The innovative planning and development of The Ice hotel in Jukkasjärvi Tourism Planning and Development II PDF

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TITLE: The innovative planning and development of The Ice hotel in Jukkasjärvi INSTUTITION: The University of the West Indies, Faculty of Social Science, Cave Hill Campus STUDENT NAME & ID NUMBER: Nicole Whiteman 412000316 Eddison Thomas 4120001507 COURSE NAME: Tourism Planning and Development I...

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TITLE:

The innovative planning and development of The Ice hotel in Jukkasjärvi

INSTUTITION:

The University of the West Indies, Faculty of Social Science, Cave Hill Campus

STUDENT NAME & ID NUMBER:

Nicole Whiteman 412000316 Eddison Thomas 4120001507

COURSE NAME:

Tourism Planning and Development II

COURSE CODE:

TOUR2003

NAME OF LECTURER:

Cristina Jönsson

DATE DUE:

March 15th 2015

Introduction

Literature review Environmental impacts: Biophysical, social and any relevant effects of proposed development proposals prior to major decisions being taken and commitments being made, (Glasson et.al. 2012). Triple Bottom Line (TBL/3BL): The TBL is a philosophical orientation whereby organizations develop and implement not just a traditional economically sustainable strategy, but also explicitly include environmental and social sustainability strategies, (Stoddard et. al. 2012). TBL is a term used to describe the economic, social, and environmental accountability of a firm, (Stoddard et. al. 2012). As coined by author John Elkington (1999), TBL accounting attempts to describe the social and environmental impact of an organization’s activities, in a measurable way, to its economic performance in order to show improvement or to make evaluation more indepth. Carrying capacity: Carrying capacity could be defined as maximal number of tourists who can stay on some space and use its contents without unacceptable and irretrievable exchange of natural-ecological environment, social, cultural and economic structure of one destination and decrease of quality of tourist experience, (Jovicic & Ivanovic 2007). Tourists Ecological Footprint: Examines the amount of natural resources required to support a specific type of behaviour, business, or process, (Wackernagel & Rees,1996). : A model which describes the community responses to the cumulative effect of tourism development on social interrelations in the host community,( Doxey 1975).

Jukkasjarvi is a historical meeting point an arctic environment. North of the Polar Circle it is the last wilderness of Europe. (Stromberg 2004). Kiruna and the region of Lapland is a peripheral destination with historical dependency on the mining industry, but with a resurgence of a vital tourism industry during the last decades. It is foremost the winter season that is the focus of attention with the iconic attraction of the Icehotel, with 50 000 visitors per year (Kuoksu, 2009), situated some 20 km outside of the city of Kiruna in the village of Jukkasjärvi. Kiruna and Jukkasjärvi can, according to the categorization by Blomgren & Sörensen (1998), be said to be geographically peripheral as it is situated in the far north of Sweden, 145 km north of the Arctic Circle. An Icehotel is a structure of an unorthodox nature one can say. An Icehotel in general is a temporary structure made out of snow and ice and functions generally as a hotel with some characteristics lacking obviously because of restrictions and complications scientific. The Ice hotel in particular which would be the Icehotel in Jukkasjärvi Sweden is created solely of ice from the Torne River close to Jukkasjärvi (app. 20km east of Kiruna) and has been an unprecedented success for the regional tourism industry. (Lundberg 2011). According to Stromberg (2004) the main construction material is called “since” which is a mixture of snow and ice. Each winter since 1992 a man from the village of Jukkasjärvi in northern Lapland, Yngve Bergqvist, has built a huge igloo from snow and ice, originally called Arctic Hall. It didn't take long until this creation became a major international hit, attracting hordes of Japanese, Americans, Englishmen, Germans, French and many other people. (Berg 1998). The hotel has succeeded in refining Snow and ice and coldness by turning nature and the natural landscape into a commercial concept. This was first built in 1992-1993 but was solidified in 1994 Stromberg.

