tourism planning steps

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Tourism Policy, Planning, and Development

General overview.

Tourism policy, planning, and development are all very connected and do not just occur when a geographic area decides to be a tourism destination. Policy, planning, and development are included in numerous aspects of communities.

continue but from different perspectives. An example would be the use of the destination/product lifecycle, discussed later. It is important to understand what tourism planning and development are individually as well as collectively. Planning is essential to effective development. Tourism is not always a beneficial industry for a geographical area, but without planning tourism can damage the area, including natural and cultural resources (Morrison et al., 2018). A destination might consider “Who, What, When, Where, Why” when working on a tourism plan. The same can be considered for tourism development, as well as other topics included in this alternative textbook (e.g., marketing and promotion).

Tourism Policy

A policy is essentially a course of action taken by some organization or institution (e.g., government, business, educational institution). A tourism policy as defined by Edgell et al. (2008) “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 grown of tourism” (p. 7). Stated more simply, Hall and Jenkins (1995) suggest “tourism public policy is whatever governments choose to do nor not to do with respect to tourism” (p. 7-8). A tourism policy is essentially a framework including guidelines, goals, and initiatives to work toward achieving the goals. Where as an act by government, such as the Travel Promotion Act of 2009 establishing Brand USA, is a law or statute.

A policy for international travel is having a current passport and for many countries a Visa. The application for a Visa to visit a foreign country allows countries to approve who may visit the country and not allow individuals for a variety of reasons (e.g., security threat). The U.S also has the Visa Waiver Program, which is an agreement with  40 countries allowing citizens of those countries to visit the U.S. for business or leisure travel purposes for up to 90 days without a Visa, provided they meet other requirements (U.S. Department of State – Bureau of Counsular Affairs, n.d.). The countries with the Visa Waiver Program also allows U.S. residents to travel to the respective countries with fairly similar criteria. The purpose of requiring a Visa is to regulate travel between countries. The Visa Waiver Program is an agreement to allow citizens of certain countries to visit without having to obtain a Visa if certain criteria are met. This essentially makes it easier to travel between the respective countries.

The International Trade Administration includes a Tourism Policy Council (TPC) to ensure national decision-making considers the national interests of travel and tourism (International Trade Administration, n.d.). The TPC provides resources to help with such issues or challenges as recovering from disaster, and links to Center for Disease Control (CDC), and many other potential issues or challenges for travel and tourism in the U.S.

At more local levels, Morrison et al. (2018) suggest tourism destinations can develop policies for development, marketing, tourist experiences, human resource issues, tourism organizations (e.g., structure), relationships throughout the community, quality assurance, and supporting services (e.g., safety and security).

Policy Setting Process

There are a series of recommended steps for the establishing policy (Morrison et al., 2018). First, identifying and assessing the circumstances related to the issue. This includes understanding contraints that you and/or will face. Constraints can be internal (e.g., locals’ awareness of tourism, training and education of employees in hospitality and tourism, budget) or external (e.g., economy,  price of gas, natural disaster). The tourism organization/local industry has more control or ability to do something about internal constraints, while have little or no control over external constraints. For example, nothing can be done about bad weather or if a natural disaster occurs. However, if locals are not aware of tourism in the local community, education and information can be shared to make locals more aware. This step in the process can also make you aware of new opportunities (e.g., an attraction to develop, new target market).

The next step is typically to create a policy statement to provide guidelines, goals, and initiatives to help guide the organization, destination, etc. While not directly a policy statement, most CVB vision statements include something that provides a guideline with somewhat vague goals. For example, it might be to maintain and/or improve the quality of life for residents of the destination by promoting the destination for tourism and conventions, which would include an economic goal. A policy statement for this vision would be more specific with the goals and initiatives identified to fulfill the goals.

Consultation with government, local tourism businesses, and any other stakeholders is next. This step is to get feedback about the policy statement. Following the consultation and depending on the outcome, the policy statement might be rewritten or modified. Next would be another round of consultation and then rewriting until the the policy statement is approved.

Now is time to implement the policy statement. This will include identifying specific roles of individuals, committees, organizations, etc. This step also includes developing the budget and timeline for the initiative(s).

Finally, those involved evaluation the policy. Were the goals achieved? Why or why not? However, you do not wait until the end of the established timeline for the policy to evaluate. There should be constant assessment to identify if you are likely to achieve the goals. Remember there are numerous constraints that are external (e.g., weather, natural disaster) that might dictate the need to adjust the initiatives and other efforts related to the tourism policy.

Tourism Planning

Prior to tourism planning it is important to consider other types of planning for a community or geographic area. Planning is not new. Gunn and Var (2002) indicate physical planning goes back to early Greek and Roman times. Planning is done to manage visual appearance and land use. However, planning incorporates many disciplines and perspectives: “Planning is a multidimensional activity and seeks to be integrative. It embraces social, economic, political, psychological, anthropological, and technology factors. It is concerned with the past, present, and future” (Rose, 1984, p. 45).

Gunn and Var (2002) suggest when plans (not only tourism, but community, etc.) are created they often include very high or lofty goals and it is difficult to actually achieve such goals for numerous reasons. Planning is very vague and has no real theory behind it. For community plans the general goal is a better place to live. For tourism planning the goal might be to provide visitors with a good experience. As stated earlier, an effective  tourism plan can also maintain or even improve the quality of life of residents, not just economically but the attractions provide activities for local residents as well as tourists.

Morrison et al. (2018) offer three primary reasons for tourism planning. The first two are related to impacts, to maximize the economic benefits and minimize damage to resources (i.e., natural, environmental, cultural). Another reason for a tourism plan is that tourism is constantly changing for many reasons (e.g., visitor expectations, needs, motives; politics; economy; technology). As a result, the plan needs to be adaptable.

Not all destinations have a tourism plan. Some reasons for not having a tourism plan include (Morrison et al., 2018):

• Objections – it should be taken care of by the private sector and there is no need for a formal plan.
• Cost – includes market research, consultations, and a lot of time.
• Complex – tourism is affected by numerous things, such as government policies, dynamic of the community and stakeholders.
• Diversity – various sectors involved directly or indirectly in tourism.
• Seasonality – in many destinations the jobs related to tourism can be seasonal (e.g., beach destinations, snow skiing destinations).
• Unpredictability – keep in mind the numerous things that affect and make tourism complex (e.g., natural disasters, crises, politics, economy).

Gunn and Var (2002) add the following tourism planning barriers:

• Lack of awareness of tourism impacts – which is ironic because it is a reason for a tourism plan.
• Do not understand tourism development – there needs to be a plan for developing tourism and then maintaining and even upgrading tourism (e.g., attractions, facilities, etc.).
• Inadequate infrastructure – might have deteriorated attractions, facilities, etc.
• Unorganized – no leadership to guide the process.
• Politics – usually various opinions among stakeholders (e.g., businesses, government, other stakeholders).
• Lack of hospitality training.

However, there can be serious consequences of unplanned tourism. In general, unplanned tourism is not likely to be sustainable tourism economically, environmentally, socially/culturally.

Tourism Planning Models or Approaches

Morrison et al. (2018) provide a seven step tourism destination planning model:

• Background analysis – including a SWOT analysis and assessments of government policies that affect tourism, inventory analysis (e.g., attractions, accommodations, restaurants, etc.), current demand for tourism at the destination.
• Research and analyses – identify/map locations of the inventory analysis, market survey of current visitors (e.g., motivations, what they like to do) and non-visitors (e.g., why have they not visited?, awareness of the destination, image/perception of the destination), competitive analysis (e.g., who are your competitors?, how can you differentiate your destination from competitors? what do and can you work to improve?).
• Where are we now? (position statement).
• Where would we like to be? (vision statement). Then, identify critical success factors or ways to measure and determine if you achieved your vision.
• Setting goals, establishing strategies, and setting objectives – develop a policy or (e.g., stimulate the economy). Set goals or achievable outcomes. Identify alternative strategies to achieve goals and select the most desired of the alternatives given environment or conditions (e.g., economy, resources, politics). Set objectives which are more short term goals to help monitor if you are going to achieve your longer term goals. If not, remember a tourism destination plan should be adaptable, which is the next step.
• Develop a plan – identify organizations and people to be involved and their roles, funding sources and budgets for different aspects of the plan, activities to implement your plan.
• Implement and monitor the plan – While the plan should be developed by input and participation by numerous stakeholders, it is generally implemented by a local tourism agency or organization (e.g., CVB). But, there should be committees derived of various stakeholders to which the agency is accountable. This helps monitor progress of implementing the tourism destination plan and adapt if needed.
• Evaluate the plan – measure performant of the various parts of the plan against the goals (e.g., did you achieve the goals? Why or why not?). Use the evaluation to see if and how you might adapt the plan moving forward.

