Bakgrund: År 2030 ska Stockholm vara en storstad och en evenemangsstad i världsklass, detta i enlighet med Stockholms stads Vision 2030. Fram till dess ska bland annat mål för ökad företagsamhet och utveckling inom turismnäringen, ökad kvalitet inom utbildning och ett ökat samarbete mellan den privata och offentliga sektorn uppnås och förverkligas. Stockholmsarenan är en del av visionen, som en pusselbit i den infrastruktur som behövs, för att uppnå status som en evenemangsstad i världsklass. Syfte: Syftet med denna kandidatuppsats är att erhålla ökad förståelse för hur de inblandade aktörerna i Stockholmsarenaprojektet tillsammans skapar en ny evenemangsdestination och göra den till en framgångsrik punktdestination. Vi ämnar belysa de utvalda faktorerna och hur de påverkar utvecklingen av Stockholmsarenan samt hur arenaprojektet påverkar sitt direkta närområde och Stockholm som destination. Frågeställning: Vilka förutsättningar inom faktorerna plats, marknadsföring, säkerhet och miljö samt ekonomiska resurser lägger grunden för en framgångsrik utveckling av Stockholmsarenan? Hur ser kommunikationen och samarbetet ut mellan de olika aktörerna i projektet med Stockholmsarenan? Hur påverkas området runtom Stockholmsarenan och staden i sig av en satsning som denna? Metod: Kvalitativa metoder har använts under arbetets gång genom djupintervjuer, litteraturstudier och kvalitativa dataanalyser av den insamlade empirin för att besvara problemformuleringarna. Intervjuer med offentliga aktörer inblandade i projektet samt privatpersoner som direkt påverkas av arenaprojektet har utförts. Teori: Uppsatsens teoretiska referensram omfattar teorier gällande; destinationsutveckling, storstadsturism, information och effektiv kommunikation samt teorier om NIMBY, sportarenor och sportevenemang och hur de påverkar sin omgivning. Slutsats: En rad faktorer påverkar hur framgångsrikt projektet Stockholmsarenan blir. Ett väl fungerande samarbete, en välplanerad kommunikation inom projektet och ut mot allmänheten samt även långsiktiga planer och strategier är av stor vikt. Författarna tror att Stockholmsarenan, tillsammans med Stockholm Entertainment District, på lång sikt kommer att gynna Stockholm som evenemangsstad. / Background: In the year 2030 Stockholm is going to be a metropolis and a city of world class events, in accordance with the City of Stockholm's Vision 2030. Until then, among other objectives for greater entrepreneurship and development in tourism, increased quality in education and increased collaboration between the private and public sector must be achieved and realized. The Stockholm Arena is part of that vision, as a piece of the infrastructure puzzle needed to attain the status of being an event city of world class. Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to obtain understanding of how participants in the Stockholm Arena project work together to create a successful event destination and point destination. We intend to shed light on the factors that influence the development of the Stockholm Arena as well as how the project affects its immediate vicinity and Stockholm as a destination. Questions at issue: Which circumstances within factors of location, marketing, safety and environment as well as economic resources lay the foundation for the successful development of the Stockholm Arena? How does the communication and collaboration between the different participants involved in the project with the Stockholm Arena manifest itself?  How does a building project like the Stockholm Arena affect its immediate area and the city itself? Method: The authors of this thesis have conducted qualitative interviews. The interviews include people from the companies involved in the building of the Stockholm Arena and local residents in the near vicinity of the arena. Theory: As theoretical framework the authors have used theories of; destination development, urban tourism, information and effective communication as well as theories of NIMBY, sport arenas and sporting events and how they affect their environment. Conclusion: A number of factors influence how successful the Stockholm Arena project will become: good cooperation, a well-planned communication within the project and towards the public and also long-term plans and strategies. The authors believe that the Stockholm Arena together with the Stockholm Entertainment District in the long-term will promote and benefit Stockholm as an event location.

