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This paper aims to focus on managing networks within destinations, or destination network management. The purpose is to provide a conceptual definition of the term.

Destinations are seen as networks, and networks are approached from a strategic perspective. Reviewing and drawing on the literature on destination management, tourism networks, strategic networks and strategic management the paper proposes a concept that could be of use in analyses of network management.

It is suggested that managing is a value‐creating activity embedded within a network, and that there are two approaches to network management: strategic management and the coordination of cooperation among the actors involved.

The paper is conceptual in nature. The authors intend to test the developed hypothesis in empirical case studies in the near future.

The paper contributes to the literature on destination management in proposing a novel concept of destination network management, and introducing a dynamic, activity‐oriented approach as opposed to the actor‐focused destination management organization (DMO) view.

Co-operation activities play a central role for the development of a tourism destination, and require a co-operative approach among numerous different actors to manage and market a tourism destination. This paper aims to describe the characteristics of leadership networks in tourism destinations and their impact on destination development.

The paper discusses network relationships of destination leaders, as in their collectivity, leaders shape and influence the destination's core services, strategic orientation and innovation capability. The research is based on the examination of relevant literature and a quantitative survey conducted in five selected tourism destinations in the Tirol, Austria.

The article discusses leadership networks in community-structured destinations, providing insights into its organizational structure and dynamic behaviour. Moreover, the paper illustrates the network characteristics and its influence on the development of the tourism destination. Thus, implications for destination management can be derived.

Discussions on leadership have usually been limited to firms and have not yet fully embraced the network and destination level. The originality of the paper is to provide insights in destination leadership and networking activities of leaders within destinations by means of a quantitative approach and thus adds to the growing body of literature on the functionalities of destination leadership networks, their structures and mechanisms.

This study aims to examine the current network of inter‐relationships of stakeholders representing government, the community and the tourism and hospitality industry, and their perceptions of critical stakeholders in destination development.

While the network analysis enabled examination of the interconnectedness of stakeholders, the stakeholder approach identified the critical stakeholders in destination development. These two approaches helped determine how the existing relationship structures of destination stakeholders might influence sustainable destination development.

The destination marketing/management organizations (DMOs) and stakeholders with access to or possession of critical resources have the highest centrality in urban destinations. In all three clusters, local government and DMOs are perceived to hold the greatest legitimacy and power over others in destination development. It is also found that there is a lack of “bridges” between the three clusters of industry, government and the community.

The study demonstrates the use of a network analysis methodology as a potential tool for researchers and managers in examining destination stakeholder relationships.

DMOs, hotels and attractions stakeholders have the most crucial roles in achieving inter‐stakeholder collaboration for sustainable destination development, particularly because the many and diverse industry actors trust or depend on them.

There are very few studies that have applied both network and stakeholder perspectives to destinations to examine the structure of inter‐stakeholder relationships and the potential influence of this relational structure on sustainable destination development.

The purpose of this paper is to present an alternative perspective on understanding the coordinating role of destination management organizations. Destination Management Organizations (DMOs) are known to have a coordinating role within a destination. Many qualitative case studies discuss this role in the institutional context, assuming that the DMO is supposed to coordinate the network of the organizations and stakeholder groups in the destination. By contrast, this paper analyzes the coordinator role of DMOs by focusing primarily on the prominent individuals (directors and board members) affiliated with it. In so doing, it proposes an alternative perspective on these organizations. Looking at the influential individuals in the destination, in particular those affiliated with the DMO, reveals new insights into what the DMO alternatively could be from an individual’s perspective.

Using social network analysis, the coordinator role of the actors affiliated with the DMO for six destination cases in Switzerland, Italy and Austria was measured. First, the network of the most salient individuals in the destination was identified. Second, the coordinator score with the help of the Gould and Fernandez measure was measured. Third, the coordinator scores of individuals affiliated with the DMO were compared against those of the other actors in the network. Fourth, the scores of actors affiliated with the DMO and other actors were compared to the coordinator role attributed to the whole organization by those individuals (i.e. how they see the DMO as coordinator). Fifth, the analysis of the results with case-specific information was completed.

In each of the six destinations, there are actors affiliated with the DMO as top scorers; these are usually the president of the board and other board members, as well as the director. Additionally, the analysis identifies further board members of the DMO among the tourist elite in the destination. The DMO as an organization is generally seen as an important coordinating institution. In particular, the actors affiliated with the DMO attribute a higher coordinating role to the organization than do the other respondents.

In their board constellation, DMOs support the formation of interlocking directorships through the representation of various stakeholder groups. They increase the concentration of power in favor of a small group (elite), but they can also increase the effectiveness of decisional processes. In so doing, a DMO serves as a valuable platform for leaders in its destination.

This study affords a surprising insight into the difference between the overall image actors have of DMOs and the organizations’ self-images, expressed by the actors affiliated to the organizations – the former is always lower than the latter. The study also clearly demonstrates that the role of an institution largely depends on the actors affiliated to it and hence points to the constantly adapting coordinating role of DMOs within destinations.

A DMO can be seen as an organization constituted by individuals who join and leave its board or its management. This paper proposes an actor-based analysis of these often small, but controversially discussed organizations. We do it with a combination of quantitative measures from network analysis and qualitative information. The alternative perspective (actors of the DMOs inside the elite) and the application of social network analysis for this purpose have not been used in studies before. Further research points to two new research streams, namely, to understanding the role attributed to the DMO by different actors in the destination and the reasons for joining/leaving the organization and the shift of the self-concept of the DMO.

This paper aims to serve as an introduction to a rather under-researched field. It aims to provide a conceptual definition of destination management organisations (DMOs) serving as leadership networks in destinations drawing on what is to be called the DMO Leadership Cycle – a guiding framework integrating the perspectives of management, governance and leadership to influence destination development trajectories.

