John Hull

Harold Richins

Mountains have long held an appeal for people around the world. This book focusses on the diversity of perspectives, interaction and role of tourism within these areas. Providing a vital update to the current literature, it considers the interdisciplinary context of communities, the creation of mountain tourism experiences and the impacts tourism has on these environments. Including authors from Europe, Asia-Pacific and North America, the development, planning and governance issues are also covered.

Experiences, Communities, Environments and Sustainable Futures

Mountain Tourism

Eric Laws

Jerome Francis Agrusa

This book examines the political order and the issues, processes and approaches in applying governance insights to tourist destinations. The book consists of 16 chapters presented in three parts. Part I introduces the reader to the issues and considerations of tourist destination governance. The four chapters in this part address the diversity of questions of relevance around regional destination development, community involvement, responsiveness and future outcomes of governance in the context of tourism. This includes an exploration of a variety of challenges regarding governance in emerging tourist destinations within the Greater Mekong in Asia, the conflicts in governance within a regional community in Scotland which has had a long history of golf tourism, the development of a typology of issues and pressures that affect tourist destination governance and the role of knowledge in good governance for tourist destinations. Part II explores the complexities and considerations of decision making and the significant role it plays in its specific relevance to tourist destination governance and tourism development within regional communities. In acknowledging that tourist destination development may involve contentious, complicated and arduous processes, this part recognizes that decision making has a prominent role to play in achieving effectiveness in governance. The three chapters in this part examine tourist destination decision making during times of crisis in Thailand, stakeholder roles in governance and decision making for a wildlife tour in Tonga, and the utilization of community involvement and empowerment as keys to success in regional tourist destinations. Part III provides further understanding regarding the approaches and solutions of tourist destination governance. This includes aspects of structural change, community engagement, networks and collaborations in the context of destinations. The five chapters in this part include the exploration of a process of governance change within a broader mountain tourist destination in Switzerland, utilizing effective networks as assistance to governance in destinations, community-based tourism governance solutions in a case study in Thailand and insights from complexity, network and stakeholder theories as approaches, including an understanding of a micro-macro context of tourist destination governance at its local/regional and national level. The concluding chapter examines the theory and methodology of governance studies, provide insights for tourist destination managers and researchers, and identify opportunities for further research into destination governance issues. This chapter discusses the application of governance concepts to other countries' governance and issues of conceptual importance, such as the need for ideology in the discussion of governance. This raises the question: does good governance of a tourist destination have to be based on democratic principles? Finally, the chapter looks at the concept of governance effectiveness.

Harold Richins

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