Tourism Governance Research Articles

Governance and Competitiveness of Tourism Destinations: Validation of the Structural Model in the Case of Brazil

ABSTRACT This study aims to develop, test, and validate a structural model to measure the relationship between tourism governance and the competitiveness of tourism destinations in Brazil. The research has exploratory and quantitative approaches. The study’s target population were public actors, private and civil society who work in the Brazilian tourism sector. The results revealed a reliable and valid structure for modeling tourism governance and competitiveness of tourism destinations in Brazil. The main practical implications are to identify the dimensions of the measurement of tourism governance and competitiveness of tourism destinations in Brazil; by enabling the organization of an analytical tool for measuring, evaluating, and monitoring the actions of decision-makers presenting which dimensions are most important for each construct in the Brazilian assessment.

Tourism Education in India

Abstract: One of the most significant earners of foreign exchange earnings is travel and tourism, which creates millions of jobs both directly and indirectly through a variety of service sectors. Government tourism offices, immigration and customs services, travel agencies, airlines, tour operators, and hotels are a few of the service sectors that fall under this category. Tourism education is very important to boost this sector. The primary focus of a profession in the travel and tourism sector is on serving clients who are traveling for leisure, business, or both. It involves determining the needs of travelers and businessmen and assisting them in selecting the finest travel options from the many options available.

Tourism as an Engine for Economic Diversification: An exploratory study of Saudi Arabia’s Tourism Strategy and Marketing Initiatives

This paper discusses the importance of economic diversification for the Natural resource rich nations with a special focus on Saudi Arabia. The paper will concentrate on Saudi Arabia’s efforts to achieve diversification by investing in tourism industry. Natural resources are the real wealth of nations. The availability of resources can directly influence a country's ability to grow. But at the same time a nation's economy may suffer significant and unfavourable repercussions if it is overly reliant on one or two resources, this phenomenon is called as “resource curse”. Economic diversification must therefore be successfully implemented for an economy to enjoy long-term prosperity. Saudi Arabia has made notable efforts in diversifying its economy to reduce its reliance on oil and mitigate the resource curse. With tourism industry being one of the largest non-oil contributors and one of the biggest jobs creating sector, the Saudi Arabian government recognizes the importance and ability of the tourism industry and considers it as one of the prime drivers in efforts of diversifying the economy. The paper will analyse role of tourism marketing in establishing a growing and glowing tourism sector. Finally, we examine the Saudi Arabian government's tourism marketing initiatives and the results it yielded.

ASSESSING THE INFLUENCE OF HARD AND SOFT INFRASTRUCTURE ON PERCEIVED DESTINATION COMPETITIVENESS: PERSPECTIVE FROM VISITORS IN SARAWAK

Tourism is one of the rapid growing economic sectors in the world. Destination competitiveness became an imperative aspect for every country as it determines the tourism revenue of the country. Infrastructure is one of the determinants of destination competitiveness. There are two kinds of infrastructure namely hard infrastructure and soft infrastructure. The current study investigated the impact of hard infrastructure (transportation, telecommunication, accommodation) and soft infrastructure (government tourism policy, health services, and safety and security) on perceived destination competitiveness from tourists’ points of view. The study was conducted based on quantitative research. A PLS-SEM analysis was performed by using WarpPLS. The result indicated that transportation, accommodation, and health services have a significant relationship with perceived destination competitiveness. This study is expected to benefit policymakers and industry players in terms of decision-making. Besides, this study will equip more literature and evidence for scholars to perform further studies in the field.

Contested discourses in social tourism: A relational political economy perspective

Social tourism initiatives often have economic as well as objectives, particularly national schemes such as the Spanish IMSERSO programme, designed to stimulate off-season tourism in mass coastal tourism destinations. Yet, there is little evidence of how such schemes responded to crises or that explores the effects on the tourism industry actors responsible for programme delivery. This article applies a relational political economy approach to assess the contested discourses surrounding the governance of the scheme. We examine the evolution of the IMSERSO programme longitudinally following the global financial crisis and up until the COVID-19 pandemic to assess the relational dynamics at play social tourism governance on destination stakeholders, outlining implications for social tourism policies internationally.

