Shared governance's role to fostering unique tourism experiences

The study focuses on the Asinara National Park, established in the homonymous small island of Asinara, in Sardinia (Italy). For a long time the Island of Asinara had the status of a forbidden territory; only in 2002 it was... [ view full abstract ]

The study focuses on the Asinara National Park, established in the homonymous small island of Asinara, in Sardinia (Italy). For a long time the Island of Asinara had the status of a forbidden territory; only in 2002 it was recognised as a National Park, and returned to open access to neighbouring people and tourists. Currently, Asinara may be visited only through Park’s guide services, which compose a constellation of around 200 SMEs. The attraction of Asinara depends upon its legendary story of inaccessibility that fascinates visitors, and the relative remoteness, which also plays an important role in protecting and preserving the natural environment. Until a couple of years ago, the SMEs had very conflictual relations among each other. Although the SMEs are recognized as authorized guides of the Park, operating as autonomous entrepreneurs within its territory, they are like ambassadors of the Park playing a key role through their business on communicating to visitors the environmental and social values of the protected area. On the light of that, the Asinara National Park recognized the need to improve both the quality service delivered by the SMSs and the customers experience by promoting training activities within the tourism operators. Specifically, the study aims at exploring the ways through which the collaborative and non-hierarchical governance approach promoted by the Park and based on the engagement with its stakeholders, the tourism entrepreneurs, affect the sustainable tourism management of the same SMEs. Moreover it investigates the influence of the governance approach towards the visitors’ experience, and to what extent that approach stimulates the creation of unique and satisfactory experiences both for operators, and tourists. The study is based on a qualitative approach (Burrell and Morgan, 1979), and interviews with stakeholders identified within the Asinara National Park’ managers, and SMEs representatives have been realized in January 2015. The main findings show that the shared governance approach has positively impacted on: Parks and SMSs’ relationships through shared strategies and coordinated programmes; SMSs’ management by delivering higher quality service to customers; and on tourists’ satisfaction.