**2.2 Collective learning in tourism destinations**

Clusters can be defined based on the classification of specialization, their agglomeration (density of firms in a cluster) and the dimension of their relations. Specialized clusters refer to a connection of the same type of tourism firms (e.g., food-based clusters). Non-specialized clusters are important due to the benefits of complementary differences that attract firms to dissimilar firms, which include also both small and large tourism firms [20].

From a geographic perspective, clusters represent local platforms for resource exchange (knowledge and other resources) and learning opportunities. Theories of industrial districts and innovative milieus argue that integration in networks can facilitate organizational learning and innovation as knowledge and learning come from people and their relationships and experiences with each other [21]. Organizational learning has been defined in different ways but the core of most definitions is that organizational learning is a change in the organization that occurs as the organization acquires experience while performing its tasks [22]. When existing organizational experience is interacting with and reflects upon the context outside the organization, new knowledge is created. In a theoretical framework for analyzing organizational learning, Argote and Miron-Spektor [22] differ between environmental context and organizational context. The environmental context includes elements outside the boundaries of the organization, such as competitors, clients, institutions and regulators. The organizational context includes characteristics of the organization, such as its structure, culture, technology, identity, memory, goals, incentives and strategy ([22], p. 1125). The context also includes relationships with other organizations through alliances, joint ventures and memberships in associations. In tourism destinations, where products and activities such as accommodation, transport, catering and experiences are complementary, complex systems of connections and interrelationships between different types of organizations are formed and make up the context of organizations [23]. The context is considered to have a positive effect on learning as sharing ideas among the participants of the cluster results in a richer understanding and learning of issues, leading to more innovative activities [20].

However, not all organizations experience the same learning and to understand differences in learning outcomes and innovations between organizations, Stam and Spigel [24] go deeper into the qualities of the context and argue that a place's community and culture can have a significant effect on how ideas are shared and on the entrepreneurial abilities of organizations, including learning and innovation.

#### **2.3 Learning for sustainable innovation**

Sustainable tourism has ecological, social, economic and cultural dimensions that ensure that development is economically efficient, that resources are managed in such a way that they support future generations, and that essential ecological processes and biological diversity are maintained and are compatible with the culture and values of people affected by it. To realize sustainable tourism development, partners from the tourism industry, government and community need to be drawn into the learning process of tourism planning and development [25]. Schianetz et al. [8], inspired by the learning organization approach of Senge [7], tried to capture the ideas of learning organizations in clusters in a tourism context by presenting a model for a learning tourism destination (LTD) to develop sustainably. They argue that sustainability must be conceived as a transition and learning process [26], and as a "moving" rather than a static goal. In the learning tourism destination model, sustainability, as an idea, technology, and practice, provides a context for actors in the destination. When connecting sustainability labelling to the idea of the learning tourism destination, the label offers the destination an operationalization of the concept of sustainability in the form of guidelines, tasks, and tools. Hence, working with a sustainability program can point noses in the same direction – and create a form of local engagement. The importance of a shared vision for mobilizing is well-known as one of the main learning and innovation enablers in tourism networks [27]. Innovation is therefore increasingly understood as a cumulative and iterative set of activities and coincidences where multiple actors and multiple forms of knowledge interact. According to this view, innovation is fundamentally a social, interrelated, interdependent and collective process [28].

By interacting and collaborating with each other, destination stakeholders exchange knowledge and are exposed to each other's organizational culture and experience. Practice-based studies of learning have addressed boundary objects, brokers and arenas as known enablers for learning [27, 29]. For tourism stakeholders to learn from the certification process, existing knowledge needs to be integrated with new knowledge [28, 30–32]. New knowledge becomes part of the experience of organizations and is translated by individual companies as well as on the collective level of the destination in adaptive management and innovation to ensure resilience to change. Hence, collaborative practices provide learning opportunities for tourism actors, which are a prerequisite for innovation. As the tourism industry often consists of many small businesses, participation in different formal networks, as well as access to knowledge and ideas via boundary spanners and brokers, is important. The ability of organizations to maximize knowledge because of experiencing these learning events will determine how innovative, successful and sustainable they eventually become [33].

#### **2.4 Barriers to interorganizational learning**

Inkpen [34] argues that the failure to learn can be caused by undervaluing the knowledge of others, by lacking necessary knowledge connections, by the nature
