Organizing public relations visits in Northern Finland : ethnographic research on practices of the organizations

Abstract

Public relations visits are work related activity and include travelling elements, hence can be considered as tourism. Organizing public relations visits is work that is carried out in the organizations. In this context public relations visits are provided by non-tourism organizations. The organizing process is taken care of among other work and organizers are usually not professionals in tourism nor commercial service providers. Characteristic to public relations visits is also that they are not for sale as tourism services or products, instead these visits based on organizations’ needs and goals are tailored and offered for each guest and group of guests exclusively.

The aim of this research is to illuminate practices that organizations have in organizing public relations visits and view these practices through the lens of sustainability, responsibility, and overall quality of the visit. In this qualitative ethnographic research, I have shed light on practices arisen in conventional content analysis of data based on field diary, in-depth interview and memory-work. The data that is tapping also into years from 2011 to 2015 through memory-work method has been collected in time period from 2021 to the end of the first quarter of 2023 in authentic everyday environment in Northern Finland for illuminating practices in public and private sector organizations.

Referring to findings of this research organizations have four main groups of practices that are emphasized in organizing public relations visits. These include practices 1) guiding the arrangements, 2) of building connections, 3) of providing and sharing experiences and 4) of internal and external communications. The last mentioned, practice of communications, is cutting across the whole organizing process, hence being intertwined in three other practices.

The research shows practices that have been hindering the implementation of sustainable and responsible practices and lowering the quality of the public relations visit. These practices are connected with lack of internal and external communications, stemming from inadequate sharing of information and ending up causing challenges in the run of whole organizing process. Sustainability, responsibility, and overall quality of the public relations visits shall be improved through respectful communications not only inside the host organizations or between the host and guest organizations, but also through creating solid partnerships with local service providers sharing similar values dedicated to sustainability and responsibility. Moreover, I recommend attaching the upcoming public relations visit programmes activities in local nature in order to illuminate for the guests the crucial connection between northern nature and local life thus, enhancing the overall understanding of the meaning of sustainable and responsible choices in activities located in the North.