The tourism-development nexus from a governance perspective: a research agenda

Tourism is expanding across many developing country destinations in the hope that it can contribute to (local) economic development and poverty reduction. This chapter sets out a research agenda on how a governance perspective on the tourism-development nexus offers new insights into examining, understanding and explaining the extent to which tourism can contribute to local economic development and poverty reduction. Using published case studies, this chapter shows that a future research agenda needs to start from a conceptualization of governance as interaction in order to be able to explore the ways in which the multitude of tourism stakeholders collaborate and coordinate their activities. Attention needs to be paid to the past, present and future governing arrangements that affect tourism in national and local economic development planning strategies. This is particularly pertinent for understanding the tourism-development nexus and should shape the areas for future research identified in this chapter.