Lecture tour in Ofoten
Published 12 October 2026
The museums and libraries in Ballangen, Kjøpsvik and Narvik invite you to a lecture tour with Arne Håkon Thomassen from the Sami Parliament!
23 September 2024
Mobility and transport. Regenerative tourism. “Build better”. Sustainability. Smart destination development. COD. Cultural industries and tourism. The Nordland Route. This and even more was the theme of this year’s “Tourism Arena Nordland” conference. The conference took place in Bodø on 17 and 18 September. This year’s overarching theme was “Smart destination development – a joint effort”. At the heart of the conference is Nordland County Council’s strategy for tourism and experiences.
(picture above: County Mayor Eivind Holst opened the Tourism Arena Nordland)
Tourism arena Nordland
Tourism Arena Nordland is an annual conference that Nordland County Council organizes in collaboration with Northern Norwegian Tourism. Different, topical topics are put on the agenda, for inspiration, discussion and common benefit for the participants. The participants are often actors who work in or with the tourism industry, in adjacent industries, cultural industries, in the policy support system, municipalities or county authorities. Tourism Arena Nordland is a meeting place for both large and small players. This year, the conference was opened by County Mayor Eivind Holst.
Regenerative tourism
Nordland County Council has designed its own strategy for tourism and experiences. The strategy introduces a regenerative perspective on tourism and community development. Regenerative means a tourism industry that has the ambition to contribute to the renewal of resources and to create positive added value for local communities, the climate and the environment. “Build better” is often said.
Ann Heidi Hansen, special advisor at Innovation Norway, gave us an introduction to what regenerative tourism is – or can be. The term is probably new to most of us, and not at all precisely formulated correctly yet. In short, regenerative tourism means that as a tourist, or in the case of planned, adapted tourism, you make the places visited better than when you arrived (regenerative” can of course also be linked to other industries than tourism).
There were interesting conversations around the topic, e.g. in relation to whether a company engages in “greenwashing” (i.e. appears better than it actually is in relation to the environment and sustainability), about the markets/customers’ willingness to pay and interest in regenerative tourism, about the need for a collective effort to succeed – and more.
Destination management and visitor management
We also gained insight into different ways of working with destination management. With destination management, we can understand a holistic system that takes care of the place’s needs in relation to being a destination. It is not only about trail marking and protection, but also about planning work in the public sector, cooperation between actors, understanding of some of the factors that can form the basis for each place to be able to maintain control, facilitate value creation and safeguard and develop the site’s uniqueness. Among other things, Jannike Wiga (protected area manager in Vega) gave us an insight into the work being done in the World Heritage Area Vega to facilitate for both residents and visitors. The examples were interesting and the message clear: systematic work must be done to safeguard the distinctive character of places and to create room for development.
Cultural tourism and season extension
In Nordland County Council’s strategy for tourism and experiences, cultural tourism and season extension are also important development measures. Season extension does not come “by itself”. In order for a guest to come as a traveller – and for us as residents to thrive – good experiences must be created that are available all year round.
We heard about Via Querinissima; an art and culture project that aims to forge ties between Nordland and Europe. The project is a collaboration between Røst municipality, Bodø 2024 (European Capital of Culture) and Nordland County Municipality. Via Querinissima is based on the Venetian merchant Pietro Querini’s experiences on Røst at the end of the 1400s.
Our own Hege (Head of Communications at Museum Nord) gave the audience an insight into how Museum Nord works with tourism in our business and how we take part in the opportunities and challenges of tourism. Many of the visitors are interested in learning about how we live; both before, now and tomorrow. Museums are arenas for knowledge-based experiences. If the museums are interesting enough, visible enough and accessible, guests may choose to visit the museums.
Museum Nord has succeeded in having many, year-round museums. This creates value; Both in the form of guest experiences, in the form of being able to offer work all parts of the year, and in the form of offering the rest of the tourism industry something to do for its guests. This will create great value, in many ways.
Skrei – economic ripple effects
SKREI will open in 2026. Hege gave a review of what SKREI will become; that the Otolith is now under construction and not least about the great values that SKREI wants to create.
The value creation of SKREI is great. Reference was made to the report from Menon Economics, which has concrete figures on what SKREI will bring to the region economically. In addition, there was a lot of talk about the importance for the tourism industry in general of SKREI becoming a year-round, “weather-independent” attraction that offers knowledge-based experiences that are attractive to the desired visitor target groups.
It is nice and inspiring that the audience thinks SKREI is interesting and impressive. The Hurtigruten Museum and other museums were also highlighted as good examples of museums that are exciting for an international audience, as well as the local audience.
The Nordland trekking trail – nordlandsruta
The conference took part in the pre-premiere of Zdeno Dvorak’s film about the Nordland route. The Nordland Route is a continuous hiking route along the length of Nordland’s mountain areas.
The route is a total of approx. 650 km, has 42 accommodations and can be walked in 43 stages. The Nordland Route is a collaboration between 6 tourist associations and about 20 other actors. Dvorak has made an inspiring film with very beautiful pictures from this fantastic route.
Transport and mobility, Visitor management, labour and competence
Through a series of interesting presentations, the conference heard about plans and news, challenges and opportunities related to the above topic.
Good facilitation requires awareness and willingness, knowledge and understanding of the users’ needs. Nordland County Council‘s specialist section for transport presented a number of updates related to the “Travel” app, ticket bookings and more. Among other things, Nordland County Council’s travel services are on the same platform as most of the rest of the country.
Knut Bjørn Stokke (Associate Professor at NMBU – Norwegian University of Life Sciences) briefed on the results and status of the work to anchor “visitor management” as part of the planning work in Norwegian municipalities. Hin Hoarau Heemstra gave us an exciting insight into concepts and discussions about the “green shift”. From a sustainability perspective, growth must be about qualitative growth, not quantitative growth. Who benefits from tourism in the local communities? Who is included, how can we include everyone, who benefits from different types of tourism – and so on. The need for continuous innovation and associated innovation management was also highlighted.
The Nordland Tourism Arena programme was comprehensive and gave the audience the opportunity for reflection and discussion. We thank Museum Nord for the opportunity to present SKREI at the Tourism Arena Nordland.