Performance, conformance and change: towards a sustainable tourism strategy for Scotland

This article examines the development of a sustainable tourism strategy for Scotland. It outlines conceptual features associated with sustainable tourism and considers the evolving public policy context for sustainable tourism in Scotland. Relevant aspects of recently published strategy documents are reviewed. Public policy implementation and change management theory is used to identify variables and situational contexts likely to influence the evolution of a Scottish sustainable tourism strategy and perceptions of strategy success. The article concludes that future strategy development will be best served by securing implementation performance instead of implementation conformance and explains why this should be the case. Finally, recommendations are made for future strategy development.