Florian Zach

Previous studies identified the need for tourism destinations to identify potential partners for sustainable destination development. Based on the Sustainable Tourism Attitude Scale a scale for destination businesses was developed and tested in the context of collaborative innovation in a rural tourism destination in the US Midwest. It was found that businesses perception of their contribution to the overall visitor experience as well as their perceived potential to contribute more to visitor experiences is a key driver. This suggests that destination marketing organizations, in an effort to foster collaborative innovation need to communicate to destination businesses who they currently already add value for visitors. This will widen the pool of potential partners for DMOs to collaboratively develop new tourism products and services.