Trust, Tourism Development and Planning

The dynamics of trust and distrust are central to understanding modern society, social relations, and development processes. However, numerous studies suggest that societal trust and citizen’s trust in government and its institutions are on the decline, challenging the legitimacy of government and leading to an undemocratic and unsustainable form of development. Recognizing its importance, the authors for the first time situate trust within the context of tourism development and planning.

This volume discusses trust in tourism from different yet intrinsically connected perspectives. Chapters review how diminishing societal trust may have adversely affected tourism planning systems, the role of trust in good tourism governance and sustainable tourism, how trust can be used as a facilitator of participatory tourism planning, political trust in tourism institutions, power and how tourism development can be a basis for trust creation among society members by using social capital theory. In addition, a final section on ‘Researching Trust in Tourism Development’ means that readers are not only provided a thorough theoretical framework on trust and an understanding of its importance for sustainable tourism and good governance of the sector, but also methodological aspects of research on trust in the context of tourism development and planning.

This significant volume is valuable reading for students, academics and researchers interested in tourism development and planning.

Robin Nunkoo is Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Law and Management, University of Mauritius. His research draws widely from political science and uses a political economy approach to investigate the interplay between citizens' trust (distrust) in government (and institutions), and power issues in development and political support for development and government policies. He is further interested in citizens' support for tourism development and the factors influencing such support.

Stephen Smith is Professor in the Department of Recreation and Leisure Studies, University of Waterloo, Canada. His research interests include economic impacts of tourism, tourism policy and visitor profiles.