Tourism development for revitalizing place : coping with change in Southeast Sweden

Abstract: Tourism has in many ways become the anchor ring of rural places to defend their local community in response to rural restructuring. When the employment capacity of traditional branches fades and the rural labour markets diminish, tourism becomes the rural totem in which people increasingly place their hope. Traditional tourism places have faced difficulties due to increasing competition and shifting tourism demand as well as impacts from climate and environmental change. Therefore, many rural places struggle to reinvent and reimage themselves to become competitive tourism destinations.This thesis examine perceived impacts of restructuring and environmental change on tourism in a rural and peripheral seaside destination. This is analyzed for the case of the island Öland in Kalmar County, Southeast Sweden. Central themes in the thesis are; reinvention of tourism and tourism places, camping tourism, rural labor markets, tourism business, environmental change and algae blooms.