II. Main Cultural products 6. Arts and Crafts Section 6.1: Lappish Arts and Crafts

6.1.5. Sustainable Cultural Tourism

The Sami have identified the tourism benefits and the side-effects concerning their cultural traditions and business. The biggest drawback they feel is that there is no possibility of earning from their own culture, and so they feel exploited. They do not have a copyright over their own Sámi culture. Others can profit, modify, combine and edit the culture to the tourists’ needs and demands. The Sami people also complain that the real Sami handicraft does not have any advantage over replica products. The market is full of genuine and replica Sami handicraft, replica products are imported from abroad in large numbers, "the goods of Lapland" which tourists cannot distinguish from the genuine traditional products.

"How great is the difference between traditional craftsmanship and today's industrial production. You see it when you go into a shop where you immediately notice a few nice pieces of genuine handicraft. But most of the items in the shop are modern mass-produced cheap items. Representation of a small group of articles is inundated with an endless influx of tasteless objects. Remember, it is better if its shape, material, or pattern will not transcribe the tradition. You see it from anywhere, even from the counter." Erno Paasilinna, 1988.

The tourist demands a genuine, once-in-a-lifetime experience, he wants to buy a piece of genuine Lapland product. The whole idea of Lapland tourism has been put into a package and given a price tag. At the same time, the package contains the Sami people who are frustrated at being the exotic target of the tourists' cameras.

The Sami people are worried about their younger generation, who are prone to change under the tourism and media pressure, thus blurring their sense of identity. The fear is that the younger generation will become ashamed of their Sami background and culture. The Lapps are considering what would be the best way of protecting their cultural integrity and preserving the reindeer husbandry, as well as saving their earning potential. Efforts on behalf of the rights of the Sami, however, are producing results. The Sami's own strengths are crucial towards these aims. Young artists and the importance of role models such as Sami rap music or new movies have given a new interpretation of the original traditions and language.

In sustainable tourism development projects, the tolerance capacity of the nature, as well as the tolerance of the culture have been studied and defined. Tourism has been considered, on the one hand, as “socio-cultural waste ", but, on the other hand, tourism means jobs and businesses. ”Sustainable development means innovation and imagination in its development and not just restoration,” says J. Swarbrooke, 1999.

The tourism industry that uses natural resources is also a user of intangible cultural resources. Industry converts and cleaves cultures into well-selling images which take advantage of every character occurring in the targets which have a commercial value. The ideas cannot be patented and the folk tales have no copyright. Following the sustainable development, the competition should be done with original means, by producing genuine experiences within the conditions and terms of the area.

The awareness and appreciation of one´s own culture and the learning and appreciation of other cultures are a vital part of the education for tourism professionals. The resources that are invested for development projects of tourism could be directed more effectively towards innovative cultural product development, designing arts and crafts and services. The mass tourism could also benefit from this type of development when the industries adopt original aesthetics for the satisfaction of their clients.

Hard business values in packing and selling the traditions and the raw exploitation does not profit but for a few seasons.

The traditions as an attraction is related to the time: the past, the present and the future.

The visitor´s time in Lapland is but a brief moment which is an irreplaceable time in his life. For the tourism entrepreneur, it is a time to forge money, while the customer’s credit card is still hot. Exploiting the past and the future, here and now is however an unsustainable business development.

Tradition, intangible assets have been accumulated over the centuries and are passed on from father to son and from mother to daughter. The tourism industry can work according to the same logistics. Sustainable tourism is more like a form of art or good entertainment where the skills and valuable themes are expressed by countless variations for different groups of people, along the chain of seasons.

1. The product should include the past, it should include the old wisdom and the beauty, it should carry good memories and good values, and it should be something to be proud of.
2. The product should be valuable at the present moment when the client is experiencing and taking part in making the product. The product includes its present commercial value.
3. The product should possess the future: it should bear promises, hope and a good reputation. The spiritual value from the past should remain in the product and it should accumulate when passing from the seller to the client.

The value of the product cannot therefore only be the priced in terms of Euros - a label glued on the package. A tourism product is like a Christmas present, its value is greater than its price. An excellent tourism product is valued by the customer's satisfaction and gratefulness.

Sustainable tourism products market themselves according to their own strengths. Marketing and communication should be natural and inherently distinctive. Continuously renewed trendy marketing tricks and gimmicks become purposeless. The attraction of the place and people are resilient, making the customer want to return there again. When the product is well planned, the value remains and accumulates profit. The product will then receive good publicity and the positive feedback will spread to other customers. What could be more embarrassing than a marketing oriented Santa Claus. Would children believe in a Santa who does not give presents, but instead sells them at the highest price as to make a profit? Of course, Santa has to get an income too, but he lives longer and stays healthy if he doesn’t have to struggle with the pressure of making a profit.

6.1.4. Santa Claus and Presents

Section 6.2: Kalevala Arts and Tourists