed),Encyclopedia of Tourism Management and Marketing, pp. 413-416. Elgar onlineSantos-Rojo, C., Llopis-Amorós, M., and García-García, J.M. (2023), Overtourism andsustainability: A bibliometric study (2018–2021), Technological Forecasting & Social Change188, 122285.Veríssimo, M., Moraes, M., Breda, Z., Guizi, A., & Costa, C. (2020). Overtourism andtourismphobia: A systematic literature review. Tourism: An International InterdisciplinaryJournal, 68(2), 156-169.Yrigoy, I., Horrach, P., Escudero, L., & Mulet, C. (2023). Co-opting overtourism: tourismstakeholders’ use of the perceptions of overtourism in their power struggles. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 1-17.

Existing literature on solo traveling covers constraints of traveling as well as motivation byfocusing on specific geographical areas (Chung at al., 2017; Yang & Tung, 2018; Yang, 2020).Further, the current literature is focusing predominantly on female solo travel as well ason general information on solo travelers' constraints and motivations (Alonso-Vazquez,2023). Nevertheless, the gap of in depth understanding of driving forces and constraintsgenerally and between the different genders can be found (Yang, 2020). Another researchgap, addressing the influence the COVID-19 pandemic had on solo traveling was identified.To re-address this gap in knowledge, this research paper has the following aims:

• To investigate the Covid-19 pandemics influence on motivation to go on solo trips.
• To explore the changes in destination choices by solo travelers during the pandemic aswell as in the post-pandemic era.
• To find out the impact of the pandemic on the perception of solo travel by solo travelers.
• Identify a possible trend in solo travelling which was caused due to the pandemic.

Purpose The purpose of this study is to gain a deeper understanding on if and how hotel senior managers (HSMs) in four-star chain hotels in London and Stockholm implemented crisis management techniques (CMTs) as a response to the economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Design/methodology/approach Qualitative questionnaires were sent to 30 HSMs in London and Stockholm. From the feedback, this paper assesses, using thematic analysis, differences in CMTs used, past and present, alluding to COVID-19's economic impacts on hotels. Findings Results determined that crises broadly economically impacted destinations similarly through loss of travellers and thus revenue. However, with a more intricate and specific assessment, destinations are impacted differently; thus, CMTs must alter. Findings show many CMTs can be implemented to reduce crises' economic impacts. The literature review and empirical results allude to many previous and current CMTs, although these must be relevant and specific to the crisis, hotel and/or destination. Practical implications This paper has theoretical implications for academics on, among other things, theory building. Practically, it supports hotels in developing and determining CMTs to reduce the economic impacts of crises, to be better prepared when another pandemic emerges and contributes to the tourism and hospitality industry's knowledge of management strategy within crises. Originality/value To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first Swedish study focusing on post-COVID-19 crisis management in hotels in London and Stockholm.

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.

This study explores the meaning-making of amateur videos on YouTube pertaining to the Swedish Cold War heritage and it contributes with a discussion on how videographic conventions and social media platform logics intervene in the ongoing informal heritagization of the Cold War era. The heritagization process of the Cold War remains in Sweden during the 1990s and the beginning of the new millennium coincided with the advent of the online society. The process seemed to resonate of the democratic ideals from the discourse of Heritage from below. Now it seemed like anyone had the possibility to become a heritage producer. However, heritagization from below came with unintended implications. The analysis of YouTube videos in this study suggests that the vernacular Cold War heritage is colored by an easily digested format containing of moving still pictures, mood-inducing soundtracks, luring camera perspectives, rhythmic editing, and genre loans from video games and horror films, which tend to safeguard the naturalness of filmed sites and an entire era.

Places as social constructions create meaning, identity, emotions and attachment for individuals (Knox and Marston, 2016; Massey, 1995). This can also be applied for festival arenas as well (e.g. Davis and Martin, 2014; Kim, 2017). Authors (e.g. Lee et ala., 2008) emphasize that the choice of festival arena has a significance for the visitors/attendees’ overall satisfaction with the festival in issue.

The purpose of this study is to investigate how the Skansen arena in Stockholm, that has a high symbolic value for all Swedes, is assessed by the attendees of Persian Fire Festival in March 2019. An online questionnaire with qualitative and quantitative questions was used during April 2019 and resulted in 280 completed questionnaires by attendees from several ethnic groups. The results indicate high level of satisfaction with the arena that gives the attendees positive emotions, meanings, place attachment, place identity and a sense of place. The high status of the arena that gives pride and dignity; security and safety of the arena; its size; and its natural beauty have been the most contributing factors. Lack of accessibility and sufficient public transport have been the most negative factors. This paper gives a contribution to existing literature on festival arena and its importance for the attendees. Such symbolic arenas create stronger identity for immigrant groups and may become platforms for mutual cultural interaction with the host society.

The purpose of this study is to investigate how the open-air museum ofSkansen in Stockholm as venue for celebration of Persian Fire Festival is assessed by thefestival’s visitors. The study is based on a delimited part of a larger online survey with280 completed questionnaires including both close-ended and open-ended questions,and a qualitative thematic analysis method has been used in this paper. The resultsshow a high level of appreciation of the Skansen venue that gives the visitors positiveemotions, meanings, place attachment, place identity and a sense of place. Contributingfactors have been the high status of the venue that has given the visitors pride anddignity; security and safety of the venue; size of the venue; and the natural beauty of thevenue. The most important disadvantage factor has been the lack of accessibilitycombined with lack of sufficient public transport. The results have implications for theSwedish society, for the policy makers in Stockholm city and for both the host and theorganiser of the festival and gives rise to new debates on immigrants’ socio-culturalintegration into Swedish society. This paper gives a contribution to existing literature onfestival venue and its impact on the visitor’s overall assessment of the festival.

