Research

Nature based tourism
Nature is a key attraction factor for tourism in the Nordic countries and nature-based tourism is among the most rapidly expanding tourism sectors in many parts of the world. The mission of the nature-based tourism research program at ETOUR is to conduct research of high international quality from three main perspectives to provide knowledge for enhancing sustainable development of tourism and recreation based on natural resources:

• Outdoor recreation demand, trends and monitoring 
• Nature-based tourism supply
• Managing nature-based tourism resources

E-tourism research for developing, marketing, and managing tourism destinations
As being an information intensive business, travel and tourism, represents the largest sector within the e-Commerce domain. The mission of the e-tourism research program at ETOUR is to apply social science theories to analyse and understand emerging phenomena, like the diffusion of e-Business applications and ubiquitous technologies at destinations, ICT-induced efficiency gains, and effects of online advertising. More concretely, this program of research focuses on three interrelated areas: 

• Knowledge generation and application through methods of Business Intelligence 
• e-Market Research and Marketing in travel and tourism
• Conceptualization, implementation and impact evaluation of information and communication technologies prototypes in travel and tourism

Tourism’s economic, political, and spatial dynamics
Geographers are especially interested in the manner in which tourism influences places and their inhabitants, as well as issues like origin-destination flows. The primary objective of the group of human geographers is to embrace tourism as a geographic phenomenon, and undertake theoretical and empirical work, leading to outputs of a high international standard. Presently, at ETOUR there are three areas of specific interest within this research area:

• Tourism work and workers
• Tourism and Planning
• Tourism and Sustainability in Regions under Stress

Destination development, planning and management
As a multidisciplinary field, tourism – and specifically issues associated with destination development – is diverse and constantly evolving. The destination concept is a core yet diverse research theme at ETOUR. Many of the initiatives described below were initiated through ETOUR “seed funds”:

• Pop Culture Tourism
• Event Design and Management
• Other research topics such as tourism experiences, regional development, wind power and tourism, trends in tourism, and food tourism