A Labour Regime Perspective on Workforce Formation in Nordic Tourism: Exploring National Tourism Policy and Strategy Documents

This chapter adopts a public policy perspective to tourism workforce formation in Finland, Norway and Sweden. The qualitative content analysis of national tourism strategy, planning and policy documents reveals that aspired labour regimes are predominantly characterised by mobility, flexibility and segmentation. While these practices ensure a competitive operational environment, satisfy seasonal employee demand and provide means for states to integrate immigrants into the labour market, negative societal consequences including precariousness, low-quality employment and inequality arise as well. Although all examined documents advocate sustainable production and consumption for Nordic tourism, workforce is essentially not included in sustainability discourses and initiatives.