The following study is the first Swedish study on Halal tourism in Sweden. The purpose of this exploratory research is to get insight into the perception of Halal tourism in Sweden among representatives of tourism stakeholders. The overall methodology approach in this research is qualitative, consisting of 25 qualitative questionnaires, 21 short letters, four follow-up interviews, and a web observation, and content analysis was employed. The results indicate that there is a low knowledge of Halal tourism in Sweden including Swedish tourism industry. The concept is very challenging, and profits are low. It might result in problem scenarios such as detrimental effects on non-Halal tourism, cultural difficulties and increased risk of xenophobia, anti-Islamism, and tension in the society. There is low interest for Sweden among Muslim tourists as the interest and priority for Halal tourism is rather low from Swedish tourism industry. Despite Halal tourism’s importance internationally, these representatives are rather cautious and doubtful about promotion of Sweden towards this niche. Still, a majority seems to be positive to a lighter version of Muslim-friendly tourism with secular/moderate Muslims as a target group.

In the wake of covid-19 many Swedes chose stay-cationing as a substitute for foreign travel, due totravel restrictions and risks related to the pandemic during summer 2020. In many ways, this relievedsome of the economic pressures on parts of the otherwise hard hit tourism industry in Sweden, as e.g.the archipelago and many other rural areas have peak season during the summer, and the virus spreaddiminished during summer due to among other things more outdoor activities, making it less risky tochoose outdoor attractions. This has, however, lead to some cases of rather unanticipated over-tourism,as in some cases, infrastructure such as road size is not calibrated for the level of demand, and e.g. asunny day the road to Gålö was jammed, so that a trip usually taking 15 minutes by car took 3 ½ hours,and as a result of people exploring outdoors to a larger extent due to the pandemic, the carrying capacityof many nature reserves and some national parks has been reported to be threatened. As vaccinationprogrammes are being executed there is reason to believe that some going back to normal may beexpected, but there is reason not to discard the increased pressure on nature-based attractions asincreased knowledge of domestic visitor attractions may be assumed to render increased demand.Under the adage ‘build back better’ I intend to investigate the degree of overtourism experienced inarchipelago settings of Stockholm County, through interviews with residents and nature preservationsoriented NGOs.

Multicultural festivals contribute to strengthen multicultural societies through positive psychosocial, social and cultural benefits for individuals, groups and communities/societies (Lee et al., 2012).

Especially, these includes positive feelings and emotions that are created with attendees in the festival (Kim et al, 2016).

The purpose of this descriptive research is to get an understanding of the Persian Fire Festival’s visitors in Stockholm and their subjective reasoning around the feelings and emotions that are created through their celebration. 280 visitors/attendees answered to the question “What emotions does it evoke to celebrate the Fire Festival with you?” that was included in an online questionnaire. Excepting a few irrelevant answers, the predominant majority gave clear examples of positive feelings and emotions and some of them mentioned up to six feelings. Happy/happiness has been the most expressed feeling. The other frequent feelings have been: welcome the spring and the new year; pride/proud; community; belonging and togetherness; nostalgy; and home feeling. A very few people also mentioned sad feelings such as homesickness and missing family. The results show an overall positive impact of the festival celebration on the visitors’ psychosocial well-being. They also give rise to the question how such festival arrangements through increased positive feeling can contribute to stronger feelings of identity, belonging and community and thereby results in better socio-cultural integration of these people into the society.

In 1981 several enthusiastic Iranian students started the Caspian Sport Association in northern Stockholm and organized a common celebration of the Fire Festival for the members and their families.

Five years later, an even bigger organization called House of Iran was established and took over the celebration arrangement with better resources and support from Sundbyberg Municipality. In 1994 the Iranian National Federation in Sweden (INF) was established and they gradually became the organizer of the celebration in Stockholm. After 2009 the Swedish National Turing Theatre (Riksteatern) became an actor in organization and celebration of the festival in Stockholm’s downtown. While during the first 25 years the festival was strongly delimited to the northern suburbs and was locally known, the arrangement by Riksteatern since 2009 contributed to huge attention to the festival in the city, in the country and later in the whole world.

Sweden is a country with a strong civil society sector and rich tradition of associations and non-profit organizations (Voluntarius.com). One of the areas the civil society is strong in is the production of urban festivals (Andersson et al., 2009). The aim of this research is to describe the historical evolution of the Fire Festival in Stockholm from a perspective of Swedish Civil Society sector and thereby analyze the success factors over the years. Initially, a qualitative method consisting of primary and secondary sources has been employed.

Today there is a discussion how urban areas can be developed in the future compared with the numberof residents, public sector and industry in Sweden.

The city regions are also very attractive for visitors(Maitland & Ritchie, 2009). However, will the Corona pandemic demand more local sustainable productswith reduced transports?In Stockholm destination there are eight regional city centres and also a large peri-urban area(Stockholm county council, 2018).

