Cooperation without coordination? Governance gaps in the emergence of a nautical tourism cluster

This article examines how cooperation and governance interact in the emergence of a nautical tourism cluster in Florianópolis (southern Brazil). Addressing a gap in tourism cluster research that often assumes cooperation as a sufficient driver of clustering, the study adopts a qualitative case study design and analyses stakeholder perceptions through the Collective Subject Discourse (CSD) method (14 interviews), complemented by documentary sources. Findings show that cooperation is recognised and partially enacted, yet remains fragmented and episodic when coordination structures are absent. The study advances by proposing a conceptual framework in which cooperation and governance operate as interdependent mechanisms linking relational dynamics to cluster emergence, understood as the institutionalisation of coordinated routines and shared decision-making. For policymakers and destination managers, the results highlight the need to establish facilitation arenas, shared decision routines, and leadership arrangements capable of sustaining coordinated action and strengthening destination competitiveness in non-linear cluster trajectories.