able to gain competitive advantage by bringing together the knowledge, expertise, capital and other resources of several stakeholders (Kotler et al., 1993 cited in Bramwell & Lane, 2000, p. 2).
According to Costa (1996), the importance of networks and partnerships for tourism seems enormous. Firstly, they offer planners an organizational framework in which more comprehensive, inclusive, participatory, informed and democratic approaches may be put forward, because policies are not exclusively designed by planning agencies but are, instead, supported by a wider range of participants.
Furthermore, they bring destination areas the assurance that development is no longer viewed from a short-term economic approach; instead, the planning and development of resorts are viewed from a wider perspective, which comprises the surrounding natural, social and economic environment, and, therefore, takes into account notions such as uniqueness, carrying capacity and sustaining growth.
In addition, they bring the tourism industry the hope that economic growth is viewed not only in the short term but also in the medium and long terms. By conveying more sta- bility and competitiveness to the web, networks also bring more safety and profitability to private sector investments.
Finally, networks transmit governments the advantage that the development of tourism is viewed with respect the natural and social patrimony; that development takes into account the economic structure of every place; and also that, by stimulating the inter-organizational coordination of policies, the indirect and induced economic impact produced by tourism are maximized.
administrative relationships are established among them or, alternatively, whether they just result from a package of legislation issued by the government.
Using the example of the Rota da Luz board (located in the coastal central region and being constituted by 14 municipalities), it can be observed that there are four nodes which are linked to the network by just one arch (see Figure 5.1), showing that these organiza- tions are only connected to the network by the tourism board, which means that after dis- connecting it, four actors lose their ties to the network (see Figure 5.2). This might indicate that some organizations are associated with the network just because a law was enacted with the objective of including them in the web, thus not existing in practice a network of relationships among the organizations that make part of the tourism board.
Results of the study indicate that, despite including a number of members, the admin- istration of tourism at regional level is dominated by a few organizations, such as tourism boards, regional planning agencies and the municipality where the board has its head- quarters. Generally, this cluster accounts for over 50 percent of the total connectivity. It was also found that, within the regional tourism organization, partially as a result of their small size, private sector organizations have few links to other organizations, lower levels of prominence and little capacity to influence decisions, thus assuming a peripheral role, even if their importance to the tourism organization is recognized. Private sector and also Do Clusters and Networks Make Small Places Beautiful? 71
Aveiro
Ovar
Ílhavo Sever
Vouga
Albergaria
Oliveira Bairro Murtosa
Vagos
Estarreja
CambraVale Arouca Castelo
Paiva Águeda
SPORTS
UNIONS
FOLKLORE M.E.
CCRN
CCRC
University Porto de
Aveiro Port Authority
Travel Agencies Rent-a-Car
Hotels
Camping
TOURIST BOARD
Municipality Private sector
organisation Public sector
organisation
Tourism board Restaurants
Oliveira Azeméis
Figure 5.1: Network of relationships established among the members of the Rota da Luz tourism board (RTRL).
Source: Costa, 1996.
medium-size public sector organizations (especially located in the interior areas) have low levels of connectivity within the network (less than 10 percent); therefore, they tend to operate much more on an individual basis.
Moreover, findings led to the conclusion that the importance of planning and environ- mental agencies within the tourism organization depends on the level of tourism develop- ment of the region; that is, planning and environmental organizations assume greater importance in areas characterized by higher levels of tourism development. Since Portuguese tourism is excessively bound to coastal areas, most regions located in the inte- rior have little influence in the decision-making process, which brings strong imbalances of power into the administration.
Despite their small size, most boards prefer to work in isolation instead of setting up strategic alliances, or even mergers, with other boards capable of boosting their power and capacity to intervene in the development process. In addition, there is poor coordination with the national government, as well as the horizontal coordination of tourism policy and strategies set up by other departments are very difficult to achieve. It was also found that tourism boards operate in isolation from their members, resulting in regional policies that offer poor quality and little capacity to represent all interests and groups associated with the tourism sector, and have led to the fragmentation of regional administration.
72 Zélia Breda et al.
Aveiro
Ovar
Ílhavo Sever
Vouga
Albergaria
Oliveira Bairro Murtosa
Vagos
Estarreja
Vale Cambra Arouca Castelo
Paiva Oliveira
Azeméis Águeda
SPORTS
UNIONS
FOLKLORE M.E.
CCRN
CCRC
University Porto de
Aveiro Port Authority
Travel Agencies
Restaurants Rent-a-Car
Hotels
Camping
Municipality Private sector
organisation Public sector
organisation
Figure 5.2: Network of relationships established among the members of the Rota da Luz tourism board (RTRL) in the absence of the board.
Source: Costa, 1996.
Santos (2000) has also identified that the lack of cooperative culture and the absence of networking structure make the different agents to act on the basis of a set of individual strate- gies developed internally by each sector, this constituting the major limitation of the regional institutional structure in Portugal. It is argued that these Portuguese weaknesses can only be overcome if inter- and intra-regional cooperative relationships were reinforced.
Networks may bring significant improvements not only to the planning process but also into the administrative structure in which the planning activity is carried out. As seen pre- viously, the way in which Portuguese regional tourism administration operates is based on an informal networking of organizations, though very weak. Their functioning discourages participation of many participants, since policies are set up in a formal and top-down way, resulting in fragmented and uncoordinated actions set up in the field.
When questioned about whether or not the bureaucratic way in which tourism boards are run in Portugal should be replaced by horizontal forms of administration based on the network philosophy, the vast majority of the organizations linked to regional tourism organization showed their willingness to accept tourism networks in substitution of the present administration. Although recognizing their theoretical importance, it was further suggested that networks could be difficult to put into practice because of opposition to change, unwillingness to share information, lobbying, lengthy decision-making process, disputes and conflicts, among other reasons.
However, the benefits pointed out by the same participants far outnumbered the prob- lems that could emerge from the establishment of tourism networks in Portugal. The most important advantage is the better horizontal coordination of policies; that is, by giving an effective voice and empowering all participants, networks are able to strengthen the com- munication channels among organizations in order to lead to stronger commitments and to improve the inter-sector coordination of policies. Furthermore, it would lead to the estab- lishment of better-informed policies and better management of tourism resources.
Networks could also bring more efficiency and effectiveness to the operation of the regional tourism administration, new dynamics into their functioning, and make them more powerful and stronger for influencing national policies.
The study, thus, revealed that as a result of the characteristics and potential offered by networks, they present a credible alternative for the way in which regional tourism admin- istration should move forward in the future. It also concluded that, if the government stimulates the establishment of tourism networks at the regional level in Portugal, they can be a reality since the vast majority of regional tourism organizations showed great willingness to join.