Voluntary sports clubs in collaboration with the tourism sector: Beneficial or a dead end?

Cross-sector collaboration between the tourism industry and voluntary sports clubs is a potential way to developtourism destinations and activities for tourists. However, collaborations across sectors may be conflictual, andlittle is known about voluntary associations’ involvement in collaborative activities in the tourism sector. Byapplying a domain-based stakeholder theory, this paper aims to investigate the potentials and barriers tocollaborative activities in the Danish tourism sector. Based on studies of three collaborative cases involvingvoluntary sports clubs in the tourism sector, this paper shows that voluntary sports clubs can both benefit fromand be an asset in collaborations with tourism organisations. By using their organised volunteers and applyingtheir knowledge of their sport and the local destinations, they can support and develop activities for tourists andby doing so support destination development. The study also underpins the importance of creating a mutualframe addressing issues like sectoral differences, values and clarifying organisational gains to minimise conflicts