Globalisation, increasing complexity, and the need to address triple-bottom line sustainability have seen the proliferation of Learning Organisations (LO) who, by definition, have the capacity to anticipate environmental changes and economic opportunities and adapt accordingly. Such organisations use system dynamics modelling (SDM) for both strategic planning and the promotion of organisational learning. Although SDM has been applied in the context of tourism destination management for predictive reasons, the current literature does not analyse or recognise how this could be used as a foundation for an LO. This study introduces the concept of the Learning Tourism Destinations (LTD) and discusses, on the basis of a review of six case studies, the potential of SDM as a tool for the implementation and enhancement of collective learning processes. The results reveal that SDM is capable of promoting communication between stakeholders and stimulating organisational learning. It is suggested that the LTD approach be further utilised and explored.

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The complex and dynamic nature of tourism, and the need to address triple bottom line sustainability, has encouraged a search for adaptive tourism management approaches based on organisational learning. In this paper, the authors discuss a practical approach for the implementation of a Learning Tourism Destination (LTD), a new concept derived from the theory of learning organisations. Preliminary results from a case study undertaken at the Ningaloo Coast in Western Australia are discussed. The conducted surveys indicate that the LTD forms a useful framework for fostering consensus building, dialogue and collective learning processes among stakeholders. The proposed approach has the potential to improve decision-making within the concept of sustainable tourism development by facilitating participative planning processes. The overall strategy of this paper is to explore the practicalities of the LTD implementation process, and to spark further conceptual and practical debate, based on the analysis of the Ningaloo case study.