Available online: https://pub.norden.org/nord2021-033/ As the impact of tourism has been growing globally and regionally, the forces at play in the industry have become more evident and contested. Before the COVID-19 pandemic forced a lockdown on the industry, tourism was one of the fastest growing industries in the world economy, with an important contribution to job creation, export revenue and domestic value added. While the pandemic has eroded infrastructures and innovative capacities, it has also made the need for new approaches and innovation more pressing. This report is an exploration of Nordic policies and practice with regard to monitoring the environmental, social and economic impact of tourism. It highlights expertise and best practices that already exist and makes observations and recommendations on how the Nordic countries can indeed “build back better” to create more sustainable and regenerative travel and tourism industries.

Recently, the Nordic countries have experienced a rapid growth in numbers of visitors. At some popular nature attractions this has resulted in crowding, environmental damage, costly rescue operations and overload on public infrastructure. Implementation of economic policy instruments have hence been suggested to secure a more sustainable development. While the applicability of e.g. entrance fees is restricted by the public rights of access, economic instruments tend to represent short-sighted solutions. Sustainable development requires holistic policies, which take environmental, social and economic aspects into consideration in a long-term perspective. To achieve a more sustainable development of tourism, it is suggested that a limited use of economic instrument should take place in combination with adaptive management strategies and available legal and administrative instruments.

Tourism is an important, growing industry in all the Nordic countries, but until recently, it has not had a particularly strong focus within the Nordic cooperation framework. This is changing rapidly, and the Nordic Council of Ministers has given a strong signal that increased emphasis should be placed on tourism issues within the Nordic framework. This project is a result of that important political prioritisation. The key objective of this project is to create a framework on which a Nordic Tourism Strategy can be established. Thus, the desired outcome of the project is to define future strategies and projects that will underscore common opportunities and challenges within Nordic tourism. The objective of a Nordic Tourism Policy Analysis is to provide valuable input to each country's work within tourism as well as laying a foundation for a common Nordic Tourism Policy.

An expert workshop on sustainability certification of tourist destinations was held at the Swedish EPA (Naturvêrdsverket) in Stockholm Tuesday the 11th of September 2012. The workshop in Stockholm built on a study, conducted in 2011 by Environice for the Nordic Council of Ministers. The aim was to explore and widen the recommendations from the earlier study with the target to create a professional and reliable foundation for further decision and policy making. The workshop was commissioned by the Nordic Council of Ministers' group on small communities (Smêsamfundsgruppen). This report includes a summary of the workshop's group discussions, followed by revised recommendations for future work, based on the workshop results. The main conclusion of the workshop was that the Nordic countries should develop a common Nordic system for sustainability certification of tourist destinations.

The working group on Sustainable Consumption and Production, under the Nordic Council of Ministers requested consultants from Gaia to identify, write out and publish best practice cases of sustainable consumption and production on the UNEP SCP Clearinghouse. This report presents nineteen initiatives that cover two particular themes: 1) Sustainable Lifestyles and Education and 2) Sustainable Public Procurement. The cases have also been added into the UNEP's 10 Year Frame-work Program (10YFP) information platform, the SCP Clearinghouse which is a concrete result of Rio+20. The objective is to enhance international cooperation in order to accelerate a shift towards sustainable consumption and production in developed and developing countries. The SCP Clearinghouse is a web-based information sharing tool, which can be used by different actors as an inspiration for advancing SCP worldwide.

The working group on Sustainable Consumption and Production, under the Nordic Council of Ministers requested consultants from Gaia to identify and write out best Nordic practice cases of sustainable consumption and production to be shared internationally within the UNEP SCP Clearinghouse. This report is the second part and covers in total 19 examples of two particular themes on: 1) Sustainable Tourism 2) Consumer Information The cases have also been added into the UNEP’s 10 Year Frame-work Program (10YFP) information platform, the SCP Clearinghouse. The objective is to enhance international cooperation in order to accelerate a shift towards sustainable consumption and production in developed and developing countries. The SCP Clearinghouse is a web-based information sharing tool, which can be used by different actors as an inspiration for advancing SCP worldwide.