Tourist destination governance: practice, theory and issues

The global business environment has faced many signifi cant hurdles over the past few decades – internal as well as external – and ever since the introduction of the Sarbanes–Oxley Act July 2002,1 increasing attention has been given to ensuring corporate governance policies and procedures are in place and active in many boardrooms and halls of government around the world. This issue is of particular relevance for the Pacifi c Asia Travel Association (PATA)2 as the Association works with both the private and public sectors in the travel and tourism industry, and the issue of governance is becoming more important, not only within each of these sectors but also in the overlap area where they both meet, the tourist destination areas.