Categorically the Icehotel can be classified as a manmade attraction. According to Berg, (1998) from the environmental point of view the site is of course 100 % artificial. The hotel is wholly made by man, with the help of machines, and the most coveted visitor is the one coming by airplane from the other side of the planet. If we on the other hand look upon Jukkasjärvi as a destination, then we can speak about the surroundings as a natural attraction. No doubt, the Ice hotel is mainly a touristic site, since it is built for the purpose of tourism, (Berg 1998). The advent of the Icehotel has bought benefits to the tourism industry of the area Kiruna has had an increase of international incoming passengers from 6,616 in 1994 to 16,394 in 2005 and 17,996 in 2009 (K. Johnsson, personal communication, November 11, 2010). About one third of the Icehotel’s foreign customers come from Great Britain according to the Icehotel. One of the reasons for the upswing in the number of international visitors to Kiruna and Jukkasjärvi, over the last 15 years or so, has been the emergence, awareness, and success of the Icehotel. (Lundberg 2011). The Icehotel has had positive economic and socio-cultural impacts on the area of Jukkasjarvi and for extension the area of Kiruna. The Icehotel is one of uniqueness although it’s a manmade tourist attraction it can boast of the naturalness of the area, Jukkasjärvi according to Berg (1998). Stromberg (2004) stated that the believed intrinsic genuineness of the glacial water used to create the “snice” is the common denominator for the business, as a consequence, every activity and attraction connected to the ice hotel is to be pervaded with authenticity. The mythology in totality is based upon the Polar climate, the seasons, weather, the northern lights, the last wilderness of Europe, the culture and the glacial water of the Torne River. These are the factors that make the Icehotel unique and these are what the company wants people to associate the Icehotel with.

Discussion of Findings An Arctic Phenomenon The ice hotel in Jukkasjärvi is the first of its kind. Since the development of this attraction and accommodation it has classed into a niche product. The development of ice hotels falls under a niche tourism product. The ice hotel is apart from its competitors since it is the first ice hotel ever built and still today it retains the competitive edge based on the reviews it receives over the other ice hotels. It has put the niche concepts into action since it firstly creates a simple service, this is done by providing a bed an outside bathroom, restaurant and basic amenities as any another hotel in an Ice package. Ideally the ice hotel has crafted a niche market share since they always have high occupancy each year. It is the niche leading authority since it is the first ice hotel and still today it remains dominant in the designs and the amenities it provides over the other hotels. Being specific, distinctive and relevant are ways in which the ice hotel has attract the presence of its skilled artists and developed the village financially and protect the

environment surroundings while maintaining a four and a half star hotel and accommodating many visitors and excursionist each year. The ice hotel is doing a good job at copy, paste and repeat since this hotel is rebuild its structure annually and always follow vital planning procedures so as to protect the environment. “It is the biggest and best and the sight of this hulking structure of snow and ice on the banks of the Torne River is certainly impressive. The range of accommodation is more extensive than elsewhere… Years of experience have also made this the best place for activities. A favorite excursion is a 90-minute trip into the forest.” (James Proctor (2007). The architectural structure and design of the Ice hotel changes and is never the same design twice. This attracts visitors to Jukkasjärvi because they would always find something different when they visit. Other features include the facilities and service products which the hotel offers such as the Ice Chapel, Ice bar, ice restaurant and the opportunity to take part in the Saami culture and Northern Lights. Everything in the ice bar and restaurant is made out of ice. The Ice Chapel is very unique to the hotel not only because it is made out of ice but also because tourist most likely will not find a chapel in any other hotel where they can have services such as baptisms and weddings. The Northern Lights or Aurora Borealis are one of the world’s phenomenon. It is caused by the collisions of particles of the sun that enter the earth’s atmosphere. The experience of the Northern Lights can be unique to the Ice Hotel because not all places in the world you can see the Aurora Borealis.

