DEVELOPING AN EVOLUTIONARY TOURISM PARTNERSHIP MODEL

Partnerships have become a popular tourism management strategy for lev eraging scarce resources in an era of fiscal constraint. Despite this popularity, little empirical research has been done to explain the pro cesses that occur when such interactions take place. An evolutionary m odel is presented based on an empirical study of three tourism partner ships, a review of existing tourism partnership case studies, and the integration of emerging theory from the organizational behavior field. The model suggests that tourism partnerships begin in a context of en vironmental forces and evolve sequentially through problem-setting, di rection-setting, and structuring phases. Special facilitative skills a re needed to sustain and nurture tourism partnerships.