Biodiversity loss is one of the pressing challenges of our time and deeply intertwined with tourism. Despite growing research interest, tourism studies struggle to establish a coordinated research effort on tourism and biodiversity. In this paper, we propose a tourism-biodiversity knowledge system based on an interdisciplinary integrative literature review of 136 scientific and 11 policy documents. By analysing the inputs, processes, forcefields, outputs and feedback loops of the system, we assess key factors shaping knowledge creation and the barriers challenging research trajectories. We argue that advancing research on tourism and biodiversity requires active reflection on the meaning of biodiversity, commitment to place-based approaches and the deliberate inclusion of tourism planners and destination stakeholders in the (co)production of actionable knowledge.

Providers of open access tourism products depend on visitors' compliance with funding models, a challenge amplified by geographic remoteness and by limited enforcement possibilities in destinations with recreational open access. This study investigates the case of two ski resorts in Sweden providing groomed trails for crosscountry skiing under open access through the allemansratt (Right of Public Access). Ski trail providers that prompt skiers to buy a trail pass operate in a legal grey zone due to the granted open access and are therefore dependent on skiers' compliance. Hence, understanding compliance with the funding model of open access tourism products becomes crucial for providers to maintain an attractive product. Through 17 semi-structured interviews, the study analyses skiers' compliance with trail pass systems for groomed trails and embed these into skiers' perceptions of user-fee models in open access contexts. Findings show that compliance often stems from a motivation to avoid conflict and negative emotions during possible spot checks despite undefined legal consequences. Personal interaction with trail providers seems to encourage compliance. Skiers tend to view groomed cross-country ski trails as commercial product rather than a common good. They also view trail passes as a risk of privatising access to nature.

Forests’ ability to provide opportunities for recreation is an important ecosystem service. This has prompted attempts to create indicators to assess forests' suitability for recreation, although hitherto with limited success. This study introduces a novel framework for indicators of potential and realised recreational values of forests, with a primary focus on Sweden and Fennoscandia. We divided forest attributes into intrinsic qualities (i.e. the structure and composition of the forest), extrinsic qualities (i.e. the location of the forest in relation to other components of the landscape), and facilitation qualities (i.e. the presence of recreational infrastructure). Using Fennoscandia as a case study, we performed a literature review to find specific indicators of recreational values, as well as evaluate the current availability of spatial data suitable to map the forest qualities on a national scale. The most important intrinsic quality we identified was tree size/age, whereas for extrinsic quality it was proximity to water. Systematic monitoring of recreational use is essential to estimate realised recreational values. The conceptual framework proved to be a valuable tool for identifying potential indicators, and applying it in other regions is likely to yield useful outcomes.

Following the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, most European countries imposed lockdowns, whereas Sweden introduced soft restrictions. Sports and physical activity could continue if conducted 'safely' and outdoor activities were even promoted if restrictions on the number of participants were not violated. The aim of this article is to demonstrate how the pandemic led to transitions and transformations of typical indoor sports activities to the outdoors and to outdoor recreation, or what we call an outdoorification process of sports and recreation, and how the changes were perceived by the population. Sweden is used as a case study. The inquiry is based on three studies involving more than 100 semi-structured interviews, two national questionnaire surveys and a regional-based PPGIS study. Based on the results, we argue that the outdoorification process is likely to influence how sport and recreation is understood and practiced also in the years after the pandemic.

This article identifies innovations that are likely to take place in the nature-based tourism sector in the future. The authors do this with the help of an international expert panel representing a broad range of perspectives relevant to the nature-based tourism market, service provision, and the natural resources upon which this tourism sector depends. The diversity of expertise reflects the need for greater variety in data acquisition processes in innovation research, and the focus on nature-based tourism adds knowledge about a sector experiencing rapid development. The authors observe several key findings at the crossroads between the five main innovation categories identified: product packaging, new technology, business relations, outdoor activity, and learning. The nature-based tourism innovation system is more complex than tourism innovation in general, and of special interest is the learning category, which can support understanding of nature, value creation, and safety.

