The Role of Social Networks in the Development of Sustainable Tourism Practices: some theoretical reflections

Abstract

In tourism, social networks are presented as the embodiment of governance, facilitating the sharing of resources among stakeholders and allowing the accomplishment of complex tasks that cannot be solved by individual actions. Despite being an activity with inherent characteristics that relate strictly to the concepts of networks and social capital, there is a lack of studies that tackle structural aspects of social networks and the main elements of social capital collectively to analyze tourism governance processes. This paper presents the approach of theories of social capital and social networks with the objective to analyze their relationship with governance processes and therefore contribute to the discussion about their implications on tourism, specifically in the development of more sustainable tourism practices.