A model of intergovernmental collaboration in tourism among Asean nations.

Abstract

There often exists a skepticism regarding the feasibility and effectiveness of ASEAN tourism collaboration. The competitive nature of tourism, and the development gap between less-developed and developed member countries are some of the reasons ASEAN tourism is little more than a political gesture to the skeptics. In reality, the collaboration is slow-moving. Little is known about its mechanism let alone ways to improve it. Despite the continuous cooperative endeavor among the member nations since 1998 and the significant economic contribution tourism makes in the region, the ASEAN tourism phenomenon receives little attention from researchers. Hence, this research aims to answer two questions: (1) How do ASEAN countries collaborate in tourism? (2) What can be done to improve the collaboration? This research adopts a case study approach. It involves the formulation of theoretical propositions based on literature in political science and behavioral science. Primary data were collected from key stakeholders of ASEAN tourism by means of in-depth interviews. A total of twenty-one individuals participated. They represented nine out of the ten member governments, international organizations, industry associations, the academia, and consultancies. During the final stage of the research, congruence and discrepancies between the theoretical propositions and the empirical findings were identified, and a model of ASEAN tourism collaboration was constructed. One of the key findings is a recipe for success in intergovernmental tourism collaboration. It was found that three categories of factors facilitate ASEAN tourism collaboration and its implementation of policies: stakeholders ? especially the political will and commitment of national leaders; resources ? the technical and financial assistance provided by ASEAN dialogue partners; and cooperation management ? a flexible and ?conservative progressive? approach with a strong monitoring and evaluation mechanism. The contribution of this study is threefold. First, it fills an empirical gap by investigating a little yet known phenomenon that is politically and economically significant. Second, it contributes to theory development by extending the contextual boundaries of existing theories in intergovernmental collaboration. Finally, it provides directional and pragmatic policy recommendations on how to facilitate the collaborative process and on how to eliminate barriers to implementing the ASEAN Tourism Agreement.