THM 2014
TOURISM POLICY AND PLANNING
INTRODUCTION
INTRODUCTION
• The tourism stage in the first quarter of the twenty-first century presents profound challenges to all actors
involved in tourism policy and planning within the tourism industry
• Consumers of tourism in today’s world are demanding greater quality in their tourism products
• Tourists want new and different destinations and more variety and flexibility in their travels
• Increasingly, visitors are expressing a desire for a clean environment, nature tourism experiences, adventure
travel activities, and tourism products that include culture, heritage, and history
• It has become necessary for businesses, governments, not-for-profit entities, academicians, and local tourism
leaders to develop good policies and effective plans to meet the needs of the tourism industry
• The aim of this chapter is to provide an introduction to the principles and practices of tourism policy and planning
from a global perspective.
• Tourism – a set of dynamic and growing industries – involves not just people traveling, but also practical policies
that give us future direction for our tourism programs and plans that help us to grow and protect the
destinations and attractions to which people travel
• Tourism is composed of private, public, and not-for-profit components interested in tourism development, new
products, destination marketing, economic benefits, and future sustainability.
• These tourism interests have broad impacts on community life and need criteria and guidelines to help define and
plan the future direction of the tourism industry, ultimately, providing quality tourism products and services.
• Tourism policy and planning should aim toward setting guidelines for the development of quality tourism products
and for improving the quality of life of the local citizenry at any given destination
• This first chapter provides brief introductions to three central concepts – tourism, tourism policy, and tourism
planning
UNDERSTANDING TOURISM
• Visitor. Any person visiting a country other than that in which the person usually resides, for any
reason other than following an occupation remunerated from within the country visited. This
definition covers two classes of visitors: ‘tourist’ and ‘excursionist’.
• Tourist. A temporary visitor staying at least 24 hours in the country visited, the purpose of whose
journey can be classified under one of the following headings: (a) leisure, recreation, holiday, health,
study, religion or sport; and (b) business, family, mission or meeting.
• Excursionist. A temporary visitor staying less than 24 hours in the country visited (including travelers
on cruises).
• Tourism. In terms of balance-of-trade accounting, is defined as travel and transportation and is determined a
‘business service’ export from the tourism recipient to the tourism-generating economy. (measures Int. Tsm
Arrivals vs Receipts but not Domestic Tourism).
• The tourism industry is a multifaceted industry of many sometimes unrelated parts, resisting comparability
within itself and with other industries. It is an industry that cuts across many different constituent components
(See Table 1.1 in the next page)
• Tourism is the practice of traveling and also the business of providing associated products, services, and facilities.
• It is not a single industry but instead an amalgam of industry sectors.
• Tourism incorporates social, cultural, and environmental concerns beyond physical development and marketing. It
encompasses both supply and demand, more than the sum of marketing and economics.
• As the world’s most dynamic industry it demands a constant reassessment of its quality, variety, and sustainability.
UNDERSTANDING TOURISM
• Because tourism is such a fast-growing industry, it must be mindful of potential issues and directions that could
lead to disastrous impacts on the industry.
• For this reason, it is necessary to understand its powerful impact on the natural and built environments in order
that well-constructed policies, plans, and management practices can be put in place to ensure its future quality
growth.
• The popular textbook Tourism: Principles, Practices, Philosophies (12th edition, 2012) defines tourism as “the
processes, activities, and outcomes arising from the relationships and the interactions among tourists,
tourism suppliers, host governments, host communities and surrounding environments that are involved in
the attracting of visitors.”
UNDERSTANDING
TOURISM
• Tourism has strong links to cultural and social pursuits, foreign policy initiatives, economic development,
environmental goals, and sustainable development planning.
• Tourism includes the buying, selling, and management of services and products (to tourists)that might range from
buying hotel rooms to selling souvenirs or managing an airline. (e,g Perishable services)
• To accomplish these complex activities, tourism demands the most creative and innovative managers in that much of
the tourism industry represents collections of perishable product
• Tourism is also wide-ranging in the sense that it demands products from other sectors of the economy
• The tourism industry is a large, complex and highly competitive sector of the economy at all levels: local,
state/province, national, and international.
• One of the fastest-growing industries in the contemporary world of economic growth is the travel, tourism, and
hospitality industry
• The policies set forth for tourism in an ever-changing world will direct the courses of action for tourism in the
future
• The opportunity offered by tourism for future economic, environmental, and social benefits will depend on
understanding the tourism industry of yesterday, making the best possible decisions today and addressing forward-
thinking trends for tomorrow
• WHAT ARE WE SAYING? OR WHAT ARE TRYING TO ACCOMPLISH?
• The tourism industry must define clear-cut policies and plans today before irrevocable mistakes are made that
create a less than favorable industry in the future.