The tourism industry influence strongly on the development of cities with their suburbs throughinnovation, entrepreneurship etc. (Bellini & Pasquinelli, 2017). The companies have to consider todevelop new attractiveness concept which is even more important after the pandemic, such as newhybrid products and local product packages based on visitor streams.

The destination character is a base for the supply and its matching image. Some suburb environmentare associated with negative image, but still they have a great potential (Andersson & Abbasian, 2018).

The research purpose is to investigate the visitor attractive functional supply in a regional city and itsimage, and how it can be related to visitors experience demand.

The visit functional supply is investigated by in-depth interviews of tourist experts, and the visitorexperiences by semi-structured interviews and a quantitative investigation using the AnalyticalHierarchical Process.

Typical visit functional supply based on visitor streams in regional city centre, and typical experiencedemand for various visitor categories are identified and developed into a model of smart city centres. Inaddition, attractive image aspects of city and regional centres, and transformed city tourism productswith new destination actors.

This exploratory research seeks to gain insight into the visitors of Persian Fire Festival in Stockholm, their motivation, level of satisfaction and loyalty to the festival. The overall methodology is mixed methods consisting of participant observation and 280 completed online surveys including close-ended and open-ended questions. A Grounded theory analysis has been employed. The most important reason behind the participation has been to strive for the recognition of ethnic cultural identity; to keep the ancient culture alive; to maintain their ancestors’ legacy and transfer it to the next generation. Most of the visitors experienced positive feelings, showed satisfaction and loyalty, believed that the festival fulfilled their expectations and it should be celebrated officially every year. A minority showed dissatisfaction mostly due to the lack of accessibility to the event venue and might are not loyal to the festival. The first conclusion here is that these motivators are totally different than those mentioned by earlier research (e.g., escape, socialization, novelty, rest, prestige, excitement). Even though the desire to preserve the ancient culture and tradition is very strong, a lack of accessibility to the venue would constitute disloyalty and a barrier to re-attend in such a festival.

This article implies a qualitative methodological approach and has a focus on the local tourism employees in Dubrovnik and their perception of overtourism. The empirical data are based on 12 days’ field observation in July 2018, and 18 e-mail interviews with local tourism employees. The data analysis method has been thematic analysis. The interviewees show a high level of awareness and concern about the problem. Overcrowding, traffic congestion, various physical damages, displacement of locals in Old Town, low quality of tourist experiences and lower quality of life for locals, increased prices are among problems caused by overtourism in Dubrovnik. Factors related to seasonality, physical geographic conditions, cruise ships are the most problem makers and the interviewees prefer tourists that stay overnight. Their most frequent solution suggestions are reduction of the number of cruise ships followed by stricter rules of the establishment and of quality for accommodations, caterings and shops.

In the wake of the Cold War obsolete military infrastructure was transformed into visitor attractions by traditional heritage stakeholders or was left as ruins for the war history buffs to reveal. However, the heritagization of the Cold War remains during the 1990s and the beginning of the new millennium coincided with the advent of the digital society. This led to an inclusion of new actors and arenas on the terrain of heritage production. In this paper we focus on how the logics of the digital age have affected the Cold War heritage in Sweden, where it is both popular and contested, through an investigation of the social media platform Youtube and the video content pertaining to the Swedish Cold War. We suggest, like previous research has indicated (Gillespie 2015; van Dijck 2013; Pietrobruno 2013; Reider et al 2018; Bishop 2018), that social media should be understood in relation to opaque economic (e.g. monopolies) and technological (algorithms) frames that intervene in the supposedly democratic universe of social media.

In addition, given notions that todays’ situation is unique, we problematize views that emphasize the difference between heritagization online today and heritagization in pre-digital contexts: Yesterdays’ heritagization in many ways looked different from todays’ online-age, but was it not also influenced by phenomena that we usually think did not exist in the past, for example so-called filter bubbles? And, despite ongoing de-politization in contemporary neoliberal discourses, is not the post-Cold War era still marked by ideology?

Destinations and their visitors are crucial to study in city tourism. Valls et al. (2013) proposed that identifying destination characteristics related to visitor segments and their holiday can help in the interpretation of contemporary urban tourism flows in Europe, facilitating city strategic planning in order to boost competitiveness. It is a challenge to identify the destination attributes and their benefits that the individual market segments value the most (Reisinger, Mavondo, & Crotts, 2009).

Within destinations in Sweden there is a lack of knowledge about visitor streams. For example, there are no available official statistics for detailed tourism streams in Stockholm (The statistical analyst at Swedish Agency for Eco­nomic and Regional Growth, 2018). The problem, though, is how qualitative information and statistics can be collected and analysed with the limited resources available. In addition, the statistics are too static, because they are not connected to a tourist’s whole trip. New approaches will be demanded for tourism statistics and study techniques. Exploring tourist spatial behaviour based on social media big data is a new research field (Tang & Li, 2015).

There is a discussion how to use mobile data points in Sweden in order to understand pattern of travel to destinations and concentration of people at a destination during a specific time. In addition, there are difficulties such as the lack of knowledge of a person's background. However, the use of mobile data and other Internet sources is rapidly developing.

