MacCannell revisited in Kvarken Archipelago, Finland

Inspired by Dean MacCannell’s Attraction theory, I will, in this paper, examine thepossibilities of turning a coastal area, with no previous attempt of being a touristdestination, into a worldwide unique destination. Can a place without a history of‘imaginaries’ become a successful image in a touristic sense? My case study is theWorld Heritage (WH) site Kvarken Archipelago on the West coast of Finland in theregion of Ostrobothina. As the first WH in Finland based on natural uniqueness,designated in 2006, the Kvarken Archipelago is confronted with many challenges.The area is inhabited, a socio-economic locus for 2500 local inhabitants, where theWH status has been incorporated as an important asset of regional developmentduring the last 4–5 years. My main research question is: Does the WH KvarkenArchipelago have the attributes of a tourist attraction?Keywords: tourism imaginary; coastal tourism; attraction theory; World Heritage;Finland; Kvarken Archipelago