National tourism policy – a matter of economy, financing or actor competencies

Traditionally, the political importance of tourism is discussed from an economic point of view. The importance of tourism in the political domain is still assessed in the respective economic contribution despite a proclaimed need to assess the importance more holistically. This paper provides empirical evidence of whether the holistic view reflects the political reality of European countries. It addresses decision criteria applied in national politics and the respective countries' National Tourism Organisation based on socio-economic and tourism-related data in combination with political selection criteria based on biographic data. The analysis, incorporating quantitative and qualitative methods, shows that governments value tourism based on the societal visibility shaped by tourism intensity. However, the political responsibility of tourism is assigned based on generic political parameters without a specific focus on tourism-related expertise. Such expertise tends to be acknowledged more at the operational level within National Tourism Organizations.