The Nordic Journey

Hjortur Smarason
  • 5.0 (2)
  • BUSINESS
  • UPDATED BIWEEKLY

A podcast about sustainable tourism development in the North, where we talk to thought leaders, entrepreneurs, scientists, amateurs and professionals who are pushing boundaries, not only from the Nordics but wherever in the World they may be, wherever we can learn something from them.

Episodes

  1. Live Decently!

    3D AGO

    Live Decently!

    The antithesis to bullying, which we see too much of in the media nowadays, is to live decently - says Geoffrey Lipman, co-founder of SunX Malta, former Executive Director of IATA, former president of WTTC and former Assistant Secretary General at UNWTO. Together with Dr. Hans Friederich, a nature and conservation specialist with vast experience from Africa, Asia and Europe they are running Sun X Malta and the Climate Friendly Travel portal, a global initiative backed by the Maltese government that is aiming at promoting and educating tour companies around the world in sustainable thinking and climate action. (Something you might want to look into joining.) With their impressive resumes and experience they share their perspectives on the state of the travel industry, the challenges of sustainable tourism today and their concerns for tomorrow. An episode dedicated to the generation that is being born today.

    1h 1m
  2. The World Seen from Northern Greenland

    JAN 30

    The World Seen from Northern Greenland

    A twenty year old Japanese girl falls in love with sea kayaking - which leads her to one of the northern most villages of the world, Qaanaaq in North Greenland. Today we hear from Sakiko Daorana, one marriage, three children and twenty something years later, where she operates expeditions in this extremely remote corner of the world. Greenland has been getting a lot of attention recently and the village of Qaanaaq has in some ways, despite its extreme remoteness, been at the centre of both the cold war, and now the threats of taking Greenland. We are not going to discuss defence and geopolitics in this episode but rather learn more about this tiny little village at the top of the world, and the remarkable people that live there. This is the story of Sakiko-san and the Inuit of Qaanaaq.

    50 min
  3. The Sustainable Entrepreneur

    JAN 16

    The Sustainable Entrepreneur

    We head back to Norway in this episode, one of the leading countries when it comes to sustainable tourism. There we speak to a serial entrepreneur, Håvard Utheim, who has founded several companies with different angles and approaches to sustainable tourism, an adventure travel company, gear rental, travel tech company, accommodation company and a company focused on transparency in travel. Listen to his journey to where he is today and what he has learned along the way. In the podcast we talk about a practical book for companies who want to become more sustainable. The link to the book is here: https://www.transparency.travel Happy listening!

    55 min
  4. Good News to Start the Year

    JAN 2

    Good News to Start the Year

    In a World full of bad news, let's start 2026 with some inspiring, positive news. I have gathered a selection of news, mostly related to conservation and tourism and a couple outside of that. Reminders of what we can achieve when we really put our minds to it. How are we exactly doing? Where are we heading? Is tourism a contributor? When we read general news it feels like everything is going downhill but we are actually improving our situation. For the most parts at least. Listen to this episode of The Nordic Journey podcast and start the year on a positive note. Wishing you a happy and prosperous new year!

    34 min
  5. From Promoting Overconsumption to Promoting Hope.

    12/19/2025

    From Promoting Overconsumption to Promoting Hope.

    Petter Gulli worked for 30 years in the advertising industry until he flipped the table in 2018. With 12 years to go according the new ICPP report he started his new company 12 Years, promoting hope and inspiring people not be discouraged by doomsday news. It was not a denial but a smart approach to moving people and companies into the right transformative process. In this podcast we go wide, talking about the challenges of transforming industries, consumer patterns and even politics. Tourism is definitely part of it, but since this is published just before Christmas, we will talk about our modern economy of overconsumption a bit as well. The books and websites mentioned at the end of the podcast are the following: Positive.news Humanprogress.org Reasonstobecheerful.world GoodGoodGood.co Not the End of the World - Hannah Ritchie Clearing the Air - Hannah Ritchie Human kind - Rutger Bregman The World is full of good people and good things happening :)

    1 hr

  6. 12/05/2025

    Gastronomy, Culinary Tourism and Sustainability

    In this episode we talk with Donna Isabella Caroline Sundbo, a scholar that has written about tourism, sustainability and food culture. In the episode we talk about anthropology and local cultures, the importance of the food scene and the three most common mistakes destinations do when it comes to food culture.

    57 min
  7. Closed for Maintenance

    11/21/2025

    Closed for Maintenance

    Closed for Maintenance is a project that has gained international attention and put the Faroe Islands on the map as one of the most innovative tourism destinations when it comes to sustainable tourism. But Closed for Maintenance is far from the only cool thing the Faroe Islands have done, so we got Jóhan Pauli Helgason, Development Manager at Visit Faroe Islands to join us on The Nordic Journey talking about his destination, regenerative tourism, their new strategy and even the complexity of dealing with their traditional whale hunting.

    45 min
  8. Regenerative Tourism in Finland

    11/07/2025

    Regenerative Tourism in Finland

    In this episode of The Nordic Journey podcast we talk to Anu Nylund from Mood of Finland. Anu has been working for decades on the education of responsible tourism and now regenerative tourism, helping small companies find their way. She has also her own project called Love Forest Finland which is a fantastic example of how you can take a common problem and turn it into a regenerative project, spreading love while gaining back forests. Anu Nylund has gotten her inspiration from the Chilean school of regenerative tourism (Iniciativa Global Turismo Regenerativo), Daniel Wahl and Anna Pollock, whom we are actually getting as our next interviewee on The Nordic Journey Podcast.

    54 min
  9. Transparency in Tourism

    10/24/2025

    Transparency in Tourism

    In our fourth episode on sustainable tourism development we meet Raj Gyawali, founder of Social Tours in Kathmandu in Nepal. Raj is one of the sharpest minds I know in the industry and started working with regenerative tourism long before the concept was invented. Our paths crossed long ago for a totally different reason, but it has been very inspiring to follow his journey. He is still twenty years ahead of the curve, so you really might want to listen to what he is experimenting with these days - and what effect increased transparency has had in those experiments. Share and subscribe, but most importantly, enjoy the show!

    56 min
  10. The Art of Collaboration

    10/10/2025

    The Art of Collaboration

    Who are the key stakeholders of tourism development and how do you engage them? In this episode of The Nordic Journey we talk to Ásta Kristín Sigurjónsdóttir, CEO of the Iceland Tourism Cluster, about the role of the tourism cluster in building a more inclusive, sustainable tourism industry in Iceland. The cluster is built on three pillars, sustainability, digitalisation and innovation with active participation from not only tourism companies, but also banks, insurance companies, law firms and other side industries.

    57 min

  11. 09/26/2025

    Is Sustainability Dead? - Interview with Alex Farlander

    An interview with Alex Farlander, AI Director, Journey Designer and Future Navigator in Estonia - where we talk about the battle for sustainability in tourism, ethical principles in tourism, threats in the current environment, AI and what potential solutions we may see in the future. Enjoy!

    56 min
  12. First episode - introduction.

    09/19/2025

    First episode - introduction.

    Welcome to the first episode of The Nordic Journey podcast, where I introduce the concept, why we are focusing on sustainable tourism and some of the challenges that come with it.

    20 min
  • 12 Episodes

Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
2 Ratings

About

A podcast about sustainable tourism development in the North, where we talk to thought leaders, entrepreneurs, scientists, amateurs and professionals who are pushing boundaries, not only from the Nordics but wherever in the World they may be, wherever we can learn something from them.

Information

  • Creator
    Hjortur Smarason
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    12
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Show Website
    The Nordic Journey