The purpose of this study is how visitor streams can based on the destination characteristics and visitor segments be analysed and discussed in order to improve the destination by destination organisations? This is an ongoing research project about visitor streams.

This research included analysis of about 100 destination plans, a pilot study of statistics and qualitative destination information about Stockholm, tourist segments studies, in-depth interviews and a literature review. Statistical data and qualitative information in this research are used as “knowledge indicators” rather than as “unambiguous facts”.

The case study of the visitor segment “cruise passengers” to Stockholm has been chosen as an empirical example. During the high season, there could be between 2,000 and 16,000 cruise passengers in the centre of Stockholm on any given day. These sightseeing tours mostly use just three or five activity points, which are based on visitor attractions, restaurants, shopping, guided tours, outlooks and exploring independently. This means that a very small city area is used by cruise passengers.

 In order to develop the tourist products and marketing there is a need for the destination organisations to understand the most important tourist segments and their segment streams within the regional and local destinations, using statistics and qualitative indicators. For example, the DMOs and local incoming companies need to coordinate the marketing, attraction development and logistics regarding their cruise products in the central of Stockholm. The stream content could be: defined visitor segment, visitor data, spatial destination data such as points and routes, time information and tourism product. However, there is also a need for understanding overall city people streams in order to plan the city's infrastructure, where big data could be used. As a result this will hopefully improve the destination logistics and reduce overcrowding.

The streams can be of different types, which demand different investigation and presentation techniques. The cruise passenger’s visitor stream routes are of regular character. But the segment “private car travellers” are of irregular character, where the tourists can be analysed in visitor sectors connected to an investigation technique, when moving around individually.

Finally, this research propose the visitor stream concept and future research of various visitor segment streams and the city's people movement pattern. A basic method for analysing visitor streams is suggested: defining “regional and local destination” and its characteristics, investigating quantitative and qualitative destination information, identifying important visitor segments, analysing segment streams and overall movement patterns of people with new destination tools.

This explorative study aims to gain more insight into Swedish-Iranians' purchase of second homes in Turkey. The study is based on 22 questionnaires (19 of them from owners and buyers), field observation, and participant observation. Motives behind owners' and buyers' purchases are: other Swedish-Iranian friends/relatives bought there; cultural proximity; absence of visa restriction for Iranian citizens; geographical proximity to Iran and relatives living in Iran; economic factors, including the low prices and costs and investment for retirement; and the climate. The respondents are well-integrated into Swedish society and have access to different types of resources which facilitate the purchase, but they also show the potential to partially become integrated socioculturally into their Turkish communities. A meaningful proportion of them are seriously planning to live permanently in Turkey after retirement, but the majority stay there for longer periods or semi-permanently. Despite some limitations, this study makes an important contribution to the area of diaspora second-home tourism and to the field of diaspora studies.

Over-tourism has become a frequently used term in Urban Tourism research, during last years. By it means over-saturation of tourists (e.g. Stanchev, 2017) i.e. when the number of tourists at a certain time and at a certain place exceeds powerfully the number of locals in the place (see e.g. Artal-Tur et al, 2018). Such situation creates a series of problems for the host destinations (Postma and Schmuecker, 2017) because of the limited service facilities available (Butler, 2018). The pressure on the host destination results in conflict and tension among hosts and tourists, and in long term antagonism, and tourism phobia among locals (Alexis, 2017). The overall aim of this research is to get a deeper understanding of Dubrovnik’s tourism employees’ perception of Over-tourism in their town. The chosen method has been field observation during peak season (July 2018) and 18 email- interviews with local tourism employees between 2018-2019.   Results  The employees who answered to 14 questions have positions such as manager, receptionist, owner, and represent different tourism and hospitality sectors like hotels and restaurants, tourist bureaus, etc. They have been working within tourism industry between 3 and 30 years. They show small difference in their views on low- respectively high season of tourism in the town. They define Over- tourism in general, believe it exists in Dubrovnik in some short periods, and describe in detail how and when it happens there. The reason behind Over-tourism in Dubrovnik is summarized by them in big demand that exceeds the supply side i.e. too many tourists by ships, aircrafts, cars and buses arriving at the same time in peak season. They claim that the Over-tourism creates a series of problems such as traffic, damage and pollution, and confirm that the local authorities are aware of the problems. A powerful reduction of number of cruisers, better management, organization and schedule of arrivals, better information to tourists, reduction of taxis from rest of the country, forbid foreigners come by car to the city, etc. are among their own suggestions to solutions for the problems. Some of them talk about attracting quality/luxury/elite tourists instead of mass tourists. Several of them also confirm that the local tourism industry firstly tries to reduce the number of cruisers and partly flights, and then find a better coordination of activities, and other regulations for people coming by cars. The interviewees prefer mostly tourists coming by charter flights, then cruise tourists specially luxury such, and they believe that Dubrovnik and its surrounding region is not at all suitable for car transport and cartourists.

By conducting a comparative qualitative and systematic study of the local (island) pre-conditions for creating sustainable socio-economic development through entrepreneurship, here defined as a process of identifying, evaluating, and exploiting entrepreneurial opportunities, this study aims to shed light on entrepreneurial responses to challenges and opportunities on three islands in the Stockholm Archipelago and how context influences these responses.

