The PhD project will center around the dialectics between the concepts of authenticity, knowledge and nature- and culture-based development in rural areas. The overall research question of the dissertation is then to investigate: The role of the local community in, and its response to, nature- and culture based tourism development? This question again is divided into three subcategories: * How important is local involvement for the protection of a destination's natural and cultural characteristics? * How does the focus on "authenticity" influence the short and long term development of rural localities? * To what extent can the exchange of knowledge in the encounter between tourists and the local inhabitants contribute to a greater understanding of which values and actions are required in order to transform local and global tourism into more sustainable or responsible types of tourism? (Ingeborg Nordbø)