The label is awarded on a commitment rather than achievement basis, meaning that labelled destinations are not yet fully sustainable, but have agreed to progress along the sustainability criteria and come under evaluation every 3 years. Thus, while sustainable tourism is a major priority, it is no surprise that, despite many efforts made by the Lofoten municipalities, several gaps and concerns remain. Some of these concerns are in regards to the small populations living in tourist-heavy pockets on the islands, difficulties with local-level funding to support tourist services, challenges to enforce the tourism code of ethics that keeps visitors accountable and responsible for caring for the destination, uneven distribution of tourism throughout Nordland County, and challenges with national level tourism regulations. This case study examines how the Lofoten Islands have worked with sustainability principles to foster sustainable tourism, with aims of maintaining environmental integrity and local community well-being, while also serving guests who travel from far and wide to visit the unique landscape.
The socio-economic context of Lofoten
The Lofoten Islands have a long history of fishing, which continues to be a major element in the coastal communities today, such as in Henningsvær, Kabelvåg,
Nusfjord, and Røst. Since the Viking Age, the culture and economy were built around fisheries, specifically for Arctic cod, or
skrei. But the fishing season (winter to early spring) has also been closely connected to a tradition of welcoming others into Lofoten. Traditionally, fishermen arrived from all over Norway to fish during this season, and the local people have historically received them. Therefore, the economic history of fishing in the islands has always been interwoven into the social and cultural fabric of tourism on the islands. While the fishing industry has continued, other major events and exhibition sites have also emerged that preserve the cultural heritage, such as the World Cod Fishing Championship, hosted in Svolvær since 1991. The activities celebrate both the economic history as well as cultural and natural history of the islands as a place where local inhabitants successfully developed techniques to live off the land and sea and formed cultural traditions of welcoming strangers in.
Today, visitors from all over the world travel to Lofoten and get a taste of this heritage through new avenues of tourism. While most people pursue the islands as a nature-based tourism destination for hiking and sea activities due to the dramatic natural landscape of the archipelago, the municipalities of Lofoten have also developed their hotel and restaurant offerings highlighting traditional stockfish dishes alongside the culture of the Norwegian coastal communities. An interviewee from Destination Lofoten noted the holistic approach to the travel industry in Lofoten, emphasising that the destination has, in recent years, shifted their approach towards guest satisfaction and providing higher value experiences that attract conscientious visitors who are willing to invest in a more profound type of tourism. Focussing on things like photography workshops, ski retreats, and Northern Lights safaris are some ways that Destination Lofoten works to shape and attract particular kinds of tourists—those who may stay longer and visit outside of peak-seasons. A representative from Nordland County also highlights how the municipalities aim to share their values of hospitality with visitors around the world, rather than viewing tourism as a financial exploitation of local culture. Local populations have inherited this tradition of hospitality as a way of life, baked into the identity of many of the fishing villages, such as Ballstad in Vestvågøy. Instead of orienting the municipalities towards tourists or towards residents, those working with tourism in the region emphasise that the two go hand in hand: places that are good to live are usually good to visit; if a destination is not a nice place to visit, it is probably not a nice place to live.
In some ways, tourism is a means of preservation—a way to keep the cultural heritage alive and to maintain pride in the landscape stewarded by and sustaining inhabitants for generations. Providing glimpses of this lifestyle is a way to continue historic practices and ideas still today. According to one representative from Destination Lofoten, tourism can enrich the life of the destination, and local populations are not threatened by, for example, losing their language, dialect, or cultural practices. And given the county-wide work with visitor management, the idea—at least in theory—is that local populations have a greater say in how and how many visitors come to Lofoten. Despite intrinsic challenges, the representatives from Destination Lofoten and Nordland County report that, on the whole, tourism is positive—both for locals and travellers. From a regional perspective, those working with tourism express that the kind of tourism offered in Lofoten is not a heavily commercial and transactional form, with aims of hosting hordes of tourists at a time; rather, the region has a slower approach where tourism should build up the local society—including those who don’t work within the tourism industry themselves.