The Icehotel through the lens of the Triple Bottom Line (TBL/3BL) In tourism there has been and encompassing tool which covers environmental social and economic impacts to cater for the demand of a holistic sustainable view on tourism impacts, (Sherwood, 2007) (see table 4). TBL attempts to describe the social and environmental impact of an organization’s activities, in a measurable way, to its economic performance in order to show improvement or to make evaluation more in-depth. (Elkington 1999) (see fig 1) As stated in the definition there are 3 aspects which can be impacted by the organization and for the purposes of this discussion the Icehotel. These are: 





Social Dimension Environmental Dimension Economic Dimension

Economic Dimension: this is perhaps the simplest dimension to capture in the triple bottom line. These can be drawn from the different financial statements that the company produces such as income and expenditure statements, sales revenue, return on investments etc. All of these can be used to measure the economic accountability of an organization. According to Stoddard et. al.(2012) Other industry-specific measures are also readily available to assess the economic performance of an operation. For example, in the tourism industry, indicators such as heads in beds (for hotels), RevPAR or visitation (for attractions) are popular measures Social Dimension: E. Miller, Buys, and Summerville (2007) developed a framework and indicators to assess the social dimension of the TBL for the Australian dairy industry. In their view, the social dimension involved social wellbeing; working with employees, their families,

the local community, and society to improve their quality of life. Their framework specifies four dimensions of an operation’s social impact, including an individual’s well-being, community well-being, employment experiences and satisfaction, and organizational impact. According to Stoddard et. al.(2012), organizations which grasp the concept of social awareness can understand and account for the consequences of their day to day actions and operations on the social wellbeing of the communities in which they operate. Environmental Dimension: This dimension to some is called natural capital Onyx and Bullen (2000a) and Schnake (1991) suggested that the availability of natural resources such as forests, minerals, fish, and soil have long been taken for granted despite the fact that this is the capital upon which our existence depends (i.e., clean air and water). Environmental indicators include items such as total energy use, use of recycled materials and the use of water by the organization affecting water sources (in this case the use of water from the Torne River). This part of the discussion would focus upon the Environmental dimension of the TBL as it relates to the Icehotel in Jukkasjärvi. ”The growth of tourism leads, inevitably, to modifications of the environment” (Wall & Mathieson, 2006, p. 154). This statement has a very valid and potent meaning in relation to both environmental dimension and the Icehotel in Jukkasjärvi. (See table 2).

According to Lundberg (2011) traveling tourists do affect the natural environment however there are both positive and negative impacts of tourism as opposed to the focus on only the negative impacts that has been paid attention to since the 1960’s when the notions of tourisms negative impacts was first discussed. There are not only negative impacts but positive

impacts as well can come from increased tourism to a destination. One problem with measuring environmental impacts is that the impacts are very diverse and it’s difficult to identify the baseline (i.e. when the effects started taking place), (Wall & Mathieson 2006) also due to lack knowledge of the cause and effect relationship between tourists and the environment for example if tourists are causing the negative effects or is it occurring because of a natural process and different methods of measuring impacts as well. Generally in tourism research researchers seek to quantify the impacts on the environment and measure them against normal average impacts on the environment such as CO2 emissions and water usage or acceptable levels derived from different methods. However there are not only negative impacts resulting from the inflows of tourists but also positives as well but often these aren’t taken into account when looking at the environmental impacts of tourism. (Green, Hunter, & Moore, 1989). These impacts are usually derived from the rural areas of tourism where the negative impact would be more visible for example an area such as Jukkasjärvi as compared to the urban areas where tourism can be a driving force of regeneration to the area, (Lundberg 2011). In regards to the area of Jukkasjärvi the Icehotel brought about serval impact to the environment since it was established in 1990’s. According to Eric Lundberg (2011) there is a sense of consciousness about the area and the importance of nature capital that is to say not exceeding the carrying capacity of the area and the hotel. The natural capital is the bread and butter or one can say the lifeblood of the Icehotel and Jukkasjärvi without such the Icehotel cannot function for example the area of Jukkasjärvi exotic artic nature can appeals and acts as a pull factor in attracting tourists to the Icehotel. One of the negative impacts on the environment caused by the inflows of tourism to the ice hotel is the diminishing of pasture lands to develop

