The national government as the facilitator of tourism innovation: evidence from Norway

In the recent years, there has been a growing focus on tourism innovation and its importance in destination development. Tourism development at the national level would evidently require the involvement of the national government as the facilitator. However, the role of the government in such process is yet to be explored with empirical evidence. As such, this article focuses on identifying the specific roles that the national government play as a facilitator in fostering destination level innovation, and to examine those factors that inhibit national governments in facilitating destination level innovation. Using Norway as a case study, the results reveal that although there is no perceived lack of political will and emphasis on tourism innovation by the policymakers, the effectiveness of many government efforts are questioned. Government efforts to facilitate innovation are identified to include financial supports, consultancy services, skills development programmes, and R&D schemes. The national government also possibly inhibits tourism innovation indirectly mainly through the challenges in defining innovation, lack of knowledge from the government's side that possibly also leads to its resistance to change and unwillingness to adapt to certain situations, and policies and regulations which is related to conflict of interests. © 2014 Taylor & Francis.