Issues Affecting Tourists' Satisfaction at Saint Martin Island, Bangladesh: Empirical Evidence and Suggestions

Tourist satisfaction has a significant impact on the survival and competitiveness of tourism businesses. However, issues affecting tourists??? satisfaction in relation to the developmental aspects of a destination remain largely ignored in major tourism destinations in Bangladesh. Accordingly, this study explores major issues affecting tourist satisfaction in an emerging travel destination of Bangladesh. Within a case study research design, this study collected data from Saint Martin Island, the only coral island in Bangladesh. Primary data were collected via 25 semistructured interviews while a variety of publications and unpublished materials in reference to the research objectives were reviewed as part of the secondary data source. The collected data were analyzed by employing thematic analysis and content analysis techniques. The findings reveal that during their stay at Saint Martin Island, tourists??? satisfaction is mostly affected by several issues including available attractions, accommodation facilities, touristic facilities, transportation, restaurant, and service quality. The identified issues must be considered before developing a tourist-friendly environment by catering to tourists??? expected quality for products and services. On this note, this article lays down some policy implications that could be helpful for tourism policymakers, government tourism officials, local tourism bodies, and hospitality service providers.

Multi-Agent Evolutionary Game Strategy for Ecotourism Development in National Parks: A Case Study of Wuyishan National Park

This paper proposes a multi-agent evolutionary game model that can be used to study sustainable ecotourism development in national parks, with a focus placed on coordinating the interests of multiple stakeholders. Based on the limited rationality hypothesis, this study explores the impact of strategic choice evolution and the change of key factors on the stability of the ecotourism development system in national parks. To achieve this, a tripartite evolutionary game model involving “local government–tourism enterprises–tourists” is constructed. The model is applied to Wuyishan National Park as a case study, incorporating actual data and conducting numerical simulation experiments using MATLAB software. The findings of the study are as follows: (1) The optimal stable strategy for the three game players (local government, tourism enterprises, and tourists) is determined to be one that works to “supervise, implement high-level services, and participate in ecotourism”, respectively. This strategy is influenced by factors such as government subsidies, government fines, economic benefits obtained by tourism enterprises at different service levels, and the utilities experienced by participating and non-participating tourists in national park ecotourism. (2) Government subsidy policies can promote the attainment of a stable state for tourism enterprises and tourists. However, excessive subsidies may hinder the fulfillment of local governments’ expectations. (3) The greater the economic benefits obtained by tourism enterprises through high-level services are, the more favorable it will be for tourism enterprises to reach a stable state. However, this may lead to a relatively slower response from the government. (4) The higher the utilities that tourists derive from high-level services in ecotourism are, the faster the game players will reach a stable state. (5) The higher the utilities associated with tourists spending time in other places are, the more challenging it becomes for the three game players to achieve a stable state. This situation may cause tourists to shift from the initial strategy of “participating in ecotourism” to “not participating in ecotourism”. Based on these findings, the paper provides countermeasures and suggestions for promoting the sustainable development of ecotourism in Wuyishan National Park. These recommendations aim to offer decision-making references for enhancing the development of ecotourism in national parks across the country.

