Tourism policy and governance: Quo vadis?

This is an opinion piece about research into tourism policy and governance to date and where future research should be undertaken. There is much greater need for policy relevant research that is clear about common definitions of terminology, adopts more consistent methodologies in data collection, challenges the dominant pro-growth rhetoric, and is written in a style accessible to policymakers. Researchers have long argued for a more meaningful role for host communities, but in a time of rapidly increasing tourism and the threat of overtourism in many destination hot spots, it is no longer an option to stifle their voices. Decisions related to goal-determination and the selection of methods to achieve the goal are referred to as policies. Although the term generally refers to a decision or action, it actually can also be a negative decision or even a non-action/non-decision. Policies are established in any kind of organization, but when we refer to tourism policy, we usually mean some form of public policy which relates specifically to government decisions at any level from local to international. Governance, on the other hand, is how organizations deal with reaching these decisions. So, while governance is a fairly straightforward concept, albeit with many challenges, tourism policy is not, largely because the term policy is very fuzzy and tourism is a social construct that refers to a specific behavior: that of traveling to and staying in places outside one's usual environment. This behavior is controlled by policies, legislation and regulations written for many other purposes, such as controlling or facilitating the flow of capital and investments, the transportation of passengers and goods, worker rights, safety and security, or environmental protection. And that's where the trouble starts, because really, the appropriate development of tourism is highly dependent on decision-makers who have little regard for or knowledge of, tourism.