Magical, Mystical and Mythical

The touristic image of the Sámi created by outsiders is based on the otherness, that is, the exotic difference of the Sámi, complete with their remote habitats and colourful outfits. This is further emphasised and reinforced by the vocabulary used in marketing such as ‘magical’, ‘mythical’ and ‘mystical’. Experiences, moments and sceneries may well be magical. However, if people or their culture are treated as magical, mythical or mystical, it is a question of objectification, primitivisation, exoticisation, or, in the case of the indigenous people, it often is underlying distorted stereotypes. Responsible tourist meets and treats the persons they encounter in their travels as humans, not as objects created by outsiders’ imagination stuck in the past.