Innovations in well-being tourism in the Nordic countries

Abstract

Innovation in tourism is an emerging research theme, and there is a growing understanding of the frameworks for and circumstances involving innovative activities in the sector. However, there is also a need to uncover the particularities of innovations in its sub-sectors. Based on case studies in Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden, this article investigates categories of product innovation in well-being tourism that ensure modernisation and quality improvement, aligning these with developments in the still more sophisticated tourism market. The article then outlines diversifications that expand the conception of well-being. In the Nordic countries, such diversifications comprise festivals and events, season-enhancing products and products for new target groups, for example, children. Third, the importance of technology supplies for the innovation of the well-being product is demonstrated. Integrating mobile devices and interactive media is of interest to Nordic operators, although the speed of development and implementation is hampered by a range of structural and institutional barriers. A fourth category of product innovations, institutional innovations, is then discussed, comprising collaborative structures that ensure new resource constellations. In Nordic well-being tourism, commercial success in the future calls for entrepreneurial muscle and public–private sector partnerships in capacity conjunction.