Tourism Plan formulations and implementation: the role of inter-organisational relations

Tourism environment, inter-organisational relations, resource dependency, power. Implementation of tourism development plans has been notoriously problematic. This may stem from inadequate consideration that is given to the understanding of the elements of the micro and macro organisational environment in which planning is undertaken, and of the ways in which the planning and development process is carried out. A limited understanding of the relation patterns and of the resource and power interdependency between multiple agencies involved in the decision-making process may also lay the foundation for plan failures. At present, there is an urgent need to develop consistent and well thought out measurement techniques in order to codify and quantify the various micro and macro environmental elements and their influences on inter-organisational relations and on the success/failure of plan formulation and implementation. Integrating existing research literature on public administration, tourism planning, and on systems, inter-organisational relations and network theories, this paper proposes a conceptual and operational framework in order to study the patterns and processes of relations between tourism-related organisations in regard to formulation and implementation of tourism development plans