Tourism networks - interdependent relationships among public policy actors.

Abstract

This chapter dialogues with the field of studies and analysis of public policy, which has its pioneering work in the 1940s and is in constant development. Given the various definitions of public policies, there is a convergence that these include articulations between various actors - public and private - which makes it important to consider the relational perspective for analysis purposes. Governments have been dedicated to formulating public policies in specific domains, seeking to guide, regulate, as well as develop certain activities, such as tourism. In this sense, the municipality of Ouro Preto, a World Heritage Site, a tourist destination with a highly relevant historical and cultural heritage, which has established public tourism policies and tourism management tools, becomes a potential locus for investigation. In this context, we seek to investigate the interactions, from the perspective of the network approach, between the actors that make up the municipal public management of tourism in the city of Ouro Preto, Brazil, considering the multidimensionality of political interest in the public-private sector. The contribution of this work continues to improve the understanding of the implications of network management in tourist destinations, articulating the themes of governance and policy networks that circumstantially pass-through discussions on social networks. Thus, contribute to the field of studies on collaborative forms in tourism planning and management. Finally, it is concluded that the application of this theoretical-methodological model allows to assess the articulations and behaviors of the actors within spaces of participation, as well as the positions and exchanges that affect the results facing the construction of public tourism policies.