Beer, brewing, and the public house have been celebrated institutions in English culture for centuries. The drink occupies a venerable position in the gastronomy of most regions and is an integral component in the lives of many. There is an emerging literature on culinary tourism as an increasingly important element of cultural tourism. Local cuisine can be used to distinguish unique tourist regions from their competitors in an ever-globalising world. While wine tourism in particular has been studied quite thoroughly in recent years, beer tourism has been largely neglected. The purpose of this study is to explore the current state of, and potential for beer tourism in Yorkshire, England. Beer tourism can be described as “visitations to breweries, beer festivals, and beer shows for which beer tasting and experiencing the attributes of a beer region are the prime motivating factors for visitors” (Plummer et al. 2003). Through the use of a mail survey, short interviews, participant observation and secondary data collection techniques the author explored the extent to which local breweries use beer tourism practices; the specific beer tourism techniques being used by breweries in Yorkshire, and their perceived benefits and limitations; the partnerships, alliances and cooperation that may exist between the brewers themselves, and the tourism and hospitality industries; if and how tourism stakeholders draw upon beer and brewing to promote and market the region to tourists, and the role that brewers may play in this process. The author also made recommendations for brewery managers and regional marketing boards based upon relevant academic literature and the specific findings of this study. The author makes note of numerous findings on participation rates for breweries in tours and beer festivals, the perceived benefits and limitations that beer tourism has for brewers, and research on the branding and marketing of Yorkshire beer. A detailed typology of breweries based upon their relationship and degree of integration with the tourism industry is introduced. Furthermore, a tentative hypothesis based upon a brewer’s rationale for involvement in tourism and the size and success of that brewery is presented. This hypothesis must be empirically tested in future research to determine its acceptability. The author also presented a detailed review of the relevance of wine tourism literature for the field of beer tourism. It was found that although the two forms of beverage tourism share many commonalities, there exist as many differences. This comparison ultimately emphasises the importance of developing a specific beer tourism literature. It is hoped that the findings of this beer-specific research may be used by others with a keen interest in beer and tourism to undertake additional studies in the field. This study solely investigates the links between beer producers and the tourism and hospitality industry in Yorkshire, England. A similar study in an alternative setting would most likely yield interesting results. Furthermore, additional studies on beer and tourism should take the size, brewing output capacity, and possibly the revenue of a brewery into account in order to investigate potential differences between breweries’ tourism strategies based upon their size and success in their market.

Purpose – Target of this study is to develop a social media framework, the essential “ingredient” for a social media concept for the destination Usedom. The following question is in the centre of this investigations attention:  How to create awareness and dialogue by using Social Media for the destination Usedom taking into account the new Usedom Welcome Visitor Centre that will be open 2011? Methodology/approach – Mainly, an observational approach as research method is used to answer the research question, collecting empirical data not by questioning respondents, but by observing different forms of activity. Writing about social media, to use the Internet for observational research is natural and can be further enhanced due to the accessibility and retrieval of information and cross-validation of the information available from several sources. Findings – Social media marketing eliminates the middlemen and provides destinations with the unique opportunity to have a direct relationship with their customers. In today’s knowledge-society where people want to engage – want to be active – want to create content on their own people talk: online and offline - positive or negative – with or without the destination NOT participating is NO option. In case of the isle of Usedom, the Social media concept should be of listening and outreach character. As a holistic marketing approach where “everything matters” is needed for destinations, online and offline activities need each other. In addition to social media marketing even search engine optimisation, ad words and target mails are important tools for a successful online strategy. Research limitations/implications – Most important is the time limitation. The validity period is limited. A Social Media framework of today is not the social media framework of the future. Social media is changing rapidly. New channels appear - others disappear. Moreover, another limitation is the subjectivity: the author of this study observes the Internet in accordance to the research question and allocates a sample pursuant to her knowledge and experience. Practical implications – Aside from the destinations’ website being adapted by social media elements, Facebook serves as ideal tool to nurture relationships between the customer and the destination by being creative, honest and assessing competitors as partners. As one of the easiest and most versatile social networks for professionals today, Facebook is a profile and presence aggregator, channelling all online activity through one main hub and combining almost every online social tool that can be used. Originality/value – Targeting the destination Usedom, but also being applicable for other German tourist destinations, this study provides both: a theoretical and with ideas filled framework to create awareness and dialogue by using social media as complement to traditional marketing activities. Being the first investigation that has been done for the destination Usedom in the field of social media, this study aims to inspire other tourist destinations as well as students to learn about social media and to further investigate in this field.

