This master thesis examines how stakeholders can be engaged to join the emergingconcepts of collaborative governance in tourism destinations. Therefore, fundamentalrequirements, motivational factors and possible obstacles are analyzed. To go beyond thefindings of the in-depth literature research, the Canadian mountain resort Whistler is criticallyexamined. A comparison of official planning documents and three valuable stakeholders’experiences will reveal actual barriers, issues as well as opportunities of the case study. Theresults show that the most crucial and generalizable aspects to engage stakeholders incollaborative governance are trust building between government and stakeholders with the helpof mediators and a lowered hierarchy, education for shared understanding and a step-by-stepguideline which is understandable and precise. Further aspects such as transparentcommunication, monitoring for flexibility and the overall empowerment for stakeholdersatisfaction and commitment are more aspects, which support stakeholder engagement. For thefuture, this research can be used as inspiration, guidance and even benchmarking analysis ofother destination to make a complex and abstract concept more understandable and applycollaborative governance.