Drive tourism is a popular form of tourism activity in rural areas. This phenomenon may be partly attributed to the predominance of road infrastructure in transport systems in rural areas, including those within the Nordic countries, and the limited or non-existent public transport alternatives. However, in view of the mounting concerns pertaining to environmental issues, there is a compelling need for research into sustainable mobility in the context of rural drive tourism, a subject that has thus far received scant attention in research. The present paper aims to address this gap in the literature. The empirical material has been derived from research conducted as a part of doctoral studies in four remote rural tourism areas in Sweden. The findings of this study provide valuable insights into the strategies that can be employed to promote sustainable mobility in the context of rural drive tourism. The analysis of the data indicates that initiatives aimed at promoting the use of electric vehicles in rural tourism areas could be a fruitful path to follow. However, it is important to acknowledge the current limitations in infrastructure to support such initiatives in rural tourism areas.
This paper explores how road infrastructure and the Icelandic Road and Coastal Administration (IRCA) shape the development of three branded tourist routes that rely on existing roads: the Arctic Coast Way, the Westfjords Way and the Volcanic Way. All three routes were developed to promote tourism dispersal, support communities in rural areas and encourage slower travel that strengthens connections with landscapes and communities, in line with broader sustainability goals. The analysis draws on semi-structured interviews with 14 stakeholders, including representatives from IRCA, regional Destination Management Organisations (DMOs) and municipalities. The interviews focus on planning processes, IRCA's role and collaboration between tourism and infrastructure actors. The findings indicate that although IRCA is widely regarded as an essential stakeholder in route development, its involvement has largely been reactive and focused on maintenance and safety rather than strategic planning. Stakeholders pointed to mismatched priorities, limited funding and a lack of formal coordination as persistent challenges. Overall, the study shows how road infrastructure, institutional roles and governance arrangements influence both the possibilities and limits of branded tourist routes in rural Iceland. It also highlights the need for stronger coordination between tourism and transport authorities.
This study examines whether the visitor experience in art tourism rests on coordinated strategic action between the cultural and tourism sectors, or whether it emerges from parallel and only partially overlapping orientations. Drawing on 31 strategic documents from art museums and destination marketing organisations (DMOs) in North-Western Europe, the study tests the experiencescape expectation of cross-sector coordination, revealing two structurally distinct clusters that reflect divergent priorities. Museums anchor their strategies in cultural preservation - collections, exhibitions, education and partnerships shaped by conventions in the art world - while DMOs prioritise tourism development, marketing and visitor economy goals driven by market-oriented logics. Although strategies in both sectors refer to "visitors" and "partnerships", the two fields attach different meanings to the terms, with limited cross-sector connectivity. The findings suggest that the art tourism experience does not typically rest on shared strategic foundations: where a shared language exists, it obscures rather than reflects strategic alignment. The study contributes to tourism scholarship by showing that the strategic divergence between art museums and DMOs is shaped by different institutional logics and conventions in the art world, challenging the experiencescape expectation of inherent cross-sector coordination.
Tourism must undergo a fundamental transformation if it is to align with climate targets. However, strategies in the sector have mainly prioritised eco-efficiency over more radical approaches. This paper brings the concept of sufficiency into tourism research - understood here as sustainability strategies that seek to reduce overall resource use and demand within ecological and social boundaries. Such strategies often conflict with dominant growth logics and may therefore require careful "navigation" to resonate widely. The aim of this paper is thus to understand how such navigation may be done. Focusing on the Western Sweden Tourism Board (WSTB) and its initiative, The Sustainability Stride (TSS), we investigate how a Destination Management Organisation - an actor well-placed to shape tourism development - engages with sufficiency-oriented forms of sustainability while operating within a promotional mandate. Using a qualitative case study approach and drawing on framing theory, we identify five dimensions of TSS in which sufficiency logics are present, and how WSTB utilises framing techniques to maintain alignment with sectoral norms. This paper contributes a new perspective to tourism research and practice by analysing how sufficiency can be framed and made actionable in destination-level strategies.
