Collaboration deficiencies in meeting networks: case studies of two peri-urban destinations

The intention of this article is to understand inter-organizational collaboration in a meeting destination context and explain the failure of such collaborative networks. We demonstrate how meeting tourism actors in two smaller Scandinavian cities fail to form long-term collaborations. Major players and organizations in the destination promotion triads [Sheehan, L., Ritchie, J.R.B., & Hudson, S. (2007). The destination promotion triad: Understanding asymmetric stakeholder interdependencies among the city, hotels, and DMO. Journal of Travel Research, 46(1), 64-74] were interviewed in order to map cooperative activities, intentions or latent tensions among these. Based on a constructivist framework of network analysis, we identified the lack of convenor legitimacy and low levels of trust and commitment as reasons for collaboration deficiencies. The findings contribute to Larson's [(2009). Joint event production in the jungle, the park, and the garden: Metaphors of event networks. Tourism Management, 30(3), 393-399] model of event networks, identifying yet another metaphor - the desert - illustrating a network consisting of loosely coupled actors that co-exist but do not interact. The findings also indicate that collaborative dynamics may follow cyclical loops, entailing shifts between turbulence and stability over time.