Institutional Synergy in Urban Tourism Governance: The Case of Czech Cities in the European Context

Abstract Book of the 7th International Conference on Tourism Management and Hospitality

Year: 2026

[PDF]

Institutional Synergy in Urban Tourism Governance: The Case of Czech Cities in the European Context

Tereza Stanek Kubistova

ABSTRACT:

Urban tourism governance in Europe is increasingly shaped by complex multi-level arrangements involving national, regional, and municipal actors. While strategic alignment across governance levels is often promoted as a prerequisite for sustainable tourism development, less attention has been paid to the quality of institutional relationships through which strategies are coordinated and implemented. This paper examines institutional synergy as a key condition of effective urban tourism governance, using Czech cities as an analytically relevant case within the European context.
Drawing on qualitative content analysis of national, regional, and urban tourism strategies, the study explores how institutional synergy is constructed, constrained, or undermined across governance levels. The findings indicate that although contemporary policy priorities such as sustainability, balanced development, and quality of life are widely reflected in strategic documents, they rarely translate into coordinated implementation. Instead, institutional synergy tends to emerge selectively, shaped by local institutional capacity, coordination mechanisms, and governance culture rather than by formal strategy alignment alone.
By situating the Czech case alongside European reference examples, particularly Vienna and Amsterdam, the paper highlights how institutional synergy is reinforced when tourism is embedded within broader urban policy domains such as spatial planning, housing, and public space management. The study contributes to tourism governance literature by conceptualising institutional synergy as a governance condition rather than a policy outcome, helping to explain divergent urban tourism trajectories across Europe. The findings have implications for cities seeking to move beyond fragmented, strategy-driven approaches toward more integrated and context-sensitive models of urban tourism governance.

Keywords: Urban Tourism Governance; Institutional Synergy; Multi-Level Governance; European Cities