Multinational corporations, co-evolution, and sustainable tourism in Africa

Antonia García-Cabrera,Sonia Suárez-Ortega,Juan Durán-Herrera

doi:10.54055/ejtr.v13i.229

Abstract

Co-evolution as an approach to tourism sustainability has been under-researched in the tourism literature, which has mainly focused on the more natural evolutionary principles. Relevant questions about the co-evolutionary process remain understudied, especially in the case of multinational companies (MNCs) involved in tourism that coevolve with local authorities in developing African countries. This paper delves into the co-evolutionary process in order to identify the main challenges and key factors that condition the reciprocal interactions that give rise to co-evolution between local authorities and foreign MNCs in Africa. We apply a qualitative methodology based on a single and in-depth case study to examine the relationship between a Spanish hotel chain and local authorities in an African country. We find that a co-evolutionary approach based on cooperative interactions between tourism MNCs and local authorities may contribute towards guaranteeing sustainable tourism. Our findings also show how differences in negotiating methods can be one of the strongest challenges that co-evolution faces in Africa. Also, as co-evolution is a time-consuming and complex process in these countries, some qualities of the actors involved such as learning capabilities, patience and readiness to deal with unforeseen conditions are of high relevance for the successful culmination of the process.

Highlights

Literature on the internationalisation of the developed-economy tourism industry towards developing economies commonly analyses the challenges that such activity entails for the parties involved – the foreign tourism business RESEARCH PAPERMultinational corporations, co-evolution, and sustainable tourism in Africa.and the local community – from two distinct perspectives
Given that challenges for both parties coexist and that opportunities for sustainable 24 tourism may emerge from a successful interaction between developed-economy tourism multinational companies (MNCs) and local authorities in developing African countries, this study focuses on the processes and factors that condition such interactions
We examine the peculiarities of the interactions between the tourism MNC and the developing African country in order to understand the process

Summary

Introduction

Literature on the internationalisation of the developed-economy tourism industry towards developing economies commonly analyses the challenges that such activity entails for the parties involved – the foreign tourism business RESEARCH PAPERMultinational corporations, co-evolution, and sustainable tourism in Africa.and the local community – from two distinct perspectives. Many authors have analysed the damage in terms of social, cultural, and environmental sustainability generated by foreign tourism companies in the environments and societies of local communities (e.g., Tosun, 1998). These works, focused on either one of the two parties, risk being biased and could be insufficient in scope to respond to the challenges posed by such internationalisation for both parties. Prior literature has highlighted as major challenges facing foreign MNCs those related to host government intervention that affect both market-based and nonmarket-based competition, and the relationship with local government authorities (e.g., Luo, 2001)

Methods

Findings

Conclusion