Mobilities on the Gold Coast, Australia: implications for destination governance and sustainable tourism

Abstract

Mobilities of people, capital, labour, expertise, resources and images create significant challenges for sustainable destination governance. This paper discusses the implications of mobilities for destination governance where fluid populations of tourists, residents, second home owners and recreationists, and transnational flows of labour and capital intersect to create and recreate the physical, social, economic and political characteristics of place. Three key processes that affect destination management are identified: the spatial restructuring of destinations, the pluralisation of destination management and the re-envisioning of community. In a study of the hyper-neoliberal destination of the Gold Coast, Australia, mobilities are examined and implications for governance are discussed. Our research highlights the challenges of measuring, evaluating and understanding the extent and complexity of mobilities, and explores the tensions between mobilities and established sustainable tourism principles that suggest governance should be grounded in local community dialogue and values. The differences between “hard” and “soft” power structures in destination governance are noted. The paper contributes methodological insights into the study of mobilities and to theoretical and practical debates about the influence of mobilities on sustainable destination management, especially the need to re-visit the meanings of long-accepted concepts in sustainable tourism, including “public interest”, “community” and “community-based” tourism.

澳大利亚黄金海岸上的流动性：目的地治理和可持续性旅游

人，资金，劳力，专长，资源和影像的流动性对可持续性目的地治理创造了重要的挑战。该文章讨论了目的地治理的流动性的含义，在目的地治理中旅游者，居民，第二家房主们和娱乐者们的流动人口，劳力和资金跨国流动相交创造和再创造地方的物理的，社会的，经济的和政治的特征。影响目的地管理的三大主要过程被确认：目的地的空间再结构化，目的地管理的多元化，和社区的重新构想。在澳大利亚黄金海岸作为目的地超新自由主义的研究中，流动性被检验，治理的含义被讨论。我们的研究突出了衡量，评估和理解流动性的程度和复杂性的挑战，探索了流动性和已建立的可持续性旅游原则中的张力，这建议治理应该从当地居民的对话和价值观出发。目的地治理的``硬"和``软"的权利结构之间的区别在文中提到。该文章提供了研究方法上的视觉来贡献于流动性的研究，和关于流动性对可持续性目的地管理的影响的理论的和实践的辩论，特别是再来看那些在可持续性旅游中长久被接受的概念的需要，包括``公共兴趣"，``社区"和``社区为基准"的旅游。

Keywords:

• hard governance
• neoliberalism
• mobilities
• destination management
• Gold Coast
• soft governance

关键词:

• 硬治理
• 新自由主义
• 流动性
• 目的地管理
• 黄金海岸
• 软治理

Acknowledgements

This paper was produced as a result of an International Visiting Fellowship provided by Southern Cross University's Division of Research and the School of Tourism and Hospitality Management. The authors gratefully acknowledge this support.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Dianne Dredge

Dianne Dredge is an environmental planner, tourism academic and practitioner. She is associate professor in the School of Tourism and Hospitality Management, Southern Cross University, based in Coolangatta, Queensland, Australia. Her research and publications focus on tourism policy and planning, regional development, place-based planning, management of tourism places and tourism organisations.

Tazim Jamal

Tazim Jamal is associate professor in the Department of Recreation, Park and Tourism Sciences at Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, USA. Her research centres on collaborative planning and destination management, with a strong interest in community-based tourism. In this context, she also addresses critical sustainability and methodological issues related to cultural heritage, human–environment relations and sustainable tourism development.