Tourism Policy, Tourism Organisations and Change Management in Alpine Regions and Destinations: A European Perspective

Tourism is of great economic importance and significance for the European East Alpine regions. But to an increasing degree, low productivity resulting from the small-business structure of the Alpine region weakens the economic and social leadership of tourism. In the last few decades overcoming these difficulties often included substantial supporting of institutionalised tourism organisations by tourism policy, with the intention to bundle forces and to achieve growing global competition. Change in international tourist markets demands the pursuance of completely new strategies, particularly because the small-business structure of Alpine tourism in the past has always been the basis for its many positive effects for the local and regional population alike. By keeping its function of balancing regional economic growth, tourism policy's main responsibility for the future in the East Alpine region will be to create the prerequisites required for an adaptation to the new situation in the tourist markets. In addition, the support of tourism organisations is needed for achieving corporate success, which cannot be realised by individual entrepreneurs in the tourist industry owing to their small-business structure. The key to adaptation lies in the improvement of qualifications. This improvement should lead to the development of new skills for tourist cooperations as a basis for the strategic transition from institutionalised tourism organisations to flexible and market-oriented destination management companies.