Stakeholder Participation in Planning of a Sustainable and Competitive Tourism Destination: The Genoa Integrated Action Plan

Ilenia Spadaro (), Francesca Pirlone (), Fabrizio Bruno, Gianluca Saba, Barbara Poggio and Sabrina Bruzzone
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Ilenia Spadaro: Department of Civil, Chemical and Environmental Engineering, University of Genoa, 16145 Genoa, Italy
Francesca Pirlone: Department of Civil, Chemical and Environmental Engineering, University of Genoa, 16145 Genoa, Italy
Fabrizio Bruno: Department of Civil, Chemical and Environmental Engineering, University of Genoa, 16145 Genoa, Italy
Gianluca Saba: Municipality of Genoa, International Affairs, 16145 Genoa, Italy
Barbara Poggio: Municipality of Genoa, International Affairs, 16145 Genoa, Italy
Sabrina Bruzzone: Municipality of Genoa, International Affairs, 16145 Genoa, Italy

Sustainability, 2023, vol. 15, issue 6, 1-30

Abstract: The outbreak of COVID-19 confronted the international community with critical health, social, and economic challenges. Travel and tourism were among the hardest affected sectors. In 2020 and 2021 new travel trends emerged, emphasizing local destinations, short distances, and consequently, lower-carbon transportation (proximity tourism). Post-pandemic recovery represents an opportunity to bounce back better by rethinking the sector’s economic model for the sake of sustainability and innovation. This paper disseminates the research that led to the structuring of guidelines for a breakthrough and inclusive municipal-level action plan for the promotion of sustainable tourism, as part of the Tourism Friendly Cities project. An operational methodology is discussed here, whereby key stakeholder participation, conceptualized through a sextuple helix model, is the foundation of the planning process. A small-scale action and a qualitative assessment tool of the participatory process are also illustrated. The proposed methodology corroborates the vast positive effects deriving from stakeholder participation in terms of trust, ownership, planning quality, innovativeness and sustainability of interventions. In applying the methodology, although the digital framework was evaluated positively in terms of the number of participants that could be involved, data collection, and confidentiality of activities, the evaluation shows that hybrid modes of participation are more desirable.

Keywords: sustainable tourism; participation; strategic planning (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

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