Tourism is an increasing part of the social planning and should strive more towards sustainable development (Müller 2007). The municipality of Karlstad strives to become "The eco- friendly city" (Karlstad 2016a), which means that people are given the opportunity to live a good life in a sustainable way (WWF 2017). The study shows that cities today should strive to prioritize environmental and climate issues in relation to destination development. This study examines how units in the municipality of Karlstad prioritize and include environmental and climate issues in the work of making Karlstad attractive. How these areas affect each other, as well as how dialogues and collaborations appear in the municipality regarding environment and climate. The Regional Centre of Värmland, Karlstad, is a municipality that wishes to invest and create good business conditions in order to attract visitors (Karlstad 2016b). At the same time, Karlstad is one of the cities in Sweden that is at the forefront of the work on climate change (SIDA 2014). This study uses a qualitative approach, semi-structured expert interviews and qualitative document analysis of Karlstad's environmental and climate strategy and Visit Karlstad Tourism Strategic Destination Development Plan, deriving from a hermeneutical approach of understanding and interpreting the phenomenon environment and climate issues in relation to destination development. The study intends to answer questions about how and which environmental and climate issues that are prioritized in the municipality of Karlstad in relation to destination development, if there are any conflicts of objectives and the ways in which the various development units cooperate in these areas. The theoretical framework of the study processes areas that deal with the municipality of Karlstad, destination development, sustainable development, environment, and climate changes and conflict of interests which are the themes of the study. Based on the results of the study, one can conclude that in social planning, both tourism, and environmental issues have taken more space, which has led to the use of the concept development more widely. The environmental and climate issue that the municipality of Karlstad choose to prioritize is the transport area. The municipality is actively working to reduce motorism and focus on sustainable alternative solutions in the area to make the city more attractive. These initiatives lead to certain conflicts of interest within the development units, so it is important that there are collaborations and dialogues between them. In addition, the development units of the municipality of Karlstad use strategies such as work tools to help them achieve the goals pursued. / <p><strong>Uppsatsens betyg:</strong> Väl Godkänd</p>

What makes a small village grow fast to a large city in just a few decades? Could it be some sort of new industry that makes those villages proliferate? Maybe a natural resource has been found in the local area that creates a lot of job opportunities in a short span of time? Sometimes it is that people and entrepreneurs see the potential of the area to create a tourism industry in that place. The area might have the right conditions for maybe historical or nature sights - ski slopes, mountain hiking, fishing or other outdoor activities. The opportunities might be many, and just in a few years this location becomes the most popular tourist destination in the country. Business is flourishing, but what are the consequences when a place rapidly grows from being a small village to a big tourist destination? There are of course opportunities, but also a lot of challenges. This paper will examine what precisely those opportunities or challenges may be for a rapid growing tourist destination. To observe this phenomenon, this study has been conducted in Sälen in Sweden, the biggest skiing resort in all of Scandinavia. Sälen is a seasonal tourist destination, which gives this study a broader perspective on the topic of rapid growing destinations. The seasonal aspect has its own challenges and opportunities. To get a better understanding of this phenomenon, several big actors from Sälen have been interviewed. The empirical statements from these respondents will explain how the destination operates and what difficulties they see with Sälen and rapid growing destinations. This will then be mirrored and compared towards the collected theoretical studies. What do these previous studies that directly or indirectly say about this phenomenon? In conclusion, we have found that seasonal and rapid growing tourist destinations make balancing infrastructures, finding and hiring labor, maintaining a good image, meeting the demand with a range of activities and sustaining the environment a challenge. We have also found that if the different actors collectively work together towards a common goal, handling the change of rapid growing destinations becomes a lot easier. Working together with each other and the public sector gives opportunity for both social, economic and environmental sustainability.

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Tourism represents 10.3% of the global GDP. Moving abroad for holidays has never been simpler and cheaper. Destinations answer tourist's demands, they build more hotel complex, create new fun activities, provide more resources. This way of life seems paradisiac for visitors; however it does not look that good for local communities. Often left aside by capitalist corporations, their resources and environment are depleting, crowds of visitors invade their space and unsustainability is deeply rooted. The result is the installation of more inequalities and gap between social classes. An alternative to this Pandora's box was created about 50 years ago, although it only started to develop recently, claiming it is the solution to most of our environmental tourism issues: ecotourism. If you look for this type of holidays, you will find the Azores. Eight award winner as a green destination. It was decided this research would focus on its biggest island: Sao Miguel. One will investigate what is the reality behind the green curtain. To do so, the learning of local stakeholders towards ecotourism and how it affects their current actions and their sight for the future of the island's tourism will be explored.

