ABSTRACT
Until now this specific tourism market failure has, however, been addressed through
what could be argued to resemble the ongoing state aid to, e.g. shipyards that the
EU has committed itself to reducing dramatically (Wishlade, 2008). International
promotion is being subsidized by public funds with no demands being made of tourism
firms (e.g. in terms of quality or product development) other than that they themselves
have to co-fund marketing activities. Even if individual firms decide not to contribute,
they still benefit from place promotion efforts-making the problem of free-riding all
too real.
