UNIVERSITÀ DELLA SVIZZERA ITALIANA Faculty of Economics and Communication MASTER OF ARTS IN ECONOMICS AND COMMUNICATION International Tourism Master Destination Governance: the case study of a tourism destination in Ticino Master Thesis Dissertation Author: Claudia Zuffi Supervisor: Second reader: Prof. Dr. Pietro Beritelli Prof. Siegfried Alberton October 2011 Fate che il vostro spirito avventuroso vi porti sempre ad andare avanti per scoprire il mondo che vi circonda con le sue stranezze e le sue meraviglie. Scoprirlo significherà, per voi, amarlo. (Kahlil Gibran) 2 | P a g e Table of contents _Toc304377877 List of tables ........................................................................................................................................... 5 List of figures .......................................................................................................................................... 6 Acronyms ............................................................................................................................................... 8 Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................................ 9 Introduction to the research design ....................................................................................................... 10 Research strategy and design ...................................................................................................................... 11 Aim and objectives ...................................................................................................................................... 11 Organization of the chapters ....................................................................................................................... 12 Methodology ........................................................................................................................................ 13 Literature review ..................................................................................................................................... 13 Case study ................................................................................................................................................ 13 Chapter 1: Literature review ................................................................................................................. 15 1.1 Definitions and concepts ....................................................................................................................... 15 1.2 Tourism Destination .............................................................................................................................. 15 1.3 Governance ........................................................................................................................................... 18 1.3.1 From Government to Governance ................................................................................................. 20 1.4 Destination Governance ........................................................................................................................ 21 1.5 Destination networks, clusters and partnerships .................................................................................. 24 1.5.1 Networks ........................................................................................................................................ 24 1.5.2 Clusters ........................................................................................................................................... 26 1.5.3 Partnerships .................................................................................................................................... 28 1.5.4 Public-Private Partnerships ............................................................................................................ 29 1.6 Destination Management ...................................................................................................................... 33 1.6.1 Destination Management Organization of the Third Generation ........................................... 36 1.7 Destination Competitiveness ................................................................................................................ 38 1.8 Final Considerations .............................................................................................................................. 40 1.9 Literature Review main references ....................................................................................................... 43 Chapter 2: Contextualization: The Tourism Industry in Ticino ................................................................ 45 2.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................................................... 46 3 | P a g e 2.2 The Evolution of the Tourism Industry in Ticino, from 1880 to 2010 ................................................... 47 2.1.1 First Phase (1880- 1912) ................................................................................................................. 47 2.2.2 Second Phase (1914- 1945) ............................................................................................................ 48 2.2.3 Third Phase (1945-1985) ................................................................................................................ 48 2.2.4 Fourth Phase (after 1990) ............................................................................................................... 49 2.3 The actual organizational structure ....................................................................................................... 51 2.4 The Future strategies ............................................................................................................................. 53 2.4.1 The NPR (Nuova Politica Regionale) ............................................................................................... 54 2.4.2 The new ERS (Enti Regionali di Sviluppo)........................................................................................ 56 2.4.3 The revision of the L-Tur ................................................................................................................. 57 2.5 New emerging governance models ....................................................................................................... 61 2.5.1 Lugano ............................................................................................................................................ 61 2.5.2 Bellinzona & Alto Ticino .................................................................................................................. 63 2.6 Final considerations ........................................................................................................................ 64 Chapter 3: Empirical analysis the case study: the tourism destination Gambarogno ............................... 65 3.1 Case study choice, motivation, and methodology .............................................................................. 66 3.2 Domain definition ........................................................................................................................... 67 3.3 Figure and Facts .............................................................................................................................. 68 3.4 Evolution of the destination ............................................................................................................. 69 3.4.1 The Pro Gambarogno Association-1950-1971 ................................................................................... 69 3.5 Actual organizational structure ......................................................................................................... 71 3.6 Tourism supply and demand ............................................................................................................ 75 3.6.1 Accommodations ................................................................................................................................ 75 3.7 Natural and cultural products of the destination .................................................................................. 80 3.7.1 Natural Resources.................................................................................................................... 80 3.7.2 Cultural Resources ................................................................................................................... 81 3.8 SWOT Analysis ................................................................................................................................ 83 3.9 Workshop results ............................................................................................................................ 84 3.9.1 Workshop 1, Magadino the 16th of May, 2011................................................................................... 85 3.9.2 Workshop 2: Magadino the 16th June 2011 ....................................................................................... 88 3.9.3 Workshop 3: Magadino the 13th July 2011 ......................................................................................... 91 4 | P a g e Chapter 4: Results, future research & limitations .................................................................................. 93 4.1 Results and main findings ..............................................................................................................