Tourism Development

The tourism destination plan helps guide development of tourism. Destinations will be at various stages of development. So, it is not that the tourism plan is just for a destination just getting involved in tourism. As suggested by Mason (2003). development and change for destinations occurs as time progresses. The characteristics, motives, preferred activities and attractions, and many other things change over time and destinations redevelop to remain competitive. A fairly common way to view this is commonly referred to as “Butler’s Tourism Area Lifecycle”. There are five main stages to Butler’s Life Cycle (Butler, 1980):

• Exploration – at this stage there might be some tourism but not really an effort to provide traditional or common tourism attractions, facilities, etc. This stage mostly include tourists visiting facilities and local resources used by residents.
• Involvement – this is the beginning of the destination offering some facilities for tourists. The destination begins to more formally organize and provide or improve infrastructure, some attractions, and facilities for tourists at a local level.
• Development – the destination begins marketing and promoting the destination. This stage also begins development from outside organizations and/or businesses. The destination will begin to develop and look more like a noticeable tourist destination. More and more tourists will likely visit the destination as development progresses.
• Consolidation – at this stage the rate of increase in visitors will begin to decline. The rate of development will also begin to decline. Residents may become opposed to tourism with all of the non-locals who are in the community and there is more traffic and congestion. Some of the older attractions, facilities, etc. may also begin showing degradation.
• Decline – number of visitors will be begin to decrease as competitor destinations might have more appealing attractions, infrastructure, etc. The degradation of attractions, infrastructure, and other aspects of the destination will continue and possibly turn into what Butler (1980) refers to as a “veritable tourist slum” (p. 9).
• Rejuvenation – this outcome can occur by development of a new man-made attraction, which is likely to be followed by improvement of surrounding attractions, facilities, and other tourist needs. However, if competitor destinations also rejuvenate, the competition will remain and rejuvenation might be much less or possibly not rejuvenate and potentially decline. Another way Butler (1980) suggest rejuvenation can occur is to utilize natural resources that might not have been part tourism product throughout previous tourism development and marketing and promotion.

Butler (1980), as well as many other tourism scholars, suggest all of these efforts or stages of Tourism Area Life Cycle should be a collaborative effort within the community. For example, the government could offer incentives for private development of a new man-made attraction.

There are a number of potential ways to develop tourism. One way is to develop a “flagship” attraction, which are major attractions like a theme park (e.g., Disney Land, Disney World) and/or utilize natural attractions (e.g., ocean, lake, National Park). Gunn and Var (2002) offer recommendations for tourism destinations to develop destination zones. The zone would have clusters of attractions (e.g., museum districts) and a corridor connecting the clusters with some form of transportation. Clustering attractions provides tourists with more to do in a closer area so they spend more time at attractions and less traveling between attractions. The destination zone and clustering is a great example of planning and development and how integrated the two initiatives should be.

Morrison et al. (2018) suggest tourism involvement should be holistic. The holistic view would include consideration of the product (e.g., attractions, events, support facilities, transportation, infrastructure, etc.). Respective destinations could also ensure people (i.e., hosts, guests) are included to ensure there is community awareness and  inclusion of local businesses, organizations, and residents. Morrison et al. (2018) also suggest visitor management (e.g., signage) and identifying the visitor mix of the destination. Packages (e.g., all inclusive, hotel and tickets to attraction) and programs (e.g., events, festivals, other activities) could also be developed to attract more tourists. However, destinations should approach tourism development and/or redevelopment from a sustainable approach to avoid overtourism (i.e., too many tourists).

Sustainable Tourism Development

Tourism development should also be sustainable and include the three impacts of tourism (i.e., economic, environmental, social/cultural).

The United Nations (n.d.) proposes 17 goals to consider for economic development, which include economic (e.g., “No Poverty”, “Decent Work and Economic Growth”, environmental (e.g., “Clean Water and Sanitation”, “Affordable and Clean Energy”), and social/cultural (e.g., “Good Health and Well Being”, Quality Education”) goals. The 17th goal is “Partnerships For the Goals”, which are very important for tourism destinations, not only in tourism destination planning and development, but other aspects such as marketing and promotion.

Relating development back to the impacts of tourism (i.e., economic, environmental, social/cultural). Sustainable development should include these impacts. Morrison et al. (2018) through applying the triple bottom line to tourism offers some examples of efforts for sustainable development in each of the three areas:

• Social – include residents, be sure development improves or at least maintains locals’ quality of life.
• Environmental – protect resources, educate visitors and residents of ways to protect resources.
• Economic – new employment opportunities, increase spending of visitors, find ways to have businesses purchase locally to minimize leakage.

Tourism Development Strategies

Various strategies exist to develop tourism. For example, flagship attractions (e.g., large amusement parks, National Parks) can provide something unique to market and promote. Development of clusters of attractions (e.g., museum districts) provide several attractions near each other so visitors do not have to drive long distances between attractions. Such districts could also include development of a circuit or trail for transportation via hiking or biking. Aside from man-made attractions, events can be developed by destinations to highlight such things as cultural or other unique aspects of a destination.

Considering all of the possible options of tourism development provides a holistic view. Not only the examples of attractions and events, but packages and programs can developed. Destinations need to also consider all of the elements of tourism in development (i.e., attractions, infrastructure, transportation, built/support facilities, service quality/hospitality). Again, not only businesses and organizations directly involved in tourism, but all stakeholders (e.g., residents, other local businesses) should be included and/or given the opportunity to provide feedback regarding the tourism development plan.

The general goals of tourism development should include improving visitors’ experiences, improving the local economy, not damaging natural resources, and integration throughout the destination so that tourism attractions and venues are not isolated from the rest of the community (Gunn & Var, 2002). Such goals of tourism development require all three sectors (i.e., private, non-profit, government) to be involved and collaborate.

Tourism Development Roles

The private sector, non-profit, government, and local community (e.g., residents) should be involved in tourism development. The private sector role is entrepreneurial and operations (Morrison et al., 2018). The entrepreneurial role is to identify investors to develop man-made attractions, accommodations, food and beverage, and other facilities for tourists. Once built their role becomes to hire workers, manage the operation and ensure it is successful. After all, they are taking a risk as entrepreneurs.

As discussed in the Tourism Organizations section, the non-profit organizations include CVBs to market and manage the destination, chambers of commerce, associations such as a local sports association to attract sporting events to the destination. The CVB typically works with all stakeholders and leads the marketing and sales (e.g., conventions, trade shows) for the destination. Chambers of commerce might be the tourism marketing and sales organization in smaller destinations. However, many of these non-profit types of organizations collaborate with each other, as well as with private or for-profit-sector (e.g., members of CVBs) and government (e.g., hotel tax dollars as a funding source). Non-profit organizations might also operate such things as museums and historical attractions, as well as festivals and events. Such organizations might be local cultural organizations.

The government really does not manage tourism attractions. However, there are exceptions, such as National Parks. Government roles are to stimulate development of tourism, as well as establish and enforce procedures, codes, such as zoning (e.g., business, residential). Government might also get involved for the following reasons: bankruptcy of an attraction where the government needs to help the business in some way, ensure cultural aspects of the community are conserved, encouraging private sector development, find ways to work with potential attractions and other elements of tourism provided through the private sector where businesses may have concerns about being profitable (Morrison et al., 2018).

Government might fulfill some of the above reasons for their role in tourism development by offering incentives (e.g., tax breaks) to entice development by the private sector. Government might also offer a piece of land for private sector development, which lowers the businesses cost to develop at attraction, supporting facilities, or other element of tourism.

While the sectors may have relatively unique roles in tourism development, it is also important the cooperate with each other for the good of the destination. Edgell and Haenisch (1995) offer a model whereby there are times each will work independently of the other two sectors, times when two sectors work together (e.g., private sector and government), and times when all three work together. Edgell and Haenisch (1995) call this “coopetition”. For example, while attractions compete within the destination for tourists to visit respective attractions, if all stakeholders cooperate the develop and manage tourism, the destination will do better overall.

Project Development Analyses

Prior to developing an attraction, hotel, or other element of tourism, there should be an assessment or analysis to determine the feasibility of being successful. Private sector developers who need be profitable will typically do feasibility studies. This may start with a pre-feasibility study, which is essentially to see if the project is even viable. For example, does the project make sense given what the destination already offers? Pre-feasibility studies might be conducted by whatever company or organization is interested in the project. If it does, the next step would be a more robust feasibility study to identify such things as potential sites for the product being considered, assess the market demand of the project, projected revenues and expenses, capital costs to develop the project, and will there be enough return on investment (ROI) if the project is developed. The full feasibility study is often conducted by an independent consulting company to minimize biases. The feasibility studies helps the company or organization identify if the project should move forward or not.

The market demand study within the full feasibility study would include secondary and primary research. Secondary research would include existing data, such as hotel metrics (e.g., supply, demand or rooms sold over a given period of time, occupancy, average daily rate (ADR), and revenue per available room (REVPAR) if the project is a hotel. Primary market analysis requires collection of data. This can include surveys (e.g., visitors of the destination to determine if the potential project is of interest), focus groups to get in-depth insight as to the interest of visitors. Surveys can also be conducted to potentially identify potential demand for the project.

