Tourism, Public Policy and Regional Development: A Turn from Neo-liberalism to the New Regionalism

Abstract

The use of tourism as a driver of economic development is widely acknowledged. In New Zealand and internationally, tourism is used overtly as a mechanism by which governments are able to address a variety of national, regional and local development objectives. In this paper, we present a critique of recent responses in New Zealand to the task of guiding tourism development from a strategic and collaborative sustainable development perspective. As argued in this paper, the roles and responsibilities of government in tourism were reinvented during the 1980s and 1990s. These changes, inspired by a neo-liberal political ideology to deregulate the New Zealand economy and to restructure the state sector and local government, ultimately included the tourism sector. More recently, however, public sector policy initiatives indicate a shift towards a more pro-active role for the local state (local and regional government) in managing tourism development. This shift, informed by a New Regionalism policy framework, anticipates a devolved tourism planning mandate that fosters longer-term strategic and collaborative planning of the sector in order to enhance the contribution of tourism to sustainable community wellbeing. We reflect on the likely effectiveness of a devolved tourism planning mandate and interrogate the role and potential of tourism to contribute to regional development, as framed by the political philosophies of the New Regionalism.

Notes

¹ The ‘Third Way’ is a centrist economic and political ideology that attempts to transcend both ‘old-style’ social democracy and neo-liberalism, thus advocating a new mixed economy that promotes a synergy between public and private sectors (Giddens, 1998).

² This growth trend has continued to the point where tourism is now, in aggregate, one of New Zealand's largest export earners by sector. Tourism accounts for 19.2% of all export earnings in New Zealand, 9% of New Zealand's GDP and 10% of all employment (Ministry of Tourism, 2007, p. 8).

³ The neo-liberal ‘movement’ draws on neo-classical economic theory and favours supply-side macroeconomics, free competitive markets and the privatisation of state-owned enterprises (Brohman, 1996).

⁴ Un-traded interdependencies, or ‘relational assets’, refers to the interdependencies or relationships that exist between actors. Akin to notions of social capital, these interdependencies, which are un-priced and therefore ‘un-traded’, include tacit knowledge based on face-to-face exchange, routines, habits and norms, conventions of communication and interaction (Storper, 1995, 1997). Un-traded interdependencies are claimed to have a direct impact on localities’ competitive potential insofar as they constitute part of the learning environment for firms and provide access to resources such as information, knowledge, technology and skills. In Storper's (1995, 1997) version, the concept is closely linked to a geographical view on economic activity, where spatial proximity is the key in explaining why actors share common features.

⁵ Kaitiakitanga and Manaakitanga are Maori concepts (Maori are the indigenous people of New Zealand).

⁶ The shift from government to governance is identified as a fundamental feature of the more recent tourism policy reform discourse in New Zealand. Governance eschews the rigid divide between the state and the market in favour of a repertoire of alliances, networks and partnerships (Keating, 2002).

⁷ Regionalisation is a more top-down model of regional polity, while regionalism represents a more bottom-up approach.

⁸ Differentiation between and within destination areas is an essential component of tourism marketing and promotion.