One example of this is with regards to local services: through an increase in tourism, municipalities like Vestvågøy gain better transport connections (e.g., flight routes) and high-quality restaurants. And greater services in general also mean that the municipality is more attractive for young people to return and settle in the municipality after studying in cities like Oslo or Bergen. According to a regional representative, young people are, in some ways, victims of tourism in that this place they know as home is oriented towards tourism. But rather than driving people out of the region, young people are also responding to this reality by seeking new ways to build the tourism industry. The region is also working on improving the transportation sector to improve the flows of tourists throughout the Lofoten municipalities to enable, for example, better bus transport at low costs, which can benefit both tourists and residents.
The representative from Nordland County also stressed the benefits of the size and diversity of the 41 municipalities in the region. From a national perspective, the small municipalities are sometimes considered problematic—they are too small or too weak to support tourism, for example. However, the regional representative noted that these municipalities have unique cultures and strong identities, where locals are able to be involved, cope with, and, importantly, benefit from regenerative tourism opportunities.
But while welcoming visitors is a long tradition in this corner of Norway, the kind of hospitality required of local populations has changed over the years as the Lofoten Islands have become more popular with both domestic and international travellers. The interviewees from regional and local levels described the inevitable difficulties due to the number of visitors compared to local population. Vestvågøy is home to some of the most popular beaches and hiking destinations in Norway, but the local communities are dramatically overpowered by visitors. Based on measurements of car movements and hiking around the beaches of Uttakleiv and Haukland, visitors outnumber residents 30,000 to 1 in some areas. Despite some improvements to local services, the high numbers of tourists passing through these destinations places a substantial strain on small communities, the nature, and the local infrastructure. The roads along these northwestern coastal villages, for example, are quite narrow, and there are several small farms in the area. Visitors who come to park at the beaches or hike through the mountains create congestion on the roads, scare away the sheep, and create new demands for services like toilets and wayfinding that are not required by the locals alone. The municipalities need to cater to the needs of tourists and improve visitor experience by providing clear signs and knowledge that equips them while protecting locals from being infringed upon. While these concerns do not threaten local culture per se, they do impact residents’ daily life.
According to one municipal representative of Vestvågøy, inhabitants of many micro-communities (10-30 local residents) living in popular destinations often report negative perceptions of tourism compared to other parts of the municipality. Despite these areas attracting many visitors due to the natural landscape and hiking opportunities, few people in such communities are working with the tourism industry and therefore do not see direct benefits from visitors passing through. But even in some larger communities where more people work with tourism, the large-scale visibility of the environmental impacts of tourism are difficult to escape—for example, in the port of Leknes where cruise ships dock throughout the year.
In instances in where the locals feel encroached upon by the volume of visitors, the region is also working to support them with rules and regulations that enable some beaches, for example, to be protected or developed with local needs in mind. In some areas, locals have led the charge. By working with various actors and their municipality, they have established some fees for tourists to access natural areas, such as certain beaches that local residents want to keep clean and uncrowded. In other cases, residents have led initiatives to prevent camping in certain areas, or limited camping by tent, but not with a camper van or car. These kinds of initiatives are ways for residents to receive guests, but on their own terms. Importantly, local communities are not homogeneous groups, and while some inhabitants benefit from the increase in visitors—not merely economically but also socially—the crowds of tourists can also make other inhabitants feel like strangers in their own home.
Much of the tensions around tourism in the Lofoten Islands comes down to trust—trust between local inhabitants and visitors as well as trust between the local inhabitants and the municipality or county council. The sustainability coordinator from Destination Lofoten emphasised how those living in Norway, and particularly among large stretches of nature, have grown up with a sense of respect for the environment from an early age. Cultural norms like following the path or leaving no trace may be common sense for local inhabitants, but these ways of life are not always obvious to tourists who have not been exposed to these kinds of natural environments outside their front doors. The discrepancies create a lot of practical issues for the municipalities—like dealing with human waste in the rivers (which affects the water source). While cruise ships are often the most visible form of tourism in the key port towns of the Lofoten Islands, some of the major issues often come from those using motor homes and rental cars who camp or park in inappropriate areas. In some cases, ignorance or unfamiliarity with these natural environments can put tourists themselves at risk—for example, by not understanding what kinds of shoes or clothing may be necessary for safely navigating a hike. Some initiatives have been implemented to respond to these concerns, such as the Sporløs Lofotturisme project. Researchers from the Norwegian Institute for Nature Research (NINA) and the Norwegian University of Life Sciences (NMBU) worked to map the wastes problem in Lofoten, interview tourists about their experiences, and develop the foundations for a long-term waste management programme that helps make tourism more sustainable in the popular hiking destination of Lofotodden National Park, and elsewhere around Lofoten (NINA, 2021).
