There has been little research on tourism in those European countries or regions which lie outside the continent’s main centres of production and population, even though tourism may be one of the few economic options open to them. This volume aims to fill a gap by presenting a range of case studies – including northern Sweden, the Orkneys, the tip of Norway and northern Cyprus – on tourism in the peripheral areas of Europe. Taking as a leitmotiv the paradoxes inherent in developing places whose very attraction may lie in their lack of development, the case studies investigate and illustrate both the opportunities and the threats that tourism presents to peripheral areas. Although they share certain similarities, the cases also demonstrate differing approaches to tourism development and varying outcomes over time. They suggest solutions for dealing with, for example, community participation as well as providing practical insights into visitor perceptions of peripheral areas and into ways of marketing such areas in a sensitive manner. Together they provide a picture of the needs of peripheral areas and of how far and how best tourism can fulfil those needs.

Nature-based Tourism in Peripheral Areas provides a comprehensive examination of this form of tourism development as it occurs within alpine, forest, sub-polar, island, coastal and marine environments. This book goes beyond much of the debate surrounding ecotourism and the impacts of tourism in vulnerable environments to place nature-based tourism in a wider regional context, particularly when for many peripheral regions tourism remains one of the key opportunities for economic development. Therefore, a central theme that is present throughout many of the chapters is the role that nature-based tourism can play as the catalyst for larger regional development of regions. The book will serve as essential reading to senior undergraduate and postgraduate students taking courses in tourism and related degrees where the major focus is on tourism that occurs within peripheral regions. It will also serve as a key reference to researchers and professionals interested in the role of tourism as a regional development tool.

Limited land and resources, along with the overexploitation of tourism and multiple other factors, make peripheral and ultra-peripheral territories relevant cases for studying governance and sustainable development. This book presents case studies of European and Mediterranean regions to study regional development and territorial sustainability, strategic planning, and territorial management and governance. Written by experts in the field, the chapters contained herein provide the reader with a deep understanding, from several perspectives, of the dynamics, challenges, and opportunities of tourism in these specific territories.

Using case studies from North America, Scandinavia, Scotland, New Zealand and the Polar Regions, this book explores the use of tourism as a vehicle for regional development in peripheral areas. It identifies the core obstacles facing tourism in peripheral regions and highlights that tourism development in peripheries is not any easy task.

This book delves into the development opportunities for peripheral areas explored through the emerging practices of agritourism, wine tourism, and craft beer tourism. It celebrates the entrepreneurial spirit of people living in peri-urban regions. Peripheral areas tend to be far from urban hubs, providing essential services but also typically suffering from marginalisation and remoteness, despite the access to environmental, cultural, and social resources. In this sense, this book investigates the linkages between local agency and tourism in peripheral areas, the role of existing policies, and the evolving bottom-up practices in fostering local development. The basic aim is to disestablish the dichotomies that often emerge when dealing with issues of rural–urban and/or centre–periphery relationships; innovation vs tradition; authenticity vs mise en scène; agency vs inertia; and social, cultural, economic mobility vs immobility; etc. With focused attention on the possible compliance or conflicting strategies of local actors with the existing policies, the book considers how local actors and communities respond to the implications of peripherality in areas often impacted by marginalising processes. Drawing upon case studies from North America and Europe, this book presents this connection as a global phenomenon which will be of interest to community and economic development planners and entrepreneurs.

In this timely new collection of essays, an excellent roster of contributors bring new insight to a wide spectrum of topics related to tourism in frontier areas. The book focuses on international case studies as it discusses the economic feasibility of frontier tourist development, the tourist development of rural and urban settings, and the expansion of tourism to remote borderlands. The contributors highlight the potential, as well as the environmental, economic, bureaucratic, and cultural difficulties of peripheral tourism. This innovative and thought-provoking approach-with its wealth of detail-makes Tourism in Frontier Areas essential reading for scholars in tourist development, regional development, and economic geography.