Institutional apparatus for tourism management

Abstract

The importance of tourism increases more and more in today¿s world. Due to its transversal and complex features, management of tourism activities has many chal- lenges. This article analyzes how the organizational structure of tourism, as it is, makes tourism management difficult in the state of Sergipe, Brazil. For this pur- pose, the authors researched documentation and interviewed managers and techni- cal personnel in the three administrative units that integrate the institutional appa- ratus for tourism management. The results revealed that the organizational struc- ture impairs tourism management because, among other problems, there is an intra- and interoganizational overlap of functions, low institutionalization of plan- ning, development and marketing processes, and little articulation among agencies.