지역관광 협력적 거버넌스를 위한 관광목적지 경영조직의 주요기능 우선순위 분석

지역관광 협력적 거버넌스를 위한 관광목적지 경영조직의 주요기능 우선순위 분석

Understanding resilience in ethnic tourism communities: the experiences of Miao villages in Hunan Province, China

Ethnic tourism is being advocated in China to assist regional development and poverty alleviation. However, the arrival of tourism developers who are largely external to local communities has led to changes in economic and governance arrangements at the local level. To understand how local communities are impacted and how they respond to and potentially recover from these changes, we examined Miao (Hmong) villages in Hunan Province, China. We consider how Chinese ethnic communities can simultaneously be vulnerable and yet still display resilience when they are exposed to tourism-induced structural changes that disempower them. We found that ethnic tourism created opportunities for knowledge sharing, which facilitated family businesses and skill enhancement. However, lack of local capital created dependence on external developers, and tourism increased the vulnerability of ethnic communities. Nevertheless, local people developed coping strategies to address the long-term economic and governance changes induced by tourism, despite also experiencing increasing disempowerment and vulnerability. We show that, even with top-down tourism governance models that are typically associated with the marginalization of local communities, everyday economic life was characterized by hybridity – simultaneous resilience and susceptibility, empowerment and disempowerment, and self-organization and dependency.

IMPLEMENTASI PROGRAM KERJASAMA THAILAND DI BIDANG PARIWISATA MELALUI INDONESIA-MALAYSIA-THAILAND GROWTH TRIANGLE (IMT-GT) TAHUN 2017-2021

The purpose of this study was to find out Thailand's implementation of IMT-GT subregional cooperation in increasing tourism in the 2017-2021 period. The cooperation between the three countries, known as the Growth Triangle, is a transnational economic zone intertwined with adjacent geographical areas. The research method uses a qualitative descriptive approach, with the scope of this research starting from 2017 to 2021, according to the time period of the IMT-GT Implementation Blueprint. This research is descriptive in nature and is of a qualitative type using literature study data collection techniques or collecting data appropriate to the research topic, such as online journals, online reports, such as the official Thai tourism website, the official IMT-GT website, ASEAN, global media news, Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia. The results of this study indicate that based on the regional strategic plan focusing on the tourism sector in the implementation of the IMT-GT blueprint, Thailand's policy implementation is divided into two focuses, namely building infrastructure consisting of building tourist attractions and building transportation facilities which aim to increase connectivity between IMT-GT sub-regions, as well as the Thai government's tourism promotion or marketing to increase international tourist arrivals, both globally, and from IMT-GT countries.

Tourism Governance in the Embodiment of Resilient and Sustainable Tourism Villages

Supporting government programs regarding the development of the tourism sector starting from the smallest areas, namely rural areas, requires assistance from various sectors. Claket Tourism Village, Pacet Sub-District, Mojokerto Regency has great tourism potential that cannot be ignored. The most important thing in tourism development is empowering local communities for sustainable tourism management. Community-Based Tourism (CBT) is community empowerment and participation to achieve strong, resilient, and sustainable tourism destinations. One way to realize this goal is to aid in the form of training related to tourism governance. Before providing material related to tourism governance, a process of observation and evaluation was carried out in the form of pretest and posttest in the form of questionnaires and direct interviews. The results obtained from the questionnaire answers stated that people who were initially unfamiliar with the material, after being given training materials, experienced a significant increase in their knowledge and insights about tourism governance, namely 74.4%.Mendukung program pemerintah tentang pengembangan sektor pariwisata dimulai dari daerah terkecil yaitu pedesaan, dibutuhkan langkah-langkah pendampingan dari berbagai sektor. Desa Wisata Claket Kecamatan Pacet Kabupaten Mojokerto memiliki potensi wisata yang mumpuni yang tidak dapat diabaikan. Hal paling penting dalam pengembangan pariwisata adalah pemberdayaan masyarakat setempat untuk pengelolaan pariwisata yang berkelanjutan. Wisata Berbasis Masyarakat (Community-Based Tourism/CBT) merupakan pemberdayaan dan partisipasi masyarakat dalam upaya mencapai tujuan daerah wisata yang kuat, tangguh, dan berkelanjutan. Salah satu cara untuk mewujudkan tujuan ini adalah dengan memberikan pendampingan berupa pelatihan terkait dengan tata kelola pariwisata. Sebelum memberikan materi yang terkait dengan tata kelola pariwisata, dilakukan sebuah proses observasi dan evaluasi berupa pretest dan postest dalam bentuk angket dan wawancara secara langsung. Hasil yang diperoleh dari jawaban angket menyatakan bahwa masyarakat yang awalnya awam terhadap materi, setelah diberikan materi pelatihan, mengalami kenaikan yang signifikan terhadap pengetahuan dan wawasannya tentang tata kelola pariwisata yaitu sebesar 74,4%.