Every year, a Tuesday in the middle of March and after 5:00 pm the Iranian Fire Festival (Eldfesten in Swedish, Chaharshanbe Suri in Persian) is celebrated outdoors in the center of Stockholm and ends before 10:00 pm. This event has its roots in ancient Persia, but now it is celebrated by several nations in the Middle East, Caucasus, and Central Asia. The Stockholm festival is arranged and financed by The Swedish National Theatre and several times earlier it has been opened by Swedish ministers. The event visitors are mostly of Middle Eastern background coming from Stockholm area. Since 2016 it can also be watched live through Swedish and foreign TV stations and through Social media. During the earlier years the event was held in Kungsträdgården (The Royal Garden) but this year it was arranged in the amusement park of Skansen.  Ethnic cultural events in major urban areas create good images for cities and countries but also for immigrants and their neighborhoods in the city of issue (McClinchey, 2008; Loukaitou-Sideris and Soureli, 2012), and a sense of belonging among immigrants (Chacko, 2013). Many stakeholders are involved in such events (Getz et al 2007; Getz And Andersson, 2010) but perhaps the most important stakeholder is the visitors of the event. Therefore, it is of high relevance to study the visitors’ visit motivations, their perceived experience in terms of satisfaction level and their level of loyalty i.e. if they intend to visit the event next year (Savinovic et al, 2012). The aim of this research is to get insights on the visitors of the Fire Festival, their motives behind participation and how they perceive their participation afterwards. The main methods chosen in this research is participant observation and 257 completed surveys online until April 11th, 2019.  Preliminary results The respondents are 63% men and 37% women, and they are mostly older than 40 (44% are older than 50). More than half of them have been living in Sweden less than 21 years of which 17% less than 5 years. 83% of the respondents call themselves Swedish-Iranians. More than 80% of the respondents have academic education (of which 7% with PhD education) and most of them are employed either by public or private sector. A considerable number of them are also either self- employed, students or retirees. They have come from different districts of Greater Stockholm while a minor part has come from municipalities outside the county. A pre-dominant majority of them have come there with friends and family members, and most of them have been participating in the festival for third times or more. Also, more than half of them have visited the Skansen park three or more times earlier. The main reasons why they celebrate the festival is to keep the old tradition and culture alive. The celebration creates feelings like happiness, pride, community, belonging, nostalgia, childhood, the Spring. Concerning the question what the place or arena means to you they either like Skansen or prefer other places in Greater Stockholm or do not care about the place but the festival and other issues such as security and safety. To the question “what do you think about celebrating the festival at Skansen” they give positive answers and to the question “are your expectations on the festival fulfilled” the majority are totally or partly agreed. They also believe that this event must be celebrated every year and give many improvement suggestions and additional critical comments such as more food trucks, better and cheaper food, more professional artists and happy songs and music.

Over-tourism has become a new subject for research, particularly on urban sustainable tourism, during recent years (Novy, 2018). The term refers to when the number of tourists at a certain time in an extreme way exceeds the number of locals in the destination (Goodwin, 2017). This phenomenon creates a series of problems for the host destinations and puts pressure on them and their attractions, on the local service facilities and the genuine urban culture (Postma and Schmuecker, 2017; Trancoso Gonzalez, 2018; Weber et al, 2017; Montanari & Staniscias, 2010). Earlier research has shown how this phenomenon results in tension/conflict between locals and tourists and creates phobia among host people towards tourists(Postma and Schmuecker,2017; Martins, 2018; Milano et al, 2018). Recent research (Koens et al, 2018) shows that tourism stakeholders in many European cities show great awareness on the issue in their cities. Earlier research has mostly focused on locals while a focus on the visitors has beenlacking.  The purpose of the research is to get more empirical insights in over-tourism in four European city centers, Dubrovnik, Visby, Stockholm, and Riga, from both perspectives of locals and visitors/tourists, and thereby get knowledge through the challenges to, and opportunities for, both constituencies that are created in this learning process. This is in consistence with earlier research with same purpose (Costa et al, 2018). The research is justified by the fact that the topic is still new, and there are not too many studies published as of now. The first common characteristic between these four cities is that they all are cruising ports. The two first cities are rather towns than cities, almost of same size and natural preconditions, while the latters are much larger, capital cities in the Baltic Sea region with almost similar preconditions i.e. Over-tourism in the downtown area during peakseason.  The overall methodological approach in this project will be qualitative consisting of triangulation (mixed methods) based on comparative case studies. The data collection methods will consist of: field observations during the peak season in July-August in the four cities, face to face interviews and email interviews

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to gain more insight into the phenomenon of solo travel to city destinations and attain more knowledge on the topic.

Design/methodology/approach

The study employed a questionnaire consisting of qualitative and quantitative items. In all, 21 individuals (12 women, 9 men) responded.

Findings

The most important reason for solo travel was their own free choice and in some cases, difficulty finding companions. Their activities at the destinations were mostly visiting attractions followed by visiting friends, shopping, walking, eating at restaurants, learning the language, working, etc. They mostly mentioned advantages but also some disadvantages with solo travelling. Their experiences, especially with the people in the host destinations, have been positive and they show overall satisfaction with their visit. A predominant share of the interviewees showed a kind of loyalty to one or more specific city destinations and wished to revisit them again and again.

