Exploitation in Tourism

In tourism exploiting Sámi culture, different tourism stakeholders from outside the Sámi community utilise and exploit elements connected or referential to Sámi culture in tourism services without actual connection to the Sámi community. The Sámi dress has great significance in Sámi culture. The use of the Sámi dress is governed by unwritten norms which the Sámi people observe. Particularly in tourism exploiting Sámi culture, the productisation and representation of Sámi culture has often focused on the Sámi dress or on something resembling the Sámi dress. This has aimed at making a tourism product ‘Sámi’, whether in the case of stories or other tourism services. Indeed, the Sámi dress has become the primary identity marker in Sámi tourism. However, in tourism exploiting Sámi culture, the cultural codes and meanings embodied in the Sámi dress have been forgotten or ignored, transforming the ‘Sámi dress’ into a costume void of any soul. The primary purpose of the ethical guidelines for Sámi tourism is to terminate tourism exploiting Sámi culture and to eliminate incorrect information about the Sámi distributed through tourism.