Knowledge co-creation: The role of tourism consultants

Within the field of development aid, there is evidence of a shift in the knowledge exchange process where consultants are transitioning from unidirectional knowledge transfer approaches to more interactive methods based on co-creation. However, there is limited discussion in the tourism literature about the nature of this shift and how it is impacting on tourism for development in practice. This paper reports on a qualitative study with 17 tourism consultants that sought to understand their roles and approaches towards the creation, development and exchange of knowledge with communities in developing countries. It was found that most consultants still adopt the role of expert disseminator of knowledge; evidence of co-creation approaches in consultancy practices was far less common. •Changing role of consultants from knowledge transfer to knowledge co-creation•The role of consultants, their approaches and attitudes towards knowledge exchange•Positioning knowledge co-creation as the dominant knowledge approach•The importance of a reflexive, user-driven approach to tourism development