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Collaborative Governance in Tourism: Empirical Insights into a Community-Oriented Destination

Author

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  • Bernhard Fabian Bichler

    (Department of Strategic Management, Marketing and Tourism, Faculty of Business and Management, University of Innsbruck, Karl-Rahner-Platz 3, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria)

  • Magdalena Lösch

    (Department of Strategic Management, Marketing and Tourism, Faculty of Business and Management, University of Innsbruck, Karl-Rahner-Platz 3, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria)

Abstract

Governance offers valuable guidelines to steer and direct destinations. Recent tourism governance research has explored the role of multiple actors in governing destinations but has not comprehensively investigated the underlying collaborative governance (CG) processes such as face-to-face dialogue, trust-building, shared understanding, or supporting factors such as institutional setting or leadership. The objectives of this paper are to determine the drivers and barriers of CG in a community-oriented destination in South Tyrol (Italy). This aims to reveal the processes that drive collaboration between stakeholders. For this reason, the paper builds on a qualitative case study with 20 semi-structured interviews with key informants. The results highlight that destination leadership is an essential driver of CG. However, several barriers to CG emerged. First, the findings show that institutional transformation led to a lack of trust and increased insecurity. Second, the inclusion of salient actors such as residents in the decision-making and implementation phase is scarce. Third, our findings highlight that a shared understanding of future development directions is missing between stakeholders. The contribution of this paper is a refined assessment of CG in tourism with special attention to the role of leadership and institutional settings. The derived implications target the role of leadership to foster the development of a shared understanding and to embark on a collaborative learning process that provides visible and tangible outcomes in turbulent times.

Suggested Citation

  • Bernhard Fabian Bichler & Magdalena Lösch, 2019. "Collaborative Governance in Tourism: Empirical Insights into a Community-Oriented Destination," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(23), pages 1-19, November.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:11:y:2019:i:23:p:6673-:d:290861
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

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    2. Octavi Bono i Gispert & Salvador Anton Clavé & Martí Casadesús Fa, 2023. "The Internalization of Participation and Coherence Dimensions of Governance in Tourism Destination Management Organizations—An Exploratory Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(3), pages 1-29, January.
    3. Teresa Costa & Maria de Lurdes Calisto & Sandra Nunes & Margarida Dias, 2023. "A Literature Review on Networks and Sustainable Development in Sea Tourism Entrepreneurship," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(3), pages 1-14, January.
    4. I Gusti Ayu Purnamawati & Saarce Elyse Hatane, 2024. "Collaborative Governance in Strengthening Dimensions of Competitive Advantage of Sustainable Ecotourism Villages," International Review of Management and Marketing, Econjournals, vol. 14(4), pages 180-190, July.
    5. Trin Thananusak & Suparak Suriyankietkaew, 2023. "Unpacking Key Sustainability Drivers for Sustainable Social Enterprises: A Community-Based Tourism Perspective," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(4), pages 1-23, February.
    6. Riccardo Beltramo & Giovanni Peira & Alessandro Bonadonna, 2021. "Creating a Tourism Destination through Local Heritage: The Stakeholders’ Priorities in the Canavese Area (Northwest Italy)," Land, MDPI, vol. 10(3), pages 1-18, March.

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