Tourism, research, and governance on Svalbard: a symbiotic relationship

The tourism industry, research activities, and governing institutions are often seen as three very different, independent, and partly antagonistic activities and sectors – tourism as pure profit-pursuing, research as indifferent to business, and governing as controlling both. In this paper, it is argued that this is not the case on Svalbard, where a symbiotic relationship exists between the three sectors. Tourism to the islands emerged in the wake of the exploration of the Arctic in the late 1800s, but for a long period tourism rates were low, mostly due to a strict environmental regime supported by researchers in the natural sciences as well as the government. However, tourism has increased over the past 20 years, partly due to changes in the relationships between the tourism industry, researchers, and governing bodies. The involvement of research in different types of governance and its influence on tourism development will be demonstrated using theories of modern governance as points of departure for an analysis of the current situation; how tourism has provided governors with activities to govern and researchers with a rationale for comprehensive research activity. This case study shows how a symbiosis between tourism, research, and governance can be seen to emerge.