Tänk på döden! En påminnelse som på mer än ett sätt inramar diskussionerna i föreliggande kapitel, vars fokus ligger på vår längtan av att besöka platser som förknippas med död. Döden, sett utifrån de moderna västerländska samhällenas kontext, anses utgöra något av ett mysterium. I konkurrensen att locka turister till en viss plats strävar ständigt turismproducenterna att utveckla attraktioner som vi i egenskap av turister förväntas vilja bli delaktiga av. Begravnings/minnesplatser där ond bråd död utgör en betydelsefull ingrediens är exempel på sådana attraktioner. Syftet med kapitel o antologin är att diskutera fältet ”Mörk turism” genom att belysa begravnings/minnesplatser i en turismkontext där döden är i fokus. Empirin är hämtad från ett urval av så kallade dödens platser i Sverige där platsens turistiska eller icke-turistiska inriktning på skilda sätt och med olika intensitet uppmärksammas och hos oss i rollen som turist skapar intresse.

There is a growing awareness of the importance of higher education in Sweden to reduce social differences in society.There are also various mechanisms that individuals relate to that favour either the status quo or change based on an ideal of highereducation. Individuals live in a geographical context with a number of ‘key actors’ who influence the perception of higher educationwith varying degrees of intensity. Paradoxically, despite several reforms to broaden recruitment, it can be seen that relativeinequalities persist in terms of residents with higher education in Sweden, not least from a regional perspective. The purpose of thisarticle is to shed light on geographical differences in the higher education level of the population over time from a Swedishperspective. The study shows that higher education has a geographical centre-periphery perspective, but not exclusively. There arethus additional influencing factors that in various ways relate to the social context in which the individual is located. We canconclude from our empirical data that the reforms implemented to broaden recruitment have not had the desired effect, especiallyfor the group of men. We find it likely that what differentiates women and men is who their individual ‘key players’ are and howthey interact. From an academic education perspective and as an intermediary of higher education, there is therefore a challenge tobe able to identify who these “key players” are in order to be able to be an important actor in contributing to the desired broaderrecruitment that the government is strivinging to achieve.

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.

Fika and its importance for both social interaction and the development of a place cannot be overestimated. From a hospitality industry perspective, both private and public actors are continuously working to highlight their own location or the region's advantages in various ways in order to attract visitors. This work is often characterized by an ambition to highlight the identity and authenticity of the place from a producer perspective. At the same time, there is a demand from consumers to experience what they personally feel is unique and has a strong connection to the place. Food and drink loaded with identity through its place- and regionspecific profile has therefore become increasingly important in attracting visitors. Fika as a social institution with its long tradition in Sweden is particularly important in this context. At the same time, there is a risk that the tourist product is overused and risks losing its genuine attraction value by being perceived as a stereotypical "tourist trap", which weakens both its place-related attraction value and its social value. The purpose of this article is to discuss, from a fika perspective, to what extent it can be the place that constitutes the primary attraction and lure for visitors or whether it is instead the concrete fika experience with its underlying ceremonial factors that is central, or whether it is both factors in interaction.

The present article explores tourist attractions that include touch as a significant component of the tourist’splace-related experience. We have chosen to label this phenomenon “tactile tourism”. The tradition of touchingattractions is not new but has been a central part of the experience of specific place-related interests for a longtime. However, despite its frequent and often significant presence in tourist destinations, few studies in tourismresearch study the phenomenon. The article is based on a theoretical line of reasoning which starts from a fewconcrete examples of different places in Europe where we have identified tactile features relevant to tourism.The empirical material for our discussion has been collected partly through e-mail correspondence with touristorganizations in the places selected for the study and partly through articles in social media and other relevantsecondary data. This tactile experience contributes a substantial share of the primary enticement of the attractionand simultaneously invests the place with meaning, which in turn attracts tourists.

