Emerging post-Arctic tourism in the age of Anthropocene: case Finnish Lapland

Abstract

ABSTRACT Climate change is often considered as a looming apocalypse in the media and its impacts on the cryosphere are increasingly visible in the Arctic region. This apocalyptic future of the Arctic relates to a set of narratives associated with the Anthropocene, wherein snowy landscapes, glaciers and polar bears have disappeared. This has led to a trend called last chance tourism, which has become an evolving economic opportunity for tourism operators and local communities. In this conceptual article we propose an alternative vision for Arctic tourism development referred to as “post-Arctic tourism”. In order to illustrate the idea, we utilize Finnish Lapland (Arctic Finland) as an example based on existing literature. It is argued that post-Arctic tourism may be based on so-called dark tourism practices if the used and circulated hegemonic representations of the Arctic remain locked in cryospheric- and traditional winter-based imaginaries. This scenario is supported by a social spatialization process called “Arctification”, associated with active attempts to maintain the cryospheric gaze. It is therefore critical for tourism businesses, regions and tourism-dependent communities to rethink and re-invent their Arctic narratives, through “de-Arctification” strategies, allowing for a plurality of tomorrows and for Arctic tourism to become more sustainable and ethical.