A synthesis of the extant literature on destination management and governance, coupled with the latest academic contributions in destination leadership serves to uncover the existence of a gap in the way leadership is seen in the underpinned domain. DMOs are conceptualised and their role in serving as leadership networks in destinations is then critically discussed.

Perspectives of destination management, governance and leadership and their interaction with one another is fundamental to DMOs serving as leadership networks. The paper provides justification for and indicative definition of contemporary DMOs serving as leadership networks in destinations.

The conceptual nature of this paper calls for empirical evidence where DMOs serving as leadership networks are further investigated in practice and across diverse political and economic contexts.

This paper aims to shape destination leadership practice by introducing an alternative, yet inclusive approach to leadership focussing on collective orchestration in destinations undertaken by DMO networks.

The paper aims to trigger a discussion on the importance of all-encompassing and integrative leadership as a means for widening participation across diverse destination groups; to serve as an input into and ultimately – shape policy development.

This discussion provides an alternative perspective to the way we see leadership in destinations. The paper argues that “impactful” leadership is rather embedded in a formal structure and distributed in nature.

Destinations have in the scholarly literature been labeled as communities of interdependent organizations that collectively coproduce a variety of products and services. The paradigm comes close to describing destinations as firms which are embedded in interfirm networks. Recent studies provide crucial insights into an understanding of destinations' orchestration and structuration as coproducing interfirm networks. However, systematic knowledge about how these systems evolve and develop is lacking. This chapter addresses this issue and elaborates how the concepts of scale-free and small-world networks together can explain the process of destination evolution. The discussion also suggests how such theorizing can spur avenues for future research.

This paper explores a type of organizing that can be found in tourist destinations that are administratively bound to a specific geographic area in the intersection of public and private context. The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the understanding of the organizing of activities within destinations and also to contribute theoretically and conceptually to how place dependency and public/private can be understood from an industrial marketing and purchasing (IMP) network perspective.

The research approach has its origin in an ongoing multi-disciplinary and longitudinal case study.

By applying a network approach to the organizing of destinations, where interaction of relationships, resources, actors and activities play an essential role, a number of propositions have been put forth so as to provide for a better understanding of place-specific organizing, in the intersection between public and private interests.

The paper is conceptual and more empirical studies are needed to test the findings. One implication to consider in future empirical studies is the tensions between created and organic networks that exist in public and private place partnerships.

The paper provides insights into factors affecting destination management.

With an emphasis on a socio-political context, the opportunities and limitations that exist between public and private sectors are discussed.

The paper sheds light on a neglected aspect of a contemporary phenomenon where the IMP network approach could contribute to the understanding of destination marketing or management organization that are bound to a specific place in the intersection between the public and private context. The area of public-private organizing is a topic that may also add new aspects to the IMP community.

The aim of the paper is to develop a conceptual model of the process by means of which the induced tourism image of a destination is created. The model focuses on the role tourism agents' relational networks play in this process and particularly on the effects of the links with external actors – i.e. tour‐operators – on the destination's induced image.

Based on Gartner's definition of image formation agents, it is assumed that there are tourism agents that use the tourism image as a pull factor to influence the buying behaviour of potential visitors. Basically, these agents are: internal actors, located within a particular tourism destination, and external agents – i.e. tour‐operators – which are not normally associated with any particular destination, but have stakes in the travel decision process of potential visitors. In parallel, it is assumed that the tourism destination is a web of relational networks where the agents are connected by means of collaborative links that facilitate the supply of a tourist product or experience to the visitors.

In this paper two potential gaps in the induced tourism destination image formation process are found, and that the position of relevant actors in the network and the structure of the network are two determinant factors of the emergence – or inhibition – of these gaps. It is also suggested that these gaps and the lack of collaborative links among internal and external actors would affect the coherence of the supplied tourist products and the satisfaction with the tourist experience.

The relevance of the paper lies in a new approach to the induced tourism image formation process focusing on the destination's relational network and, in particular, the network of relations with external agents (i.e. tour‐operators).

The purpose of this paper is to reveal those attributes of owners and managers that influence knowledge flows between owners and managers in a tourism destination network. The research question relates to whether homogeneity and/or heterogeneity attributes of the owners and managers are associated with the flow of information within a knowledge network.

Owners and managers of tourism and hospitality businesses in the Bournemouth, Poole and Christchurch conurbation were surveyed regarding their receipt of information from each other. Social network analysis (SNA) was applied to understand how job position, type of business, gender and education attributes influence the information flows within a knowledge network.

It was revealed that the ties or flows of information were influenced through the heterogeneity of the type of education attribute of a business owner or manager. Other attributes such as type of business, job position or gender were not associated with the receipt of information.

The contribution of the paper relates to increasing the understanding of an underlying attribute that influences information flows between owners and managers of tourism and hospitality businesses within a tourism destination.

The paper contributes to the understanding of a heterogeneous attribute that influences the flow of information within a tourism destination network.

This study examines the relationships between structural holes, guanxi and knowledge sharing among groups of stakeholders within a Chinese destination network.

This study conducted surveys, social network analysis and semi-structured interviews to gather data from the stakeholders of a popular Chinese tourist destination to test its hypotheses.

Knowledge sharing within the destination network was impeded by structural holes but facilitated by guanxi. Furthermore, the impeding effect of structural holes on knowledge sharing is alleviated by guanxi.

This study illustrates the ways that stakeholders exploit structural holes and guanxi to promote knowledge sharing, and thus offers novel insights into how destination network structures affect the efficacy of stakeholders when it comes to sharing knowledge and promoting their destination.