Event start-ups as catalysts for place, sport and tourism development: Moment scapes and geographical considerations

Abstract

This article focuses on how the Finnmark Race in Norway, identified by a key moment and four other post moments, shaped by their occurrence, creating new pathways for sport, place and tourism development. The dogsledding race has influenced tourism development and has helped create new tourist products its rural locale. This research uses data from qualitative interviews with 19 informants, connected to the race through different roles–business people involved in tourism, volunteers, former race managers, journalists and mushers (dogsled drivers). The event start-up has contributed to a new ‘path-creation’, active development of Finnmark as a winter tourism destination, and dogsledding as a new tourism product of the place. A process of path-creation, involving volunteers and lifestyle entrepreneurs, built up a meeting place for the event and for other stakeholders, enabling the sustainable development of attractive, locally-run tourism products.

Keywords:

• Dogsledding
• lifestyle entrepreneurs
• place/tourism development
• sporting events

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.