Shaping tourism governance

Summary of this study

Governance offers great potential for the management of tourism destinations. Tourism governance examines the components of tourism destinations and focuses on providing orientation and boundaries for destinations. Previous research considered political and tourism stakeholders as important partners in governance, but paid little attention to the role of the local population. This is particularly relevant as the design of tourism systems becomes increasingly important and highlights the potential for multi-stakeholder involvement.

Local people feel ownershipof the destination and can incentivize destination design as they care about local conditions and circumstances. Enabling local participation by involving a wider community to build consensus and align development intentions will ensure long-term development. As a result, local community participation is an essential aspect of effective tourism governance.

This paper builds on a systematic literature review to determine the status quo of tourism governance research in the field of local communities. The research shows that tourism governance arrangements in destinations influence participation but often do not involvethe local population . It also shows that innovation-centered approaches and destination governance offer opportunities to revitalize participation in tourism destinations. Finally, the literature review emphasizes that tourism governance needs to involve local people and that further research is needed to design participatory tourism governance arrangements.

Key findings of this study

• Insufficient involvement of the local population: Although the involvement of the local population is an essential aspect of effective tourism governance, local residents are often not included in current governance arrangements in destinations . They are often the least involved stakeholders compared to external experts and tourism and political actors and feel excluded or perceived as under-resourced.
• Fundamental importance of local residents: The local population is crucial for tourism management as they feel responsible for the destination and can incentivize destination design as they care about local conditions and circumstances. Their active participation is essential to ensure long-term development.
• Opportunities to revitalize participation: The systematic literature review shows that innovation-centric approaches and destination leadership offer important opportunities to revitalize participation in tourism destinations. Destination leadership aims to involve all stakeholders within a destination, not only formal institutions and elites, but also the local population.
• Need for further research and design: The literature review emphasizes that tourism governance needs to involve the local population and that further research is needed to design participatory tourism governance arrangements. There are barriers to participation, such as lack of financial resources, lack of know-how or apathy within the local community.

Publication: Bernhard Fabian Bichler (2019)