Public Support for Tourism SMEs in Peripheral Areas : The Arjeplog Project, Northern Sweden

• Within the European Union, the tourism issues facing many peripheral areas are similar to those elsewhere in the world. Beginning in the late 1980s, the emphasis of thinking in the Union moved away from large automatic grants to attract inward investment projects, towards small firms and indigenous development. As party of this thinking, tourism SMEs have been assigned an important role in the process of regional convergence. While investment subsidies remain a key instrument, they have been supplemented by technical support to tailor assistance to the need of the individual firm. The latter aspect is an important plank in Swedisdg regional policy, which sees investing in human competencies as the core innovative development at the local level. This paper examines the process and the outcomes of a four-year programme to upgrade the level of business skills in eight tourism SMEs, which are located in the sparesly populated regions of northern Sweden.

Subject headings

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Ekonomi och näringsliv (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Economics and Business (hsv//eng)

Keyword

SME

indigenous development

human competencies

tourism research

Turism

turismforskning

Business and economics

Ekonomi

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

art (subject category)