Experiencing nature represents a dominant driver for many tourists, and the nature-based tourism market has become increasingly diversified. Activity specialization is a concept that can facilitate understanding of diversified tourist preferences by differentiating tourist behaviour, skills and knowledge and commitment related to one activity on a continuum from casual to specialized. Using a hybrid choice model, this study examines how activity specialization as a continuum relates to tourists stated choices of tour package preferences. Respondents were recruited at prominent tourist destinations for birdwatching, mountain biking, and iconic site hiking in Norway. The results show relationships between specialization and package choice, as well as differences across activities. In the birder and mountain biking cases, the likelihood of opting for a package with skill-level customized guiding increases with specialization. More specialized hikers are more likely to prefer packages without guiding and with modest accommodation standard. Packages offering higher biking qualities are more likely to be preferred by more specialized bikers. Specialization can add explanatory power to nature-based tourism product choices and support development of products that meet the needs of tourists.

Wildlife watching tourism is an increasingly important niche within nature-based tourism. As this niche continues to grow, care must be taken how tourists interact with the natural environment. One way to manage such interactions is through high-quality guiding, which has been acknowledged as a key element of wildlife watching tourism. The guide’s role was first conceptualized by Cohen (1985), who divided it into the instrumental, social, interactional, and communicative components. While several studies adopt Cohen’s framework, it is also argued that there are elements to nature guiding which are not fully covered (Randall & Rollins, 2009). In this chapter, we investigate the guide’s role in the context of wildlife watching tourism, using Cohen’s framework as a starting point. We compare musk ox safaris in Dovrefjell, Norway to Polar Bear tourism activities in Svalbard, Norway and Churchill, Canada using data from travel party interviews, participant observations and content analysis of online reviews. Findings reveal two additional components to guiding wildlife experiences: The uncertainty component and the encounter component. Based on these findings, we suggest an expanded model of the guide’s role when guiding wildlife watching tourism activities.

Nature-based activities have become business constituents of increasing importance in the tourism industry. In this paper, trends in nature-based tourism with the largest commercial potentials are identified by means of surveys with 60 experts in five different countries/regions with a renowned nature-based tourism sector, collected in three rounds based on Delphi methodology. Results show that the trend categories with the highest impact on commercial opportunities within the next 10 years are related to health, sustainability, soft adventure, digitalization, and professionalization. The ability to recognize and deal with such prospects is a key element of an economically successful, but also environmental and socially sustainable nature-based tourism industry. Thus, the identified developments are of crucial importance to business managers, policymakers, managers of nature areas, and planning authorities.

This chapter discusses approaches to do foresights in outdoor recreation and tourism in nature, based on research from the Nordic countries. This region has a long-standing reputation for promoting outdoor recreation, with associated policies aiming to support this tradition for the benefit of future generations and environmental engagement. To do so successfully, one key input is improving the knowledge of outdoor recreational participation, associated trends, and future development. In this chapter, we therefore review different monitoring approaches to trend analyses as a means of forecasting participation and discuss supplementary approaches to foresight in outdoor recreation. We operationalize the Nordic context through studies undertaken in Finland, Sweden, Denmark, and Norway. Our examination shows that the tradition of national surveys and on-site visitor monitoring has proven effective. However, contemporary changes in society call for additional approaches to better understand future outdoor recreation. We therefore share experiences from several different approaches to foresight in outdoor recreation. This will inform future research as well as managers, entrepreneurs, planners and policymakers in their decision-making.

This paper reports results from three studies concerning outdoor recreation participation and trends during the Covid-19 pandemic in Sweden. The studies, undertaken at national, regional and local levels, used surveys, interviews and PPGIS approaches, to build a solid knowledge base. Results are analyzed with particular attention given to management and policy implications based on the following observations: increased outdoor recreation participation, changes in lifestyle and routines, new visitor profiles and activity trends, spatial changes, visitor displacement, spatial redistribution, and indications of post-pandemic outdoor recreation behavior. The Swedish case is of special interest because of high accessibility to nature areas and few restrictions to recreate in nature due to the pandemic. Hence, this study could serve as a reference for other countries with more Covid-19 related restrictions and less accessible nature for recreation.

