Sarah is currently finishing her Master’s degree in Tourism, Society and Environment at Wageningen University, the Netherlands, by completing an internship at the Icelandic Seal Center. Sarah holds a Bachelor’s degree in International Tourism Management and has a professional background in tourism marketing. For her thesis called “Using Place Branding and Place Marketing for sustainable destination development in the Faroe Islands”, she has interviewed different stakeholders in the community to uncover their perceptions of local tourism development and channel their voices into recommendations for the future.
Through this experience, she developed an interest in not only showing tourists the beauty of a destination and its local environment and culture but simultaneously creating a more just industry with benefits for all. During her Master’s degree, Sarah has specialised in tourism and development, taking courses on sustainable (wildlife) tourism, the management of natural resources in the tourism industry and the political ecologies of natural resource distribution. For the Icelandic Seal Center, Sarah is working on a resident survey about tourism development in Húnaþing vestra and will assist in other related projects. With her internship, she hopes to contribute to developing tourism in the area further in a sustainable way and gain experience in wildlife tourism.