If a project is not intended to be profitable, such as one being developed by the government or non-profit organization, a cost-benefit analysis can be conducted. Such a study essentially identifies the potential benefits to society are worth the cost of the investment.

Butler, R. W. (1980). The concept of a tourist area life cycle of evolution: Implications for management of resources. Canadian Geographer, XXIV (1), 5-12.

Draper, J., Woosnam, K. M., & Norman, W. C. (2011). Tourism use history: Exploring a new framework for understanding residents’ attitudes toward tourism. Journal of Travel Research, 50 (1), 64-77.

Edgell, D. L., Allen, M. D., Smith, G., & Swanson, L. E. (2008). Tourism policy and planning: Yesterday, today and tomorrow . Elsevier Inc.

Gunn, C. A., & Var, T. (2002). Tourism planning: Basics, concepts, cases (4th ed.). Routledge.

Hall, C. M., & Jenkins, J. M. (1995). Tourism and public policy . Routledge.

International Trade Administration. (n.d.). Tourism Policy Council (TPC). https://www.trade.gov/tourism-policy-council

Mason, P. (2003). Tourism impacts, planning and management . Elsevier Butterworth-Heinemann.

Morrison, A. M., Lehto, X. Y., & Day, J. G. (2018). The tourism system (8th ed.). Kendall Hunt.

Rose, E. A. (1984). Philosophy and purpose in planning. In M. J. Bruton (Ed.), The spirit and purpose of planning (2nd ed., pp. 31-65). Hutchinson.

United Nations. (n.d.). Department of Economic and Social Affairs: Sustainable Development. https://sdgs.un.org/goals

U.S. Department of State – Bureau of Counsular Affairs. (n.d.) Visa Waiver Program. https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/tourism-visit/visa-waiver-program.html

GHL 2365 - Tourism Copyright © 2024 by Jason Draper is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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Why tourism planning is important

Disclaimer: Some posts on Tourism Teacher may contain affiliate links. If you appreciate this content, you can show your support by making a purchase through these links or by buying me a coffee . Thank you for your support!

Tourism planning should be an integral part of any destination’s tourism development plan in order to achieve the best results and satisfy all stakeholders. Tourism planning is key to maintaining sustainable tourism and whilst some destinations do this very well, others (often developing countries), fail the recognise the importance of effective tourism development planning.

In this post I will explain why tourism planning is so important and recommend some literature for further reading on this topic. This information on tourism planning should be helpful to a number of tourism stakeholders, including business entrepreneurs, Government bodies and tourism workers. It is also useful for those studying travel and tourism as well as those who have a general interest in the subject. For an introduction to the concept of tourism policy and planning visit this post- ‘ The different levels of tourism policy and planning ‘. 

Wait! Before you read on, take a look at the short video that I created all about the importance of tourism planning! 

What is tourism planning?

Tourism development refers to the growth and maintenance of the tourism industry in a given locality. And, of course, tourism planning is a very important part of this.

On a basic level, tourism development can be defined as creating strategies and plans to increase/develop/encourage tourism for a destination. The fundamental reason behind planning and implementing strategies for developing the tourism sector is primarily to make money and to subsequently increase the GDP of a country/area.

You might also be interested in my post- ‘ What is tourism? A definition of tourism ‘ 

Tourism development consists of many elements including, but not limited to: developing and managing private-public partnerships, assessing the competitors to gain competitive advantage, ensuring responsible and sustainable development, viewing tourism as an interconnected system and a demand-driven sector, assessing private sector investment and international cooperation, tourism clustering and involvement by the Government.

According to Williams cited in Mason (2003);  

‘The aim of modern planning is to seek optimal solutions to perceived problems and that it is designed to increase and, hopefully maximise development benefits, which will produce predictable outcomes’.

And Getz (1987) cited in Pearce (1989) defines tourism planning as;

“A process, based on research and evaluation, which seeks to optimise the potential contribution of tourism to human welfare and environmental quality”

Tourism development planning should be an integral part of any destination’s tourism plan in order to achieve the best results and satisfy all stakeholders. Tourism development planning is key to maintaining sustainable tourism and whilst some destinations do this very well, others (often developing countries), fail the recognise the importance of effective tourism development planning.

What is tourism development planning?

Tourism development refers to the growth and maintenance of the tourism industry in a given locality. And, of course, planning is a very important part of this.

Basic stages in tourism development planning

Tourism development planning is no simple task and there are many variables to consider. There are also different levels of tourism planning and policy . Fortunately , destinations can learn lessons from other areas which have been successful or otherwise. Take for example, over dependence on tourism in Egypt as I explain in this post- Why Unpaid Business is Better than No Business: The Case of the Egyptian Boatman. It is also worthwhile to look at the tourism policies of similar destinations. Some strong examples include Jamaica and Cape Town .

On a basic level, the main stages in tourism development planning include: the analysis of previous tourist development; evaluation of the position of tourism in the area including competition; formulation of relevant tourism policy by Government; the defining of a development strategy and the formation of a programme of action.

The benefits of tourism development

Tourism development planning enables a range of benefits to all stakeholders involved, for example:

• It increases income and jobs from tourist spending
• It helps preserve cultural and natural heritage for tourists
• It increases understanding of other cultures
• It builds new facilities such as sewage for whole communities or new roads

The costs of tourism development

There are also some costs which must be considered and planned for, which include:

• Costs of implementing tourist facilities can be costly
• The environment can be destructed to make room for hotels etc. to be built
• Social standards may be undermined e.g. topless women in Dubai
• The natural environment may be polluted

Formulating an approach to tourism policy and planning

There are six ‘golden rules’ that should be applied when formulating an approach to tourism policy and planning, as outlined by Inskeep (1991).

• Goal oriented

Clear recognition of tourism’s role in achieving broad national and community goals

• Integrative

Incorporating tourism policy and planning into the mainstream of planning for the economy, land use and infrastructure, conservation and environment

• Market driven

Planning for tourism development that trades successfully in a competitive global marketplace

• Resource driven

Developing tourism which build on the destination’s inherent strengths whilst protecting and enhancing the attributes and experiences of current tourism assets

• Consultative

Incorporating the wider community attitudes, needs and wants to determine what is acceptable to the population

Drawing on primary or secondary research to provide conceptual or predictive support for planners including the experiences of other tourism destinations

Why tourism development planning is important

Tourism development planning really can make or break a destination. If done well, it can ensure the longevity of the tourism industry in the area, take good care of the environment, have positive economic outcomes and a positive benefit to the community.

If done badly , tourism development can destroy the very environment or culture that it relies on. It can disrupt local economies, cause inflation and negative effects to local people and businesses. Unfortunately, developing countries tend to suffer the most from negative impacts such as these, largely as a result of limited education and experience in contrast with Western nations. For more on this topic, you can read this post.

If you wish to cite any of the content in the post please use reference ‘Stainton, Hayley. (2018) Lifeasabutterfly .’

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For more on what constitutes tourism planning I recommend that you refer to the texts Tourism Policy and Planning: Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow by Edgell and Swanson and Tourism Planning and Destination Marketing by Camilleri .

Tourism development planning is no simple task and there are many variables to consider. There are also different levels of tourism planning and policy. Fortunately, destinations can learn lessons from other areas which have been successful or otherwise. Take for example, over dependence on tourism in Egypt as I explain in this post- Why Unpaid Business is Better than No Business: The Case of the Egyptian Boatman. It is also worthwhile to look at the tourism policies of similar destinations. Some strong examples include Jamaica and Cape Town .

You might also be interested in my post- ‘ Best Universities In The UK To Study Travel and Tourism ‘

There are six ‘golden rules’ that should be applied when formulating an approach to tourism planning and policy, as outlined by Inskeep (1991).

You might also be interested in my post- ‘ What is ‘begpacking’ and why is it so bad ?’

Tourism planning really can make or break a destination. If done well, it can ensure the longevity of the tourism industry in the area, take good care of the environment, have positive economic outcomes and a positive benefit to the community.

If done badly, tourism development can destroy the very environment or culture that it relies on. It can disrupt local economies, cause inflation and negative effects to local people and businesses. Unfortunately, developing countries tend to suffer the most from negative impacts such as these, largely as a result of limited education and experience in contrast with Western nations.

For more on this topic, I recommend the following texts:

Tourism Policy and Planning: Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow

Tourism Planning and Destination Marketing

Leisure, Sport and Tourism, Politics, Policy and Planning

Tourism Planning: Policies, Processes and Relationships

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Tourism Planning

Tourism Planning: The written account of projected future course of action or scheme aimed at achieving or targeting specific goals or objectives within a specific time period is called a Plan.  A Tourism plan explains in detail what needs to be done, when to be done, how to be done, and by whom to be done. It often includes best case, expected case, and worst case scenarios or situations. 

