”Det är omöjligt att vara en omärkbar turist, men vi uppskattar att du försöker” - en etnologisk studie om hur en turistupplevelse på Svalbard konstrueras

• Main Author: Hansson, Elin
• Format: Other/Unknown Material
• Language: Swedish
• Published: Lunds universitet/Avdelningen för etnologi 2016
• Subjects: Svalbard; Mindscape; Tourist Gaze; Wilderness; Nature; Cultural Heritage; Cultural Sciences; Norway; Protector; Sysselmann*
• Online Access: http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/8768885

Within this research project I aim to get a better understanding of how a tourist experience is constructed in an arena like Svalbard where there is a lot of different interests from different actors. By analysing travel forum discussions about Svalbard as a destination and complement them with my diary notes from the field trip to Svalbard, I come to the conclusion that the mindscape of tourists of Svalbard is focused on wilderness, polar bears and the climate change in chapter 2. Those characteristics of a perfect Svalbard experience also turn the tourist into a adventurer more then a simple visitor. In chapter 3 I give examples from my own experiences in Svalbard and how my mindscape was contradicted several times because of other interests. We understand how both Sysselmannen (Norway) and the Russian Embassy have interests in claiming Svalbard by showing activity and this is why so different interests have to work side by side. This explains how the contradictions I saw were a failure in finding dialogue between two actors on Svalbard having too different interests. In chapter 4 I try to give a bigger understanding of how Sysselmannens manage those conflicts in interests and how they try to meet up with the tourists expectations at the same time as the try to protect and legitimize the cultural heritages, the coal mining and the wilderness. By giving the tourist education on how to respect Svalbard and give restrictions on how to behave, Sysselmannen try to direct the tourist in a way to work parallel with other actors. These attempts are made to make everyone satisfied and make the tourist upgrade to become more of a co- protector of Svalbard.