Abstract
The attention that political parties pay to the tourism sector’s issues has been an underresearched subject for tourism science. This paper aims to fill the gap by analysing political awareness for tourism-related topics on a national level. It will answer the question of whether tourism plays an important role in parties’ manifestos and in which context it is addressed. To facilitate the research, the paper applies a quantitative content analysis as well as a contextual analysis. Results show that within parties’ manifestos tourism topics are discussed and used for the political debate, not only for their economic aspects but in the context of infrastructure and sustainability as well. It becomes clear that tourism on a national level serves as a vehicle to communicate the general ideological message of the respective political party. The findings of this paper complement earlier studies regarding regional politics and tourism.
Highlights
Governments, and subsequently political parties, have a genuine interest in the tourism sector
Politicians and governments are required to consider tourism aspects in their governmental work (Elliott, 1997), as the tourism system represents significant employment opportunities (Eurostat, 2021) and GDP contribution (UNWTO, 2018). These tourism aspects have a certain degree of importance, for governments and politicians but especially for citizens who are employed in the tourism industry
It is fair to assume the results of the analysis indicate a general view of the political parties regarding tourism that is not influenced by a dominating external effect of a pandemic
Summary
Governments, and subsequently political parties, have a genuine interest in the tourism sector. Significant scientific attention is focused on the relationship between tourism and governmental interaction (Jenkins, 2020; Fayos-Sola, 1996). Politicians and governments are required to consider tourism aspects in their governmental work (Elliott, 1997), as the tourism system represents significant employment opportunities (Eurostat, 2021) and GDP contribution (UNWTO, 2018). These tourism aspects have a certain degree of importance, for governments and politicians but especially for citizens who are employed in the tourism industry. This is true, considering that elections in most countries represent the most important possibility to express interest in changes or continuity of policies (Demirkol et al, 2016)
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