Stakeholders in a Tourist Destination – Matrix of Possible Relationships Towards Sustainability

Given that the fragile balance of sustainability is affected by several actors whose interests need to be harmonized, different forms of association among them are one of the mechanisms for achieving sustainability. A lot of understanding, research, and co-operative effort are required to create and sustain various forms of collaboration of tourism stakeholders. The role of collaboration in tourism destinations has been widely acknowledged, however it is still one of the key stumbling stones of sustainable tourism development in practice. The focus of this paper will be on two-way destination stakeholders' collaborations, presented systematically in a matrix of typical relationships, representing its theoretical contribution. A panel of experts from the academia, practice and public sector developed the matrix of relationships with the scope of spreading different forms of collaboration between stakeholders aimed at jointly improving the right balance needed for sustainable development in tourism.