• At the end of the course and as potential tourism managers/investors - provides new information and concepts to
help meet the challenge of charting a favorable course for tourism’s future
IMPORTANCE OF TOURISM IN A GLOBAL
CONTEXT
• The twenty-first century is seeing increases in leisure time and income for millions of people
• Shorter working hours in some cases, greater individual prosperity, faster and cheaper travel relative to the past,
more destinations to choose from, creative marketing, and the impact of advanced technology have all helped to
make tourism one of the fastest-growing economic sectors in the world
• The significance of tourism as a viable source of income and employment, and as a major factor in the balance of
payments for many countries, has been attracting increasing attention on the part of governments, regional and
local authorities, and others with an interest in economic development
• Equally important is the fact that tourism, as an export, is of critical importance to both industrialized and
developing nations. As an economic factor, tourism is growing faster than the rest of the world economy in terms
of export, output, value added, capital investment, and employment
ECONOMIC AND NON-ECONOMIC
BENEFITS
• Tourism is an economic activity that provides local destinations, states, provinces, and countries with new sources of income and
currency exchange
• The impact tourism has on the economy can be tremendous as it creates jobs, reduces unemployment, fosters entrepreneurship,
stimulates production of food and local handicrafts, demands effective communications, facilitates cultural exchanges, and
contributes to a better understanding of the local area, state, province, country, and the world a large
• A problem area in many countries is that government leaders, legislators and administrators lack an in-depth understanding of tourism
• Destination managers’ decisions often focus primarily on the economic benefits of tourism, but destinations are (and should be)
increasingly expanding their analysis to include non-economic measures such as social, cultural, environmental, and other concerns
• As laid out in previous decades, but still applicable to today, tourism development should be in harmony with the socio-cultural,
ecological, and heritage goals, values, and aspirations of the host community
ECONOMIC AND NON-ECONOMIC COSTS
• While positive economic impacts are often more important to developers and governments than some of the non-economic issues, tourism
managers must recognize the right balance of economic and social, environmental and cultural concerns when formulating overall tourism
policy and strategic planning objectives.
• example is Majorca, Spain, which was heavily impacted by mass tourism in the 1980s, 1990s, and into the new millennium. The local
community, over the past few years, has come together to develop new policies and plans to mitigate the negative aspects of too much tourism
in areas where the carrying capacity is overwhelmed. The policy has not been totally successful, but it has mitigated some of the negative
impact of too many tourists overwhelming high-impact tourism areas during certain seasons of the year
• A second scenario deals with environmental use, or overuse, such as the recent debates regarding the permissibility of winter snowmobiling in
Yellowstone National Park in the United States. To resolve the conflict of snowmobilers wanting complete access to Yellowstone National
Park and environmentalists who noted the negative pollution impact of snowmobilers on the park, a policy was designed that both groups
agreed to and that is to continue to allow snowmobilers, but with a limited set number allowed each day
Understanding tourism
• For the tourism industry topolicy
be sustainable in the future, it is vital that
effective policy and planning take place today
• The policymakers, planning officials and stakeholders must identify
the emerging trends in tourism and orchestrate new measures that lead
to orderly growth and quality products that benefit tourists and
communities
• In the past, many governments have not given the tourism industry the
same concern given to manufactured goods or other service industries
• In part due to the terrorists’ attacks on the United States on 11
September 2001, and tragedies elsewhere, this attitude is now
changing globally.
• News of conflicts, terrorism, health concerns, natural disasters and
weather conditions in many different countries throughout the world
often bring the tourism industry to the forefront
UNDERSTANDING TOURISM POLICY
• A simple dictionary definition of policy is “A definite course or method of action selected from among alternatives
and in light of given conditions to guide and determine present and future decisions.
• The popular textbook Tourism: Principles, Practices, Philosophies defines tourism policy a
“a set of regulations, rules, guidelines, directives, and development/promotion objectives and strategies that provide a
framework within which the collective and individual decisions directly affecting long-term tourism development and
the daily activities within a destination are taken”
• A tourism policy defines the direction or course of action that a particular country, region, locality, or an individual
destination plans to take when developing or promoting tourism. The key principle for any tourism policy is that it
should ensure that the nation (region or locality) would benefit to the maximum extent possible from the economic
and social contributions of tourism. The ultimate objective of tourism policy is to improve the progress of the nation
(region or locality) and the lives of its citizens (Travel and Tourism: An Industry Primer )
TOURISM POLICY
• Perhaps the best approach to an initial understanding of tourism policy may also be the simplest, beginning with Thomas Dye’s classic
definition of public policy, which is “whatever governments choose to do or not to do,” and applying it to tourism. In essence,
tourism policy is any government act – legislative, administrative, or judicial – that affects tourism
• For purposes of the approach taken in this book, tourism policy will be more broadly defined to include marketing, planning, and
sustainability. In this context, tourism policy is a progressive course of actions, guidelines, directives, principles, and procedures
set in an ethical framework that is issues-focused and best represents the intent of a community (or nation) to effectively meet its
planning, development, product, service, marketing, and sustainability goals and objectives for the future growth of tourism.
