Nearly two decades into South Africa’s democracy, this chapter describes the most recent policy and strategy initiatives to ensure sustainable development and to enhance the country’s tourism competitiveness. It discusses the key national tourism policies, plans, and strategies, which...

The two Finnish tourism development cases presented in this chapter illustrate the importance of linking national tourism policies to regional destination development strategies and projects. However, balancing national policies, regional strategies, and tourism development structured in...

This chapter presents a global insight of the processes used in Lanzarote of Spain, a typical mass tourism destination which has combined growth with environmental protection and political commitment to sustainability. Tourism has been the key element of the development of the Canary Islands and...

Tourism policies focusing on economic growth in Argentina, at both regional and national levels, were established at the start of the 21 st century. In most cases, typically such policies resulted more in wishful thinking for a growth in tourism than in concrete outcomes involving the local...

Tourism and events have been identified as providing opportunities to revitalize regional and remote economies. In Australia such areas have limited economic opportunities and are constrained by a range of development barriers, including access to markets and human capital. Importantly, tourism...

Regional development agencies (RDAs) have recently been established in Turkey as a policy vehicle to support local governments and coordinate stakeholders’ activities. In compliance with the European Union policy guidelines, regional-level planning and policymaking are introduced for the first...

This chapter aims to develop a broad understanding of the relationship between tourism and development in Colombia for the period 1996–2012 through two complementary analyses. After a review of secondary sources, high-impact public policies related to tourism are analyzed, as well as the gains...

This chapter traces the Egyptian tourism policies since the 1980s and showcases patterns of successes and pitfalls of plans instrumented by such policies. It also debates the extent to which Egyptian tourism policies and strategies have been able to cope with the shifting international trends...