Networking Approaches for Sustainable Destination Management : An Italian Case Study

The purpose of this contribution is to highlight the approaches and managerial techniques that enable destination management based on relational and networking culture. The first part of the paper presents a theoretical analysis, examining possible models and cultural approaches for the development of sustainable tourism in specific territorial areas. The second part provides empirical evidence based on the comparison of two territorial parks, showing the validity of our theoretical approach. This paper shows how network forms of organization may support sustainable tourism in specific territorial areas. Sustainable tourism is concerned with social, ecological and economic demands emanating from territorial entities. As such, networks, in their different forms and characteristics, may promote awareness about such demands and thus help to satisfy them. To make sustainable development possible, however, networks should be represented by a guiding centre (often public bodies or NGOs), which adequately acts on behalf of territorial subjects. Thus, on one hand, networks should promote participatory processes and, on the other, should provide for effective decision-making. The balance between participation and decision making tends to create some difficulties for tourism network centres in order to guarantee systemic action. The originality of the paper is therefore based upon the interpretation of the model, which allows for a sequence of logical steps in tourism destination management that lead to sensible management, thus, enabling sustainable governance