Utmaningar & möjligheter för snabbväxande turistdestinationer : Fältstudie av Sälen

Sammanfattning: 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.