Tourism – economy, size and structure
Tobias Heldt is an associate professor in Tourism Studies and a senior lecturer in Economics. His research focus is tourism with a point of departure in behavioural economics. He has a particular focus on mobility in sparsely populated areas, climate-smart food choices and financial solutions for recreation. Tobias works at the Center for Tourism and Leisure Research (CETLER) and makes use of field experiments and GIS-data and big data to develop knowledge (GIS) that is directly employable within tourism and spatial planning. He teaches event tourism and tourism economics.
Sustainable destination development and the transition in tourism
Ioanna Farsari is an associate professor and senior lecturer in Tourism Studies. Her research explores sustainable tourist development with a particular focus on how destinations can become more resilient and sustainable over time. Her research includes, among other things, processes of transition and transformation in the tourist industry; the effects of climate change on tourism; and the way nature-based tourism experiences are created and understood. Ioanna also works with questions concerning destination governance, resilience and spatial planning in rural areas. She is the director of the programmes in Tourism and sustainability, and she teaches destination development, tourism theory and method.
Entrepreneurship and rural tourism
Jonathan Moshe Yachin is a senior lecturer in Tourism Studies and conducts research on entrepreneurship and rural tourism. His particular focus is on small businesses and how they act when opportunities arise and how they overcome challenges. His research also explores consumer behaviour, meetings in the experience landscape, and the application of behavioural studies in tourism contexts. Jonathan is also interested in questions relating to resilience and sustainability.
Working life, equality and social sustainability in tourism
Focus on the work environment, decency and frequently overlooked professions, such as hotel cleaning.
Maria Thulemark is a senior lecturer in Human Geography. Her research focus is social sustainability, working life and equality. She examines how work in the hospitality industry is organised; how sustainable work conditions are created; and how power relations, gender and place affect the labour market within the tourism sector. Her research has contributed new knowledge about the invisibility of hotel cleaners and the conditions for staff in times of crisis and transition. She teaches Tourism Studies at the undergraduate (first cycle) and graduate (second cycle) levels.
Sustainable mobility and planning in rural tourism
Beatrice Waleghwa, PhD, is a lecturer in Tourism Studies whose research specialisation is sustainable transport and mobility in rural destinations. Her work focuses on understanding and finding ways to address the transport challenges in tourism, especially in sparsely populated areas. She uses methods such as interviews and public participation geographic information systems (PPGIS) to analyse how tourism can be developed sustainably.
Work environment and ergonomics in the hospitality industry and the equine sector
Åsa Bergman Bruhn is a lecturer in Work Science with a specialisation in work environment, ergonomics and sustainable work relationships. She has a great deal of experience examining work environment challenges, especially those in physically demanding settings, such as riding schools and other professional horse-related settings. She uses innovative methods such as smart work clothes to measure physical demands at the workplace. Her work aims to create more sustainable work conditions at, for example, riding schools, as well as in tourism in general. Åsa is the coordinator of several courses on the work environment and ergonomics at Dalarna University.
