Tourism and Regional Development Issues - Tourism and Development: Concepts and Issues - page 149

among networks of individuals and institutions. Porter (1998: 263-266) out-
lined the common characteristics of successful cluster initiatives as:
• a shared understanding of competitiveness and the role of clusters in
competitive advantage;
• a focus on removing obstacles and easing constraints to cluster upgrading;
• a structure that embraces all clusters in a nation or state;
• appropriate cluster boundaries;
• wide involvement of cluster participants and associated interests;
• private sector leadership;
• close attention to personal relationships;
• a bias towards action;
• institutionalisation.
Not only do destinations have to become more competitive, but also govern-
ment tourism agencies have to act more in an entrepreneurial manner, not
only attracting multinational tourism corporations but also facilitating tour-
ism partnerships as evident in new regionalism. Regional development can
also be seen as a process that operates within two complementary character-
istics. The first is the linkage with the exterior, including the goods, services
capital and information and foreign exchange earnings. The second is the
level of internal differentiation or internal structural change reflecting a sys-
tem's capacity to process external linkages including skill improvement and
organisational development (Young, in Nuryanti, 1998). How these two
forces come into play and who controls these forces will determine how suc-
cessful tourism will be as a regional development tool. The shift away from
just an economic focus on regional development is echoed by MacBeth et al.
(2004), who argue that social, political and cultural capital is key to fostering
innovation in regional development.
Formulated out of criticisms of the functional approach to regional devel-
opment with growth poles, trickle-down and spread effects as a way to solve
regional development problems, a shift occurred in regional planning that
incorporated decentralisation and local participation. Integrated regional
development planning focuses on the development of integrated small and
intermediate urban centres as a way to stimulate growth in rural and periph-
eral regions. The establishment of well-articulated regional hierarchies of
spatially dispersed small/medium cities and market towns may develop more
balanced equitable growth rather than the propulsive growth of a few large
cities (Brohman, 1996b). This concept could be mapped into tourism, for
example, through integrated rural tourism development. The territorial
regional planning approach places priority on promoting locally appropriate
development by mobilising the human, material and institutional resources
of the region to serve the needs of the popular majority. Rather than being
subjected to exploitation, peripheral rural regions should pursue a more