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.