Children are an often overlooked and understudied population group, whose travel needs are responsible for a significant number of trips made by a household. In addition, children’s travel and activity participation have direct implication for adults’ activity-travel patterns. A better understanding of children’s activity-travel patterns and the linkages between parents and children’s activity-travel needs is necessary for accurate prediction and forecasting of activity-based travel demand modeling systems. In contrast to the need to examine and model children’s activity-travel patterns, existing activity-based research and modeling systems have almost exclusively focused their attention on the activity-travel patterns of adults. Therefore, the goal of this research effort is to contribute to the area of activity-based travel demand analysis by comprehensively examining children’s activity-travel patterns, and by developing a framework for incorporating children within activity-based travel demand modeling systems. This dissertation provides a comprehensive review of previous research on children’s activity engagement and travel by focusing on the dimensions characterizing children’s activity-travel patterns and the factors affecting these dimensions. Further, an exploratory analysis examines the weekday and weekend activity participation characteristics of school-going children. The study focuses on the overall time-use of children in different types of activities, as well as on several dimensions characterizing the context of participation in activities. In addition, the dissertation discusses the treatment of children within current activity-based travel demand modeling systems and conceptualizes an alternative framework for simulating the daily activity-travel patterns of children. An empirical analysis is undertaken of the post-school out-of-home activity-location engagement patterns of children aged 5 to 17 years. Specifically, this research effort utilizes a multinomial logit model to analyze children’s post-school location patterns, and employs a multiple discrete-continuous extreme value (MDCEV) model to study the propensity of children to participate in, and allocate time to, multiple activity episode purpose-location types during the after-school period. Finally, the paper identifies the need and opportunities for further research in the field of children’s travel behavior analysis. / text

Today’s metropolitan areas see changes in populations and land development occurring at faster rates than transportation planning can be updated. This dissertation explores the use of a new dataset from the location-based social networking spectrum to analyze origin-destination travel demand within Austin, TX. A detailed exploration of the proposed data source is conducted to determine its overall capabilities with respect to the Austin area demographics. A new methodology is proposed for the creation of origin-destination matrices using a peer-to-peer modeling structure. This methodology is compared against a previously examined and more traditional approach, the doubly-constrained gravity model, to understand the capabilities of both models with various friction functions. Each method is examined within the constructs of the study area’s existing origin-destination matrix by examining the coincidence ratios, mean errors, mean absolute errors, frequency ratios, swap ratios, trip length distributions, zonal trip generation and attraction heat maps, and zonal origin-destination flow patterns. Through multiple measures, this dissertation provides initial interpretations of the robust Foursquare data collected for the Austin area. Based upon the data analytics performed, the Foursquare data source is shown to be capable of providing immensely detailed spatial-temporal data that can be utilized as a supplementary data source to traditional transportation planning data collection methods or in conjunction with other data sources, such as social networking platforms. The examination of the proposed peer-to-peer methodology presented within this dissertation provides a first look at the potential of many-to-many modeling for transportation planning. The peer-to-peer model was found to be superior to the doubly-constrained gravity model with respect to intrazonal trips. Furthermore, the peer-to-peer model was found to better estimate productions, attractions, and zone to zone movements when a linear function was used for long trips, and was computationally more proficient for all models examined.

