Tourism place-making: Governance of Locality in Sweden

The presented argument comes from a frustration with the instrumental and de-contextualized view of tourism as a force of spatial change. Consequently, this article empirically illustrates the place-making agency of tourism by engaging with the mundane practicalities of producing geographical attractiveness. Place-making is investigated through four examples of destination developments with different rationales in Sweden. Using governance theory to identify stakeholder relations, it is shown how tourism makes place through different governance approaches. It is concluded that the place-making agency of tourism works across—and can be understood to annihilate—both socio-economic boundaries used to distinguish between political, business and non-profit agendas, as well as ontologizing ones such as those separating nature/culture, urban/rural and past/present.

► Tourism place-making is illustrated through the production of meaning in social practice. ► Different governance approaches in destination economies are shown to produce place. ► Tourism place-making is shown to work across organizational and economic boundaries.