Packaged tourism products at the destination level may provide several advantages for both tourists and service providers, but package planning, development and management require more knowledge about the increasingly diversified demand for current and potential nature-based tourism products. This study compares package attribute preferences from discrete choice experiments across three activity segments: birdwatchers in the Arctic North, mountain bikers at a skiing destination developing summer activity products, and hikers at an iconic site in Fjord Norway. Findings indicate package preference heterogeneity across and within the activity segments, and they provide a knowledge base for managers to make decisions on types of tourism products destinations should offer to increase economic and environmental sustainability in rural areas. The demand for packages and eco-certification indicated in this study may reflect an untapped potential in the current supply of NBT products and packages.

Nature-based tourism products are complex constructs delivered to satisfy increasingly diverse expectations from nature-based tourists. This is typically done by offering a mix of products and services related to the tourists' participation in various outdoor activities. This chapter provides a discussion about the nature-based tourism product from a supply perspective based on previous product models and data from interviews with tourism providers in Norway. We propose a two-layer model where the core includes primary experiences, which together with the place, the activity and the provider's dedication form the product foundation. Combined with the value-generating elements in the outer layer, this model provides an approach to better understand the value-adding experiences upon which the nature-based tourism product depends.

This chapter looks at the role of nature in special events, and the ways event managers integrate nature in the event design. We take the perspective of event managers to explore their awareness of ...

Abstract This chapter looks at the role of nature in cultural events and the role of event design in facilitating holistic experiences of nature and culture. The chapter focuses on understanding how the cultural narratives (content) are woven into the natural environment (context) and how this relationship is designed to give rise to the event experience. The study is based on theoretical insights from the fields of event studies and nature-based tourism and outdoor recreation. Empirically, the case is based on Norway, which currently experiences rapid growth in tourism flows as well as proliferation of a wide variety of outdoor events in its scenic natural landscapes. The empirical data come from interviews with outdoor event managers as well as a visual analysis of the websites of cultural events in nature.

Wildlife watching tourism show rapid growth worldwide and activities based on a variety of species receive increased attention in the tourism literature. Understanding the relationships between experiences, product delivery and the setting is particularly important in wildlife watching tourism, since the main attraction (wild animals) can be threatened if managed incorrectly. Research investigating the dynamics of participants' experiences, also beyond encounters with the target species, will help tourism providers develop more enjoyable products, that participants' will recommend to others. Using musk ox safaris in Dovrefjell Norway as our case, we examine this taking the tourism experiencescape model of Mossberg (2007) as a point of departure. Data were collected with a combination of participant surveys, on-site observations and interviews. Findings indicate that elements seen as individual aspects of the experience in other tourism settings are more connected in a wildlife watching context. We conclude that guiding and interpretation is a key factor for satisfaction in wildlife watching tourism.

This chapter provides an overview of nature-based tourism in a Nordic context, primarily looking at Norway, Sweden and Finland. Most of the world see the Nordic countries as a region characterized by common ideas and values like openness, trust and sustainability. The landscape includes iconic attractions with fjords, mountains and glaciers, as well as extensive forest and freshwater resources. Much of the region also share long traditions of outdoor recreation practices (friluftsliv) including the Right of Public Access which influence opportunities for nature-based tourism. This chapter provides a description of key characteristic of the Nordic region as a nature-based tourist destination. It covers the transformation from extractive and natural resource-based economies to service-oriented businesses through an emerging nature-based tourism sector. This includes the demand and supply of nature-based tourism product, relationship with nature protection, public access to nature and how to govern impacts from nature-based tourism.

Nature-based tourism is a highly dynamic sector and subject to many trends and changes. Based on a comprehensive literature review, this chapter identifies broad global changes, so-called megatrends, that affect tourism in general and NBT in particular. Data from an online panel survey with experts from five countries who were asked to recognize the most prominent nature-based tourism trends in a 10 years' perspective, is analyzed in the light of global drivers. The chapter concludes that issues related to sustainability, health and well-being, increased specialization and segmentation are the most noticeable and recurrent trends in nature-based tourism today.