En stor andel av Sveriges skatteberäknade inkomster genereras av besöksnäringen. Sverige har på grund av denna närings kraftiga ökning skapat en nationell strategi för både staten och näringslivet. Ett av nyckelorden i denna strategi handlar om hållbar destinationsutveckling, vilken ska öka fler av landets destinationers konkurrenskraft på ett hållbart sätt för att tillsammans skapa en starkare konkurrenskraft för Sverige internationellt. Roslagen är en region som består av fyra kommuner, varav tre av dessa kommuner har bildat ett destinationsbolag som heter Visit Roslagen AB. Denna undersökning fokuserar på hur planeringen gällande besöksnäringen sett ut över tid i regionen Roslagen. Den belyser även hur denna planering ser ut idag gällande samarbete och kommunikation mellan den offentliga samt den privata verksamheten. Undersökningen beskriver även hur planeringen kring Roslagens besöksnäring styrs idag av bolaget via avtal med kommunerna, och hur vida denna utveckling anses vara den bästa lösningen för regionen. Slutligen undersöks även hållbarhetsaspekterna av hur destinationen utvecklas och styrs. I denna undersökning används en kvalitativ metod och ett hermeneutiskt synsätt. För att undersöka planeringen av Roslagens besöksnäring användes primär och sekundär data. Denna primära data består av intervjuer med Norrtäljes och Östhammars näringslivschefer vilka under lång tid och fortfarande arbetar med besöksnäringens utveckling samt är med och säkerställer att bolaget Visit Roslagen sköter det som avtalet anger. För att få en bredare bild av Roslagens planering har även Visit Roslagens VD intervjuats. Den sekundära datan består bland annat i en tidigare undersöknings intervju av Visit Roslagens projektansvarige och några tidningsartiklar samt en beskrivning av avtalen mellan Bolaget och kommunerna. För att bilda en förförståelse i ämnet destinationsutveckling har tidigare forskning och facklitteratur använts kring destinationsutveckling, planering och management, intern och extern kommunikation samt identitet och image, slutligen i teoristycket beskrivs effekter och hållbar utveckling av besöksnäringen. Slutsatserna i denna undersökning visar att Roslagen över tid har fått ett stakare samgående mellan det offentliga och privata genom initiativ av den offentliga verksamheten som först var de som stod för planeringen av destinationsutveckling i regionen. Den nationella strategin var betydande i denna utveckling, och skapade motivation till att bilda ett bolag för denna typen av utveckling. Bolaget har ett avtal med varje kommun. Kommunernas avtal liknar varandra och innebär att bolaget ska sköta; -turistutveckling, -turistservice, -marknadsföring och -försäljning. Den påverkan som kommunen har på bolaget är genom avtalen som sedan följs upp av de två kommunernas näringslivsansvariga. Utöver avtalet sköter bolaget all planering kring besöksnäringen själv. Kommunerna anser att denna bolagisering av besöksnäringens planering är bra för att den blir mer långsiktig då inte olika politiska förändringar kan påverka olika utvecklingsbeslut i regionen, utan att det istället finns en långsiktig planering som enligt avtalen ska i samråd mellan besöksnäringen och det offentliga via avtalen mellan kommunerna och bolaget. Slutligen kan Roslagens planering kring destinationsutveckling anses som hållbar då det finns en planering och ett ökande samspel mellan de offentliga och privata aktörerna på destinationen. Med denna planering ökar sannolikheten att sociala och miljömässig hållbarhet skyddas då dessa faktorer är det besöksnäringen tjänar pengar på. / A large proportion of Sweden's tax estimated revenue generated by the tourism industry. Sweden is due to this nutritional sharp increase created a national strategy for both government and business. One of the key words in this strategy is on sustainable destination development, which will increase more of the country's destinations' competitiveness in a sustainable way in order to create a stronger competitiveness in Sweden and internationally. Roslagen is a region that consists of four municipalities, three of these municipalities have formed a company called Destination