TERRITORIAL SUPPORT INSTITUTIONS AND RELATIONSHIP STRUCTURE IN TOURISM DESTINATION MANAGEMENT: A BRAZILIAN CASE STUDY

Abstract: This study describes the relationship between the role of tourism support institutions, their services and their relationship structure in the tourism destination management of Pirenopolis-GO, in the interior of Brazil. Tourism can be studied as a geographical territory comprising local attractions and different actors. These actors include tourism support institutions (TSIs), such as universities, agencies, trade associations and others. Using a qualitative and quantitative approach, this study involved twenty support institutions, with data collection through semi-structured interviews. The research findings indicate the centrality of some institutions which, nevertheless, do not play a leading role in the network, and that i) Centrality is not related to the provision of services but to the relationships between TSIs; ii) Less investment-intensive activities are more abundant and complementarity of services is not observed among the TSIs; and iii) Destination management is not performed by a destination management organization (DMO), which makes its management more fragmented.