Over the past two decades there has been a growing interest in the topic of governance in the context of several domains of the social sciences. More recently, the growing attention given by investigators to governance and its implication for tourism development has raised several core questions. However, research is still fragmented and different interpretations of the governance concept might lead to multiple reflections. This paper aims to present and discuss some fundamental theoretical issues related to governance within the context of tourism, tourism destinations and sustainable development. Conceptualisation, dimension and scale of governance are presented based on a literature review. This approach will also be used to do a synthesis of the main methodologies that have been used so far for data collection and analysis in scientific studies within these fields. The paper argues that the concept of governance is multidimensional and that there are no standardized solutions to ensure success through a universal approach to governance. Private and public sector and other actors are being forced to promote synergies within the same geographical area of intervention in order to face global competition and governance arrangements can facilitate this. The review also reveals that there is still only limited systematic and comparable empirical evidence of the role of governance in sustainable tourism destinations. Finally, because governance might represent a new pattern of interaction between government, private sector and society to cope with old and new problems or to create new opportunities to develop a sustainable tourism, some pathways for future research on this topic are also identified.

UNESCO World Heritage Sites (WHS) act as icons to attract visitors seeking to experience cultural (ancient) heritage. Gastronomy, as cultural heritage, reinforces the identity of a destination. Presenting a case study from a Portuguese UNESCO WHS, this study brings insights into how these destinations may deepen the knowledge on gastronomic visitors, contributing to their sustainable development. Specifically, this study aims to identify the importance that visitors give to gastronomy and to identify their differences in terms of profile and travel behaviour, through data collected using a visitors’ survey. Results show that gastronomy can be a major motivator for visiting a WHS and indicate that visitors strongly motivated by gastronomy have differences in terms of demographic profile, motivations and expenditures.

The development of creative tourism in small towns in rural areas has been the subject of growing interest and research from different perspectives. As part of the national CREATOUR project, which took place in Portugal over about four years, various organisations with relevant activity in the cultural aspect of creative tourism were analysed, constituting a successful reference at a national and international level. However, since mid-2020, the health crisis owing to the pandemic made it necessary to reflect and work under new circumstances for tourism, in contexts not previously planned for, and at the same time as continuing to champion sustainable development. It is in this context that the present study emerges, the aim of which is to identify organizations’ strategies for adaptation within the scope of creative tourism activities in a pandemic situation. This empirical approach is anchored in the case study of the activities of the ‘Saídas de Mestre’ project based on intangible cultural heritage, using in-depth analysis of strategies developed to mitigate the effects of supply and demand constraints. The results show that there was no disintegration of the supply structure, as planned, due to the fact that creative activities are based on the valorisation of the principles of sustainable development and, therefore, depend on endogenous resources and local agents, who remained accessible.

To achieve development of sustainable tourism, policy makers and managers need up-to-date, accurate and relevant knowledge. Therefore, a tourism knowledge platform is essential for all stakeholders. Additionally, the internet is part of the day-to-day life of people and organisations, with all its inherent advantages. In this context, the present article features how the internet has been used by Portuguese public organisations operating in the tourism destination of the Alentejo to disseminate information about sustainable tourism. The content analysis research technique was used to evaluate information content within official tourism websites with a view to sharing data and information about the overall scope of sustainable development issues. The outcomes demonstrate that these websites are not used as platforms for knowledge transfer concerning sustainable tourism.