Seminar: Park Governance: Comparing Parastatal and Privatized Models
Event Details
- Date:
- Tuesday, 26 March 2013
- Time:
- 1:00 pm - 2:00 pm
- Room:
- 320
- UQ Location:
- Steele Building (St Lucia)
- URL:
- http://www.gpem.uq.edu.au/index.html?page=192982&pid=114393
- Event category(s):
Event Contact
- Name:
- Miss Kate Swanson
- Phone:
- 67406
- Email:
- k.swanson@uq.edu.au
- Org. Unit:
- Geography, Planning and Environmental Management
Event Description
- Full Description:
- Two approaches for the delivery of tourism services in parks include: 1) contracting with private, profit-making companies; and 2) delivery by park staff within a parastatal. What are the advantages and disadvantages of each of these management models?
The purpose of this research is to compare visitor perspectives of the governance of two of Canada’s largest park systems: the parastatal management model of Ontario Provincial Parks and the publicly-owned, privately-operated management model of British Columbia Provincial Parks. Ontario Parks embodies the traditional role of government in terms of both arranging and producing visitor services in provincial parks. British Columbia Parks adopted an outsourcing model with all visitor services provided by private, for-profit contractors.
Governance can be broadly defined as: “The interactions among structures, processes and traditions that determine how power and responsibility are exercised, how decisions are taken, and how citizens or other stakeholders have their say. It is about power, relationships and accountability: who has influence, who decides, and how decision-makers are held accountable” (Graham, Amos, & Plumptre, 2003, p.2-3).
This research used the United Nations Development Program’s (UNDP) list of good governance factors (UNDP, 1997): strategic vision, accountability, transparency, consensus-orientation, public participation, efficiency, effectiveness, responsiveness, equity, and rule of law. Members of 5 stakeholder groups were asked their views on these governance factors in each of the 2 case study areas.
The research clearly identified differences between the management models, with the parastatal model ranked more highly by all stakeholder groups.
Directions to UQ
- Google Map:
-
- Directions:
- St Lucia Campus | Gatton campus.
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