A plan is usually a map or list of steps with timing and available resources, used to achieve an objective to do something.  It is commonly understood as a temporary set of projected actions through which one believes that the goals or targets would be achieved.  

Plans can be formal or informal:

Structured and formal plans, utilised by numerous people, are more likely to occur in projects, diplomacy, careers, economic development, military campaigns, combat, sports, games, agriculture, technology, tourism, IT, Telecommunication etc. or in the conduct of other businesses. 

In most cases, the absence of a well-laid plan can have high effects: for example, a nonrobust project plan can cost the organization long time and high cost. 

The persons to fulfill their various quests do informal or adhoc planning. But, what most importantly matters is the extensiveness, time interval, and preciousness of the plans. Though, all these planning categories are not self-governing and dependent on each other. 

For example, there is an intimate connection between short-range and long-range plans and tactical (strategic) & functional (operational) planning classifications.

For businesses, sector planning’s (such as IT, telecommunication, services, banking, tourism, agriculture etc.) and military purposes formal plans used to a greater level. They are conceptualized, thought as abstract ideas, are likely to be written down, drawn up or otherwise stored in a form that is accessible to multiple people across time and space. This allows more reliable collaboration in the execution of the plan.

Tourism Planning and the Need for Tourism Planning  

Planning is one of the most important project management and time management techniques or methods. It involves preparing or forming of a sequence of action steps to achieve some specific desired goals.  If you do it effectively and efficiently, you can reduce much of the necessary time and effort used in achieving the goal. 

A plan is like a map or a blueprint which would fetch you results slowly & steady according to a time frame.  Whenever, you are following any plan, you are able to know how much you have neared to your assignment objectives or how much distant you are from your goals. 

Why is planning important?

• To set direction and priorities for the workforce in the organisation:

The strategy is the chief requirement of the organization, in order to achieve the targets.  The strategies give the route and primacies (priorities) for your organization. It describes your organization’s perspective and gives an order to the activities that will make the perspective into reality. 

Read more on World Federation of Tourist Guide Associations (WFTGA)

The plan will assist the team in achieving goals and also give them familiarity about the tasks.  The plainly defined and appropriate strategy will give priority initiatives that will drive  the maximum success.

• To get everyone on the same room or the same box:

An organisation has different departments, but a single goal. That’s, why different departments work in a way that add to the goals of the organization. 

Hence, a strategy is required, so that all actions move in one direction. Then only, the various departments such as marketing, administration, sales, operations etc. can move together to accomplish the anticipated goals of the organisation. Tourism Planning

• To simplify decision-making process within the organisation:

Whenever, there are targets, there are different solutions. The team also may have new philosophies or probable solutions. Therefore, you need a definite plan, so there are no inhibiting factors. 

• To drive alignment:

Many a times, inspite of the best labour, you reach nowhere. The reason is that the efforts or labour is done in areas, which are of no use.  Hence, the effort should coincide with the priorities or primacies.  The plan serves as a vehicle for answering the enquiry, that “How well we can use all the resources such as material, man, machine etc. to upsurge our tactical (strategic) success?

• To communicate the message to everyone:

The countless managers in the top level management know how to make an effective plan/strategy, at which position their organisation is, what they need to do and where they need to be there  Many a time, the strategies are not written down and the various aspects in the plan are not linked systematically. 

Then, only few members of your team can work towards your goals. Therefore, it’s very important that your team, staff, customers, suppliers and other stakeholder’s know your plan of action and strategy base, this will lead to better probability of success and more efforts pouring in. Tourism Planning

Also read Contribution of Tour Guiding in Sustainability

Once, you ascertain your goal, you are in a good position to make a solid proof plan in which role of each team member is defined.  There are very less managers, who have understanding of situations and actually comprehend to make the greatest use of their part in smoothing policy (Eagles, McCool, Haynes, Philips, & United Nations Environment Programme, 2002). 

Techniques of Plan formulation 

It involves a number of steps: 

• Collection of information (data):

The most noteworthy phase of economic planning is the gathering of the economic data.  The data not only contains economic defining variables, but also descriptive variables such as demographical, topographical, and political data.  The economic planning also contains non-quantitative variables.  And surely in order to collect appropriate data the planner should have intra-disciplinary as well as inter-disciplinary knowledge. 

• Deciding the nature and duration of the plan:

After the collection of data in context to the economy.  Now the next step is deciding the nature and period (time duration) of the plan. Now, the planner has to decide the planning levels i.e. micro or macro basis, functional (practical) or structural (operational),centralised (central) or decentralised (distributed), long or medium or short term etc. The medium term plan generally comprises 5 years and is enough time periods to apply its drivers, strategies and approaches.

Also read Goals and objective of sustainable tourism development

• Setting up of the objectives:

The third step after setting the nature and time period of the plan is setting the goals or objectives or aim of the plan.  And, surely these objectives will have to be realized in a fixed time schedule. Generally, most of the objectives related to economy of the country are related to advanced progress rate of GNP, reduction in joblessness, eradication of local discrepancies, removal of illiteracy, growth of farming and manufacturing areas, etc.  

After, the planner has analysed the ground situation and given the objectives.  Now, the planner has to establish these objectives depending on the eminence/Significance to the individuals and the economy in totality.

• Determination of growth rate:

While framing the plan, the planner has to determine the growth rate i.e. at what rate the economy will grow through this time interval. Whatever plan, the planner and policy makers decide at least, it should maintain the per capita income level of the country. The plan should be such that the per capita income do not decreases or affect the progress of the country negatively.

And, such a thing is possible, if the growth rate of GNP or growth rate of the country and growth rate or progress of the population is same. But this growth rate is least recommended.  Rather, the planner will choose for that growth rate which is better than the population rate.  “For example, if India wants to maintain its present per capita income while population is growing at the rate of 8% p.a., then the obligatory GNP growth rate should not be less than 8%.  If we want to grow GNP by 8%, NI should grow @ 16%. 

If the capital output ratio (COR) is 1:3, then we will have to invest 16% of GNP.  While defining the growth rate, the planner must keep in view the growth rate of other adjoining or developing countries like Pakistan, China, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Bangladesh, etc.” Tourism Planning

• Full utilisation of financial resources of the plan:  

The utilization of resources including the fiscal resources should be in a way that the predetermined objectives are realized. The various resources used in a plan of a country are human resources, natural resources, technology, worthy governance, entrepreneurial skills, financial resources etc. Therefore, from these resources or sources advantages or profits can be achieved.

Read more Local Community Involvement in Tourism Development

Broadly it can be categorized into renewable or renewal resources. Advantages of resource application may be augmented prosperity or needs, appropriate operation of a system, or boosted welfare. With the resource allocation, resource management is also crucial in a plan. The various resources have three basic attributes- “utility, limited availability, and potential for depletion or consumption.”

In order to accomplish the planning requirements, outside (external) resources are also used, when internal (inside) resources fall short. The outside resources generally comprises of foreign relief and support, foreign grants, foreign direct investment, and foreign borrowings from various International Financial Institutions (IFI’s) and rich countries.

The role of government is important and cannot be ignored. They plan and take various roles depending upon the environment of the country. When, a country is developed, their role more becomes as a facilitator, while in case of developing or poor countries, they have to actively participate in it. They have to implement plans as well as pour on their resources. 

Whenever, the plans have been made by the government, they are sent to the necessary departments with goals, necessary steps and outlays. Thereafter, the concerned ministries or departments see the feasibility of the sent projects and give recommendations about the feasibility (viability) of various schemes and projects of the plan. Here, the government organisations are asked of their keeping in mind the sectorial distribution and extent of the plan. There are also some projects where partnership occurs between governmental and private sectors. Here, the government may play role of a catalyst or facilitator and there may be some revenue sharing understandings. 

• Formation of economic policies:

In planning, plans are fine. The role of planners is fine. But, most importantly the plans should be able to give the desired results. The results should have more positive effects than the negative effects. Here, economic programmes, policies or strategies play a substantial role. As, they act as a gasoline to the locomotive of economic development. Also, the plans implemented should be based on ground or current scenario, rather than being picked from other countries, environments or sectors.

• Plan execution:  

The final phase of planning is plan operation. And, for actual implementation of plan, following conditions cannot be ignored: 

• The regime should be steady, truthful, genuine and productive.
• The organisational (administrative) system should be well-organized,
• i.e. free of nepotism, dishonesty, enticement, red tapism.
• Upkeep of law and order inside the nation.
• There should be equivalent level of involvement of both private and public sectors in economic growth.
• Keep a check on convenience and electronic up keep of government records, monetary proclamations and cost statements. Tourism Planning
• The opposition should be Watchful and productive. (Wagner, Frick, & Schupp, 2007)
• Different countries use planning models/techniques dependent upon the nature of the economy. 
• The availability of the data, the volume to use and manage such techniques and models. 

Read more Tourism Policy formulation Bodies in India

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What Are the Steps in Tourism Planning Process?

