The Swedish Fika culture as a touristic experience and value-creating resource

Abstract

Swedish fika, an everyday ritual of meeting over coffee and pastries - in the home, the workplace or at a café - is a deep-rooted part of Swedish culinary culture and a bearer of culture and national identity. Thus, fika would seem to offer just what tourists typically are looking for. However, so far it appears the tourism industry has not taken full advantage of what fika can offer, an experience for tourists and a resource for the tourism sector. As part of destination development and place branding, private and public actors strive to emphasise the identity and uniqueness of a place. They often do this through region specific foods and beverages, which come naturally loaded with identity. The primary purpose of this conceptual discussion is to examine how the Swedish fika culture, seen from an experience and value-creating perspective, could help serve the tourism sector to a greater extent than has hitherto been the case. A secondary purpose is to identify and highlight the need for research in this field.