Paper short abstract:

Koli Hills in Eastern Finland has been an important tourist destination since the 19th century, but it is also a village of about 300 inhabitants. This paper examines how local people respond to the development of their village and their home region, and the multiple interpretations of locality and local way of life surrounding the development of tourism in Koli.

Paper long abstract:

Koli Hills in Eastern Finland has been an important tourist destination from 19th century. It was canonized by Finnish artists of the late 19th century, who were inspired by the landscape. Since then it has become one of the so called national sceneries in Finland, and the destination of steady flows of tourists.

Koli is not, however, just a tourist destination, but also a village of about 300 inhabitants. Tourism has been a visible part of the everyday life of the local people. It has also every now and then divided the villagers. In 1991 the Koli National Park was established in the area. The establishment was preceded by a controversy between two viewpoints: weather to construct more ski slopes and infrastructure, or to preserve the area and concentrate on nature tourism. The latter viewpoint won, but there arise regularly disputes over the development guidelines of the tourism in Koli. The guidelines are usually defined by outside experts and consultants, and the local people tend to remain bystanders.

This paper examines how local people respond to the development of their village and their home region, and the multiple interpretations of locality and local way of life surrounding the development of tourism in Koli.

The presentation is based on the authors' intermittent ethnographic fieldwork trips to Koli in 2008-2009.