By Alice Nichols

Tourism planning is a crucial process that involves multiple steps to ensure the successful development and management of tourism destinations. It is a complex and iterative process that requires careful consideration of various factors, including economic, environmental, and social impacts. In this article, we will discuss the essential steps involved in the tourism planning process.

Step 1: Situation Analysis

The first step in the tourism planning process is conducting a situation analysis. This involves gathering information about the current state of the destination, including its strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. The data collected during this stage can help identify potential areas for improvement and inform subsequent planning decisions.

Step 1.1: Destination Assessment

A market analysis helps identify Target audiences for tourism development initiatives by evaluating trends in travel behavior such as visitor demographics, travel patterns, and spending habits.

Step 2: Goal Setting

After conducting a situation analysis, the next step in the tourism planning process is setting goals for the destination. Goals should be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART). They should also align with broader strategic objectives at regional or national levels.

Step 2.1: Identifying Objectives

Prioritizing objectives involves ranking them based on their importance to stakeholders such as local communities, government agencies, and private sector partners. This helps ensure that planning efforts focus on areas where there is the greatest potential for success.

Step 3: Tourism Development Strategy

The tourism development strategy outlines how the destination intends to achieve its goals and objectives. It involves identifying specific initiatives and programs that can be implemented to support tourism development.

Step 3.1: Product Development

Marketing and promotion are essential components of tourism development as they help increase awareness of the destination and its offerings. This can involve creating advertising campaigns, participating in trade shows, or leveraging social media to reach potential visitors.

Step 4: Implementation

After developing a tourism development strategy, the next step is implementation. This involves putting plans into action by implementing specific initiatives identified in the strategy.

Step 4.1: Resource Mobilization

Capacity building involves developing the skills and knowledge of stakeholders involved in tourism planning and management. This can involve training programs for local communities, government officials, and private sector partners.

Step 5: Monitoring and Evaluation

The final step in the tourism planning process is monitoring and evaluation. This involves assessing the effectiveness of tourism development initiatives at achieving their goals and objectives.

Step 5.1: Performance Indicators

Impact assessment involves evaluating the economic, environmental, and social impacts of tourism development initiatives. This helps determine whether the benefits of tourism outweigh any negative impacts.

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Tourism planning: importance, benefits, types & levels.

Planning is to prepare a Road Map to achieve goals.

Faludi, in 1973, defined tourism planning as "Planning is a very important part of the process by which governments manage tourism at the national, local and organizational levels".

What is Tourism Planning?

The upkeep and expansion of the tourism sector in a particular area is referred to as tourism planning. Planning for tourism is, of course, a crucial component.

Creating strategies and plans to increase, develop, and stimulate tourism for/in a destination may be summed up as tourism planning. The primary motivation behind establishing and implementing strategies for the tourist industry is to generate money, which will eventually raise the GDP of a nation or region.

What is the need for Tourism Planning?

For the expansion of the sector important to plan tourism activities for the following reasons:

• It is necessary to plan tourism activities on different levels and in various manners to promote tourism and boost the economy.
• To provide quality to both tourists and residents.
• It involves making major decisions which cannot be taken spontaneously.

What are the components of Tourism Planning

• Exploration phase/ Preparatory
• Planning phase/Feasibility/
• Zoning phase/Formal planning
• Design and implementation phase
• Operational phase

Most nations that have successfully planned their tourism can be found online and are regarded as incredible holiday destinations. People go to these nations hoping their travel vlogs will increase their subscriber count on YouTube. That is an indication of success in the modern day.

Benefits of Tourism Planning

Tourism destination planning should be a vital component of every destination's tourism development plan to get the best outcomes and please all stakeholders. While some places do a great job of maintaining sustainable tourism, others (typically developing countries) need to recognize the significance of comprehensive tourism development planning.

Tourism planning can benefit various parties involved from the industry in the following ways:

• It boosts revenue and employment thanks to tourist spending.
• It safeguards cultural and natural assets so that visitors can enjoy them.
• It broadens the comprehension of cultural diversity
• It constructs new infrastructure, such as sewage systems, roads, etc., for the community.

Impacts of Tourism Planning

The impacts of tourism destination planning can be sorted into seven general categories:

• Environmental
• Social and cultural
• Crowding and congestion
• Community attitude

According to Inskeep, six "golden standards" should be followed when creating a strategy for tourist planning and policy (1991).

1. Goal Oriented: Tourism Planning should be oriented to achieve broad national and community goals.

2. Integrative: Integrating tourist policy and planning into the economy, land use and infrastructure, conservation, and environmental planning.

3. Market Driven: Planning for successful tourism growth in a cutthroat international market.

4. Resource Driven: Developing tourism that capitalizes on the location's inherent advantages while preserving and improving the features and experiences of existing tourism resources.

5. Consultative: Considering broader community attitudes, needs, and desires to determine what the population will accept.

6. Systematic: utilizing primary or secondary information to support planners conceptually or predictably, incorporating knowledge from other tourist locations

Levels of Tourism Planning

Planning and policy for the tourism industry occur at several levels. This can be done in a top-down approach, with international or national bodies, or a bottom-up approach from a local level.

1. International Tourism Planning: Tourism planning at the international level typically involves international transportation services, the movement and scheduling of tourist tours between different countries, the development of significant tourist attractions and facilities in neighboring countries, as well as the working strategies and promotional programs of many nations.

2. National Tourism Planning: Tourism policy, infrastructural facilities, and a physical structure plan, which includes significant tourist attractions, chosen tourism development regions, international entrance points, facilities, and services, are all addressed at the national level of tourism planning. Additionally, it is concerned with the quantity, types, and quality of lodging and other essential tourist facilities and services; the country's major travel routes and their regional connections; tourism organization

rights, laws, and investment policies; marketing and promotion strategies for the industry; education and training initiatives; and environmental, economic, and sociocultural analysis.

3. Regional Tourism Planning: Regional planning considers factors such as regional policy, regional entrance points, transportation facilities, and services; the types and locations of tourism attractions; the quantity, varieties, and places of lodging and other tourist facilities and services; and the sites of tourist development regions, such as resort areas.

They will also oversee sociocultural, environmental, economic, and impact analyses, regional education and training programmes, marketing strategies, investment policies, organizational structures, legal frameworks, and implementation strategies, including project plans and zoning ordinances.

4. Local Tourism Planning: Participants at the local level will think about the analyses, outputs, outcomes, and assessment of tourism planning at the ground level.

Types of Tourism Planning

Before creating a comprehensive plan to market the destination, the following types of tourism planning are taken into account:

Spatial Tourism Planning: Spatial tourism planning attempts to thoroughly process social, environmental, and economic change to bring about certain ends. Drawing plans, maps or diagrams are put together to decide where socio-spatial activities can occur.

Sectoral Tourism Planning: In this kind of planning, the regions are divided into sections, and each section is called a sector. It concentrates on a manageable area and takes into account the specific infrastructure, land use, transportation, and environmental requirements of that region. Depending on the nature of the products or services provided, economic, social, and administrative activities are grouped into sectors.

Complex Tourism Planning: When various regions are considered for the purpose of tourism planning, it is known as complex tourism planning. These regions are to be developed comprehensively because of the significant interest shown by international tourists. There is a possibility that these regions are located far away from one another.

Integrated Tourism Planning: Integrated tourism refers to making tourism the primary industry in a given area by systematically and comprehensively promoting all available economic, social, and tourism resources.

Sustainable Tourism Planning: Sustainable tourism planning involves striking the correct balance between the requirements of people and the environment. It entails stating the community's mission, vision, and unique selling point or identity in clear terms. With the help of this type of destination planning in our local communities, we are better equipped to plan for the long term, and respond to changing target markets, trends, and emergencies like the Covid-19 outbreak. Additionally, it guarantees that resources are allocated properly while ethically and sustainably establishing local communities. This method of tourism planning benefits people and places in positive ways on all fronts—socially, economically, culturally, and environmentally—puts sustainability at its core.

Centralized Tourism Planning: Centralized tourism planning is done by a single authority, usually the state or central government.

Decentralized Tourism Planning: Organizations are interested in developing tourist spots and planning the various activities visitors can enjoy. (Joint Venture).

They take assistance from government. Suggested Read:  Sustainable Tourism

Frequently Asked Questions

Q1. why is tourism planning important.

A1. Destination development plans should include tourism planning since it promotes a destination's long-term viability and encourages cooperation among important stakeholders..

Q2. What are the features of tourism planning?

A2. Three general principles of planning for tourism can be specified as anticipation, regulation and monitoring.

Q3. What are the barriers to tourism planning?

A3. A3. According to earlier research conducted in several nations, a common pattern of issues has emerged. For instance, financial constraints, a lack of knowledge, an insufficient amount of time, and other issues have prevented local governments from incorporating tourism into their development plans.

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Tourism Planning: Overview and Importance

What is tourism planning.

…. And What is Planning per se.

