Governance Factors That Influence the Internationalization of Tourism Destinations

Abstract

The literature is highlighting that research on the internationalization of destinations is scarce. This chapter presents a validation of the governance factors which contribute to the internationalization of tourism destinations. A survey was carried out on Portuguese DMOs with responsibilities in the areas of tourism and local/regional development (N=147). The ‘Questionnaire on Internationalization of Tourist Destinations' was submitted to content, reliability, and construct validations through exploratory and confirmatory second-order factor analysis. Governance factors influencing the internationalization of destinations were F1-Collaboration and F2-Networks. F1 associates items related to stakeholder involvement in destination decisions. F2 highlights the interaction between stakeholders, whose collective action is oriented towards active participation in decisions and leadership. The perception of Portuguese entities with different levels of influence on tourism development allows the systematization of results that meet some priority lines defined in the Tourism Strategy 2027.