Tourism networking for regional place innovation in Swedish Lapland

Abstract

The article presents a case study of tourism networking in the regional destination Swedish Lapland, exploring how 'place innovation' can be used as a new scientific and practical concept to study co-innovative development of attractive and sustainable places. Drawing upon previous studies of inclusive innovation, place innovation and tourism destination development, it is distinguished how the networking among the involved entrepreneurs, designers, architects, destination management organisations, business promoters, municipalities, researchers etc., is characterised by negotiations in relation to the main components, target groups and innovation forms of place innovation. These encompass the components of configuration, content and communication, the target groups of visitors, residents and businesses, as well as the innovation forms of service innovation, user-driven innovation and social innovation. The specific set of interacting actors in the studied network made the negotiations result in a prioritisation of the commercial content over the public and civil content, of visitors over residents and businesses, and of service innovation and social innovation over user-driven innovation, affecting the prospects of attaining attractive and sustainable regional destinations.