Climate change mitigation among accommodation providers in the South West of England: comparisons between members and non-members of networks

notes: Submitted as part of a theme issue invited from BEST EN conference in Vienna 2010publication-status: Publishedtypes: Article© SAGE Publications, 2011Networks are a well-established feature in contemporary tourism governance and management. This paper examines the extent to which there are differences among members and non-members of tourism networks in their efforts to introduce measures to mitigate the effects of climate change in their operations. Among accommodation providers in the South West of England, there is no significant difference between members and non-members of networks in the modest levels of innovation they have introduced. This is not to suggest that networks lack importance. Formal networks appear to provide an ideal platform if messages are promoted more carefully. Rather the paper argues their importance may also lie 'beyond the network'. A fuller appreciation of their role in mediating sustainable tourism is only possible by considering the dynamics of membership and hence the potential for knowledge spillovers, boundary spanning behaviour, and the mediation of additional informal networks.Economic and Social Research Counci