Managing Wicked Problems: Challenges for Sustainable Tourism

Abstract

There are profound challenges inherent in understanding and addressing complex and contested issues. Divergent perspectives abound, at local, national and global levels. This is not surprising, given the different interests, experiences and resources of key stakeholders. When they cannot agree about the nature of the problem and their conflicting perspectives are shaped by divergent values and priorities, the situation can be described as a ‘wicked problem’. It is wicked in the sense of unruly, unmanageable, and resistant to consensual problem-solving. A low level of agreement about the key features of the problem, and disagreement about the values which should guide solutions, make the task of developing shared goals and strategies impossibly difficult. Governments can respond to such difficult problems in a variety of ways. Common approaches are to deny responsibility for the issue; attribute blame to other actors; or deflect attention to other issues. Other common approaches are to facilitate incremental adjustments to current policy settings, while deferring to ‘business-as-usual’ continuity and stability to impose an ideologically driven solution that will reflect the influence of dominant interests; or determine that a knowledge-rich solution pathway is needed, to explore robust long-term shifts in policy approaches. This can entail technocratic investment in science and technology to generate rational evidence-based solutions and ‘depoliticise’ conflicts; or investment in collaborative dialogue with multiple stakeholders to generate short- and long-term social objectives and to develop adaptive management strategies for implementing agreed policy directions. There is no single best solution, and various tensions and paradoxes are likely to persist.

Citation

Head, B.W. (2024), "Managing Wicked Problems: Challenges for Sustainable Tourism", Pforr, C., Pillmayer, M., Joppe, M., Scherle, N. and Pechlaner, H. (Ed.) Tourism Policy-Making in the Context of Contested Wicked Problems: Sustainability Paradox, Climate Emergency and COVID-19 (Advances in Culture, Tourism and Hospitality Research, Vol. 17A), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 31-41. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1871-31732024000017A003