The importance of tourism increases more and more in today's world. Due to its transversal and complex features, management of tourism activities has many challenges. This article analyzes how the organizational structure of tourism, as it is, makes tourism management difficult in the state of Sergipe, Brazil. For this purpose, the authors researched documentation and interviewed managers and technical personnel in the three administrative units that integrate the institutional apparatus for tourism management. The results revealed that the organizational structure impairs tourism management because, among other problems, there is an intra- and interoganizational overlap of functions, low institutionalization of planning, development and marketing processes, and little articulation among agencies.
structures; organizations; tourism; management