The initiative to organise the first-ever European Indigenous Tourism Conference EITC 2025 came from the late director of the World Indigenous Tourism Alliance (WINTA), Johnny Edmonds in 2019. WINTA is an Indigenous-led non-profit organisation promoting the rights of Indigenous peoples in tourism on a global level. Before 2019 it had organised conferences in Australia, Canada and New Zealand to gain visibility for and raise awareness of Indigenous issues in tourism and wished to do the same in Europe. At the time, WINTA was a partner in the Culturally Sensitive Tourism in the Arctic (ARCTISEN) project funded by the European Union through the Interreg Northern Periphery and Arctic programme and led by the University of Lapland, Finland. An agreement was reached that the conference would be organised in Inari in Finland as a collaboration between WINTA, the University of Lapland and the Sámi Parliament in Finland. The Sámi Parliament was also a partner in the ARCTISEN project. The initial conference date was 2024. However, due to the corona pandemic, the conference had to be postponed to 2025. It was decided that the conference would focus on sustainable Indigenous tourism in the European Arctic, including the European side of the Russian Arctic. Unfortunately, because of the war in Ukraine, it was not possible to invite Indigenous tourism entrepreneurs from the Russian Arctic to the conference. Nevertheless, the conference was unique because for the first time Sámi tourism entrepreneurs living within the borders of three countries and Inuit tourism entrepreneurs from Kalaallit Nunaat (Greenland) gathered together at a joint conference.
The Sámi Parliament in Finland has run several Sámi tourism development projects since 2017 where it has created ethical guidelines for Sámi tourism, responsible visitors’ guidance and, still in making, a certification programme for responsible, ethically sustainable Sámi tourism companies (see Sections 4 and 5). On the Norwegian side of Sápmi, the Sámi Parliament in Norway has initiated programmes to build capacity and networks around Sámi tourism. The latest programme, Johtit, ran for 3 years (2018–2021) (see more https://samicultures.com/Welcome). The Sámi Parliament in Norway is in the process of developing a platform for sustainable tourism among Indigenous peoples. The strategy will implement measures in consultation with tourist providers in Sápmi – serving as a guide for tourism’s interaction with Sámi culture, branding and storytelling. It will also strengthen networks and foster closer ties with creative industries and the food industry in Sámi tourism. The strategy will be linked to the national tourism strategy to ensure that Sámi areas gain a larger share of national initiatives in tourism and infrastructure. The project will span three years and is recommended in the National Tourism Strategy 2030. The Sámi Council organizes KulturSápmi on a yearly basis. KulturSápmi is a gathering place for the cultural and artistic communities in Sápmi to discuss current topics, projects in progress, and more. The main objective is to build cross-border networks, unify the cultural field, and foster better cooperation within Sápmi.
Similar attempts are also seen in Kalaallit Nunaat where Visit Greenland is contracted by Nalaakkersuisut (the Government of Greenland) to market and manage the nation as a tourist destination. Since 2009, Nalaakkersuisut has operated as a self-rule Government under the Danish Kingdom, governing the country in which 89% of residents are of Inuit origin (Statistics Greenland, 2025). All activities are based on the national tourism sector plan for 2025–2035 and the Visit Greenland 2025–2035 tourism strategy ‘Kalaallit Nunaat and all that we share‘ to unite tourism companies and other actors within the sector in deliberations about how to develop tourism for ‘all of Greenland’. Leading up to that, two national gatherings, ‘Towards More Tourism’ in 2018 and ‘Towards Better Tourism‘ in 2023 brought together participants in co-creating 11 recommendations for politicians (in 2018) and a Pledge for tourism companies (see Section 4). Moving forward, even more effort will be put into anchoring tourism value locally and securing local social license to operate, for instance through community meetings and a new tourism law (Naalakkersuisut, 2024). Another key initiative has been to secure Greenlandic tourism ownership by demanding a 2/3 Greenlandic (defined as people having lived 5 years or longer in Greenland) ownership of tourism companies operating in the country to be in place by 2027 (hotels excepted).