Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
• reflect understanding of indicator function/type (e.g. baseline/reference, stress, impact,
management, system diagnostic)
• relate to the vision, goals and objectives for the destination region
• be amenable to management.
INSIGHT: The changing role of government and sustainability
Changes in government's role as interest protector has major implications for tourism and
sustainability (Bianchi 2002; Mercer 2004; Weaver 2004). As Blowers (1997:36) noted
in the case of the United Kingdom, 'the long period of privatisation, deregulation, cuts in
public expenditure and attacks on local government have resulted in a 'democratic
deficit'—a dispersal of power to unelected quangos and business interests—and have led
to unsustainable developments'. A critique also reflected in the comments of Haughton
and Hunter (1994):
The unregulated market approach, being relatively amoral, can allow
individuals to be immoral. The ethical dimension is important since the
market does not provide a sufficient basis for the resolution of the
profound moral issues which face us every day; it can play a part in
avoiding distorted decision making by individuals and organizations, but
alone it cannot reconcile all of the environmental problems facing society.
(Haughton and Hunter 1994:272)
The above comments highlight the need to see partnership and collaboration between
government and the private sector within the context of the public interest as opposed to
the market interest. Incorporation of a wider range of inputs into the policy process would
lead to the formation of issue networks as opposed to subgovernments. Issue networks
are structures of interaction among participants in a policy area that are marked by their
transience and the absence of established centres of control (Heclo 1978). According to
Heclo (1978), the term 'issue network' describes
a configuration of individuals concerned about a particular aspect of an
issue and the term policy community is used more broadly to encompass
the collection of issue networks within a jurisdiction. Both describe the
voluntary and fluid configuration of people with varying degrees of
commitment to a particular cause.
(Heclo 1978:102)
One of the great problems in examining the role of interest groups in the tourism
policy-making process is deciding what the appropriate relationship between an interest
group and government should be (Hall and Jenkins 1995; Bramwell 2004). At what point
does tourism industry membership of government advisory committees or of a national,
regional or local tourism agency represent a 'closing up' of the policy process to other
interest groups rather than an exercise in consultation, co-ordination, partnership or
collaboration? As Deutsch (1970) recognised:
