Presented at: UNWTO/GWU Tourism Course George Washington University Washington DC, October 2011

IDENTIFYING TOURISM DEVELOPMENT PRIORITIES: CREATION OF A TOURISM SECTOR DIAGNOSTIC (TSD) TOOL

Presented by: Jennifer Bartlett Tourism Sector Specialist, IFC EAP

The Challenge:

How to determine tourism development

priorities for an emerging destination

when there are so many aspects to

tourism sector development?

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CREATING THE TOURISM SECTOR DIAGNOSTIC (TSD) TOOL

PART 1: TSD OVERVIEW

PART 2: CLASS QUERY

PART 3: DEBRIEF

• Why developed?

• How designed?

• Where & when applied?

• What resulted?

• Does the TSD ask the right questions?

• What are indicator strengths + weaknesses?

• Lessons learned

• Moving forward

• Take Aways

• Questions?

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PART 1: TOURISM SECTOR DIAGNOSTIC OVERVIEW

Why? How?

Where? When? What?

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!

!

!

From Governments

From Civil Society

WHY? There was a need …

! !

From Investors

From within IFC

From World Bank

From Donors !

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From the Market

!

… and an opportunity

World Bank Investment

Climate Studies

PREVAILING DEVELOPMENT & TOURISM METHODOLOGY

EXISTING COUNTRY TOURISM &/OR DEVELOPMENT REPORTS

WEF Travel and Tourism

Competitive-ness Studies

WBG Doing Business

Investment Climate Report

Other Tourism Dev’pt Theory

and Practice

Employment & Training Reports

Economic Development Plans

Tourism Studies & Plans

Visitor Marketing

Transport Plans

Environment & Cultural Heritage Studies

Community Development Reports

Investment Policy

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1. Established guiding principles for the initiative:

• seek input from all stakeholder groups to TSD design; • require a partnership between IFC, client gov’t +; • be outcomes-focused (direct conversion to solutions) • avoid re-inventing the wheel - use existing data; • seek current insights from all stakeholders; • have a systematic and standardized process; • be rapid and cost-effective; • serve as a platform for stakeholder coordination.

HOW? Design of the TSD: Key Steps

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Destination

Market Investors *

2. Proposed a framework to enable holistic understanding of the sector by all stakeholders

Design of the TSD: Key Steps, continued

Premise: Understanding the needs and functions of the 3 drivers of tourism development - from an informed position that considers the whole picture* - will help optimize sustainable develop-ment of a destination’s tourism sector.

Viewing this through an ‘impediments’ lens would align with a prevailing WB ‘constraint & solutions approach

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Destination

Market Investors

Design of the TSD: Key Steps, continued

3. Defined the factors which enable/impede tourism’s drivers

Destination image & appeal

Marketing & promotion effectiveness

Market access to the destination & its offerings

Social, political & environ- mental conditions

Tourism prioritization & leadership

Destination management capacity

Sustainable tourism planning & regulation

Tourism-specific controls & regulations

Tourism offering Transport infrastructure supply

Supporting infrastructure supply

Tourism HR capacity

Political & economic conditions

Regulatory & legal framework

Policy framework & instit- utional support for investors

Access to finance & fin services

Availability of tourism project-dependent resources

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Design of the TSD: Key Steps, continued

4. Determined indicators* that show whether factors are enabled or impeded in a destination.

5. Identified specific measures* for each indicator:

• data from existing sources

• data from new sources

• + methodology for collecting data

(*See handout)

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6. Developed a system for scoring measures (1-10 scale).

7. Considered weightings for measures, indicators & factors.

8. Designed a process for applying the tool.

9. Built a TSD database for: • facilitating the methodology; • storing data; • preparing reports.

Design of the TSD: Key Steps, continued

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WHERE & WHEN? TSD Roll Out

CONCEPT LOCAL ROLL OUT GLOBAL V1 GLOBAL V2 DEV’PT & GLOBAL PILOTS TESTING

2007 2008 2009 2010 2011

REFI

NED

REFI

NED

REFI

NED

SAMOA

CAMBODIA

PAPUA NEW GUINEA

GRENADA

ZAMBIA

SOLOMON ISLANDS

VANUATU

TONGA

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1. Country Profile

2. State of Play Assessment

WHAT? TSD Deliverables

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3. IFC Solutions Report

PART 2: CLASS QUERY

Does the TSD seek the ‘right’ information to inform tourism development?

What are its strengths & weaknesses?

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GROUP WORK: Steps

1. Choose one TSD Driver (and nominated factor/s): 5mins

i. Destination - sustainable tourism planning & management

ii. Market –image & appeal + marketing effectiveness

iii. Investment – policy framework & support for investors

2. Review respective indicators and measures: 20mins

• How relevant is the information being sought by the TSD to guiding sustainable tourism development?

• What strengths & weaknesses of TSD do you see?

3. Report back to the class (3x) 5mins

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PART 3: DEBRIEF

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LESSONS: What we learned about the TSD

• ‘Checklists’ for tourism are welcomed by non-tourism development practitioners, but KEEP IT SIMPLE.

• Benchmarking requires current data on many subjects.

• Peer reviews invite complexity & require rationalization.

• Cross-sector expertise on tourism diagnostics critical.

• Standardization has limits – a some subjectivity needed.

• ‘Comprehensive’ and ‘rapid’ are mutually exclusive?

• Prepare to postpone/exit if client buy-in wavers.

• Database development needs right expertise & budget.

• Engaging non-investors critical to understanding barriers.

• Solutions-based action plans engage stakeholders.

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MOVING FORWARD: Next steps for the TSD

• Roll out solutions-based work in the Pacific Islands.

• Simplify TSD framework, methodology and process.

• Strengthen environmental, social & cultural heritage

sustainability indicators.

• Adapt model to new development themes.

• Use refined TSD Tool elsewhere?

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TAKE AWAYS: For You

1. TSD Tool provides a framework and indicators you can reference in considering tourism development priorities.

2. Your experience and knowledge are essential to these type of tools, so please share your ideas!

3. Innovative approaches are unlikely to get it ‘right’ the first time, or second or third ... but … patience, feedback & effort can lead to valuable outcomes.

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Questions welcome.

For more information contact:

Jennifer Bartlett

IFC Advisory Services

Email: jbartlett@ifc.org

THANK YOU

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