Visit Roslagen AB. This study focuses on the planning regarding the hospitality industry seen over time in the region Roslagen. It also illustrates how this design looks today regarding cooperation and communication between the public and the private business. The study also describes how the planning around Roslagens tourism industry is controlled today by the company through agreements with municipalities, and how far this development is considered to be the best solution for the region. Finally also examines sustainability aspects of the destination developed and controlled. This study used a qualitative approach and a hermeneutic approach. To examine the planning of Roslagens tourism used primary and secondary data. The primary data consists of interviews with Norrtälje and Östhammar business leaders who for a long time and still work with the tourism industry development, and is with and ensures that the company Visit Roslagen care what the contract states. To get a broader picture of Roslagens planning also Visit Roslagens CEO interviewed. The secondary data consists, among other things, in a previous interview survey by Visit Roslagens project manager and some newspaper articles and a description of the agreements between the Company and the municipalities. To form an understanding of the topic destination development has previous research and literature used on destination development, planning and management, internal and external communications as well as identity and image, finally, in theory, paragraph describes the effects and sustainable development of the tourism industry. The findings in this study show that Roslagen over time have received a stakare merger between the public and private initiatives of public affairs who first were those who stood for the planning of destination development in the region. The national strategy was significant in this development, and created the motivation to form a company for this type of development. The Company has an agreement with each municipality. Local government agreements are similar and means that the company will manage; -turistutveckling, -turistservice, -Marketing and sales. The influence of the municipality of the company is through the agreements which are then followed up by the two local business managers. In addition to the agreement the company manages all planning on the tourism industry itself. Local authorities believe that this incorporation of the tourism industry planning is good for it to be more long-term when not various policy changes could affect various development decisions in the region, but that it instead is a lngsiktig planning under the agreements should be made in consultation between the tourism industry and the public through Agreements between local authorities and the company. Finally, Roslagens planning on destination development considered sustainable when there is a planning and an increasing interaction between public and private actors on the destination. With this planning increases the likelihood that social and environmental sustainability are protected when these factors are the hospitality industry makes money.

Vi ses fram på torget är en uppsats som berör attraktiva mötesplatser i det offentliga rummet. Den postmoderna människan söker återigen kontakt med andra i det offentliga rummet men saknar möjligheten att interagera. Till stor del fokuserar därför uppsatsen på social interaktion mellan invånarna och hur den kan underlättas på offentliga mötesplatser. I teorin finns användbara begrepp, vägledning och idéer för hur attraktiviteten ökar. Här behandlas även hur offentliga mötesplatser påverkar den enskilda invånaren och kommunen. Mötesplatser i det offentliga rummet kan ge invånarna välmående, hälsa och tillfredsställelse. Genom exempelvis engagemang och kvalitet knyts ett band mellan människan och kommunen. Om invånaren känner tillhörighet och lojalitet på platsen förstärks dess identitet. Kommunen kan därmed öka i konkurrensfördelar och värde för turister och invånare.Syftet med uppsatsen är att ta fram en ny modell som kan ligga till grund för utvecklingen av mötesplatser i det offentliga rummet. Modellen