Planning is to prepare a Road Map to achieve goals.

The principal phases of an urban planning process are:

• Preparatory / exploration phase
• Feasibility/planning phase
• Formal planning/zoning phase
• Design and implementation phase
• Operational phase

D.Getz (1987) defines tourism planning as” a process, based on research and evaluation, which seeks to optimize the potential contribution of tourism to human welfare and environmental quality”.

According to Faludi (1973) “Planning is a very important part of the process by which tourism is managed by governments at the national, local and organizational levels”.

If you search online for countries that have had success in planning their tourism, most of them are viewed as great travel destinations. Even to the point that people visit these countries with the guarantee that their travel vlogs will get youtube subscribers . In this day and age, that’s a marker of success.

Tourism development consists of many elements :

• developing and managing private-public partnerships,
• assessing the competitors to gain competitive advantage and
• Ensuring responsible and sustainable development.

Viewing tourism as an interconnected system and a demand-driven sector, assessing private sector investment and international cooperation, tourism clustering and involvement by the Government.

According to Williams cited in Mason (2003);

‘The aim of modern planning is to seek optimal solutions to perceived problems and that it is designed to increase and, hopefully maximise development benefits, which will produce predictable outcomes’.

 We should take Planning tourism as an integrated System. Tourism industry is viewed as an inter-related system of demand and supply factors. The demand factors are international and domestic tourist markets and the local resident community who use the tourist facilities and services. The supply factors consist of the tourist attractions and activities as natural and manmade attractions like waterfalls, forests, beaches, monuments, zoos, etc.,

What Planning Should and Should Not Be

Basic Stages in Tourism Development Planning

Tourism development planning is a complex task.There are many variables to consider. There are different levels of tourism planning and policy.

On a basic level, the main stages in tourism development planning include:

• Analyses of earlier tourist developments
• Evaluation of the of status tourism in the area
• Evaluation of the competitors
• Formulation of Government Policies
• Defining  a development strategy and the formation of a programme of action.
• The Implications of Planning

Planning enables a range of benefits to all stakeholders involved, for example:

• Increases income and jobs
• It helps preserve cultural and natural heritage
• It increases understanding of other cultures
• It builds new infrastructure facilities

(Read  more here on Impacts of Tourism)

The impacts of tourism can be sorted into seven general categories:

• Environmental
• Social and cultural
• Crowding and congestion
• Community attitude

The costs of Tourism Development

There are also some costs which must be considered and planned for, which include:

• Costs of implementing tourist facilities can be costly
• The environment can be destructed to make room for hotels etc. to be built
• Social standards may be undermined e.g. topless women in Dubai
• The natural environment may be polluted

Formulating an approach to tourism policy and planning

There are six ‘golden rules’ that should be applied when formulating an approach to tourism planning and policy, as outlined by Inskeep (1991).

Goal Oriented

Clear recognition of tourism’s role in achieving broad national and community goals

Integrative

Incorporating tourism policy and planning into the mainstream of planning for the economy, land use and infrastructure, conservation and environment

Market Driven

Planning for tourism development that trades successfully in a competitive global marketplace

Resource Driven

Developing tourism which builds on the destination’s inherent strengths whilst protecting and enhancing the attributes and experiences of current tourism assets.

Consultative

Incorporating the wider community attitudes, needs and wants to determine what is acceptable to the population

Drawing on primary or secondary research to provide conceptual or predictive support for planners including the experiences of other tourism destinations

Why Tourism Planning is Important

Tourism planning really can make or break a destination. If done well, it can ensure the longevity of the tourism industry in the area, take good care of the environment, have positive economic outcomes, and a positive benefit to the community.

If executed badly, tourism development can destroy the very environment or culture that it relies on. It can disrupt local economies, cause inflation and negative effects to local people and businesses. Unfortunately, developing countries tend to suffer the most from negative impacts such as these, largely as a result of limited education and experience in contrast with Western nations.

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About Rashid Faridi

4 responses to tourism planning: overview and importance.

Hello Friend, I am Hira Nizami and I am regularly read your articles. Your articles are very charming and entertainment. Its motivate me to make a blog, and write an article. You know I am beginner please visit my site.

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Thank you so much sir it helped a lotttt

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Thank you for simplifying the work

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Guiding Principles

Whereas tourism done well can benefit destination communities, incentivize protection of nature and history, and enrich the traveling public,

Whereas irresponsible practices have eroded the value of the true tourism product, the destination,

Whereas poorly managed tourism, driven by short-term, unguided market forces, has disrupted communities and ecosystems, worn away cultural and historic sites, added to environmental stress, and degraded the travel experience itself,

Whereas this trend has been aggravated by undue policy emphasis on quantity of tourists over quality of experience and benefits to destination communities,

Whereas, widespread degradation has persisted despite earnest attempts to counteract the trend by many responsible parties,

Whereas recovery from the COVID-19 crisis has presented an opportunity to choose a more sustainable future,

We therefore urge worldwide commitment to these principles:

1. See the whole picture

Recognize that most tourism by its nature involves the destination as a whole, not only industry businesses, but also its ecosystems, natural resources, cultural assets and traditions, communities, aesthetics, and built infrastructure.

Learn More.

2. Use sustainability standards

Respect the publicly available, internationally approved minimum criteria for sustainable tourism practices maintained by the Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC) for both industry and destinations .

3. Collaborate in destination management

Seek to develop all tourism through a collaborative management structure with equal participation by government, the private sector, and civil society organizations that represent diversity in communities.

Learn more .

4. Choose quality over quantity

Manage tourism development based on quality of visitation, not quantity of visitors, so as to enhance the travel experience while sustaining the character of the destination and benefiting local communities.

5. Demand fair income distribution

Set policies that counter unequal tourism benefits within destination communities that maximize retention of tourism revenues within those communities.

6. Reduce tourism's burden

Account for all tourism costs in terms of local tax burdens, environmental and social impacts, and objectively verifiable disruption. Ensure investments are linked to optimizing net-positive impacts for communities and the environment.

7. Redefine economic success

Rather than raw contribution to growth in GDP, favor metrics that specify destination benefits such as small business development, distribution of incomes, and enhancement of sustainable local supply chains.

8. Mitigate climate impacts

Strive to follow accepted scientific consensus on needed reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. Invest in green infrastructure and a fast reduction in transport emissions involved in tourism - air, sea, and ground.

9. Close the loop on resources

When post-pandemic safety allows, turn away from use of disposable plastics by tourism businesses, and transition to circular resource use.

10. Contain tourism's land use

Limit high-occupancy resort tourism to concentrated areas. Discourage resort sprawl from taking over coasts, islands, and mountain areas, so as to retain geographical character, a diverse economy, local access, and critical ecosystems.

11. Diversify source markets

In addition to international visitation, encourage robust domestic tourism, which may be more resilient in the face of crises and raise citizens' perceived value of their own natural and cultural heritage.

12. Protect sense of place

Encourage tourism policies and business practices that protect and benefit natural, scenic, and cultural assets. Retain and enhance destination identity and distinctiveness. Diversity of place is the reason for travel.

13. Operate business responsibly

Incentivize and reward tourism businesses and associated enterprises that support these principles through their actions and develop strong local supply chains that allow for higher quality products and experiences.

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7 New Trends in Tourism Planning You Must Know

Written by Greta Dallan on July 26, 2022 . Posted in Blog , Uncategorized .

What is Tourism Planning? 

Tourism planning consists of creating strategies to develop tourism in a specific destination. Knowing and understanding current trends allows those in the industry to tailor their operations to meet demand. It is crucial for DMOs and tourism businesses to stay up-to-date.  

Origin and development of tourism planning

Tourism planning was born from the necessity of simultaneously balancing the economic goals of tourism and preserving the destination’s environment and local welfare. It  arose in the second half of the 1990s, when mass tourism brought an unparalleled change in the travel environment. Consequently, the industry had to develop new standards to adapt to this change. 

The aim of tourism planning

The current objective of tourism planning is to control tourism’s unprecedented expansion to limit its negative social and environmental effects, while maximizing its benefits to locals. 

These goals can be reached by:   

• Analyzing the development of tourism in the destination
• Examining the state of affairs in a specific area and executing a competitive analysis
• Drafting tourism policies
• Defining a development strategy and actionable steps

Businesses looking for support through this process can reach out to Solimar International or check out this free toolkit . Solimar has a dedicated team of staff who employ a wide range of skills to promote economic growth, environmental preservation, and cultural heritage conservation. 

Why is Tourism Planning Important? 

Tourism planning should be part of destination development plans because it supports a destination’s long term success and incentivizes the collaboration of key stakeholders.

Tourism planning maximizes tourism benefits like: 

• Promotion of local heritage and cross-cultural empathy
• Optimization of tourism revenue
• Natural environment and resource protection

Tourism planning also minimizes tourism drawbacks such as: 

• Overtourism, and consequently anti-tourism feelings
• Economic leakage
• Disrespect for the local culture
• Damage to the local environment

Tourism planning is also important because, by creating plans and strategies, destinations provide an example that other destinations can follow to improve tourism in their area. It ensures that the destination is consistent with changing market trends, constantly addressing tourist and resident needs as they arise. 

