ABSTRACT
Tourism governance is based on the principle that the tourism industry can be steered in a manner that allows its development and growth. Laws, Richins, Agrusa and Scott define governance as “the set of tasks such as decision making, enforcement decisions, communication of rules and measurement of performance that allow these functions of a system to proceed.” The idea of governance suggests that the rate of progress of the tourism industry is an attribute of the actors and actions of the stakeholders within the tourism sector. Actors of tourism governance are the public and private sectors and non-governmental or civil society organisations involved in advancing the tourism sector. On the one hand, governance of the tourism sector may also occur based on the achievement of certain objectives such as sustainability. On the other hand, clarity is needed as to the realities of tourism governance as a process. A theoretical basis is needed to explore tourism governance, and Holling’s concept of panarchy may bring some insights wherein both the hierarchical and networking aspects of a system that contributes to building system resilience can be analysed.