utgår från teorier och existerande modeller inom event, marknadsföring och stadsutveckling. Modellen Att skapa attraktiva mötesplatser i det offentliga rummet tas fram, prövas och utvecklas i uppsatsen. Det här är en fallstudie applicerad på torget i Lidköping. I empirin får fokusgrupper, bestående av kommunens invånare, diskutera kring attraktiva mötesplatser, interaktion och Lidköpings torg. De uppskattar trygga och levande platser med möjlighet för aktivitet, interaktion och avkoppling. Attribut som sittplatser, naturliga element och event efterfrågas av fokusgrupperna.I uppsatsen framgår att modellen Att skapa attraktiva mötesplatser i det offentliga rummet är användbar vid utvecklingen av mötesplatser i det offentliga rummet. Utifrån genomförd studie kan hela modellen fyllas i med invånarnas åsikter och förslag. Därigenom är modellen ett användbart verktyg som kan utvecklas och användas i nutida och framtida forskning. En större empirisk undersökning bland invånarna i Lidköping är att rekommendera för att kunna generalisera det resultat studien presenterar på populationen. Uppsatsen presenterar hypotetiska förslag på hur en attraktiv mötesplats kan utformas på torget i Lidköping. Modellen är även tillämpningsbar på andra platser. Forskningsområdet är nu påbörjat och öppnar upp för vidare arbete med Lidköpings kommun. / Vi ses fram på torget (Local expression of Lidköping for ‘meet you at the square’) is a thesis about attractive meeting places in public spaces. The post-modern person is once again searching to connect with others in public spaces but is lacking interaction opportunities. Therefore this thesis is largely focusing on social interaction between town inhabitants and how to favour it in public meeting places. In theory there are concepts, guidance and ideas on how to increase the attractiveness and effectiveness. It also covers how public meeting places effect the individual inhabitant and the municipality at large. Meeting places within public spaces have the possibility to give its inhabitants increased well-being, health and satisfaction. Through, for example; involvement, quality and safety strings are attached between a human and the municipality. If the inhabitant is experiencing affiliation and loyalty to the place itself it enhances its identity and strengthens mutually beneficial interaction. The municipality could consequently increase its competitive advantage and value for tourists and it’s own inhabitants.The purpose of the thesis is to create a new model that can form the basis for developing meeting places in existing public spaces. The model is based on previously un-tested theories and existing models of events, marketing and urban development. The model Att skapa attraktiva mötesplatser i det offentliga rummet (To create attractive meeting places in public spaces) is designed, tested, developed and expanded in the thesis. This is a case study applied to the Lidköping square. In the observed focus groups, consisting of inhabitants of Lidköping municipality, discussion focused on attractive meeting places, social interaction, and the Lidköping square itself. A set of empirical findings to use as a study base was the object of the exercise. It was generally found that people appreciate places that are safe and alive with possibilities for activities, interaction and relaxation. Attributes such as seating areas, nature elements and events are requested by the focus groups.This thesis argues that To create attractive meeting places within existing public spaces is a useful development tool and enables productive meeting places within public spaces. Based on the performed study the model is successfully filled in with the inhabitants opinions and suggestions. With some modification and further empirical study the model will be a useful tool that can be developed and used in current and future research. The thesis presents hypothetical suggestions on how to actually create an attractive meeting point at the Lidköping square. The model is also applicable to other places. This field of research is now started and opens up for further work involving the Lidköping municipality.

