Advocacy and community leadership as functions in national and regional level destination management

Abstract

Destination management processes continue to undergo substantial change, and managers now need to demonstrate a social presence and balance the interests of businesses, host communities, and a wide range of other stakeholders. Advocacy and community leadership have become increasingly important, but little is known about the implementation of these functions within destination management. The aim of this paper is to explore how advocacy and community leadership feature in destination management, and how they interrelate with other destination management functions. Empirical data were gathered through a series of in-depth interviews amongst destination management practitioners in Estonia. The study advances our understanding of how practitioners conceptualise and enact advocacy and community leadership in destination management. A framework for advocacy and community leadership within destination management is proposed to depict the interdependencies with other destination management functions.