ABSTRACT
While nation-states have for centuries functioned insularly from one another, with only a few exceptions, the twentieth century brought about a new movement towards supranationalism and other forms of cross-boundary cooperation in trade, human mobility, environmental protection, technology, innovation, and tourism. The volatility of the contemporary socio-economic and political climate worldwide has in recent years called upon policy makers and planners to re-consider the role of political boundaries in how tourism develops in multinational regions and other transfrontier areas. Efforts to produce interjurisdictional policies and planning exercises related to all aspects of tourism have long faced considerable challenges and are problematic at best, owing to state protective mechanisms, diverging policies on common resources, insurmountable sovereignty laws, socio-culture and economic differences, and an overall lack of political will. This chapter will examine the policy and planning implications of cross-border collaboration in tourism and how these play out on the ground with ‘end users’. General patterns of supranationalism and cross-border collaboration will elucidate the successes and failures of cross-boundary policy efforts and the reasons for this, particularly in relation to tourism resource protection, infrastructure development, and human mobility.