Syftet med vår studie är att först ta reda på hur reseföretag har han-terat en katastrofsituation på en destination för att sedan kunna hitta strategier som ter sig lämpliga kring marknadsföringsarbetet för att locka tillbaka resenärer till den drabbade destinationen. Vi har valt att fokusera vår uppsats kring tsunamikatastrofen 2004 och hur olika reseföretag har gått till väga för att vinna tillbaka sina kunders förtroende. Vi har i denna uppsats valt att använda oss utav en kvalitativ me-tod med en abduktiv och fenomenologisk ansats då vårt syfte är att undersöka fenomenet tsunamikatastrofen 2004 i Thailand och ta reda på hur reseföretag har hanterat katastrofsituationen. Den abduktiva ansatsen har varit central under arbetets gång då vi har kompletterat teorin allt eftersom empirin vuxit fram. Vår empiri består av fem stycken kvalitativa intervjuer med personer som har stor erfarenhet och kompetens inom det undersökta området. Vi har utgått från en modell som förklarar hur återhämtnings-processen för en destination bör gå till och implementerat denna modell på reseföretag. De marknadsföringsfaktorer som vi under uppsatsens gång sett vara extra vitala är relationen med kunder samt relationen med media för att kunna återhämta sig efter en kris. För fullständig slutsatsdiskussion hänvisar vi till kapitel sju. / The aim of this study is primarily to explore how travel companies have managed certain crisis situation on a destination to be able to adopt appropriate strategies to be used when marketing such desti-nation with the purpose to reclaim their customers. We have cho-sen to focus this paper on the tsunami disaster in 2004 and how different travel companies handled that situation when trying to regain their customers confidence. We have chosen to use a qualitative method with an abductive and a phenomenological approach as our aim with this study is to investigate the phenomena of the tsunami disaster 2004 in Thail-and and in which way travel companies handled this situation. The abductive approach has been fundamental when working with this paper as it made it possible for us to update the papers theory as the empirics has grown. Our empiric approach includes five qual-itative interviews with people who have a lot of experience compe-tence within the area we chosen to investigate. We have built this paper upon a model that explains how the reco-very period at a crisis destination should be handled and used this model on travel agencies. The marketing strategies that we have found fundamental during this period and essential for travel agen-cies to be aware of are those relating to the customers and media in order to recover from a crisis in the best possible way. We would like to refer the reader to chapter seven for our complete version of conclusions.

Greece is a well-known and recommended summer destination since the 1800’s. Greece have has its ups and downs however, travelers have always visited the country. When the economic crisis hit the country a reduction in the numbers of travelers and how those travelers spent their money differently became visable. In social media Greece were presented as an unattractive and unsafe destination to be in. Despite that Greece has developed and went from a stagnation phase to a rejuvenation phase. The Greek economy crisis hit the country hard and Greece did not want to lose its largest source of income – their travelers. In order to not lose their travelers Greece needed help. Theories such as push and pull factors, SWOT-analysis and Butler’s sequence model will be presented and used on Greece as a tourist destination in need of development. In order to approach this problemareas, selected theories and interviews have been the key factor. By including previous research that touches the problem areas, situations can be explained. The previous research will help readers to see on similar ways of handeling crisis problems that have been brought to the surface because of the crisis. Deeper interviews have been done with Apollo, the Greek National Tourism Organisation, students at Södertörns University and also infomers at an event about Greece here in Stockholm. This dissertation will show that Greece was considered being an attractive destination before and also during the year of the crisis, according to its travelers. Travelers did indeed travel to Greece, however, they did not spend much money or time at the destination as earlier. That requiers a re-attraction of travelers and their spendings. In order to re-attract travelers, Greece has to work with its image, marketing and promotion. The figures in this dissertation will show what has to be done, and how to follow some crisis management steps in order to prevent this situations of happening again. As any destination has areas to improve, so has Greece.

Although Georgia has experienced dramatic increases in the number of visitors over the past decade Swedish travellers are absent in the arrival statistics. Visitors from Eastern Europeans account for the majority of the increase in arrivals. This thesis attempts to understand what is missing in order for Swedish tourists to discover Georgia as a destination. This is done by interviewing Swedish tour operators and surveying Swedish visitors to Georgia. The results are analyzed in the framework of Leiper’s theory of destination competitiveness. A SWOT analysis is also used to structure the analysis, and the thesis suggests some benchmark measures that could be used to implement a systematic effort to improve the destination. The thesis concludes that Georgia indeed has a strong attractiveness on Swedish tourists, but that the main problems are connected with low awareness and lack of convenient transportation options. It is argued that these problems can be solved through improved marketing and entrepreneurship. Furthermore, the thesis highlights the need for Georgian destination managers to make choices today in order to shape the image of the country in the future. Georgia has a challenge to strengthen the authenticity that many travellers associate with the country, but is in a position to modernize by preserving traditions. Finally, it is argued that the results from this study are generalizable to include preferences of travellers from Western Europe in general, and therefore the study points to some significant opportunities available to Georgia.