Innovation policies for tourism

The nature, extent, and implications of innovation in tourism are
increasingly investigated in academic research, but the policies that affect these
transformations in the industry and at tourism destinations are not equally well
conceptualised theoretically or analysed empirically. The purpose of this article
is, in an analysis of the literature, to interpret the rationale behind innovation
policy, and to explain the persisting challenges related to acquisition of an
informed foundation for policies based upon quantitative and qualitative
inquiries. Observed in a historical perspective, innovation polices have
developed from the simple removal of barriers that hamper the pursuit of
innovative behaviour in the private sector towards more systemic instruments
that facilitate collaboration and knowledge transfer in complex spatial or
sectoral economic ‘biotopes’. The article builds a systematic framework of
policy instruments for innovation in tourism. New generations of policies
instigate a mainstreaming of the innovation agenda in ways that proceed
beyond the traditional policy concepts.