This was made clear in the Cayman Islands. The surge of cruise tourism caused a massive influx of tourists, which brought new challenges to the small islands. Consequently, the destination’s goal shifted from attracting tourists to sustainably managing them. The development of a National Tourism Management Plan was key to provide stakeholders with the tools they needed for sustainable tourism management. 

What are the Newest Tourism Trends?

In the planning process, it is fundamental to consider how new tourism trends influence the future of tourism planning and allow destination strategies to stay innovative.

1. Safety and Cleanness

The Covid-19 pandemic brought about significant change to tourism and tourists’ perception of travel. Tourists are now more concerned about safety and cleanliness. They have a preference for private home rental, contactless payments, and booking flexibility due to the constantly-evolving global health situation. They are also more willing to visit natural environments and less crowded destinations where they feel safer.

→ Tips for DMOs : Have safety and cleanliness standards, allow flexible bookings and contactless payments, and focus on open-air experiences. 

An excellent example of these practices is Thailand, which decided to boost tourism after Covid-19 by rebranding itself as a safe tourist destination , issuing safety certificates to infrastructures to build public trust. 

2. Social Media

Social media is the preferred channel for travel inspiration, influencing travelers’ decision-making because videos and pictures create an emotional bond between people and places. 

The preferred platform depends on the traveler’s generation :

• Gen X uses Pinterest and aesthetically pleasing blogs
• Millennials use Instagram
• Gen Z uses TikTok

Generation Z is also more willing to travel after Covid, and they will have  high spending power in the next few years . 

Video content is favorable because of the high engagement and interaction it creates compared to pictures. In this context, TikTok is the future of travel marketing. On this fast-growing platform, videos are likely to become viral because of the app’s algorithm. For example, the travel campaign #TikTokTravel, where people were invited to share videos of their past trips, was viewed by 1.7 billion people . 

→ Tips for DMOs : DMOs can use TikTok to promote attractions, restaurants, and tours partnering with influencers. Social media can attract new customers, monitor Instagrammable locations, and manage overcrowding by promoting lesser-known areas. This all helps shift tourists away from hot spots. 

Follow Solimar International’s success with social media promotion through their World Heritage Journeys of the European Union project. By providing research, media-rich itineraries, website promotion, and mobile maps, Solimar International can help your organization reach its target audience.

3. BLeisure Travel

Due to technology, the separation between work and life is blurred. This premise gives birth to the BLeisure travel, a genre of travel that combines business and leisure . Aside from those who travel for work, combining some leisure during their stay, there is an increasing number of digital nomads. These people are freelancers or smart workers who decide to adopt a traveling lifestyle. They will look for business hotels where they can easily obtain a fast Internet connection and a good working environment.

Some destinations are rebranding themselves, targeting those who work remotely. A good example is Aruba, which promotes itself as a paradise for workation .  

4. Destination Uniqueness

The tourism market is becoming increasingly competitive, especially for destinations with similar climates or natural features. To stand out, destinations need to focus on their distinctive assets. Places should identify a destination brand, which highlights their culture and the unique experiences they offer to tourists, instead of branding common and widely-available tourism practices.

An example of destination uniqueness as a trend of tourism planning is Uganda, which is widely known as a safari destination. The country rebranded itself by focusing on its one-of-a-kind cultures, landscapes, food, and traditions, labeling itself “The Pearl of Africa.” This is one aspect of Uganda’s tourism planning process. By identifying and promoting a destination brand, Uganda aims to develop an immersive tourism for meaningful and transformative experiences abroad. 

5. Transformative Travel 

Transformative travel is an expression of the experience economy combined with experiential travel. The latter is about living once-in-a-lifetime, off-the-beaten-track experiences rather than conventional ones, connecting visitors with local cultures. 

Transformative travel is defined by the Transformational Travel Council as:

 “ intentionally traveling to stretch, learn and grow into new ways of being and engaging with the world.”

Therefore, transformative travel is an immersive experience that aims to inspire personal transformation, growth, and self-fulfillment. People travel to transform their own lives and the lives of those who live in the destination. 

→ Tips for DMOs : Destinations should focus on providing unique and authentic experiences that connect travelers with locals. This enables tourists to experience local culture, food, and lifestyles, lending way to authentic experiences that they are sure to remember.

6. Sustainability and Community Engagement

Travelers are becoming more conscious of their environmental impact, and they are more willing to adopt a sustainable travel style. This means not only doing less harm to the environment, but also making a positive impact on cultures and economies, generating mutually beneficial relationships between tourists and locals.

An excellent example of a country that stays ahead of trends in tourism planning is Jamaica. Instead of boosting sun and beach tourism development, Jamaica has recently focused on community-based tourism , providing several experiences that empower locals. 

By focusing on poverty reduction, gender empowerment, equality and employment, Jamaica utilizes tourism to achieve social justice goals. 

Similarly, Solimar contributed to an Artisan Development project in Morocco. By strengthening the connection between local artisans and tourists, Marrakech and Fez saw a significant increase in direct selling to consumers, which contributed to increased local welfare.

7. Technology to Manage Overtourism

The rise of charter flights boosted mass tourism. This has pressurized cities, raising the debate on the limits of acceptable change and generating anti-tourism sentiments among residents. One example of this is in Sedona, Arizona, where we helped manage visitor flow by marketing and promoting the nearby towns and attractions in Arizona’s Verde Valley . 

→ Tips for DMOs : Destinations should exploit technological advances to develop crowd management techniques. Some DMOs used gamification to manage tourism flow, spreading visitors in less known or less crowded areas. This is popular in London, for example, with the Play London with Mr. Bean app, a program that allows tourists navigate to different parts of the city and find points of interest quickly. This gives the city the opportunity to redirect tourist flows to spread-out spots in London.

To learn more about the tourism planning process and future trends in the tourism industry, visit our Institute for Sustainable Destinations website today. 

By Greta Dallan & Hannah Lambert

Tags: #regenerativetourism , #SustainableTourism , #tourismstrategy , #travelindustry , destinationmanagementorganization , DMO development , dmos , regenerative travel , tourism development , Tourism Planning , Tourism trends

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Cultural Heritage Tourism: Five Steps for Success and Sustainability

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Preparing The Tourism Plan

In step-by-step fashion, this page discusses the elements involved in developing community tourism plans.

Show me information for:

Plan outline.

A tourism plan is described as a written document produced on behalf of a community by a group of people representing a broad cross-section of interests. We propose that the plan provide a framework for businesses, local government and other organizations to analyze tourism resources and concerns, and encourage tourism development and promotion within the community. The plan needs to be monitored and reviewed to allow for appropriate changes.

Tourism Plan Components

A tourism plan should include a clear vision about why the plan is being developed and a thorough assessment of the current state and future potential of tourism in your community. It should chart a course of action for developing your tourism product and attracting your target markets.

The following components are essential:

• A short introduction that answers the following questions:
• What are the plan’s purpose and focus?
• Who developed the plan and under what authority?
• What does the plan hope to accomplish?
• When was the plan prepared? When will it be monitored and reviewed?
• How was the plan developed? How was public input obtained?
• How should the plan be used? Who will use it?
• Why is the plan important to the community?
• The stated tourism policy for the community.
• A summary of the community's tourism markets.
• Lists of the community's tourism assets.
• Lists of the community's tourism concerns.
• The community's tourism goals.
• The community’s tourism objectives.
• The action steps required to accomplish each objective.

Plan Format

A Sample Tourism Plan can be viewed here . It primarily consists of lists and charts. If it is stored electronically in a Microsoft Word document or a PowerPoint presentation, amendments and additions can be easily incorporated and shared amongst committee members and interested parties.

Plan Content

The tourism plan should deal with the five key components of tourism:

• Attractions
• Infrastructure
• Human Resources

Who Prepares the Plan?

The tourism committee, will be responsible for producing a tourism plan and guiding its implementation.

It would be helpful if all members of the tourism committee reviewed this Community Tourism Planning Guide prior to the first committee meeting.

Committee Meetings

Once you have a commitment from representatives of a broad range of interest groups, it is time to call the first meeting. Being well-prepared and organized will start the process off on the right foot. By gathering relevant information, circulating necessary documents ahead of time and drafting a clear and manageable agenda, you will ensure that your meetings are productive and completed in the time allotted. Remember, a successful meeting is measured by what is accomplished, not by how long it lasts. Fatigue will set in and productivity will wane if meetings exceed two-and-a-half hours.

The steps involved in organizing tourism committee meetings are outlined in further detail as you continue to read on.

