The Nordics have a long tradition of second homes. Regular retreats to rural areas by people from the towns and cities are quite common. This in turn has a significant impact on small towns and rural municipalities, as well as their economies – not least, because the size of the population using services and infrastructure in the area varies greatly during the course of the year. About half the population of the Nordic Region has access to a second home, which is used during the summer or winter season and increasingly at weekends. The variability of the population due to second-home usage or tourism is still largely ignored in policy and spatial planning in the Nordic countries.
Based on an analysis of Nordic statistics and qualitative fieldwork in five Nordic municipalities, this chapter seeks to investigate how second homes and seasonal tourism are now being embraced as part of the Nordic spatial planning and policy agenda. It also looks at the implications of second homes and seasonal tourism for urban–rural integration throughout the Nordic region.