Tourists and Communities in Rural Festival Encounters: A mutually beneficial relationship?

Abstract

In this thesis, I have aimed to make visible how small-scale festivals in rural areas, despite minimal direct economic impact, are important for the development of tourism as well as the benefit of local communities. Fifty-six festivals were mapped in Finnmark County, Norway. Knowledge of these 56 festivals created a platform for their further study using five case studies. Research was conducted in a cumulative way, where each study highlighted new questions. In the research, the need to understand festivals from two different research traditions was emphasized: one from the basis of identity and tradition, the other from an event management perspective. This dual perspective was necessary to be able to capture the complexity that festivals hold. At the same time, this two-fold approach, created new knowledge, pointing out some important insights related to the relationship between tourism and festivals. This thesis identifies `new` tourism roles represented by tourists participating as volunteers or participants in the core activities of festivals. The thesis also identifies the integrative role that festivals have locally, both as an important identity marker, and as a starting point for the development of new tourism products created by lifestyle entrepreneurs. The research that informs this thesis emphasizes the challenges faced in balancing how festivals in small rural places deal with such complex phenomena: the different and seemingly contradictory activities. The thesis examines the role of festival encounters, created in a rural area, where old identities are preserved and strengthened, and new identities are constructed during meetings between tourists and residents. The thesis focuses on how event start-ups may act as a catalyst, and enable the growth of new meeting-place(s) for those directly involved in events, other stakeholders, and for other events arranged during the same time period. Finally, the thesis emphasizes how events enable encounters between events and the tourism industry, leading to an increased product capacity for winter tourism in a rural destination. The findings in this thesis contribute to the development of knowledge related to the mutually beneficial relationships from which both festivals and tourism could continue to flourish.