Tourism Policy-Making in Australia: A National and State Perspective

Abstract

The paper explores recent approaches to policy-making for tourism in Australia. A conceptual model is utilised to identify the major influences on the policy-making processes through interviews with representatives of key agencies and expert observers of Australian policy. By considering the factors from outside the tourism policy system, those from inside the tourism policy system and from the policy process itself, the paper identifies the main themes that help to understand influences on policy-making. Themes are overwhelmingly related to the neoliberal and economic environment. Particular findings relate to the influence of the peak industry bodies, the skewed nature of governance and the limited range of information used by the policy-makers. In essence, the space for policy-making is relatively limited by the neoliberal context within which tourism operates in Australia.

Acknowledgement

The authors are grateful to the W. James Whyte fellowship of the School of Tourism at The University of Queensland for financial support for this study.