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The present work studies hiking as tourist activity and its physical and mental benefits for the tourist. In particular, the study explores the relative importance of these benefits among the hikers and compare the importance with the tourists’ perceived experience, that is evaluation of the benefits. Building on the perception, performance and perceived quality and benefit literature a survey is carried out at different hiking sites in the southern part of Norway. The study results show that hiking tours in Norway perform rather well on factors such as physical benefits, mental benefits, facilitation of trail and slightly lower on information. Physical benefits are of higher importance than information and are also perceived to provide benefits in line with the importance given. Facilitation of trail is perceived to be of relatively high importance and the actual experience is rated higher than importance. Mental benefits is rated to be of most importance among the attributes. The tourists evaluate mental benefits to be somewhat lower than importance given. Subsequently, practice should focus on how to ensure mental benefits among hikers and research should seek to understand what this actually means in terms of new logics in tourism, that is experience value and the tourist own role in creating such value.

The purpose of this investigation was to identify the association between Experience Use History (EUH) and types of substitution choices of hikers with the perspectives of activity involvement and place attachment. On-site surveys were distributed by systematic sampling technique to obtain a representative sample of hikers with 51% response rate. The theoretical expectation was confirmed by these data. Findings indicated that among four EUH classifications, Veterans and Visitors who perceived higher levels of activity involvement and relatively lower levels of place attachment tended to make resource substitutability, while Locals who scored highest on place attachment chose to make temporal substitutability and Beginners who scored lower on both activity involvement and place attachment were apt to make both resource and activity substitutability. Suggestions and managerial implication are further discussed.

Alpine destinations have a large number of decentralized actors who behave autonomously, but they jointly contribute to the tourism product of the destination. Guests expect quality standards comparable to those they experience in large businesses. Leadership is needed that goes beyond pure management tasks. The analysis of “Showcase Stubai” reveals how leadership for an alpine destination in Austria initiated a successful development of summer tourism by means of courageous goals, simple processes, and regionally adapted measures. The destination of Stubai is increasingly becoming a model for the hiking theme in the alpine region. Impressive numbers, data, and facts have confirmed the achievement of this development throughout the last five years.

In 2015, the UN adopted 17 goals for the Agenda for Sustainable Development. The library’s work is visible in all the primary goals, particularly with respect to public access to information, technology, and lifelong learning. Libraries are at the intersection between culture, education and lifelong learning, public health, and social work.

The Norwegian Parliament adopted the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) as a foundation for regional and municipal planning. SDGs are also incorporated in the Strategy for Libraries (2020–2023). In connection with the Strategy, the National Library of Norway (NB) allocating funding for projects aimed at the development of public libraries and special libraries.

The authorities want people to enjoy and participate in outdoor life and trials. This improves health and quality of life, and it is a central part of the Norwegian cultural heritage.

In the last years, it has become popular to bring the library to people enjoying the outdoors. People can encounter both books and literary activities when out in nature or at a cabin far from the public library. Through the project and development funds and the celebration of National Book Year 2019, and measures related to the Strategy, the NB has supported projects for open-air libraries. This makes public libraries more visible and available to people and will reach new user groups and promote a sustainable society. Several of the SDGs are utilized through the development and use of new methods for creating open-air libraries.

14 projects are presented to show the importance of bringing the library to people enjoying the outdoors.

Stubaital is among the top destinations in Austria, depending heavily on winter tourism. Families and individual tourists who seek hiking or skiing are the core target segments. After merging two DMOs that previously managed separate parts of the area, problems of cooperation and coordination between actors from different regions occurred. This was partly due to different interests rooted in different resource endowments. The main goal of the DMO has been to strengthen the summer season in order to reduce dependency on winter tourism. Destination governance therefore must foster cooperation and joint planning activities among the stakeholders. The Stubaital case illustrates stakeholders’ perceptions of power constellations and patterns of communication among stakeholders and their influences on destination development.

Drawing from two years of multi-sited fieldwork about international backpacking in Central America, I make important connections between the backpacking escape motive, the backpacker hostel, and tourism. I explain how backpackers experience the hostel as their “home base” and “home away from home” to escape into local cultures and natural environments that exist outside of it and an international community of travelers that convenes inside of it. I refer to theories on modern tourism, the backpacking escape motive, and the concept of community. I also theorize how the global spread of modern amenities and tourism shapes backpackers' escape experiences.

Case study research frequently includes collecting and interpreting stories individuals tell about their lives and event that they believe that they know about. Chapter 3 discusses storytelling theory and describes case study research in consumer behavior of stories that consumers tell about buying and using products and services. Storytelling is pervasive through life. Much information is stored, indexed, and retrieved in the form of stories. Although lectures tend to put people to sleep, stories move them to action. People relate to each other in terms of stories — and products and brands often play both central and peripheral roles in their stories. To aid storytelling research in consumer psychology, this chapter develops a narrative theory that describes how consumers use brands as props or anthropomorphic actors in stories they report about themselves and others. Such drama enactments enable these storytellers to experience powerful myths that reflect psychological archetypes. The chapter includes findings from case study research that probes propositions of the theory. Implications for consumer psychology and marketing practice follow the discussion of the findings.