ODIN, EL DIOS VIAJERO: La influencia de la Mitología Nórdica en la creación del Turismo

Given the economic and social condition after the World War II, consumption and capital expanded worldwide to the extent of bringing many benefits to defeating countries. Undoubtedly, we are witness of the inception of a new reality based on the right of consumption that was materialized in the holidays and the touristification of developing economies. Although the eyes of historians are put to the Roman-World to denote the principle of mobility associated to travels and leisure, we argue that interesting discoveries can be done whether historians in tourism and hospitality fields turned their attention to Norse-Mythology. This paper stimulated a hot-debate in a point which merits to be studied in next layouts. Underpinned in the proposition that the principle of predestination and mobility were two key factors for the inception of tourism, the present work explored the contributions the mythology can exerts in tourism-related research. At a first glance, Norse-culture valorized the belief in an upmost God (Odin) whose nomadic nature led him to run across the world in shapes of different animals. In sharp contrast with scholars already assumed, travels as a form of discovery and conquest were coined 5 centuries before the advent of Roman Empire. The idea that every trip gives wisdom and power (macht) is typical of this culture and provides the basis for the creation of the medieval Grand-tour.