Too Many Policy Options, Not Enough Diversity? A Typology of Tourism Policy Tools Conference Paper uri icon

abstract

  • The design a typology of policy tools specifically aimed at tourism policy at the local level represents the main goal and the original contribution of this paper. Based on market failures theory and the tools approach, we analyze the Weimer and Vining’s original typology supplemented by an empirical analysis of tourism policy tools adopted by local governments in Portugal. This empirical analysis uses a representative sample of 214 Portuguese local governments. The results suggest an alignment with Weimer and Vining’s original typology but also the existence of specific situations in Portuguese local governments requiring the expansion of this typology. Besides that, the intervention by Portuguese local governments in tourism relies primarily in the use of direct provision. For most municipalities, direct provision is still the main, sometimes the only, set of policy tools employed when addressing tourism market failures.

publication date

  • January 1, 2016