The Practicalities of a Learning Tourism Destination: a Case Study of the Ningaloo Coast

Abstract

The complex and dynamic nature of tourism, and the need to address Triple Bottom Line sustainability, has encouraged a search for adaptive tourism management approaches based on organisational learning. In this paper the authors discuss a practical approach for the implementation of a Learning Tourism Destination (LTD), a new concept derived from the theory of Learning Organisations. Preliminary results from a case study undertaken at the Ningaloo Coast in Western Australia are discussed. The conducted surveys indicate that the LTD forms a useful framework for fostering consensus building, dialogue and collective learning processes amongst stakeholders. The proposed approach has the potential to improve decision-making within the concept of sustainable tourism development by facilitating participative planning processes. The overall strategy of this paper is to explore the practicalities of the LTD implementation process, and to spark further conceptual and practical debate, based on the analysis of the Ningaloo case study.