ABSTRACT
Nowadays, successful destination performance requires a new and practical tourism paradigm combining excellence, co-creation, cooperation and high-quality services. Co-creation and collaboration rest on participatory planning that is encouraged by destination management. In the first instance, participatory planning forms an integral part of future place-making processes and planning by capturing the importance of the public perspective in the process. Secondly, it stresses the importance of creative participatory processes to attract stakeholders and enhance their willingness to partake in the process. Finally, it identifies innovative participatory planning tools that may improve participatory planning within the process. Unfortunately, academic research has shown that children often are not part of this process or at least not at an adequate level. Therefore, through the theoretical underpinning of Arnstein’s ladder of citizen participation, we will discuss possibilities for including children in the tourism planning process. Furthermore, we will discuss child-centric participatory planning, including adequate representation of interests, shared vision, goal accomplishment, good working relationships, open communication between stakeholders, and strong leaders and administrative support.
