CENTRALIZATION VERSUS DECENTRALIZATION IN TOURISM GOVERNANCE: COMPARING PAKISTAN AND UZBEKISTAN, 2010–2026

Abstract

Tourism governance is a political economy, institutional design and economic development field. In this paper, the authors have done the comparative study of the management of tourism sector in two nations with diverse modes of governance: Pakistan and Uzbekistan, from 2010 to 2026. After the implementation of 18th Constitutional Amendment (2010) which made the tourism sector the responsibility of four provinces, Pakistan Tourism Development Corporation (PTDC) remained a basket case with lack of any clear mandate for almost ten years. The outcome was disjointed policy, inter-twined provincial mandates and the absence of a national tourism brand. By contrast, Uzbekistan made considerable strides to develop tourism as a strategic economic sector in a developmental state framework after President Shavkat Mirziyoyev came to power in December 2016, establishing a new central State Committee for Tourism Development and announcing a gradual stages visa liberalization program. International arrivals in Pakistan have not reached post-2015 levels even after the period of 2016–2019, at around 2 million, compared to Uzbekistan where the arrivals increased from 2 million in 2016 to 6.7 million in 2019 and are projected to grow back to exceed 6.5 million in 2024, despite similar natural and cultural resources. The paper argues, based on Oates's (1972) decentralization theorem, Hall's (2011) typology of tourism governance and political economy by Bramwell (2011), that largely the institutional architecture rather than the resource endowment is the key factor for the performance of tourism in middle-income developing states. Complete decentralization is not necessarily better than complete centralization; the results will depend on whether the design of the constitution can be matched by coordination ability, funding stability and a coordinated national promotion strategy. Finally, the paper profiles a comparative governance assessment framework and offers some policy suggestions relevant to the devolutionary pressures in developing countries.