The temporal evolution of tourism institutions

A fuller understanding of tourism processes should include analysis of historical influences, legacies and the sequencing of change. The paper examines the temporal evolution of tourism institutions by employing historical institutionalist and cultural political economy approaches and a process tracing methodology. They are used to study two institutions involved in tourism and environmental management in a protected area. The assessment carefully explores the timing and sequencing of events and interconnections between processes over time. It demonstrates the value of the approaches and methodology, such as by suggesting that path dependence and path creation are not binary categories, but instead are reciprocally intertwined and co-constituting. Both material/social and ideational/discursive processes are also shown as significant for institutional temporal paths.