Introduction

Inari is a municipality located in the northernmost area of Finland. It is a place where different cultures overlap and mix through the history and geography of the area. Inari has national borders with Russia and Norway. There is a lot of traffic between all three countries. The Sami people from Finland, Russia, Norway and Sweden have succeeded in maintaining their cultural heritage and traditions throughout the Barents Sea region. In this region, both the Sami and Finnish people bring together their cultural heritage and way of life. The Inari community earns its livelihood from forestry, tourism and reindeer husbandry. Tourism is becoming an increasingly important means of livelihood for the local communities.

This chapter focuses on the development of cultural tourism and community empowerment in the local communities of Inari. There are several active communities, like Lemmenjoki located within a National Park area, as well as Koppelo and Nellim, which are located next to the Russian border. All the communities have been activated through community participation in various cultural tourism development projects. The focus of this chapter is on those projects where elements from cultural heritage or material culture are used to create new tourism services. These services are aimed towards generating income for the members of the local communities. Many of the cultural tourism development projects deal with local material culture, such as locally produced arts and crafts. Material culture is here defined as local arts and crafts, which are either functional or decorative. Arts and crafts production is an important means of income generation, as there are not many alternative employment opportunities within the region. Tourists are the major market segment for local arts and crafts production, as almost 90% of the arts and crafts are sold to tourists visiting the area.