dc.description.abstract | The study of government policy seeks to understand how policy decisions are created, the information, interests and values involved in policy processes and what their impacts are (Hall, 2008). Tourism policy is an important area for study because of its practical and theoretical importance. Tourism policy studies of practical significance to government may be in relation to bilateral airline negotiations (Elliott, 1997), decisions about provision of facilities and services and land use planning (Kerr, 2003), interactions with other economic sectors such as agriculture and mining, publicly ‘owned’ resources such as national parks as attractions, the issuing of tourist visas and in the funding of destination marketing (Ahmed & Krohn, 1990). Government develops policy to address market failure in destination marketing (Smeral, 1998) and to mitigate the cultural, social and environmental effects of tourism (Kerr, 2003). Governments control the amount of paid holidays (York & Zhang, 2010), currency movements (Wanhill, 1987), international affairs, border security, and social and community development. Governments policy in areas such as agriculture (Leslie & Black, 2005; Williams & Ferguson, 2005), security (Blake & Sinclair, 2003), and health (Zeng, Carter, & De Lacy, 2005) can have a profound effect on tourism flows. This government involvement is pervasive and is at national, provincial and local levels (Kerr, 2003) requiring center and region to coordinate their policies (OECD, 2012). Tourism provides around 10% of the world’s economy on average but varies in its impact in particular countries with consequent effects on the communities and natural environments with which it interacts. | |