Title: Stakeholder e-involvement and participatory tourism planning: analysis of an Italian case study

Authors: Angelo Presenza; Roberto Micera; Simone Splendiani; Giacomo Del Chiappa

Addresses: Department of Business Management, University 'G. D'Annunzio' of Chieti-Pescara, Viale Pindaro, 42, 65127 Pescara, Italy ' Institute for Service Industry Research (IRAT), National Research Council (CNR), Via G. Sanfelice, 8, 80134 Naples, Italy ' Department of Economics, University of Perugia, Via Pascoli, 20, 06123 Perugia, Italy ' Department of Economics and Business, University of Sassari, Via Muroni, 25, 07100 Sassari, Italy

Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to explore the potential and challenges of knowledge management, in particular the use of information and communication technologies, in supporting stakeholders' collaboration processes in the tourism destination by focusing on e-democracy. The term e-democracy was coined to define the electronic representation of a democratic process which aims at obtaining stakeholders active participation in the decision-making process about territorial policies and tourism planning. Despite the growing interest that this concept is gaining both in the academia and in the tourism sector, the related research is still at its early stage. This study was carried out to contribute to fill this gap analysing the case study of an Italian region where an e-democracy project on destination governance is currently going on. The main contribution to the body of knowledge, managerial implications and limitations of the study are discussed and future avenues of research are suggested.

Keywords: destination governance; digital business ecosystems; DBE; e-tourism; e-involvement; ICT; knowledge management; smart cities; smart tourism destinations; electronic tourism; information and communications technology; information technology; e-democracy; electronic democracy; territorial policies; tourism planning; Italy; case study; stakeholder involvement; participatory planning.

DOI: 10.1504/IJKBD.2014.065320

International Journal of Knowledge-Based Development, 2014 Vol.5 No.3, pp.311 - 328

Received: 21 May 2014
Accepted: 30 May 2014

Published online: 30 Oct 2014 *

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