Political economy and the emergence of a hybrid mode of governance of tourism planning

• Modes of overall governance and of tourism governance vary between destinations.
• Combined analysis of tourism governance modes and political economy in Hong Kong.
• A hybrid governance mode of pro-growth and pluralist elements evolved there.
• The mode reflected economic development pressures and civil society demands.
• There was hybridity between tourism plan-making and planning application systems.

This paper examines how Hong Kong's political economy influences its local modes of tourism governance and development planning. The study explores how a destination can exhibit a hybrid mode of tourism governance, and also how that emerged in Hong Kong in relation to three phases of socio-economic and tourism development. The three phases are 1842–1966, 1967–1997, and post-1997. Hong Kong's present mode of tourism governance combines pro-growth and pluralist elements. It is affected by the need for capital accumulation and political legitimacy and by the relative influence of government and civil society.