Critical Growth in Tourism: Case Rovaniemi

The aim of this thesis was to define and the compare concepts of carrying capacity, mass- and overtourism and introduce the characteristics and indicators for recognizing these phenomena, define critical growth in tourism by combining the critical aspects of earlier mentioned concepts, research the opinion of residents of Rovaniemi towards current situation and growth in tourism, and suggest solutions for responsible tourism growth in Rovaniemi. Examination of the locals’ opinions was carried out by a survey. Respondents for the survey were collected online, using variety of channels. The aim of the survey was to find out if there are critical features in tourism growth in the Rovaniemi City area or in the Arctic Circle area in Rovaniemi. There were 154 valid responses for the survey, which is a small part of the over 62000 residents of Rovaniemi. Therefore, the result can be considered indicative, not completely valid. The locals feel in general that tourism and its growth brings good to Rovaniemi, however there are several problems and critical features that locals are concerned for. Potential problems with tourism growth were locally identified, and the direction and magnitude of a potential problem were analysed. At the end of the thesis, solutions for the critical features that require action in Rovaniemi are presented