Practical implications

The current study might have some implications for city tourism developers/destination developers, travel agencies, national or regional tourism boards and tour operators in major urban areas and cities. Especially, this study has a practical contribution to the city tourism practitioners and gives them more insight in what values, attitudes, perceptions, expectations and motivations the solo travellers might have before or while they visit their cities. The study also has implications for potential solo travellers seeking more knowledge and information on the issue.

Originality/value

The phenomenon of solo travel to city destinations is an unresearched topic in Sweden. This exploratory study is the first in Sweden to focus on solo travellers visiting city destinations.

Halal tourism – where tourists with Muslim norms are considered in that there is no alcohol, no gambling, food adheres to Muslim religious requirements, and that there is a separation of men and women in public spaces – is considered a growing market, especially when considering the wealthier populations, e.g. in Saudi and United Arab Emirates. However, some of these requirements may seem at odds with some western norms, and may hence require both investments, and dealing with ethical issues if one would cater to this demand. Nevertheless, Halal tourism can also be provided by non- Muslim countries to Muslim tourists. This justifies a research (e.g. Henderson, 2016; Yasuda, 2017; Razzaq et al, 2016) for the multicultural Sweden as well.  A pilot study with 15 questions to assess perception of Halal tourism is being carried out with an open- ended questionnaire been sent out with 4 reminders to 250 persons working in government, organisations and enterprises linked to tourism in Sweden from four e-mail lists between June 2018 and January 2019. As of now, 22 have returned forms. The responses will be broadly thematically analysed as it is a survey of opinions. Possibly the investigation may turn to deep interviews and in that case a deep thematic analysis may show useful.  Only a minor part of the interviewees has a good grip on which exact dimensions are considered in definition of Halal tourism and have some knowledge of the adaptations required to it. Most of them have mentioned oral sources and Internet as their information source. A majority thinks Halal tourism may be of significance in Swedish tourism, if Muslims are targeted, while the rest are either doubtful or sceptic. Concerning pros of going after this target group, the majority report diversification of demand, general increase in demand, cultural exchange and general benefits to consumers, while a minority report having too little knowledge, or do not see any advantages or in a couple of cases have unclear answers. On the cons they point to the association between the concept of Halal to slaughter specifically, to the inability to deliver appropriate hospitality, to the possible detrimental effects on other target groups, point out the organisational adaptations necessary, put forth economic costs as well as cultural hinderances, or saw no downsides. A minority had either no ideas nor answers atall.  Whether one should go ahead and pursue this target audience or not, the answers totally varied. Some did agree, while others thought more thorough analysis of the target group was needed, or thought that all customers should be catered to as long as it does not adversely affect other target markets, or believed that this should not be a public responsibility, that invest is not on the proper level, or that at present no investments should be made, but if it turned out to be a high demand, it may be profitable. A minor part found it economically not defensible. When it comes to marketing Sweden as a Halal destination, several of them either mentioned Muslim nations or Muslim VFR tourists or specific geographic regions, while the rest either emphasizes need of more analysis, or claimed that they knew too little, answered irrelevant or gave no answer. On problems that may arise from marketing Sweden as a Halal destination, a majority either mentioned cultural difficulties or feared confused identity, leading to blurred destination image. Several of the interviewees found no problem while the rest either thought further analysis was needed or had no idea or answer. To the question if they were willing to pursue the target group, most of the interviewees was positive while several of the interviewees had negative opinion on it and few persons either did not know, answered unclear or gave no answer. As to under which conditions they could see Halal tourism being undertaken in Sweden, the answers are very varying. Nine persons either gave no answer or did not know while the rest either were against the idea or any necessary adaptions or required respect to equal value of people, to sustainability and fairtrade.

Denna rapport syftar till att inventera de utmaningar och möjligheter som före­tagarna i Stockholms skärgård står inför. Rapporten har skrivits inom ramen för Interreg-projektet Archipelago Business Development och omfattar en inventering av skärgårdsföretagarnas behov, utmaningar och möjligheter i Stockholms skär­gård.

Undersökningen har bland annat gjorts genom gruppintervjuer med företagare på Dalarö, Ornö, Sandhamn och Utö. Därutöver har enskilda in­ter­vjuer genomförts med företagare i fem olika kommuner. Geo­grafiskt fördelas urvalet på Stockholms södra och mellersta skärgård.

City tourism, with its unique character and image, has increased considerably over the last decades. At the same time, the complexity of destination development and image marketing has increased, and there is a lack of analysis tools for image positioning. The purpose is to investigate city destination image and character as prerequisites for destination mar­keting and development and how the image and character position can be analysed. City destination character, visitor destination image and visitor segments are used as the main theoretical framework.  An exploratory qualitative study approach has been chosen with an image case study of destination Stockholm. Qualitative interviews were conducted with the visitor segment international students and destination specialists. The study shows that desti­nation specialists have assessed a combination of city destination characteristic areas, which can be developed. Furthermore, visitors have a mind­set of several image aspects and holistic expressions for city destinations that can be used in destination marketing to change the current image position into the desired one. In order to determine a desired position, six analysis dimensions have been found useful: Desired positioning, Demand and supply, Visitor segmentation, Destination generalisation, Visit process and Expression type. The analysis dimensions are based on relevant dichotomous aspects. The effects of the used dimensions are called “positioning leverage effects”, and their main aim is to obtain a competitive advantage and to differentiate to other destinations.

