Policy learning and policy failure in sustainable tourism governance: from first- and second-order to third-order change?

Abstract

Sustainable tourism presents a paradox. At one level sustainable tourism is a success given the concept's diffusion among industry, government, academics and policy actors. Yet, it is simultaneously a policy failure given the continued growth in the environmental impacts of tourism in absolute terms. This paper analyses sustainable tourism, and the governance systems for sustainable tourism, via the concepts of policy learning and failure. The tractability of sustainable tourism policy problems is identified. Policy learning is discussed in instrumental, conceptual/paradigmatic and political learning/strategic terms. Although policy failure should encourage learning with respect to sustainable tourism this has only related to first- and second-order change which focus on changes to indicators and settings rather than the dominant policy paradigm. This is despite the dominant paradigm of “balanced” sustainable development that promotes economic growth failing on a number of indicators. A reason for this may be the unwillingness of key actors in tourism policy networks to acknowledge policy failure. The paper concludes that although exogenous factors such as a crisis event may lead to policy paradigmatic change, there is insufficient evidence that such a shift in sustainable tourism policy will necessarily occur given the entrenched dominance of the existing paradigm.

可持续旅游决策中的政策学习和政策失败：从第一次，第二次到第三次的秩序变化？

可持续性旅游显示一种悖论。在一个层面上，可持续性旅游对于产业，政府，学术界和政策决策人中混淆的概念来讲是一个成功。但是，它同时对于绝对意义上不断增长的环境对旅游的影响来说却是一个政策失败。这篇文章通过政策学习和失败的概念分析了可持续性旅游和可持续性旅游的决策系统。关于如何处理可持续性旅游政策中存在问题在文中也有提到。政策学习是用一些有帮助的概念化的/典型的和政治学习/战略性的词语来讨论的。尽管政策失败应该鼓励以尊重可持续性旅游的态度来学习，但这样的想法只关联到我们所指的着重于指标和条件设定而不是着重主要的政策范例的第一次和第二次的秩序改变。着导致了主要的那个“平衡”而且能促进经济增长的可持续性发展的范例只用一些相关的指标来解释。其中一个原因是，旅游政策网络中的主要利益相关者不愿意接受这是一个政策失败的事实。该文章总结了尽管外源性的因素例如危机事件可能导致政策典型性改变，这还是没有足够的证据说明可持续性旅游政策的转换会必然出现，因为对现有的政策范例还存在一种保卫意识。

Keywords:

• institutional norms
• economic growth
• degrowth
• environmental change
• liberal environmentalism
• steady-state tourism

Keywords:

• 体制规范
• 经济增长
• 增长减速
• 环境改变
• 自由环境主义
• 稳态旅游

Acknowledgements

With acknowledgements to the Fijian Ministry of Provincial Development and Multi-ethnic Affairs, National Disaster Management and Sugar and the Fiji Police Force for permission to present a public lecture based on this paper at the University of the South Pacific; and to the helpful comments of the reviewers.

Notes

¹UNWTO figures.

² Hall and Lew (2009) estimates based on UNWTO data.

³ Gössling (2002) estimate.

⁴ Hall and Lew (2009) extrapolation based on Gössling's estimates and other research.

⁵UNWTO and UNEP (2008) estimate for 2005.

⁶In Hall (2010a).

⁷World Health Organisation (2003).

⁸Mid-year world population estimate by US Census Bureau International Data Base (http://www.census.gov/ipc/www/idb/worldpop.html.