Food culture emerges as a social culture and can be summarized through its historicaldevelopment process. The exploration of socio-cultural analysis of food with sociologicalapproaches has emerged in research due to the increased awareness of modern societies’motivations to discover other cultures through food. However, in the context of Sweden,limitations exist in analyzing the continuous ongoing process of a food product’s cultural valueand its potential ‘added value to local cultural expression. This research focuses on evaluatingPike-Perch’s culture value through its historical developed process and how utilization of theproduct has established present brand identity. By targeting the local stakeholder community, theperception of Pike-Perch’s recognized cultural value could be captured and utilized as addedvalue for local cultural expression. The stakeholder’s perspectives were collected via interviewsand observations through the geographical boundaries connected to the lakes of Mälaren andHjälmaren. The findings point towards a recent transformation of Pike-Perch market value,giving the fish a new sociological appearance. As a result, a change of traditional utilization hasreinvented/reproduced Pike-Perch with a different positioning within its socio-cultural setting.The stakeholders acknowledge the success in its development process that has establishedpresent identity; however, to the cost of preserving its intangible heritage. In return, thetraditional food culture appeared fragmented. By reintroducing traditional elements from the pastthat satisfy the imaginations and need for visitors to acknowledge its distinctiveness, the brandcould be strengthened and potentially justify its new market position. This research contributedto understanding the value of food culture from a stakeholder perspective and how post-modernsocieties influence its potential for sustainable destination development.

Wine tourism is a form of tourism that has grown in popularity in the last couple of decades and refers to tourism which aims to visit vineyards, wineries, and tasting or purchasing wine at or near the source of the wine. Destinations for wine tourism are often associated with warm climate countries which are dominant in wine production, such as Southern European, South and North American countries and Australia. Due to reasons such as climate change and the discovering of wine grapes that have the ability to adapt to colder climate, the production of wine has become possible in countries with a colder climate, among others Sweden. Research about wine tourism is mainly focused on the traditional warm climate countries, and despite Sweden’s wine industry existing for 20 years, there is a lack of research about this matter. The purpose of this study was to fill the research gap about Sweden’s wine industry, and to investigate what possibilities and challenges exist for Sweden to become a country suitable for wine tourism. The aim was also to analyze how marketing through social media platforms could promote wine tourism in Sweden.  Twelve qualitative interviews with owners of Swedish vineyards and other experts in the matter were conducted in order to collect empirical data. To provide a better understanding about this matter, a literature review of previous research on wine tourism and social media marketing was presented, as well as theories about the wine tourism product, sustainable development of wine tourism destinations and marketing theories as these were considered relevant for the study. Based on the empirical data, Sweden has various possibilities to develop in to becoming a destination for wine tourism. However, this development is challenged by setbacks that must be attended in order for the development to endure. According to marketing specialists, the marketing of the wine tourism industry in Sweden should be conducted through social media platforms in order to market the industry in an effective way. / Vinturism är en form av turism som har ökat i popularitet under de senaste årtionden. Vinturism innebär turism med syftet att besöka vingårdar, vinerier och prova eller köpa vin på eller i närheten av vinets källa. Vinturismdestinationer är ofta associerade med länder med ett varmt klimat och länder som är dominerande inom vinproduktion, exempelvis länder i Södra Europa, Syd- och Nordamerika samt Australien. Genom bland annat klimatförändringar och upptäckten av druvor som har möjligheten att anpassas till ett kallare klimat har vinproduktion blivit möjligt även i länder med kallare klimat, bland annat Sverige. Forskning om vinturism är generellt inriktad på traditionella vinländer med varmt klimat, men trots att Sveriges vinindustri har funnits i 20 år saknas det forskning om ämnet. Syftet med denna studie var att fylla luckan som finns i forskningen om svensk vinindustri och turism och att studera vilja möjligheter och utmaningar som föreligger för att Sverige ska bli en destination för vinturism. Syftet var också att analysera hur marknadsföring genom sociala medier kan stärka Sverige som en vinturismdestination. Tolv kvalitativa intervjuer med svenska vingårdsägare och övriga aktörer inom ämnet genomfördes med syfte att samla in empirisk data. För att skapa en bättre förståelse för ämnet presenterades en genomgång av tidigare forskning om vinturism och marknadsföring genom sociala medier, samt teorier om vinturismprodukten, hållbar utveckling av vinturismdestinationer och marknadsföringsteorier presenterades då dessa ansågs relevanta för studien. Baserat på studiens empiriska data har Sverige flertalet möjligheter för att utvecklas till en destination för vinturism. Däremot försvåras denna utveckling av utmaningar som bör åtgärdas för att utvecklingen ska kunna ske. Enligt marknadsföringsspecialister bör marknadsföringen av Sveriges vinturism ske genom sociala medier för att arbeta med marknadsföringen på ett effektivt sätt.

