ICT, Local Government & Tourism Development: Cases from Auckland, New Zealand

Governments around the world are developing tourism strategies that embrace ICT as both a tool to enhance industry performance and a device to improve implementation of strategy components. This paper outlines the need to understand the local dimension of governance and policy making in the tourism and ICT arena. Strategies from two Councils in the Auckland Region of New Zealand are reported on – Rodney District Council and North Shore City. To link ICT to local government strategy, opportunities offered by ICTs to enable both central and local government tourism strategies are discussed. Also explored is a series of ‘gaps’ in current strategies and a research agenda that can assist in better understanding the local context of tourism, ICT and the development process.