یادگیری مقصد گردشگری : پتانسیل رویکرد سازمان یادگیرنده برای بهبود توسعه پایدار مقصد های گردشگری

Globalisation, increasing complexity, and the need to address triple-bottom line sustainability have seen the proliferation of Learning Organisations (LO) who, by definition, have the capacity to anticipate environmental changes and economic opportunities and adapt accordingly. Such organisations use system dynamics modelling (SDM) for both strategic planning and the promotion of organisational learning. Although SDM has been applied in the context of tourism destination management for predictive reasons, the current literature does not analyse or recognise how this could be used as a foundation for an LO. This study introduces the concept of the Learning Tourism Destinations (LTD) and discusses, on the basis of a review of six case studies, the potential of SDM as a tool for the implementation and enhancement of collective learning processes. The results reveal that SDM is capable of promoting communication between stakeholders and stimulating organisational learning. It is suggested that the LTD approach be further utilised and explored.

Over the past decade a significant amount of research has been devoted to sustainable tourism management and development. Tourism researchers from all over the world have provided many useful insights that have helped to advance the concept of sustainability for the industry. We now know that sustainability must be conceived as a transition and learning process (Farrell & Twining-Ward, 2005), and as a “moving” rather than a static goal (Lee, 2001). These findings are especially important with respect to the tourism industry, because “tourism is an inherently non-linear, complex and dynamic system” (McKercher, 1999) that cannot be predicted with sufficient accuracy, and therefore has to be managed adaptively (Farrell & Twining-Ward, 2005). Adaptive management (AM) approaches are based on continuous and collective learning concepts that acknowledge uncertainties, and allow for timely adjustment of planning and management strategies (Holling, 1978). This implies that in order to advance sustainability in the tourism industry, approaches are needed that promote stakeholder collaboration and learning on an organisational as well as destination or regional level. Learning on a destination or regional level is necessary to ensure that sustainable development issues, beyond the scope and responsibility of private organisations and/or local authorities, are incorporated. This study proposes a framework for a Learning Tourism Destination (LTD) based on the concept of the Learning Organisation (LO) (Senge, 1990), which uses systems thinking and system dynamics modelling (SDM) approaches to implement and foster collective learning processes. Although SDM has been applied in the context of tourism destination management for strategic planning and impact prediction (Holling, 1978; van den Bergh, 1991; Walker, Greiner, McDonald, & Lyne, 1999; Wiranatha, 2001), the current literature does not systematically evaluate the value of the tool for organisational learning. SDM, a computer-based methodology to support systems thinking by simulating the dynamics of complex systems, is often used to quantify the effects of the interconnections and time delays and to run “what if” simulations to test certain policies (Forrester, 1971; Meadows, Randers, & Meadows, 2004; Sterman, 2000; van den Belt, 2004). The main value of SDM, however, is not to predict the future, but to show that complex economic, environmental, and social systems are unpredictable, that it is important to learn to live with uncertainties, and that it is necessary to adapt to the unexpected (Holling, 1978). LOs have been little discussed in tourism literature, although there have been evaluations of the concept in hotels in Turkey (Bayraktaroglu & Kutanis, 2003) and Taiwan (Yang, 2004). Application of LO on destination level, however, has not yet been examined. Saxena (2005) conceptualised tourism destinations as “learning regions,” a concept that has been fostered by international organisations such as the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and UNESCO (Cooke, 1997; OECD, 2001), but did not evaluate the effectiveness of SDM as a tool in the implementation of organisational learning. An LTD framework needs to take into account that tourism destinations differ considerably from those organisations where the LO concept has been implemented with demonstrable success (Flood, 1999; Senge, 1990; Senge, Kleiner, Roberts, Ross, & Smith, 1994). The authors therefore begin by establishing the basic elements of an LTD and use these basic elements to analyse six case studies of system dynamic models constructed for tourism destinations. In the process the study reconceives SDM as a tool for the implementation and enhancement of collective learning by sustaining systemic awareness. The results of this analysis indicate that the effectiveness of SDM for sustainability assessment may be increased through its incorporation in the foundation of the LTD.

The study presented in this paper emphasises the need for implementation of an LTD in order to advance sustainable tourism development. It also highlights the potential of systems thinking approaches, in particular SDM, to implement and foster collective learning processes. An LTD framework, containing eight fundamental elements, was developed to reduce the complexity of the task of applying LO concepts to a tourism destination. The framework as presented is not a finished concept but rather a “learning” concept that needs to be tested, revised, and adapted through practical studies and application. It provides an initial basis for discussion and development. As a beginning to the necessary development, the framework was used to review and critically discuss six case studies. The contribution of this study to the current body of theory on sustainable tourism and destination management is four-fold. Firstly, it is noted that current tourism research has not incorporated theories of organisational learning and LO on a tourism destination level. This is surprising as international organisations, such as OECD and UNESCO, have promoted the implementation of these concepts at regional levels in order to achieve industrial sustainability in the face of global change. Tourism destinations are also affected by global change, perhaps to an even greater degree, and therefore need to develop adaptiveness and flexibility in order to maintain competitive capacity within the context of long-term triple bottom line (TBL) sustainability. Thus this study encourages the practical development of theory on LTD in order to meet this challenge. Secondly, it is argued that TBL tourism sustainability cannot be achieved by basing tourism planning on long-term predictions about the possible impacts of new developments, policies, and strategies. Accurate predictions in complex and dynamic systems such as tourism destinations are impossible to make; AM, using tools that acknowledge uncertainty and allow for collective learning processes, is required. Sustainability assessment in tourism has been predominately based on predictions that do not acknowledge those factors that are either unknown or not systemically understood. By focussing on prediction rather than learning and adaptiveness, tourism managers are unlikely to realise the necessity for implementing change-resilient system elements such as infrastructure, and product diversification. In addition, valuable opportunities for beneficial change of strategies or policies are more likely to be missed. Thirdly, the potential of SDM as a tool to enhance collective learning and to implement an LTD is substantiated on the basis of the case study review. Despite the fact that SDM was used in these projects for scenario testing and policy analysis alone, the results revealed that the model building process initiated the implementation of LTD elements. However, this was not recognised as an important project goal and therefore the LTD was not further developed. This meant that the influence of organisational learning on the sustainable development of the destinations could not be evaluated. Experiences in other industries show that SDM enhances organisational learning by allowing a better understanding of the system and the interconnectedness of stakeholder goals and actions (Senge et al., 1994). In addition, systems approaches uncover the barriers to collaboration and change (Gunderson, Holling, & Light, 1995) and aid in the development of strategies to overcome these hindrances. Fourthly, the results of the analysis suggest that the effectiveness of SDM as a tool for sustainability assessment may be greatly increased through incorporation in the foundation of an LTD. Good models are those that represent the mental models of all tourism stakeholders and that are based on the knowledge of how system elements interact and how they influence each other. The LTD provides a learning environment that allows the study of these interconnections and influences. This knowledge can be used to increase the efficiency of data collection which in turn improves the accuracy of the predictive quality of the models. This finding has implications beyond tourism, in that it shows that the effectiveness of SDM as a tool for regional sustainability assessment can be improved by anchoring the SDM in a learning region approach. In summary, the implementation of an LTD is essential to improve the capacity of the industry to take more responsibility for sustainable development on a long-term basis. This report provides an initial platform from which to conduct further research.