A collaborative approach in tourism planning: The case of Tuscany region

Community collaboration and participation are necessary to strengthen the effectiveness of tourism policy. This article aims to examine the tourism planning activity of public administration in fostering a collaborative approach. The article contributes to the debate on collaborative approach in tourism from the perspective of public administration. The research uses a case study and examines how Tuscany region applies a collaborative tourism planning approach using the Habermasian framework. Results underline the fundamental role of local government can be strengthened by an extensive stakeholder engagement process able to encourage broad representation and trust of stakeholder interest about public policies. Moreover, the collaborative approach by mixing the different point of view of stakeholders, produces a range of positive outcomes and increases the efficacy of tourism policies. However, the realization of the “ideal speech situation” is very difficult and may be undermined by the threatens highlighted in the study, such as the lack of financial resources, the claim to more homogeneous policies to increase tourism trends, the need to improve trust and collaboration between public and private, the difficulties in maintaining high level of attention and the widespread scepticism about the capability of public entities to understand priorities in defining tourism policies.