Tourism has emerged as an important part of the economy in the Circumpolar North. Many northern communities grew as outposts of capitalism and prospered through primary sector activities such as agriculture, mining, fishing, and forestry. Recently, entrepreneurial and institutional efforts have resulted in increasing tourism employment in the Arctic. While the contribution of tourism to Arctic economies is well-understood, other questions remain. Communities are not only dependent on what happens in the economy in the broader sense but also on endogenous generation of creative and innovative initiatives. This paper examines tourism in three Arctic communities and introduces the concept of creative outposts – communities in peripheral areas which manage to develop tourism despite difficult structural preconditions. Three cases from across the Circumpolar North, and at different stages of development, are presented and main themes explored include: the endogenous nature of tourism development and its potential for employment and entrepreneurship, the contribution of tourism to the local leisure space, and the potential of tourism as a diversification strategy. The paper utilises an innovation systems approach and highlights that tourism activity can act as a catalyst for the development of positive local social capital. The study is positioned within the Arctic Tourism Innovation System framework, highlighting how some northern communities manage not just to survive but to thrive with tourism and community resilience being complementary in creative outposts. The paper calls for future comparative studies across the Circumpolar North.