In tourism literature on destination management the governance concept turns up more often in recent times. Despite of the missing of a mainstream definition governance is about the way of coordinating societal interactions in the broadest sense. A closer setting of the definition of governance focusses on non-hierarchical steering and on societal self-organization. In this context the emphasis on multi-actor complexity, private-public-partnerships, participation, common welfare, local empowerment and the coordination logic of arguing and bargaining is important for destination governance. But when the governance term is used in tourism literature it is mostly not clear if it is just used as a alternative term instead of destination management from a network perspective or if we are talking about a new and changed paradigm of steering. But the concept is en vogue. So, the question to be answered deals with destination governance as a new concept for the management of destinations that can face the challenges of globalised tourism in the 21st century better than traditional management approaches.
The paper focusses on the following questions: Is destination governance to be figured as a process or as a structure? Should the term used rather in an analytical or in a normative way? What means the shift from an actor-centric perspective to the concentration on structures and institutions for the governance of destinations? Does a different understanding of tourism space and spatial construction form the basis of the governance perspective compared to the management perspective? What are the advantages of the governance perspective compared to the management perspective? What role play collective action, shared goals and systematic communication? What is the part of destination management organisations with regard to meta-governance?