Analisis Relasi Kuasa Dalam Pengembangan Tata Kelola Pariwisata Berbasis Komunitas : Sebuah Pemetaan Bibliometrik

The aim of this study is to assess the depth of research on power relations in the development of community-based tourist governance using a bibliometric approach. The database is searched using the Publish or Perish program, and the search results are extracted using VOSviewer. The topics were connected, according to the data analysis of the 5 clusters. VOSviewer can provide bibliometric mapping using the three primary visualization types of network visualization, overlay visualization, and density visualization. The two words that are used most frequently are community-based tourism and sustainable tourism. Through VOSviewer, several published articles were analyzed regarding power relations in the development of community-based tourism governance and found that research on power relations had never been carried out in community-based tourism.

Navigating towards justice and sustainability? syncretic encounters and stakeholder-sourced solutions in Arctic cruise Tourism Governance

ABSTRACTCruise tourism has a dubious reputation for conspicuous consumption and associated environmental harm. Cruises to the Arctic promise passengers pristine landscapes and authentic and engaging experiences interacting with local and Indigenous communities. Yet, these very environments and communities are under existential threat amidst the climate crisis, provoking the question of how to reconcile the ever-expanding Arctic cruise industry’s conflict with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs). To answer this question, the article proposes a novel approach that fuses concepts and methodologies from normative global governance research and critical tourism studies. Based on extensive empirical research in Norway, Canada and Iceland, the article presents stakeholder-sourced solutions that address a variety of justice conundrums associated with the expanding cruise tourism sector in the region. On the basis of the approach developed in the article, our research is able to inform public and policy discourse towards a just and sustainable transition of the polar cruise tourism industry in light of UN SDGs by highlighting the importance of creating ‘syncretic encounters’ based on four dimensions: authentic storytelling, decompressing spatial and temporal resources, just working conditions, and attention towards the built environment.

IDENTIFYING MOTIVATORS OF ECOTOURISM DESTINATION COMPETITIVENESS: THE EXAMINATION ON SOFT INFRASTRUCTURE CONSTRUCTS AND MODERATING IMPACT OF MOBILE TECHNOLOGY

The development of ecotourism in Malaysia is crucial in the current digitalized world, as nature enthusiasts seek authentic travel experiences to reconnect with the environment. This study focuses on investigating the link between government tourism policy, health services, safety and security, destination competitiveness, and the moderating effect of mobile technology. The study was conducted on 170 domestic tourists who visited various national parks in Sarawak, Malaysia. The data collected has undergone preliminary analyses using SPSS 26.0 while the proposed study model was evaluated using WarpPLS 8.0, which allowed for path modelling and bootstrapping to obtain the estimates of standard error and p-values. The results indicated a significant direct relationship between health services and destination competitiveness. Mobile technology was found to moderate the relationship between government tourism policy, safety and security, and destination competitiveness. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the study was limited to domestic tourists, and the implications of these findings are discussed.

