A network perspective of stakeholder relationships in the context of sustainable urban tourism

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2005
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Abstract
This research studied how sustainable tourism policies could best be developed and ultimately implemented in urban tourism destinations. To achieve this goal, the study examined how the concept of sustainable tourism was interpreted in urban destinations, and analyzed the existing pattern of relationships among urban tourism destination stakeholders to determine roles and potential influences of legitimate and powerful stakeholders in tourism policymaking. The sample of this research included three clusters - industry, host environment and community, and government authorities - in three cities. The study was conducted in two stages. The first stage used a qualitative and the second stage used a quantitative methodology. Interviews and a survey instrument were used to gather data in the qualitative and quantitative stages respectively. The study employed both network analysis and statistical analyses to examine the data. The relationships among destination stakeholders were analyzed through network analysis. This tool offered a new way of studying tourism destination stakeholder interactions. The network analysis determined a basic structure of how tourism functions in cities and also identified the most important, important and unimportant stakeholders within a tourism network. The Destination Management Organizations (DMOs) were the most central stakeholders across tourism networks. The structural position of DMOs suggested that they could carry significant roles in tourism policymaking. This study also contributed to theoretical advancement in sustainable urban tourism by providing perspectives of various destination stakeholders on the sustainable tourism concept in the context of urban destinations. A policy framework in which sustainable tourism development can be achieved is introduced. This framework is developed by identifying legitimate and powerful stakeholders of tourism planning, development or policy formulation through stakeholder analysis, and by balancing the diverse goals and interests of destination stakeholders through stakeholder management process. The way stakeholder perspective is used in this study contributed to the development of stakeholder theory not only by applying it in a policy domain but also analyzing multiple and interdependent stakeholder interactions rather than dyadic stakeholder relationships. The framework proposed in this study could also help narrow the "policy gap" in destinations by incorporating tourism planning and development to the DMOs' mandate.
Description
Bibliography: p. 298-309
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Citation
Timur, S. (2005). A network perspective of stakeholder relationships in the context of sustainable urban tourism (Doctoral thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca. doi:10.11575/PRISM/5191
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