Title: National and urban public policy in tourism. Towards the emergence of a hyperneoliberal script?

Authors: Alberto Amore; C. Michael Hall

Addresses: Department of Management, Marketing and Entrepreneurship, University of Canterbury, Private Bag 4800, Christchurch 8041, New Zealand; Dipartimento di Sociologia e Ricerca Sociale, Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca, Via Bicocca degli Arcimboldi 8, 20126, Milan, Italy ' Department of Management, Marketing and Entrepreneurship, University of Canterbury, Private Bag 4800, Christchurch 8041, New Zealand; Department of Geography, University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland; Linnaeus University School of Business and Economics, Linnaeus University, Kalmar, Sweden; School of Tourism and Hospitality, University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg, South Africa

Abstract: Following the 2007-2009 Global Financial Crisis (GFC), some national governments have been pursuing a counter-reform of the public sector characterised by further policy centralisation and the 'hollowing out' of regional authorities. Public expenditure and sovereign public debt reductions have become the pretext for the implementation of hyperneoliberal development agendas aimed at the attraction of inward capitals and a further 'competitive' repositioning of major cities within a global market. Tourism and the visitor economy have been used as leverage for the attraction of capital and skilled people in the long-term development strategies of cities. This article illustrates how crises have led the way in the recent restructuring of the public sector and of destination management organisations (DMOs) in particular. Findings from national and urban development strategies recently implemented in New Zealand suggest a strong, market-driven agenda that follows a hyperneoliberal script.

Keywords: adaptation to change; adaptation to uncertainty; destination management organisations; DMOs; destination marketing organisations; global financial crisis; urban development; New Zealand; hyperneoliberalism; metagovernance; public policy reform; tourism planning; tourism policy; urban tourism; public expenditure reduction; sovereign public debt reduction; cities.

DOI: 10.1504/IJTP.2017.082761

International Journal of Tourism Policy, 2017 Vol.7 No.1, pp.4 - 22

Received: 11 Jan 2016
Accepted: 06 Oct 2016
Published online: 10 Mar 2017 *

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