Agenda

Maria Martini Barzolai, Ca' Foscari University of Venice

A Dynamic and Multi-Level Perspective on Destination Governance Effectiveness: The Case of an Emergging Network in the Dolomites

ABSTRACT: Development and competitiveness of tourism destinations have been often associated by previous literature to the effectiveness of destination governance. However, a thorough understanding of relevant dimensions explaining destination governance success, both from theoretical and analytical perspectives, is still lacking. With this paper the authors contribute to advancing the theory on destination governance, particularly focusing on the issue of governance performance from a dynamic perspective. The theoretical and analytical framework proposed is based on the most recent developments of network governance studies and proposes an investigation of micro-dynamics to understand governance evolutionary paths towards successful or unsuccessful outcomes. The theoretical and analytical framework is applied to the case of an emerging network of stakeholders of an Alpine destination, the Comelico area. The analysis of the case, developed through an action research approach, highlighted how distinguishing different levels of network interactions can help reconciling different definitions of destination and destination governance performance, and adds on previous literature identifying two relevant dimensions in explaining successful or unsuccessful outcomes.