more efficient road infrastructure to better facilitate access to the Icehotel. If the TEF is put into the context of environmental impacts as perceived by local residents it still holds true, since respondents believe that the current level of tourists, also after an increased level of accessibility, does not deteriorate the local environment to a large extent. If, however, incremental development would continue at a steady pace or if there would be radical development the risks would increase (Getz, 1983) and residents believe that the natural capital would be vastly depreciated, leading to inferior touristic experiences, Increased motor traffic could also be seen as a cost for local residents, since they do not have forests and the land totally for themselves and that there is a risk of littering and damaging of nature, although this is not a big problem at the moment according to respondents as long as tourism development is at the current level. At the same time there are benefits for local residents in form of a resurgent understanding of nature’s importance and value, both as a tourism experience and for their own enjoyment and livelihood (Lundberg 2011). The wildlife has also been affected by the tourism inflows to the area as a result of the Icehotel “During the last couple of years the tourism industry has expanded onto winter pasture lands which have meant less tranquility for reindeers on pasture. The driving of snowmobiles has had a negative impact, and particularly dog sleighs since reindeers are afraid of dogs.” (Kuoksu, 2009). The Icehotel itself has its role to play in the environmental framework to ensure that it is being operated in a sustainable way and not being careless and detrimental to the area and people of Jukkasjärvi. the website www.icehotel.com has assured us that they are doing their part in preserving the environment they have advertised on their site “ICEHOTEL has taken a number of steps to reduce our effect on the environment, including minimizing emissions from transports and deliveries by choosing local producers and managing more services on-site. Since 2008, the

company has implemented energy-saving schemes across the hotel facilities in collaboration with energy partner Gävle Energi, including electricity, heating and water usage by staff and guests. ICEHOTEL monitors its energy consumption and environmental impact carefully and strive to encourage sub-suppliers to meet the same environmental standards in the products and services that ICEHOTEL uses.” (www.icehotel.com). As highlighted in the aforementioned exert not only does the Icehotel strive for high environmental standards they urge and encourage their sub suppliers as well to reach that level. Carrying capacity The history of carrying capacity has been strongly linked with reducing the number of visitors to a destination to sustain it for future generations to enjoy Since then it has been brought to the attention of researchers that the environment is not the only major concern but the negative impact on the cultural society as well as the economy has to be taken into consideration as well. There was series of interviews carried out by Lundberg (2011) which uncovered a couple views of respondents in his study, which were quite interesting:” Except for voiced concerns about minor disturbances due to snow cannons, dogs, and traffic congestion and the simmering conflicts over land use between tourist developers and the Sami community, the general notion, according to the respondents, is that tourism is warmly embraced in Jukkasjärvi. It has not (yet) caused a lot of nuisance; Tourism has not yet become a problem since the flow of tourism is still rather small” that is to say the social carrying capacity of Jukkasjärvi has not yet reached its limit and taking into consideration Doxey’s Irredex Model (1975) which is closely linked with sociocultural carrying capacity (discussed later ) can be used to further identify the position of how much more tourist arrivals the village/ region can take.

Social Dimension Impacts In a series of interviews conducted by Eric Lundberg (2011) a great deal of information was uncovered pertaining to the residents of Jukkasjärvi perception of the impacts and effects of the Icehotel on the area. “Tourism infrastructure that has been built and developed with the visitor in mind over the last decade or so has not only created assets or values for the industry and the tourists, but also for local residents. The Icehotel is a popular place to visit for locals in Jukkasjärvi and Kiruna during the tourist season, new snowmobile routes are also accessible for local residents, and the cycle/pedestrian way along the village main road is used by visitors as well as local residents”. From the statement above we can derive that the Icehotel has brought benefits to the community according to that particular respondent in the interview and not only in the form of infrastructure but as well as entertainment for the locals of Jukkasjärvi. Another respondent stated “…the spirit of entrepreneurship came to the village. There is an enormously big spirit of entrepreneurship in Jukkasjärvi….You talk about tourism, you talk about newly launched businesses and…we did some calculations and I believe we [local businesses] had a turnover of about 500Mkr [in Jukkasjärvi]…If you look back 15 years in time I believe that this figure was not more than 30-40Mkr.” Over the years one can also observe that the inflows of tourism has brought a livelihood to the entrepreneurs of Jukkasjärvi giving them increased income. However in society there has been not only positive impacts but negative impacts as well which cannot be ignored. One cannot deny the creation of jobs however the respondent stated “At the moment it is incredibly seaso...