Centering Advocacy on the Value of Tourism: The Need for a Shared Understanding of Advocacy in the Tourism Industry

Author Bios (50 Words for each Author)

Hailey Post is a 2nd-year master’s student in Parks, Recreation, and Tourism Management at NC State University. Her research focuses on identifying strategies for improving advocacy efforts among leaders in the tourism industry and stakeholder engagement efforts.

Whitney Knollenberg is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Parks, Recreation, and Tourism Management at North Carolina State University. Her research focuses on tourism leadership and the influence of policy, planning, and partnerships in sustainable tourism development.

Ashley Schroeder is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Recreation, Park and Tourism Management at The Pennsylvania State University. She is also the Managing Director of the Tourism Crisis Management Institute. Her research agenda focuses on tourism crisis management and destination resilience.

Abstract (150 Words)

The need for effective advocacy for the tourism industry has never been greater, yet coordinated efforts to share the value of tourism and demonstrate how policy change impacts the industry remain limited. Greater understanding of the obstacles that restrict these coordinated advocacy efforts is needed. This study illustrates how multiple definitions of advocacy may contribute to disparate efforts among different tourism stakeholders. Data from semi-structured interviews with 23 state-level tourism leaders, from both destination marketing/management organizations and tourism trade associations, revealed 3 different conceptualizations of tourism advocacy: advocacy as lobbying, advocacy as education; and advocacy as communicating the value of tourism. Through these findings, we propose that defining advocacy as communication of the value of tourism to multiple stakeholders would be one strategy to unify advocacy efforts and increase their efficacy for the tourism industry.

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Centering Advocacy on the Value of Tourism: The Need for a Shared Understanding of Advocacy in the Tourism Industry

The need for effective advocacy for the tourism industry has never been greater, yet coordinated efforts to share the value of tourism and demonstrate how policy change impacts the industry remain limited. Greater understanding of the obstacles that restrict these coordinated advocacy efforts is needed. This study illustrates how multiple definitions of advocacy may contribute to disparate efforts among different tourism stakeholders. Data from semi-structured interviews with 23 state-level tourism leaders, from both destination marketing/management organizations and tourism trade associations, revealed 3 different conceptualizations of tourism advocacy: advocacy as lobbying, advocacy as education; and advocacy as communicating the value of tourism. Through these findings, we propose that defining advocacy as communication of the value of tourism to multiple stakeholders would be one strategy to unify advocacy efforts and increase their efficacy for the tourism industry.