Urban Ethnic festivals have positive impacts on the image of cities and countries (McClinchey, 2008) and create a sense of belonging among immigrant groups (Chacko, 2013). Every year, a Tuesday in the middle of March and after 17:00, Iranian Fire Festival is held outdoors in the center of Stockholm and Göteborg. It is financed and organized by Riksteatern (The Swedish National Theatre). In Stockholm it is held in the King’s Garden park, 500 meters from the parliament, and it is used to be opened either by some Swedish ministers or by the Prime minister. This is not a big event in international comparison; it can be classified as local event and it is held when it is still very cold in Sweden. The event lasts in 4-5 hours but draws thousands of audiences (mostly from the same city region) to these two simultaneous arrangements. The audiences as well as the artists are mostly of Middle Eastern background (mostly Iranians, Kurds, Afghans) and there has been no report on ethnic Swedes among them over the years. This event, however, gets a huge attention from the Swedish media but also from some international media (Like Voice of America, Persian section) and Iranian diaspora media worldwide. In accordance with Getz et al (2007), many stakeholders are involved in this event; the Swedish governments, the event organization, municipality offices, many ethnic associations in Sweden, media, invited artists from Sweden and other countries, participants, sellers and volunteers.

The aim of this research is to get insight into this event, incentives behind it and the expected outcome of it from different stakeholders. Especially it is important to find out what interest different Swedish governments have since they support the event financially regardless of ideological belonging while the event’s own preconditions are not the best one.

The Stockholm Archipelago is classified as one of the less developed rural areas in Sweden. Although the Archipelago is located close to Stockholm, local inhabitants and businesses live in the shadow of the capital city. Over the last decades, a number of policy initiatives and development projects have been launched to support a sustainable socio-economic development in the Stockholm Archipelago, not the least by trying to decrease the dependence on the summer season for the creation of local income. But results have not been as positive as expected. In addition, it seems that inhabitants in some islands have managed to create a more dynamic environment and have achieved some successes, while inhabitants in other islands are still struggling with the same problems as they were 20 years ago. These differences cannot easily be dismissed as a result of differences in physical infrastructure.

By conducting a comparative qualitative and systematic study of the conditions for creating a sustainable socio-economic development in various islands in the Stockholm Archipelago this study will answer the following questions: What makes some communities in the archipelago vibrant and resilient and others less so? Which are the variations in pre-conditions for a vibrant and resilient development? What have previous policy initiatives and projects succeeded with? And when have they failed?

The article is based in an on-going case study in which project and policy evaluation reports have been analysed. In addition, a large number of in-depth interviews with business owners in the Archipelago, with policy officers in various involved municipalities and project coordinators have been conducted.

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to deal mainly with the participants’ perception of their attendance in publicly funded training programmes in the tourism industry.

Design/methodology/approach

The investigation is based on e-mail interviews with 12 employees in the Swedish tourism industry who have actively participated in such courses as well as some courses offered by private organisations.

Findings

The results show that the interviewees have a positive perception of their participation and they believe that their attendance has had an overall positive impact on them or on their businesses. Nevertheless, it is unclear whether their participation has had an extraordinarily positive impact on business outcomes in terms of subsequent increased turnover, greater productivity or sales, or an expanded customer base. Lack of time and money and the prevalence of unsuitable courses prevent business owners and their employees from attending such courses.

Originality/value

This research is the first Swedish qualitative investigation on the issue.

Political crises, which have a known impact on the choice of tourism destination, can also negatively affect the choice of second-home destination and purchase. The purpose of this study is to investigate why some Swedish-Iranian second-home buyers prefer Spain to Turkey for political reasons. More than 30 short dialogues were conducted with Swedish-Iranian buyers at the exhibition "Buying Properties Abroad" in Kista, September 2015, following the start of a series of political crises in Turkey. A simple question was asked: Why are you choosing Spain rather than Turkey? The most important category of reasons were political factors, followed by cultural reasons. Political anxiety, instability, and insecurity in Turkey, the risk of civil war, a police society, lack of democratic order, the fact that Turkey is not a member of the European Union, the government's negative attitudes towards Kurds, and the emergence of Islamic State were the political reasons most mentioned. One conclusion that can be drawn is that political crises affect second-home tourism/tourists in the same way that they do ordinary tourism/tourists. The research has some important implications for Turkish policymakers, tourism stakeholders at a macrolevel, their competitors, especially in Spain, and potential buyers. Based on this research, some suggestions for future studies are also given. 

Most tourists to Sweden come to urban areas, but a dilemma is that there is a lack of visitor attractions to offer experiences in the cities. Therefore, the shift from heritage being only preserved to also being experienced by different tourist segments is welcome.

Different tourist segments have their own unique heritage experiences. The “classical” experience aspects proposed by Pine & Gilmore (1999) can be used to explain the experience. However, special aspects of experience at heritage sites have been pointed out, such as Must See, Must Learn, Must feel and Must evolve (Poria, 2012).

Visit Sweden (2018) focuses on three tourist segments, such as Active family. Our empirical studies show that the experience-related motives of visit are somewhat different for these three segments. The study also shows that human senses are strongly connected to the experience, but the importance of the senses differ. Another empirical implication is that smart cities give prerequisites for what Mossberg (2007) call experiencescape.

