Inclusion has become a notion that is used across several discourses and practices involved in tourism development, such as place branding, tourism planning, community-based tourism, and sustainable tourism. This transition can be seen as a response to the criticism of tourism’s impact on host societies (Bianchi, 2009; Greenwood, 1977), the tendency of large, often multinational corporations to create products only attainable to privileged groups (Zapata Campos et al, 2018), and that tourism contribute to one-dimensional and stereotypic images (Bruner, 2005; Harvey, 1989; Salazar, 2012), which reduce places to monocultures and fails to represent diversity (Jernsand & Kraff, 2017; Osanami Törngren & Ooi 2022).
Discussions on inclusiveness revolve around the importance of meeting local needs, increasing social welfare (Burgess, 1982; Harvey, 1989) and recognizing the plurality of places through a diversity of narratives (Björner & Aronsson, 2022). To achieve inclusion and functional collaboration, important elements are fairness, moral principles, behaviour, responsibility, or duty from the part of tourism providers, DMOs, academia and other actors (Kraff & Jernsand, 2022; Phi & Dredge, 2019). An inclusive perspective also acknowledges the involvement of residents, marginalised groups, NGOs, and social enterprises in tourism development, and recognizes how and under what terms people participate (Biddulph, 2018; Jernsand, 2017; Jernsand & Kraff, 2017; Kraff, 2018; 2020). For instance, recent definitions of inclusive tourism emphasise that people, independent of their ethnicity, gender, class, age, and other social, physical, and intellectual abilities, have the right to participate fairly in the creation of tourism products and benefit from them, as well as be able to experience them (Cañada 2018; Nyanjom et al., 2018; Scheyvens & Biddulph, 2018).
The Nordic countries are often associated with social sustainability, equity, and inclusion, with key concepts like consensus, solidarity, democracy, freedom, social cohesion and gender equality (Cassinger et al, 2021). Collaborative governance and networked and participatory approaches have been emphasized in and beyond the Nordic context (Cassinger & Eksell, 2017; Lucarelli & Berg, 2011; Lucarelli & Brorström, 2013). In SJHT, researchers investigate inclusive tourism from different angles, such as accessible tourism online resources (Domínguez Vila et al, 2019), resident and tourism relations (Helgadottír et al, 2019), the evolution of community-based tourism (Lindström, 2020) and the importance of transparent and participative communication (Haavisto & Linge, 2022).
Inclusive tourism has the potential to contribute to sustainable destinations, cities, regions, and nations, as well as establish equitable practices, contribute to intercultural exchange, and create multidimensional destinations. However, further investigations and conceptualizations are needed. This special issue aims to gather voices that contribute to a nuanced and deepened understanding of inclusive tourism. We call for investigations from various perspectives and multiple disciplines. Innovative empirical, conceptual, and methodological contributions are welcome, through explorations of, e.g.:
- How the plurality of tourism products and destinations are communicated, represented and experienced in terms of e.g. cultures, ethnicity, gender, age, class and other social characteristics.
- Challenges and opportunities met in tourism development processes that aim for diversity, equality, and participation.
- Strategies for the development of inclusive tourism and stakeholders’ response.
- Co-creation between different stakeholders and actors in the tourism ecosystem that aim for inclusion.
- Systematic literature reviews on inclusive tourism.
- Definitions of inclusive tourism, e.g., founding principles, delimitations and what separates it from other related concepts such as sustainable tourism, responsible tourism, collaborative and participatory tourism development.
- Critical perspectives on inclusive tourism.
- New methods to study inclusion in tourism development.
