1. Tourism responses to climate change: a social network approach
Marta Bystrowska (Specialist at the Ministry of Regional Development, Poland / Ma political sciences and regional development) –
Hin Hoarau-Heemstra (PhD student/ research fellow University of Nordland) –
Karin Wigger (Managing director at Magic Ice AS; Student of Circumpolar studies at the University of Nordland) –
Welcome everyone to the presentation incl. our gratefulness to be here to present the chapter and getting some useful feedback
Introducing ourselves: What we are currently doing and what our background is Hin: what kind of Master do you have? ) Why did we chose to write the chapter by referring to the Master thesis.

2. Outline presentation Introduction Theoretical frame Methodology
Findings
Discussion

3. Introduction
Climate change in the Arctic & consequences for tourism on Svalbard
Innovation as tool for adaptation to changes in the social and natural environment
Network & system approach to innovation in tourism

4. Research question
How is climate change perceived in Svalbard´s tourism network and how do experience-based companies adapt their products, processes or organization accordingly?

5. Contribution
Arctic cases function as ´canary in the coalmine´ for understanding the impact of climate change on tourism destinations
Empirical evidence of how network characteristics influence innovation processes in order to adapt to external uncertainties like climate change
Understanding the impacts of climate on innovative behavior of the tourism industry is relevant for other destinations as well

6. Theoretical framework
Climate change & tourism
Innovation as responsive initiative
Tourism innovation & networks
TF 2
TF 1
TF 3

7. TF1: Climate change & tourism
Climate sensitive & weather dependent tourism
Mitigation & Adaptation

8. TF2: innovation
Innovation as the process of making changes, large and small, radical and incremental, to products, processes, and services that results in the introduction of something new for the organization that adds value to customers and contributes to the knowledge store of the organization.
Innovation types: product, process, organizational and marketing
Innovation as strategic reflexive response to the environment  interpretation and sense-making occur before action & behaviour

9. TF3: Innovation as responsive initiative
Bansal & Roth (2000): model of ecological responsiveness
Contextual factors & motivations for change
Ecological context
Organizational field context
Individual context

10. A circular understanding of responsive innovativeness

11. TF4: Tourism innovation & networks
relation between cooperation in networks and innovation
Sharing of knowledge between actors in a network seems to be the main link between network cooperation and innovation.
network structure influences knowledge sharing between actors

12. Network elements

13. Methodology Social network analysis
Survey
Quantitative network analysis
SNA software UCINET 6 version
Qualitative case study tourism destination Svalbard
Semi structured interviews (6 recorded & transcribed)
Informal meetings
Participant observations March/April 2012
Document analysis

14. Findings & discussion Case description Svalbard
Svalbard´s tourism destination network
Attitudes towards climate change
Climate change responsiveness
We understand responses with the impacts the different contexts have on tourism actors.

15. Network architecture
Dense, coherent and homogeneous network

16. Conclusions
Tourism actors on Svalbard know, depend on and trust each other but new, external knowledge is hardly absorbed
The ecological and organizational field context of Svalbard do not seem to favor a response to CC
Accurate knowledge about Arctic CC & adaptive innovations are mainly lacking
Organize tourism destination actors in formal networks to increase their resilience to climate change

17. The End….
Thank you for your attention! Questions & suggestions are welcome Marta, Karin & Hin