The purpose of the present study is to clarify how tourists' experiences of heritage attraction can be analysed into aspects of experience for different segments of tourists, and how this may be further applied in the market segmentation. An overall case study method will be used to study three maritime tourist attractions.

The research contribution is to show how meaningful aspects of experience can represent the experience of heritage attractions for different target groups. This is based on that aspects of tourist experience can emerge from the sensory impressions (Agapito et. al, 2014). Ano­ther contribution is how these aspects of experience can be used in marketing segmen­tation using the smart city tourism concept. Finally, this research will hopefully give attraction developers new tools to market well-attended and efficiently marketed heritage attractions.

Tourism consumption in Sweden is booming, but it seems to be at a standstill in the Stockholm archipelago, and most businesses of all kinds in it are small. Therefore, an eu-Interreg-financed educational community engagement project aiming at business model development in the archipelagos of Turku, Åland (both in Finland), and Stockholm was launched, as Finland has a similar situation. In this paper, the foundations of the project, the literature on the issues of being rural and in the archipelago, and business models are reviewed and put in perspective through preliminary empirical results of the project, in while municipality and some business representatives have been interviewed. The rationale is that there is a weak scientific understanding of business models in use in the archipelagos. Methodologically, action research is being used in addition to document studies, with unstructured interviews and observations as the primary empirical methods. The primary results for which the empirical findings put light on the intersection of the abovementioned literature bodies are the impact of infrastructural and access problems due to isolation, as well as indications of a community split between second homes and permanent residents. The lifestyle-entrepreneurship jeopardises the economic well-being but enriches the social well-being of the population. The primary conclusions are that seasonality and second homers provide entrepreneurs with large output markets in season, but small ones in the off-season. The business equation cannot omit place since it is part of the social well-being of the lifestyle-entrepreneurs, which calls for further research into configurational approaches to strategy in an archipelago context.

People travel solo to a destination due to different push–pull pre-travel motivators (Yoon and Uysal, 2005). Travel to a city destination brings a series of positive or negative experiences (Walls et al., 2011) and creates a sense of overall satisfaction or dissatisfaction with the destination and the travel itself. Also, several functional and psychosocial characteristics of a destination such as hosts, locals, services, prices (Echtner and Brent Ritchie, 1991; Philip, 2005), contribute to satisfaction with a trip, but also create destination loyalty among visitors (Chi and Qu, 2008; Zhang et al., 2014) and this loyalty in its turn leads to a return to the same destination. The phenomenon of solo travel to city destinations is an un-researched topic in Sweden. This exploratory study is the first in Sweden to focus on solo travellers visiting city destinations. The study aims to gain more insight into the phenomenon and attain more knowledge on the topic. The study employed a questionnaire consisting of qualitative and quantitative items. In all, 21 individuals (12 women, 9 men) responded. They were mostly well-educated, the majority were younger than 35, more than half were single and more than half reported travelling alone once or twice a year. The majority had a travel budget of SEK 10–20,000 per trip and the rest had a budget below SEK 10,000. They normally took flights and the majority went away for more than one week up to several weeks. The most important reason for solo travel was own free choice and in some cases difficulty finding companions. This result is coherent with earlier studies (e.g. Heimtun and Morgan, 2012; Mehmetoglu, 2004). Their loneliness gave rise to forced but positive socialization (e.g. Chiang and Jogaratnam, 2006; Laesser et al., 2009). Their activities at the destinations were mostly visiting attractions and they mostly mentioned advantages with solo travelling. They showed overall satisfaction with their travels, destination loyalty to one or several city destinations and wished to revisit them again and again. This finding is also partly or fully coherent with many earlier studies (e.g. Walls et al., 2011; Echtner and Brent Ritchie, 1991; Philip, 2005; Baloglu and McCleary, 1999; Beerli and Martin, 2004).

Abstract from the presentation of:

City destination image

- How destination characteristics can be interconnected with visitors' destination image

Göran Andersson & Saeid Abbasian

Tourism Studies, Södertörn University, Sweden

Email: goran.andersson@sh.se

Destination Management Organisations (DMO) package the city image into a clear brand in order to attract foreign visitors (Eringa & Zhou, 2015). Still it is a complex task to analyse visitor segments' image experiences (Stepchenkova & Mills, 2010). Unique characteristics of tourism destinations are exploited by DMO:s and tourism companies, such as their identity (Valls et al., 2012), in planning and marketing products for different visitor segments. Besides, big cities are typically more well-known and organised destinations which opens for new forms of image marketing (Lucarelli & Berg, 2011).

The purpose of the research project is to investigate the characteristics and interconnected images of a city destinations; and visitor segments' experiences of city images based on image attributes. A multidisciplinary approach with an explorative purpose is used. The theoretical framework consists of city destination characteristics and images, image experiences, and visit motivators.

Typical characteristics and visitor segments were identified in the case of destination Stockholm in our pilot study. The results have been used in a qualitative investigation about the city image and its attributes, and also visitor's image expectations and experiences. Furthermore, an overall case study of Stockholm city will be conducted.

The knowledge contribution relates to new city destination characteristics connectivity to images. Furthermore, the image impact on visitor travel motivators before and after visiting the destination. A model will be developed about “visitors' image positions”, based on the visitors' assessment of destination image attributes. This knowledge will support tourism companies and DMO:s to develop image marketing tools.