Fika har visserligen en lång och djupt rotad tradition i vårt land, men det finns ännu en betydande potential att kunna utveckla fikakulturen med dess mångfacetterade undertoner betydligt mera än vad som idag görs. Vi skulle därför kunna säga att fika är som en oslipad diamant som på olika sätt går att vidareförädla utifrån inte minst lokala och regionala förutsättningar. ”Slipningarna” i diamanten kan, också bör, ha olika texturer. Det gäller dels att lyfta fram lokalt och regionalt skapade bakverk, dels att ta utgångs-punkt i traditioner som bygger på en identitet genom berättelser. Detta sam-mantaget kan, särskilt utifrån ett besöksnäringsperspektiv, utgöra incita-ment för besök som också innebär möten mellan människor där samtal och erfarenhetsutbyte utgör centrala ingredienser. De narrativa inslagen i sam-verkan med plats, miljö och mötet med andra människor är därmed viktiga ingredienser för att vi ska få en helhetsupplevelse där i detta fall fika utgör det sammanhållande kittet. Sett utifrån ett lokalt eller regionalt förädlings-värdesperspektiv av fika kanske vi i ökad utsträckning behöver få ett uti-frånperspektiv för att på det sättet få idéer om vad som kan vidareutvecklas? I många fall blir vi tyvärr ”hemmablinda” och vi följer ”gamla hjulspår” och ser inte alltid värdet i den potential som de facto ofta är närvarande för att vidareutveckla institutionen fika. Fika som upplevelse och attraktion-sattribut har, vill jag hävda, kommit i skymundan av den fokusering som idag finns kring måltiden och dess kulturella och sociala betydelse. Fikakul-turen utgör en minst lika viktig del för gemenskap och välbefinnande. Sett utifrån ett besöksnäringsperspektiv är fikakulturen en viktig faktor såtill-vida att allt oftare utgör ett konditori eller enbart möjligheten till en fika på en trivsam plats anledningen till att företa en resa. Särskilt under pandemin kunde vi se hur såväl utflykter i naturen, med en fikakorg i bagaget, eller att enbart ta en fika med någon bekant på en parkbänk i en stadsmiljö blev allt mera vanligt förekommande. Fika är således en viktig intermediär fak-tor för social samvaro, vilket också har en betydande hälsofrämjande effekt.Fika, med dess olika praktiker är därför en viktig faktor i demokratiproces-sen då den skapar förutsättningar för samtal mellan människor. En kopp kaffe och därtill också kanske en hembakad kaka kan vara den faktor som kan sänka den tröskel som kan upplevas finnas när människor träffas för såväl medarbetarsamtal, svåra förhandlingar eller diplomatiska spörsmål? Därav bör fika, med dess olika texturer i beaktande, ägnas mera intresse för att därigenom kunna vidareutveckla dess potential utifrån såväl ett socialt, besöksnärings- som utifrån ett demokratiperspektiv.

The number of Swedish students temporarily studying in another countryto receive a post-secondary education amounts annually to approximately 22,000students. The study aims to give some indications of where outbound Swedishstudents have spent their time and money studying abroad since the turn of themillennium. What are the popular study destinations? What are students looking for?Will their interest in studying abroad change post-COVID-19? The results show that

English-speaking countries are attractive to Swedish outbound students. Top desti-nations are the UK and US. Countries such as Poland, Canada, Switzerland, Japan,

the Netherlands, Latvia, South Korea and Singapore are growing in popularity. Itis noticeable that big cities attract Swedish outbound students. Large metropolescan offer many prestigious Higher Education Institutions (HEI). Popular cities forSwedish outbound students are London, Copenhagen, Riga, Singapore and Sydney.

Utifrån ett turismgeografiskt perspektiv diskuteras och exemplifieras hur mat och dryck kan utgöra en viktig del i att ladda platser med identitet och därmed stärka den geografiska profilen och dess attraktionsvärde.

The article discusses and exemplifies from a tourism-geographical perspective how food and drink can form an important part in loading places with identity and thereby strengthen the geographical profile and its attraction value.

The article serves to highlight the growing trend to visit abandoned places, presently existing without purpose and external actor, but with remnants of previous activity which was ongoing for a limited time. There is a research gap regarding abandoned places which have fallen into oblivion and which have therefore become a tourist attraction. It is therefore important to discuss how non-planned tourist places are expressed and challenged in the process of gradually ceasing to exist. The aim of this article is to discuss how former activity in rural places expected to disappear can develop from being a problem to becoming a tourist attraction, without a clear producer perspective driving the process. Our overall focus is to highlight visitors' experience of place that involves a transition from the expected disappearance to a "legal", non-planned attraction with a preservation tourist value. The article is based on qualitative interviews with key individuals because they were expected to be able to summarise and represent various perspectives. The article concludes that this form of tourism represents a substantial deviation from the traditional relationships that constitute the tourism industry but is perceived to have a potential in the tourism industry.