Tourism Management 63(2017)315-328 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Tourism Management Tourism Management ELSEVIER journal homepage:www.elsevier.com/locate/tourman Structured inter-network collaboration:Public participation in CrossMark tourism planning in Southern China Dan Lin a.,David Simmons b Department of Tourism Management,Shenzhen Tourism College.Jinan University.OCT Nanshan District,Shenzhen,PR China b Lincoln University.New Zealand HIGHLIGHTS A case study of a tourism destination in Jiao Chang Wei,Shenzhen,China was conducted. .A structured inter-network collaboration led-by government organised non-governmental organisations(GONGOs)was found to be the dominant paradigm of public participation in the case study area The model might have potential to apply in a political context which is framed by a strong central power. Three main contributions to knowledge were discussed. ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT Article history: Public participation is considered a cornerstone of sustainable tourism planning.Although this process is Received 20 November 2016 well established and tested in western democracies,there is an emerging trend of developing it within Received in revised form 14 April 2017 the liberalizing Chinese tourism economy.Using a qualitative research strategy,this paper applies the Accepted 22 lune 2017 theoretical construction of community participation in tourism planning to the analysis of the planning Available online 10 July 2017 process of a tourism destination in Jiao Chang Wei,Shenzhen,China.The paper finds that:1)public participation has played a significant role in the formulation and implementation of the tourism desti- Keywords: nation plan in the case study area.2)Structuralized inter-network collaboration led-by government Public participation organized non-governmental organizations has the potential to become dominant paradigm of public Collaborative tourism planning participation in tourism planning in China in the future.The paper concludes with the contributions of Community development this research to wider theory. Shenzhen 2017 Elsevier Ltd.All rights reserved. China 1.Introduction transformation in tourism planning corresponds with the communicative or collaborative turn in planning thought that has In tourism research and in the academic planning literature,the attempts to operationalize communication among stakeholders significance of participation in tourism planning has become Underpinned by various planning models,a growing number of increasingly prominent.Arising from the concerns from both the authors within the tourism planning literature are highlighting the personal interests of host communities and of the broader interests importance of involving diverse stakeholders in participatory pro- of the society,scholars propose the involvement of various stake- cesses of consensus-building and partnership formation. holder to address the need for a better informed tourism planning Notwithstanding the above ideals,the effective implementation of strategy which is more effective,equitable and legitimate(Murphy. the collaborative paradigm is still a matter of concern (lorio 1988:Simmons,1994).The goals are to protect local communities Corsale,2013).Flyvbjerg (1998)postulates that collaborative from tourism's adverse impacts(Jurowski,Uysal,Williams,1997) planning entails an idealized notion of democracy-a notion that and to help them benefit from tourism development.This presumes civil society to be non-political with no inherent con- flicts.We need a more critical understanding of the process of collaborative planning practices.Specifically,we must clarify who Corresponding author.Tel:0086 18938075253. has been involved and why,and how those different stakeholders E-mail addresses:lindan@sz.jnu.edu.cn (D.Lin).David Simmons@lincoln.ac.nz are involved in participation in the planning process. (D.Simmons). http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2017.06.024 0261-5177/2017 Elsevier Ltd.All rights reservedStructured inter-network collaboration: Public participation in tourism planning in Southern China Dan Lin a, * , David Simmons b a Department of Tourism Management, Shenzhen Tourism College, Jinan University, OCT Nanshan District, Shenzhen, PR China b Lincoln University, New Zealand highlights
A case study of a tourism destination in Jiao Chang Wei, Shenzhen, China was conducted.
A structured inter-network collaboration led-by government organised non-governmental organisations (GONGOs) was found to be the dominant paradigm of public participation in the case study area.
The model might have potential to apply in a political context which is framed by a strong central power.
Three main contributions to knowledge were discussed. article info Article history: Received 20 November 2016 Received in revised form 14 April 2017 Accepted 22 June 2017 Available online 10 July 2017 Keywords: Public participation Collaborative tourism planning Community development Shenzhen China abstract Public participation is considered a cornerstone of sustainable tourism planning. Although this process is well established and tested in western democracies, there is an emerging trend of developing it within the liberalizing Chinese tourism economy. Using a qualitative research strategy, this paper applies the theoretical construction of community participation in tourism planning to the analysis of the planning process of a tourism destination in Jiao Chang Wei, Shenzhen, China. The paper finds that: 1) public participation has played a significant role in the formulation and implementation of the tourism desti￾nation plan in the case study area. 2) Structuralized inter-network collaboration led-by government organized non-governmental organizations has the potential to become dominant paradigm of public participation in tourism planning in China in the future. The paper concludes with the contributions of this research to wider theory. © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction In tourism research and in the academic planning literature, the significance of participation in tourism planning has become increasingly prominent. Arising from the concerns from both the personal interests of host communities and of the broader interests of the society, scholars propose the involvement of various stake￾holder to address the need for a better informed tourism planning strategy which is more effective, equitable and legitimate (Murphy, 1988; Simmons, 1994). The goals are to protect local communities from tourism's adverse impacts (Jurowski, Uysal, & Williams, 1997) and to help them benefit from tourism development. This transformation in tourism planning corresponds with the communicative or collaborative turn in planning thought that has attempts to operationalize communication among stakeholders. Underpinned by various planning models, a growing number of authors within the tourism planning literature are highlighting the importance of involving diverse stakeholders in participatory pro￾cesses of consensus-building and partnership formation. Notwithstanding the above ideals, the effective implementation of the collaborative paradigm is still a matter of concern (Iorio & Corsale, 2013). Flyvbjerg (1998) postulates that collaborative planning entails an idealized notion of democracy e a notion that presumes civil society to be non-political with no inherent con- flicts. We need a more critical understanding of the process of collaborative planning practices. Specifically, we must clarify who has been involved and why, and how those different stakeholders are involved in participation in the planning process. * Corresponding author. Tel.: 0086 18938075253. E-mail addresses: lindan@sz.jnu.edu.cn (D. Lin), David.Simmons@lincoln.ac.nz (D. Simmons). Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Tourism Management journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/tourman http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2017.06.024 0261-5177/© 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Tourism Management 63 (2017) 315e328