RESOURCES
RESOURCES: PAPERS & PRESENTATIONS
Author : | David Foster |
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School/Work Place : | University of the Sunshine Coast, Australia |
Contact : | dfoster@usc.edu.au |
Year : | 2008 |
This paper provides a case study of how a tourism organisation has interpreted the change from a ‘marketing’ to a ‘management’ approach in destination development. It begins by looking at what the literature has said about destination management as an approach for organisations responsible for tourism destination development. Unfortunately, while there are many papers and texts extolling the virtues of a sustainable approach to the management of destinations there is very little research identifying how this is being implemented ‘on the ground’. This paper draws on the experiences of Tourism Sunshine Coast (TSC) a Regional Tourism Organisation in Queensland, Australia to demonstrate how one organisation attempts to operationalise the concept. This case was chosen because senior tourism executives in both public and private agencies have indicated in various forums that TSC is one the leaders in this area. The analysis demonstrates how multifaceted and complex the implementation of this approach really is. Hopefully this will not deter others from attempting to adopt it as we all grapple with our common goal of the long term sustainability of tourism and particularly the regions where it occurs most frequently.