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New Issues in Polar Tourism pp 189–203Cite as

National Parks for Tourism Development in Sub-Arctic Areas: Curse or Blessing?

The Case of a Proposed National Park in Northern Sweden

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Abstract

National parks in peripheral areas are often promoted as tool for regional development and a way of restructuring resource-based economies into tourism. Though not always embraced by local communities, tourism businesses are generally expected to be in favor of new park establishments. However, the coalition between environmentalists and tourism entrepreneurs has recently been challenged. The purpose of this chapter is to analyze discourses regarding the establishment of national parks in Arctic areas. This is done regarding the proposed Vindelfjällen National Park in northern Sweden. Using discourse analysis of media debate, public documents, and interviews, it is demonstrated that struggle over national parks is not only about tourism development but also wider concern regarding the management of Arctic environments. In this context it is not possible to simply classify stakeholders in local, national, and international. Interests differ in both arenas and mirror rather a general struggle over control of northern areas. Hence, tourism development is used just as an arena for negotiating issues of governance and power.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Swedish national parks are classified as parks according to the IUCN category II. The discussion in this chapter refers to this type of protected area, mainly.

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Acknowledgement

The research presented in the chapter was financed by the Swedish Research Council (VR) and the MISTRA Arctic Future Program. The support is hereby gratefully acknowledged.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geography and Economic History, Umeå University, SE-90781, Umeå, Sweden

    Dieter K. Müller Ph.D.

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  1. Dieter K. Müller Ph.D.
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Correspondence to Dieter K. Müller Ph.D. .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. , Department of Geography and Economic His, Umeå University, Samhällsvetarhuset, Plan 3, Umeå, SE-901 87, Sweden

    Dieter K. Müller

  2. , Department of Geography and Economic His, Umeå University, Samhällsvetarhuset, Plan 3, Umeå, SE-901 87, Sweden

    Linda Lundmark

  3. , School of Outdoor Recreation, Parks and, Lakehead University, Oliver Rd. 955, Thunder Bay, P7B 5E1, Ontario, Canada

    Raynald H. Lemelin

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Müller, D.K. (2013). National Parks for Tourism Development in Sub-Arctic Areas: Curse or Blessing?. In: Müller, D., Lundmark, L., Lemelin, R. (eds) New Issues in Polar Tourism. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-5884-1_13

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