Tourism Planning

Lecture 3

What is tourism planning? In recent decades many places have turned

to travel and tourism as a way to improve their economic and social conditions.

(examples: developing countries encouraging tourism)

Tourism in not an automatic cure for social and economic conditions, and it can sometimes lead to other problems itself.

What is tourism planning?There must be careful planning and

consideration of the costs and benefits of the tourism activity/facility.

A tourism plan provides an overall vision social and economic goals for the area that wants to grow its tourism, and it provides a roadmap for the years ahead.

Planning

Murphy (1985) suggests:

Planning is concerned with anticipating and regulating change in a system to promote orderly development so as to increase the social, economic and environmental benefits of the development process. To do this, planning becomes ‘an ordered sequence of operations, designed to lead to the achievement of either a single goal or to a balance between several goals’ (p.156).

Tourism planning

Spanoudis (1982) proposes that:

Tourism planning must always proceed within the framework of an overall plan for the development of an area’s total resources; and local conditions and demands must be satisfied before any other considerations are met (p.314).

The components of the tourism planning process

What is tourism planning?Bad Planning Good Planning

Lead to overcrowding of local facilities Hurts the natural environment Commodification of local culture and loss of cultural identity·Inflate local land values Increase prices of goods and services for local residents

Increase employment Raises incomes and improves the quality of life Development of infrastructures Stimulate local business Increase government revenues Preserve cultural and natural resources Promote environmental protection 

Who is involved in tourism planning?

Developing the tourist potential for an area is typically a joint effort between:

PUBLIC SECTOR – (various levels of Government)

PRIVATE SECTOR – (For-Profit Businesses and Individuals)

What does the public sector do?The Role of the Public Sector is to make the area

desirable for the private sector to invest. This includes:

Constructing Workable Infrastructures(Transportation, water, sewage, parks)

Providing Services        (Education, health care, recreational) Promoting and Marketing the Region Providing Incentives

- Financial (low interest loans) - Reduction in Costs (reduced tax on

building materials, lower land costs, risk-free marketing, )

What does the private sector do?

They base their tourism planning decisions on what the tourists ‘want’ and ‘will buy’

They could be a large-scale private business (like a hotel chain) that is looking for new areas to expand into, or it can be a small-scale private business (bed & breakfast)

What are the stepsIdeally a tourism plan accomplishes the

following:1. What is the goal for increasing

tourism , what is the business situation – past, present and future, what is the market like

2. Prepare a Preliminary Plan3. Approval of plan by stakeholders4. Developing a final plan5. Completing the project

Means of achieving tourism planning

Tourism planning reveals that it operates at three levels:The siteThe destinationThe region.

Tourism planning provide a set of guidelines for the actions of :The governmentPrivate sector organizations, corporations, businessesInterest groupsHost communities

In a commitment to the achievement of a satisfactory tourism planning policy it is common for sets of objectives to focus on the following issues: Economic

- To optimize the contribution of tourism and recreation to economic prosperity, full employment, regional economic development, and improved international balance of payments.

Socia-Cultural

- To contribute to the personal growth and education of the population and encourage their appreciation of the local geography, history, and ethnic diversity.

- To avoid encouraging activities that have the potential to undermine or denigrate the social and cultural values and resources of the area and its traditions and lifestyles.

Market Development

- To encourage the free entry of foreign visitors, while balancing this goal with the need to monitor persons and goods entering the country with laws protecting public health.

Cont’d Resource Protection and Conservation

- To protect and preserve the historical and cultural foundations as a living part of community life and development and to ensure future generations an opportunity to enjoy the rich heritage of the area.

- To ensure the compatibility of tourism, recreational, and activity policies with other broader interests in energy development and conservation, environmental protection, and judicious use of natural resources.

Human Resource Development

- To ensure that tourism has an adequate supply of professionally-trained skilled and managerial staff to meet its future needs.

- To ensure that the education and training programmes and materials are available to meet the needs of tourism.

Government Operations

- To coordinate government activities related to tourism

- To take a leadership role

- To support the needs of tourists, residents and tourism businesses with appropriate legislation and administration.

Thank You