What are the tasks of the state in providing the framework for tourism? Available to Purchase

Governments of regions and nations as well as international and supra‐national institutions are actors in “direct” tourism policies. Besides these policies, these institutions have to fulfil a minimum of roles in other fields, which are necessary for an optimal development of the world and national economies including their tourism sector. Even in a free market economy, the state has to provide a legal framework for the functioning of markets. Also, the state has to correct market failures: to provide for public goods, to internalize external effects and to avoid asymetric information. Some of these necessary measures of “indirect” tourism policy are discussed for such fields like the environment and use of land, education and training. On the other hand, some measures of the existing direct and indirect tourism policies are not optimal, for instance subsidies.