In addition to building trust between tourists and local inhabitants, there is also lack of trust between some smaller communities and the municipality or region when it comes to responding to tourism. Some civil servants are dedicated to bridging the gap between inhabitants of small communities and the municipality as well as the County Council in order to find better solutions and work towards common goals. Locals need to feel they are heard and that their suggestions are taken into account when it comes to questions of where tourists can go or how to place a cap on the volume of visitors passing through their communities.
Tourism governance structure in Lofoten
As a region, Nordland County established a robust tourism strategy (Strategi for reiseliv og opplevelser i Nordland 2023–2027) to guide the region towards regenerative tourism practices. While the strategy comes from a business perspective, it takes a holistic approach and aims for solutions that strengthen both the tourism experience and the sustainable development of the municipalities:
Regenerative means a form of tourism whose ambition is to contribute to the renewal of resources and create positive added value for local communities, the climate, and the environment. In other words, regenerative tourism takes sustainability further than trying to avoid damage or compensate for it. … The focus is on how visitors can help to leave a destination in better condition than when they arrived. This includes supporting local value creation as well as preserving local cultural and natural resources. (Nordland fylkeskommune, Forord)
This approach of regenerative tourism has emerged elsewhere around the world, but the Nordland County strategy is a breakthrough in Norway, especially with regards to integrating tourism into other sectors, such as transportation, education, and the environment. The strategy involved participatory processes via meetings with local actors and the tourism industry, municipalities, and politicians. And the regional representatives noted the importance of involving local leaders and considering local conditions when creating the strategy. For example, open meetings where local farmers could express concerns regarding overtourism and discuss how to receive guests in a different way. One such area is Vågan, a municipality of just under 10,000 residents that receives a high number of visitors, especially in the town of Svolvær and the surrounding mountains and pinnacles such as the picturesque Svolværgeita. The municipality aims to develop visitor management solutions that build up the local society while also supporting tourism. Insights from the local level were taken up in the regional strategic work to understand how tourists could be received in a more integrative manner that serves both parties.
The strategy also highlights how popular tourist destinations require innovative systems to respond to challenges and facilitate value creation for sustainable development. In some regions, this may be through regional actors that can build collaborative efforts for local development, visitor management, and marketing. Destination Lofoten is one example of this.
Destination Lofoten is a destination management company owned by a combination of stakeholders from the private sector (e.g., hotels, activity providers, restaurants, and experience companies) as well as the public sector (i.e., the six municipalities in Lofoten). The company has the mandate to work with visitor management, uniting place and tourism development, facilitation, comprehensive planning, and coordination among municipalities. Their aim is to “ensure development that is within the limits of what nature, landscape, environment, local community, and local culture can tolerate, while also providing a basis for healthy business operations and local value creation” (Visit Lofoten, n.d.-b)
One of the tangible efforts made by Destination Lofoten at the local level, has been the promotion of the Lofoten Code of Conduct (Box 3). Adapted from Norway’s national mountain guide rules, the Lofoten Code of Conduct is a way to present tourists with clear guidelines for how to engage with the natural and social environment of the Lofoten Islands. It guides visitors to make good decisions by educating them on basic principles for waste management, camping, and respecting local inhabitants. Destination Lofoten collaborates with Lofoten Friluftsråd to ensure the Code of Conduct is visible throughout Lofoten where tourists may be hiking or passing through.