Title: Government approaches to tourism: an international inquiry

Authors: Abby Liu, Hsiou-hsiang J. Liu

Addresses: Department of Recreation and Leisure Studies, Aletheia University, 70-11 Pei-Shi-Liao Matou, Tainan 721, Taiwan. ' Department of Tourism Management, National Kaohsiung University of Applied Sciences, 415 Chien Kung Road, Kaohsiung 807, Taiwan

Abstract: This study interprets worldwide government approaches to tourism through tourism policies and plans promulgated by national tourism-related organisations. An inventory of 63 tourism polices/plans/visions was elicited from 176 countries via e-mail or the websites of the national tourism administrations. CATPAC was used for content analysis of the government documents generalising the public sector|s treatment of tourism and identifying governments| prioritised development approach. The results indicate that worldwide government policies are economic-driven and growth-oriented with conspicuous industrial interest and, thus, tourist and market considerations comprise most of the policy priorities. The level of economic development impacts tourism policy; developed countries accord tourism more local concern than their counterparts in the developing world.

Keywords: CATPAC; content analysis; government approaches; tourism planning; tourism policy; government policy.

DOI: 10.1504/IJTP.2009.024554

International Journal of Tourism Policy, 2009 Vol.2 No.3, pp.221 - 238

Received: 10 Dec 2007
Accepted: 08 Oct 2008

Published online: 09 Apr 2009 *

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