Introducing meta-governance as a sustainability tool in popular culture tourism regional development

Abstract

Popular culture tourism development suffers from a weak grounding in the broader societal system in which it operates, and there is insufficient understanding of how governance can assist in counterbalancing this trend. What is therefore required is a deeper understanding of how current and future governance can complement popular culture tourism development in the wake of the sustainability transition. The aim of this paper is to propose a meta-governance analytic framework that can serve as a critical lens for an improved holistic understanding of popular culture tourism development in the regional governance context. Drawing on a selective literature review of the meta-governance field, the concept is introduced as a critical lens through which existing and future popular culture tourism governance can be theoretically and empirically scrutinized. It is proposed that a popular culture tourism meta-governance analysis should revolve around the rationale for this form of niche tourism, resourceful stakeholders, the governance landscape, and appropriate governance strategies and tools.