Hospitality in wild places

TLDR

The hygge concept, originating from Danish ideas of cozy indoor life, has recently attracted global attention for creating comfortable atmospheres at home and enhancing emotional well‑being on holiday. The study aims to reconceptualize outdoor adventure guides as hospitality agents by integrating hygge, dwelling, and communitas to enhance outdoor hospitality amid growing ontological insecurity. The authors propose that outdoor guides should cultivate hygge, create dwelling spaces, and orchestrate communitas to deliver hospitality. The authors argue that this conceptual framework deepens insight into the guide’s role and the dynamics of delivering hospitable experiences.

Abstract

Abstract We contribute to the hospitality work research agenda by reconsidering the role of outdoor adventure guides as agents of hospitality, set against a conceptual backdrop of deepening ontological insecurity in industrialized societies. We argue that the concepts of dwelling, communitas and hygge have much to offer in the delivery of outdoor hospitality in general, and in outdoor adventure tourism scenarios in particular. Although originating from the Danes and their ideas of ‘cosy indoor life’, the concept of hygge has recently gained global attention in the debates around creating comfortable atmospheres at home, and in fostering people’s emotional well-being on holiday. Moving the concept along, we suggest the stimulation of hygge in the outdoors, along with provision of the space to dwell and the stage management of the communal effervescence of communitas as part of the crucial skill set for the outdoor guide. We opine that such conceptualization can greatly inform our understanding of both the role of the outdoor guide and of the dynamics of deliverable hospitable experience more generally.