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Urban destinations face interconnected challenges such as housing, sustainability, taxation, mobility, security, and civic engagement. Given tourism's intrinsic linkages with broader metropolitan concerns, addressing these requires a holistic multilevel multidomaining governance solution to foster sustainable urban areas. This study examines the complexities of tourism governance in Barcelona, Spain, focusing on the roles of various administrative levels, domains, and stakeholders. The institutional framework includes territorial and non-territorial governance layers, such as the European Union, national and regional institutions, municipalities, and private stakeholders. Each level and domain have specific responsibilities and faces unique challenges, highlighting the need for policy coordination. Through 26 qualitative interviews and policy document analysis, this research underscores the strategic role of regional administrations in tourism branding and cross-border policy. Results reveal power imbalances that hinder implementing cohesive policies and marginalise tourism in urban planning, transport, and environmental management. The study also explores ICTs’ potential in reshaping governance mechanisms through ‘smartification.’ Despite broad support for digital integration to enhance governance, many initiatives remain in their early stages due to policy fragmentation and weak coordination. Smart strategies, like the Urban Plan for Tourist Accommodation (PEUAT), highlight governance challenges and underscore the need for a cross-regional tourism policy to address tourism's interconnected role in urban dynamics.
Pastor-Alcaraz et al. (Tue,) studied this question.