Title: Inter-stakeholder collaboration in event management: a case study of Kerala Travel Mart

Authors: Shobha Menon; Manoj Edward; Babu P. George

Addresses: SCMS School of Technology and Management, Muttom, Kochi – 683106, Kerala, India ' School of Management Studies, Cochin University of Science and Technology, South Kalamassery, Kochi – 682022, Kerala, India ' Fort Hays State University, 600 Park St., Hays, KS 67601, USA

Abstract: Employing the framework of inter-stakeholder collaboration in tourism proposed by Wang and Xiang (2007), this study reviews a highly successful international travel trade event that has been happening annually for the last several years in Kerala, India. In the Kerala Travel Mart, the collaboration brings together a large number of tourism firms in the Indian state of Kerala, the local state government, the tourism non-profits, the media, among others. This case study discusses the circumstances, motivations, processes, and results of the collaboration. It also introduces a new outcome, i.e., sustainable tourism, as a desired outcome of event partnerships.

Keywords: collaboration; collaborative marketing; destination marketing; Kerala; sustainable tourism; trade show.

DOI: 10.1504/IJLTM.2017.087493

International Journal of Leisure and Tourism Marketing, 2017 Vol.5 No.4, pp.370 - 386

Received: 10 Sep 2016
Accepted: 12 Nov 2016
Published online: 16 Oct 2017 *

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