Contribution of Organizational Structure on Strategy Implementation in Kenya Government Tourism Agencies

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the contribution of organizational structure on strategy implementation in Kenya government tourism agencies.
 Methodology: The study used a positivist approach research philosophy. The research designs employed in this study were explanatory and descriptive research designs. The study population comprised of the tourism industry. The study included the ministry of tourism itself since it is the parent ministry that regulates and oversees the operations of the tourism agencies to give a total of 10 areas of study. A sample of 327 was achieved based on the following formula. This study used primary data. The study used questionnaires and interview guides to collect both qualitative and quantitative data. Quantitative data was analyzed through scientific methods while qualitative data was analyzed thematically. The descriptive statistics was first used to analyze the demographic factors of the respondents using frequencies and charts. Inferential statistics such as correlation and multiple linear regression analysis were used to test the relationship among the variables as per the study hypothesis.
 Findings: The structure of an organization was found to have significant effect on the realization of objectives and profits in an organization. The organizational functions and targets, the structure of employee learning and growth and systems of communications have an influence on how organizations achieve their objectives and their profits. Culture also has been found to play its critical role in implementation of strategies and consequently realizations of set objectives and profits in organizations. Organizational norms, ethics, employee training and organizational climate are very key in achieving success while implementing strategies.
 Unique Contribution to Theory, Practice and Policy: To effectively implement strategies in the tourism industry, the organizational structures need to have lines of communication, simple layer of reporting, flexible structure and good systems which ensure quick decision making in organizations.

The biopolitics of Chinese tourism governance in the Arctic

ABSTRACT Scholarly attention to China's domestic experimentation and control measures applied to its population (e.g. the Family Planning Policy and Zero-Covid) has expanded. So, too, has the popularity of the Foucauldian concept of biopolitics, which refers to political strategies of governing based on a population's biological features. However, China's biopolitical rationales for its growing participation in global governance (全球治理 quanqiu zhili) beyond its borders have received less attention. This research focuses on the Arctic, a region where China does not claim territorial sovereignty but has significant involvement, to examine the Chinese state's exertion of biopolitical control over its outbound tourist population. Drawing on a review of policy texts and media reports, complemented by observations at an Arctic conference held in China and three field visits to the Arctic in 2018–2019, we show how China's interventions in Arctic tourism seek to transform Chinese tourists into a productive, self-disciplining population who practice and promote state logics of social and environmental responsibility. The paper contributes to the understanding of tourism governance in frontier regions with geopolitical significance, as well as the modern state's exterritorial power over its own citizens even when they are beyond its sovereign territory.

Organizational Climate and The Achievement of Objectives in a Governmental Tourism Management Institution

Communication is an essential part to achieve the goals of any organization. Thus, nowadays, many organizations are committed to have an appropriate communication flow, being of total obligation to provide their collaborators with the necessary tools for an assertive communication; therefore, if the collaborators perceive that the institution offers them value, they will show great commitment to the achievement of the goals, based on internal communication. The government institution under study, which manages tourism in a region of Peru, presents several problems related to the organizational climate and its factors, such as lack of cooperation, poor relations between employees, conflicts and poor communication, which causes low productivity by the institution. The general objective is to determine the relationship between the organizational climate of the Regional Management of Foreign Trade and Tourism of Lambayeque and the impact on the achievement of the institution's objectives. Its variables seek to know if there is a relationship between organizational climate and the impact on the achievement of goals. Likewise, in relation to the methodology, it was a quantitative study, the method used was inductive and deductive, with a non-experimental design of correlational cross-sectional cut. Its population consisted of 35 workers of the Regional Management of Foreign Trade and Tourism of Lambayeque, and its sample was a census, since it worked with the entire population and had a non-probabilistic sampling, of these correspond to 19 males and 16 females. Likewise, in terms of techniques and instruments, a survey was used, and a questionnaire was used as an instrument for both variables. As the main result, when applying Spearman's Rho, a value of 0.872 was obtained, which indicates that there is a strong and positive relationship between organizational climate and goal fulfillment. In view of the above, it has been concluded that there is a significant relationship between organizational climate and goal achievement.

