Managing the complexity of a tourism destination: a literature review on the role of tourism networks in destination management

Managing the complexity of a tourism destination: a literature review on the role of tourism networks in destination management Stimulating tourism is often suggested as a strategy for regional development by policymakers. However, concrete tools for the implementation of tourism as a catalyst for regional development are lacking. The dominance of small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs), strong influences of global forces and a determining role of local contextual factors cause a high level of complexity that challenges destination managers in their quest for competitiveness. To overcome these difficulties, a growing body of scientific literature suggest to study tourism destinations and destination management from a network perspective. In this paper we present the first systematic literature review of scientific papers with a focus on networked collaboration in tourism destinations. We give an overview of the different types of tourism networks, the applied methodologies for studying networks in a tourism context and the proven and assumed outcomes of networked collaboration for destinations and actors within them. The main finding of this paper is that while the literature suggests that networked collaboration within a tourism destination improves the competitive position of the destination, empirical evidence for this claim is lacking. It is suggested, for example, that networked tourism firms provide a range of better valued and more authentic experiences, but this proposition is not examined since the tourists themselves are not included in the existing research. Furthermore, this paper indicates that the term ‘tourism network’ has evolved to be a container concept, collecting a body of tourism literature under its title using different approaches to the ‘network’ concept. We conclude with a discussion of the terminology surrounding tourism networks in the literature and argue that in order to successfully implement networking as a tool for managing tourism a clear delineation of the concept ‘tourism network’ should be made.