Bård Jervan is a Senior Partner at Mimir. He was deeply involved in writing and developing the new Norwegian national Tourism Strategy for 2030. A cornerstone of the report is centered around food in tourism and how it connects to economic development. It’s also a way to preserve culture, protect natural resources, and trace history. Today, we dive into what sustainable tourism is, why the context of a meal matters, the best places to visit in Norway, why seafood is a major opportunity, and the Nordics as a gastronomic destination.
Related Links
🇳🇴 Norway’s Tourism Strategy for 2030
💼 More examples of Nordic food in tourism
🍷 Climate change and the development of a Nordic wine region
🚙 A foodie roatrip around Iceland by Chef Gunnar Karl Gíslason
🐟 Opportunities around Norwegian seaweed
Episode Transcript
Analisa Winther, Nordic FoodTech Podcast Host 2:23
Hello, Bård. Welcome to the Nordic FoodTech Podcast. I think we should start today’s conversation about you and just give a little background on who you are and how you got into tourism.
Bård Jervan, Mimir 2:36
I got into tourism through my education 40 years ago. 25 years ago, I started a consultancy called Mimir with a former colleague. We’re eight consultants and we have been working with the development of tourism in Norway for the last 25 years. So, you can say that the consultancy is kind of focused around what can we do to develop tourism as a business, create more working places, and develop possibilities for living all over Norway. We also do regional planning together with the regional authorities. We do some marketing studies and we also do development of regions’ identity as a tourist destination.