Community cooperation for tourism development

Abstract

Cooperation and research on related issues in the tourism sector is still topical as virtually no new tourism offer is possible without cooperation. This has been confirmed by previous studies. However, in the context of community initiatives, cooperation in tourism has not been analysed very much. The aim of the paper is to analyse community cooperation in rural tourism development on the basis of content analysis of the LEADER projects and previous studies on collaboration. Cooperation is based on the understanding and exchange of information facilitated by existing and new forms of common actions between public and private actors. The results reveal that community cooperation for the development of rural tourism in Latvia can be seen as structural with the Rural Support Service as a central actor, which is responsible for the uniform implementation of the state’s and European Union’s support policy in Latvia, monitors compliance with agricultural legislation and regulates the conditions of all involved. At regional level, cooperation is coordinated by rural partnerships and governed by their strategies that sets clear objectives for local action in communities.