‘He Wei Gui’: The wisdom and action of tourism photography vendors to handle conflicts in Canton Tower Scenic Area

Given both the popularity of street vendors and the government resistance to them in tourism governance, we interview vendors between September 2014 and May 2021 to gain insights into the interactions and conflicts between vendors, local enterprises and government departments in Canton, China. We derive a theory of ‘He Wei Gui’ from Chinese Confucian culture and adopt discourse analysis to investigate how informal tourism photography vendors in the Canton Tower Scenic Area resolve their conflicts. We argue that photography vendors have developed a harmonious but fragile coexistence through the use of measures such as fuzzification of public space, flexible industry regulations, output of emotional capital and normalised ways, thereby demonstrating the business acumen of little people. In contrast to the existing trend of ‘rigid governance’, the authors suggest applying ‘flexible management’ in the informal economy and tourism governance, and giving prominence to the principal role of informal operators or little people. In addition, this flexible management reflects the tacit consent from all the stakeholders, the active suing for nonviolent solution from the vulnerable and the willingness of modifying or even creating rules for balancing the distribution of the interests from the dominant stakeholder. The key to this flexible management is that authorities take the investment of emotional capital of the vulnerable groups into consideration. This leads to fuzzy governance which blurs and integrates emotions into the rules, making it possible to solve the conflicts in a more flexible way.

Influence of the Impact of Tourism Partnerships and Associated Tourism Factors on the Performance of Tourism in Beaches of Kwale County

Collaborative tourism governance among the stakeholders is one of the approaches used to manage tourism destinations. This approach is not devoid of bottlenecks. This study sought to determine the influence of collaborative tourism governance on tourism performance in Kwale County. The study objectives were to; review the impact of tourism partnerships on the performance of tourism in beaches of Kwale County and to examine factors associated with influencing the successful operations of tourism partnerships for better tourism performance in Kwale County. This study adopted a descriptive research design and mixed methods of collecting quantitative and qualitative primary data. The study was conducted at the beaches of Kwale County which have a wide range of tourist attractions and a variety of tourism stakeholders. The study targeted senior officers involved in tourism activities working for the National government and its affiliated tourism agencies. The study also targeted senior tourism and trade officers working for Kwale County Government. In addition, the study targeted private associations involved in tourism activities in Kwale County. Purposive sampling techniques were used to select senior officers and officials and members of stakeholder’s associations who participated in the survey. The key informant interview schedule was used to collect data from senior officers while a semi-structured questionnaire was used to collect quantitative and qualitative data primary data from associations’ respondents. Multiple linear regression fitness model analysis was used to predict the influence of the independent variables on the dependent variable. Based on the findings of this study it can be concluded that the impact of tourism partnership and factors associated with influencing the operations of tourism alliances play a critical role in the performance of beaches in Kwale County. The study recommends for a SWOT model be developed to ensure that all the positive and negative attributes of a beach destination concerning collaborative governance are identified. Keywords: Impact, Tourism partnerships, Performance of tourism, Beaches Influence, Successful operations and Better tourism performance.

Bira Beach Tourism Governance Through Digital Marketing Communication Strategies

This research delves into the role and implications of digital marketing communication strategies in the tourism governance of Bira Beach. Bira Beach, renowned for its pristine coastal beauty, has witnessed fluctuating tourism trends over the years. Ensuring sustainable tourism development, which balances economic benefits, environmental protection, and socio-cultural integration, necessitates effective governance mechanisms. Digital marketing communication strategies have emerged as instrumental in shaping this governance. Through a qualitative approach encompassing interviews, surveys, and digital data analytics, this study explores (1) the existing digital communication practices in promoting Bira Beach, (2) stakeholders' perceptions about the effectiveness of these practices, and (3) the influence of these strategies on tourism governance frameworks and decisions. Preliminary findings suggest that well-structured digital communication campaigns can enhance stakeholder participation, foster transparent decision-making, and drive sustainable tourism policies. However, certain challenges like digital literacy, infrastructural constraints, and authenticity concerns have been identified. The research emphasizes the need for a cohesive strategy that integrates technology, local community insights, and environmental considerations for robust tourism governance at Bira Beach. This study contributes to the growing body of knowledge on the intertwining realms of digital marketing and tourism governance, offering insights for policy-makers, tourism planners, and marketers.