Current Issues in Tourism
Editor: C. Michael Hall (Department of Management, College of Business and Economics, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand) and Chris Cooper (Foundation Professor of Tourism, University of Queensland, Australia) Michael and Chris are joint editor of the book series Aspects of Tourism. Reviews Editor John Jenkins (University of Newcastle, NSW, Australia)
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Volume: 11 Number: 1 Page: 24–62
doi:10.2167/cit326.0
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Tourism Interest Groups in the EU Policy Arena: Characteristics, Relationships and Challenges
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Constantia Anastasiadou
School of Marketing Tourism & Languages, Napier Business School, Craiglockhart Campus, Edinburgh EH14 1DJ, UK
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Despite the European Union’s (EU) influence on tourism, surprisingly little is known of tourism interest representation and the nature of their relationship with the EU institutions. Empirical evidence drawn from a study on the EU tourism policy environment demonstrates that the difficulty interest groups experience at the national level in influencing the policy agenda permeates at the supranational level, where it is augmented by the added complexities of this policy environment. Fragmentation, overlap and conflict are key aspects of tourism interest representation, which condition the ability of groups to form coalitions or single voice platforms. Due to the large number of actors, lobbying and agenda setting are more complex and challenging. In addition, the characteristics of an issue network, rather than a policy community for tourism, are identified, but it is recommended that further investigation of the EU tourism policy environment that encompasses a wider range of interest groups and other stakeholders should be conducted.
Keywords: tourism, EU, interest group, policy community, single voice, ETIN
© 2008 C. Anastasiadou
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