• The definition acknowledges the important role that marketing, product development, and hospitality services play in tourism policy
• the tourism sustainability concept must support the long-term goals related to economic, environmental, and social development
UNDERSTANDING TOURISM POLICY
• The highest purpose of tourism policy is to integrate the economic, political, cultural, intellectual and economic benefits of tourism cohesively
with people, destinations, and countries in order to improve the global quality-of-life and provide a foundation for peace and prosperity.
• The changing nature of the tourism industry with its move away from mass tourism towards greater market segmentation, use of new
technologies, differentiation of the product, and adoption of new management style demands a change in the substance of governments’
tourism policies
• The tourism industry will be faced with some difficult challenges over the next several years. Technology, whether in communications
information, new aerospace developments, or other fields, will heavily impact the tourism industry. The industry will need to develop
effective policies and plans to deal with terrorism and other disruptions to the tourism market.
• “Tourism policy seeks to ensure that visitors are hosted in a way that maximizes the benefits to stakeholders while minimizing the
negative effects, costs, and impacts associated with ensuring the success of the destination”.
NEW CHALLENGES
• Tourism policymakers’ ability to fashion policies and plans in the future will depend upon solid research to better
understand and accept new concepts as they appear.
• Such research may result in innovative and creative approaches that differ from traditional guidelines for policy once held
as best practices by tourism managers and scholars.
• The policies must be flexible and resilient enough to foster the development of new tourism products and services in a
rapidly changing world.
• A static policy that is firmly in place can be rendered useless whenever tragic events or new global disturbances erupt, as
has been the case in recent years.
• The broad range of economic, political, environmental, and social implications for tourism on both the domestic and
international fronts is yet to be fully realized
A NEW LOOK AT TOURISM POLICY
• Since tourism policy is difficult to define clearly, because of the involvement of many different economic sectors
and stakeholders, it tends to foster several major policy development challenges.
• Fundamentally, tourism policy should present a set of guidelines which, when combined with planning goals, charts
a course of action for sound decision-making.
• Policy should serve not only the government, but also the public interest. Policy, when properly applied, is a vehicle
for a government to direct and stimulate the tourism industry, as for example through tax legislation and sponsoring
tourism research.
• The actions not only of government, but also of the public, private, and nonprofit sectors are influenced by policy
and play an important role in policy determination
• One way to begin the tourism policy process is to research a tourism policy issue, such as a local hotel bed tax,
and take the analysis through several of the steps outlined in Figure 1.3
• Once resources, conditional factors such as the political environment and sustainability, and goals and objectives
are understood through research, then the policy can be formulated and implemented. The final stage in the policy
process is evaluation, which involves more research.
• The importance of research as the foundation for visionary policies is being recognized as essential by local,
provincial/state, regional, and national tourism planners as they prepare for the future development of tourism.
COOPERATION AND INTEGRATIO
• Stakeholder participation, when developing tourism policy, is important because of the diversity of
organizations and interests in both public and private sectors
• Stakeholders can include local citizens, business owners, public regulatory and land-use departments, public,
private, and non-profit organizations – any and all constituencies involved or who ought to be involved in the
decision-making process
• Another important stakeholder is the destination’s visitors. In the past, tourism and economic development
projects and processes overlooked the important role of a wide range of stakeholders
• The many organizations involved in promoting tourism and their different objectives make tourism policy
difficult to coordinate and implement; therefore, it is important to have an integrated policy
UNDERSTANDING TOURISM PLANNING
• Tourism policy assembles the planning function and political goals for tourism into a set of guidelines to give the
tourism community direction as it moves ahead
• With some divergences, in this course we utilize the classic tourism-planning model that
includes a vision and mission statement.
• The vision should be a few words that describe where local or national tourism strategy wants
to be, while the mission statement explains how to get there.
• The vision and mission statement are followed by a set of goals, objectives, strategies, and
tactics, sometimes represented in the form of a tree diagram, as shown in Figure 1.4.
CASE STUDY - “BIG CEDAR LODGE
SEE PRINT OUT
CHAPTER SUMMARY
• This first chapter presented a general understanding of the travel and tourism industry.
• It noted some of the basic concepts of tourism policy and planning. The chapter also included
considerable references to the importance of sustainable tourism development. For a better
understanding of the components of the tourism industry, a table of selected sectors of the tourism
industry was introduced.
• The chapter explained that consumers of tourism in the new millennium are demanding greater
quality in their tourism products
CHAPTER REVIEW QUESTIONS
1. What is tourism?
2. Can you mention a few definitions of tourism policy as offered by this book?
3. Why is tourism becoming more important worldwide?
4. What kind of impact does tourism have on the economy?
5. Can you explain the diagram of the tourism policy development process?
6. Why do governments need to consider tourism policy across agencies?
7. Why should the host community be taken into consideration when developing tourism?
8. What are some of the economic benefits of tourism?
9. What are some examples of tourism stakeholders?
10. Should tourism policy consider issues that are not traditionally associated with
tourism?
