Arctic and European In-Betweens: The Production of Tourist Spaces in Late Nineteenth-Century Northern Norway

The late-nineteenth-century tourist reports of the town examined unfold a variety of narratives corresponding to specific sites in the town and extending far beyond its actual borders. Most travellers coming to Tromso by ship in the late nineteenth century followed tight schedules, having only a few hours to spare for a visit before continuing their journey north. Tromso was both a place located in well-known European culture and a place offering exotic experiences associated with the North, the Arctic, and nomad life. In the traveller's imagination, Northern Norway – a region geographically and mentally placed on Europe's periphery – moved closer to the rest of Europe. The five tourist spaces which together constituted the Tromso tourist experience – the harbour, the town centre, the villas on the island, the Sami camp in Tromsdalen, and the mountains – were not assigned the same significance throughout the period analyzed, and that changed depending on the various travellers' interests.