Stakeholder cooperation in implementation of the sustainable development concept: Montenegrin tourist destinations

The importance of involving diverse stakeholders in tourism planning is receiving growing recognition. Tourism destination planning is a complex process, due to the existence of a wide variety of stakeholders with a wide range of opinions, multiple problem visions and different interests. Despite the complexity of the planning process one feature acknowledged for successful destination management planning is high level of stakeholder cooperation. The paper examines the level of stakeholder cooperation on the specific exampl e of the sustainable development concept implementation in Montenegrin tourism. It starts with two hypotheses: first, the development level of instruments for managing tourist destination depends on stakeholder cooperation level in a particular destination, and second, implementation of the sustainable development concept is positively correlated with the development of instruments for managing tourist destination. The results have indicated poor implementation of tourism development plans and low level of stakeholder cooperation.