Syftet med uppsatsen är att undersöka hur skiddestinationsaktörer arbetar strategiskt hållbart i omställningen till året runt-destination. För att uppfylla syftet ämnar uppsatsen besvara frågor kring omvandlingsprocessen som behandlar möjligheter och utmaningar för en destination samt aktörers hantering av kommersiella kontra miljömässiga intressen. Uppsatsen bygger på en fallstudie där vi använde oss av Branäs skidanläggning som case. Studien har en metodologisk röd tråd där vi utifrån studiens problemställning har följt en tematisk modell där tre teoretiska teman; destinationsutveckling, planering och hållbar turismutveckling, varit vägledande genom hela studien, och således även utgjort studiens teoretiska ramverk. Studien genomfördes via fyra kvalitativa intervjuer med berörda nyckelaktörer för Branäs utveckling, samt dokumentanalys av ett planeringsdokument i form av en fördjupad översiktsplan för Branäsområdets utveckling. Det empiriska materialet har tematiskt analyserats för att identifiera mönster, skillnader och likheter i aktörernas svar som sedan ställts i relation till teori i studiens analyskapitel. I analysen har vi tagit avstamp i vårt teoretiska ramverk där vårt empiriska resultat diskuteras i relation till tidigare forskning för att därefter i slutsatserna besvara våra frågeställningar, som bygger på studiens tematiska modell. Studiens slutsatser indikerar att det finns såväl möjligheter som utmaningar i samband med säsongsbetonade destinationers omställningsprocess och hur olika intressen hanteras. Studien visar att en säsongsförlängning inte automatiskt leder till ökad hållbarhet. Trots att säsongsförlängningen kan ha stora fördelar ur ett ekonomiskt, socialt och miljömässigt perspektiv, så kan det även bidra med utmaningar och konsekvenser för miljön. Utmaningarna ligger främst i att beakta och balansera olika miljömässiga och kommersiella intressen. Utvecklingsprocessen kan samtidigt resultera i att en spänning mellan kommersiella och miljömässiga och intressen uppstår. Denna spänning måste hanteras tidigt i planeringsprocessen via dialog och samverkan mellan olika aktörer. Samtidigt spelar lagstiftning, vilket ibland upplevs som ett hinder i utvecklingsprocessen, en viktig roll för att balansera olika intressen och främja miljömässig hållbarhet. / The purpose of this paper is to investigate how ski destination stakeholders’ work strategically sustainable in the transition to a year-round destination. To fulfill the purpose, the paper aims to answer questions about the transformation process that address opportunities and challenges for a destination and stakeholders’ handling of commercial versus environmental interests. The paper is based on a case study where we used Branäs ski resort as a case. The study has a methodological common thread where we, based on the study's problem, have followed a thematic model where three theoretical themes; destination development, planning and sustainable tourism development, have been guiding throughout the study, and thus also constituted the study's theoretical framework. The study was conducted through four qualitative interviews with key actors involved in the development of Branäs, and document analysis of a planning document of the Branäs area. The empirical material has been analyzed thematically to identify patterns, differences and similarities in the actors' responses, which were then placed in relation to theory in the study's analysis chapter. The analysis has been based on our theoretical framework where our empirical results are discussed in relation to previous research. In the conclusions we answer our questions, which are based on the study's thematic model. The study's conclusions indicate that there are both opportunities and challenges in connection with the transition process of seasonal destinations and how different interests are managed. The study shows that extending the season does not automatically lead to increased sustainability. Although seasonal extension can have great benefits from an economic, social and environmental perspective, it can also contribute to challenges and consequences for the environment. The challenges lie mainly in considering and balancing different environmental and commercial interests. At the same time, the development process may result in a tension between these interests. This tension needs to be addressed early in the planning process through dialogue and collaboration between different stakeholders. At the same time, legislation, which is sometimes perceived as an obstacle in the development process, plays an important role in balancing different interests and promoting environmental sustainability.

The tourism industry has been faced with immense growth worldwide. Due to the industry being resource-heavy, this development has been problematic in terms of sustainable development. This has resulted in overtourism becoming the reality of multiple destinations, which have then faced ecological and social degradation. Therefore, it is important to explore alternative pathways toward sustainable development that do not prioritise growth. The pathway that will be explored in this thesis is degrowth. In the past, degrowth has been under-researched within tourism studies, especially in terms of practical solutions. This research aims to fill that research gap by exploring the compatibility of Icelandic tourism lifestyle entrepreneurs running small to medium -sized businesses in rural Iceland. But Iceland has been one of the destinations that have been faced with overtourism. This research is conducted by using an exploratory research design where data was collected through eight in-depth interviews with tourism lifestyle entrepreneurs across Iceland. The findings of this thesis suggest that while Icelandic tourism lifestyle entrepreneurs are compatible with the degrowth concept, it is important for the sake of sustainable tourism development to re-shift the focus away from growth and more towards well-being.

