Envisioning Proximity Tourism with New Materialism

The project explores the possibilities of proximity tourism; a valuable alternative for global mass tourism that emphasizes local destinations, short distances and lower-carbon transport modes travel. The research materials are collected through visiting forests in Finnish Lapland. More specifically, the project develops a methodological approach called participatory more-than-human ethnography that enables knowing with and learning from non-human-nature. The project has potential to produce significant societal effects by advocating proximity tourism as an ecologically sound form of tourism. It provides a novel narrative that is based on mutual care between humans and other earthly creatures. For tourism businesses, entrepreneurs, and policy-makers working in tourist organizations and regional councils, the project offers conceptual tools and practical examples of proximity tourism. This helps them to recognize the value of proximity tourism and to design innovative local products.