Chapter 13: Intelligent Governance for Rural Destinations: Lessons from Europe

One of the main challenges of “good tourism intelligence governance” is to balance and manage the interests of private enterprises, public administrations, and civil society, and to find the right mix between strategic and operational governance. An innovative governance model was introduced in 2011 in emerging rural destinations within the three years’ European project “Listen to the Voice of Villages.” By means of in-depth interviews carried out in summer 2014 in Italy, Austria, Germany, and Slovenia, this chapter investigates how this model of governance was deployed and performed. Findings suggest that this model is effective and sustainable, promotes and supports knowledge transfer and as such it can be recommended for implementation in other emerging rural destinations.