The aim of this study is to examine how Belgrade as a tourist destination was affected by previous political disorder during the 1990’s on the query of destination image, destination branding and destination development. The research also discussed how different actors in the public and private sectors work on the issue and how international tourists’ perspectives look like in relation to this topic. A qualitative method was applied through semi-structured and structured interviews with three actors within tourism sector, one from the public sector, and further 15 interviews with international tourists. The study's results show that Belgrade, as a tourist destination, was mainly affected by the civil war in the 1990’s. The war created a negative destination image, undefined destination branding and a non-sustainable destination development. The following led to, reduced number of incoming tourists and economic stagnation, which resulted in a lack of resources to invest in destination development. It created a negative destination image in a global aspect, and in addition to that international tourists usually associated Belgrade with insecurity and political instability. However, tourism started to increase following the new political regime approximately 10 years ago, when major efforts were made by both international and national investors. Accordingly, actors within various private and public sectors are involved in expanding tourism products, increasing marketing efforts and placing the destination on an international tourism market. / Syftet med studien är att undersöka hur Belgrad som en turistdestination påverkades av tidigare oroligheter under 1990-talet i frågan om destinationsimage, branding samt utveckling. Undersökningen berörde även hur olika aktörer inom den offentliga och privata sektorn arbetar i frågan samt hur internationella turisters perspektiv ser ut i relation till detta. En kvalitativ metod tillämpades genom semistrukturerade och strukturerade intervjuer med tre aktörer inom turismsektorn och en från den offentliga sektorn samt 15 intervjuer med internationella turister. Studiens resultat visar att Belgrad som en turistdestination påverkades i en stor utsträckning till följd av krigshändelserna under 1990-talet. Detta skapade en negativ destinationsimage, odefinierad destination branding samt att destinationsutvecklingen som var icke hållbar. Därmed minskade antal inkommande turister, ekonomin stagnerade samt att det resulterade i brist på resurser för investeringar i att återuppbygga destinationen. Detta skapade en negativ destinationsimage för omvärlden då potentiella turister associerade staden med osäkerhet och politisk instabilitet. Dock konstaterades det att turismen började öka i och med den nya politiska regimen, då ca 10 år sedan började det ske stora insatser från både internationella och nationella investerare. Därmed arbetar olika aktörer inom den privata och offentliga sektorn med att utöka sina turistprodukter och marknadsföringsinsatser samt placera Belgrad på den internationella turistmarknaden.

The purpose of this dissertation was to research into Sri Lanka’s tourism and study the development over the last five years, 2009-2014. The author did a small contradistinction between Sri Lanka and Thailand to see the difference between both countries in Asia. Following years was chosen because of the ended war in Sri Lanka. Interviews that have been done to accomplish this dissertation were expert interviews with three tour operators/agencies and two individuals. All five persons that were interviewed work within promoting or selling trips to Sri Lanka for Swedish travelers. Sri Lanka could be improved and market by using the 8P factors in the Marketing Mix by Morrison. Factors as Promotion, Partnership, Packaging and Impact should be prioritizing while promoting Sri Lanka as a tourist destination in Asia. During their development towards a tourism destination they have reached the Involvement stage in the Butler’s sequence model. They are developing roads, hotels and striving towards a better marketing and they will surely increase their inbound tourism as soon as the development is finished. / Syftet med uppsatsen var att forska om Sri Lankas turism och dess utveckling kring the senaste fem åren, 2009-2014. Skribenten har valt att göra en liten jämförelse mellan Sri Lanka och Thailand för att se vad som skiljer sig åt mellan båda Asien länderna. Fokus ligger på svenskarnas resor till vardera av länderna. Statistiskt har de fem valda åren undersökts och skribenten valde dessa år för att kriget i Sri Lanka slutade 2009 och man kan lägga fokus på att forska kring utvecklingen av turismen. Intervjuer, så kallade expert intervjuer, har gjorts för att slutföra denna uppsats. Skribenten intervjuade tre touroperatörer/resebyråer och två individer. Alla fem personer som blev intervjuade till denna uppsats jobbar med Sri Lanka genom att marknadsföra och sälja resor till svenska resenärer. Sri Lanka skulle kunna förbättras och marknadsföras bättre genom att använda sig av de 8P faktorerna ur Marketing Mix av Morrison. Faktorerna så som Promotion, Partnership, Packaging och Impact bör prioriteras vid marknadsföring av Sri Lanka som turism destination i Asien.