ABSTRACT
While the nature-based tourism industry pre-pandemic was steadily growing worldwide, it has been portrayed as a sector with challenges tied to knowledge development due to the small size of the businesses, seasonality, high levels of labour turnover and the lack of career ladders. While cooperation is regarded as an efficient way of dealing with these challenges, previous findings indicate that the small size and resource constraints of tourism businesses, as well as the heterogeneity of the industry, act as barriers to cooperation. A few studies indicate that cooperation and knowledge transfer in tourism is enhanced between businesses with similar products as this increases the potential for specific learning and direct imitation. Through a qualitative approach, this study examines cooperation between businesses within the niche of mountain guiding in Norway, and between these actors and actors of the wider tourism industry. Findings indicate that knowledge transfer, particularly through work mobility, is taking place through informal cooperation within the niche. The actors of the niche were more ambivalent towards cooperation with the wider tourism industry.