Establish Meeting Time and Date

The meeting could be set by the municipal council, which might assign a person to notify other committee members of the details. The council may also provide initial leadership to start the process. At this time, it is recommended to secure a suitable meeting space, source required audiovisual equipment and book any required catering

Compile Background Information

For the first meeting, compile as much pertinent background information on tourism in the district as possible. The assigned resource person could make a valuable contribution to the committee by compiling relevant information, which may include the following:

• Municipal information – Official Community Plan (OCP), parks and recreation master plan, economic development strategy
• Tourism statistics – tourist information/visitor services centre statistics, campground occupancy data, highway traffic volumes
• Tourism promotional material – local/regional/provincial/federal promotional pieces, online content and/or video productions Tourism Saskatchewan, various government departments and agencies, as well as your local municipal office can provide some of this information.

Assemble Meeting Materials

For each meeting, the committee should ensure that they have the following resources readily available:

• Copies of the Community Tourism Planning Guide
• Adequate tables, chairs and wall space
• Flip chart(s) with plenty of paper and an easel or method of mounting the chart for easy viewing
• General office supplies – felt markers, push pins, masking tape, pens/pencils, notepads (for each member)
• Background information compiled in the previous step
• Coffee and/or refreshments
• Name tags/cards if members are not acquainted
• Copies of the agenda
• Laptop(s) for presentations and recording minutes
• Audiovisual equipment, including a projector and screen (if required)

Draft Meeting Agenda

An agenda serves to keep the meeting focused and to assist the chair if the group strays off-topic. The agenda for the first meeting should be distributed to committee members in advance of the meeting date and should include:

• Welcome and opening message by the chair
• Personal introductions by each committee member
• Review of the agenda
• Review of the committee’s terms of reference
• Review of the Community Tourism Planning Guide
• Review of the background information
• Tourism policy
• Selection of a chairperson
• Selection of a recorder (if not provided by council)
• Consideration could be given at this time for obtaining the services of a qualified facilitator
• Review of decisions reached and any assignments made, including the date to be completed
• Date and agenda for the next meeting

Role of Chairperson/Recorder

Meeting follow-up.

During the course of this or other meetings, questions may arise that committee members cannot answer. The chairperson, in consultation with the group, can seek answers to these questions by assigning responsibility. Designated committee members can collect pertinent information and report back to the committee within an agreed-upon time frame.

Meeting Documentation

Throughout the meetings, there will be a need to keep track of what has been discussed and approved. Establishing and maintaining a record of committee activities can be done as follows:

• The chairperson or an appointed member can record lists and group statements on a flip chart or whiteboard for all to see. This can be done in point form as the meeting proceeds, and is a good idea, since it helps keep the group focused on the topic under discussion.
• The appointed recorder will keep detailed minutes for subsequent distribution to committee members. The minutes will form a permanent record of what takes place at each meeting and when steps in the process are completed. The date of completion should be recorded. A laptop computer is useful and convenient for recording, amending and distributing minutes.

Tourism Markets

Before addressing the task of listing your markets and describing or profiling them, spend a short period of time in open discussion about your community's tourism policy.

Identify Tourism Markets

Think about what you are trying to achieve through your tourism policy. Your policy may state that you want tourists to increase their length of stay and the amount of money they spend in your community. What kind of information will you need to help meet the objectives of your policy?

Tourism Saskatchewan has assembled market segment profiles for Canadian leisure travellers. You can view them here .

During your general discussion of tourism markets, the committee should consider the following questions about your current visitors:

• Why do people travel to your community? Is it for pleasure, business or both? Is it to visit friends or relatives, attend an event or participate in an activity? Are they coming to your community to learn something? Do you know how many visitors fall into each of these categories?
• When do people travel to your community? (e.g. weekends, holidays, hunting season, winter, summer)
• How do people travel to your area? (e.g. car, motorcoach, recreational vehicle, aircraft)
• From where do your tourists come? Are they from nearby towns, cities, rural areas, other provinces or other countries?
• Do you know other "demographic" information about visitors to your community? For example, can you put them into categories of age, gender, income, education, marital status, or occupation? If this kind of specific data is not available, make your best guess.
• What knowledge do you have concerning tourism markets in other communities?
• What are the trends in travel and what attracts tourists today?

A general discussion of all of the above is worthwhile. Remember to think in terms of your own community and the area in which it is located. Keep in mind that throughout the entire planning process, the tourism plan must take into consideration your community's regional context.

Many of your tourism markets will be similar to those of nearby communities. Although you are developing a tourism plan for your own community, many of the objectives you will eventually develop may entail working and cooperating with other communities.

Dedicate about 30 minutes to a general discussion of tourism markets at this meeting of the committee. In the next step, you will develop your tourism market profiles.

Develop Tourism Market Profiles

To put tourism markets in focus, the committee must develop tourism market profiles, which describe the types of tourists who currently visit or pass through your community. Visitors or tourists can be categorized according to their reasons for travel:

• Attendees of cultural events/performances
• Business travellers
• Road and utility work crews
• Sports teams and spectators
• Delegates of conventions/meetings
• Snowmobilers
• Motorcoach tour travellers
• Visitors of friends and relatives
• Ecotourism or outdoor adventure enthusiasts
• Attendees of agricultural fairs/exhibitions
• People seeking professional services (medical visits, business appointments)

Types of tourists will vary from community to community. Information about the types of tourists visiting or passing through your community should be tabulated, using a chart similar to the Tourism Market Profile Chart which can be found here .

A copy of this should be drawn on a flip chart or whiteboard for use during the meeting. As tourism market profiles are developed, the chairperson or an appointed member should fill out the chart. You could distribute individual blank copies of the Tourism Market Profile Chart to each participant to work through as a group.

Use a pencil when marking individual charts or have additional blank charts available. Changes to the profiles may occur later in the planning process as input is sought from businesses, museum societies and other relevant organizations.

As you proceed with your profiles, the chairperson should ask all committee members for input on what types of tourists visit or pass through your community. The tourist types should be recorded along the left margin of the Tourism Market Profile Chart.

Next, the chairperson should ask the committee if questions beyond those appearing along the top margin of the chart should be included. Additional questions should be recorded in the spaces available.

The committee can now profile tourism markets by simply answering each question about each tourist type and filling in the blanks. If some of the questions are difficult to answer, the committee should make its best guess by consulting the reference material that was gathered for the meeting and making use of committee members’ knowledge about visitors to the area.

Once questions related to each tourist type have been answered, record the information. It will form an important component of your tourism plan. To complete the chart, rank each tourism market in order.

Rank Your Tourism Markets

Ranking your tourism markets is beneficial for several reasons. Through the exercise of ranking, your major markets will become readily apparent. The results of these rankings are valuable later in the planning process when the committee must decide where to concentrate its efforts. Ranking your markets is also important because it stimulates more thought and discussion regarding this very vital element of the tourism plan.

Determine the importance of each of your tourism markets (types of tourists) by exploring the following questions:

• How many of each tourist type come to your community?
• How much time does each tourist type spend in your community?
• How much money does each tourist type spending your community?

You do not need exact figures to apply these criteria. To illustrate, simply determine whether anglers are more or less important to your markets than sports teams and spectators.

Indicators for ranking tourist types appear in spaces along the left-hand side of the Tourism Market Profile Chart.

A grading system can be used if the committee has difficulty determining rank. Committee members individually grade each tourist type on a scale of one to 20. Twenty represents the highest importance, one represents the lowest. Grading is done independently and the results are passed on to the chairperson for tabulation.

Here is an example of how it works:

Eight committee members grade a tourist type as follows:

First member gives a grade of....................8

Second member gives a grade of.............12

Third member gives a grade of ................15

Fourth member gives a grade of................9

Fifth member gives a grade of .................17

Sixth member gives a grade of.................13

Seventh member gives a grade of ..........14

The chairperson gives a grade of.............10

Total..........................................................98

Once the committee grades all tourist types, the highest totals will surface as your top tourism markets.

The market with the highest total is the most significant and should be ranked number one on the Tourism Market Profile Chart. The market with the second highest total should be ranked number two and so on.

In the event of a tie, a simple show of hands should suffice to reach a decision.

Keep in mind, the above procedures for ranking or grading will apply not only to tourism markets, but also to assets, concerns and objectives that will be dealt with later in the planning process.

Once the Tourism Market Profile Chart is complete and your markets have been ranked, you will be ready to check the validity of your work.

Solicit Input from Businesses and Relevant Organizations

Prior to the next committee meeting, the chairperson should assign members of the committee to contact relevant businesses, organizations and individuals such as:

• Hotel and motel operators
• Restaurateurs
• Park and campground operators
• Service station operators
• Tourist information booth operators
• Hunting and fishing guides
• Indigenous councils or local groups
• Saskatchewan Ministry of Highways and Infrastructure
• Saskatchewan Ministry of Environment
• Saskatchewan Ministry of Parks, Culture and Sport
• Saskatchewan Ministry of the Economy
• Tourism Saskatchewan
• Destination area/destination marketing representatives Municipal officials
• Retail businesses
• Service clubs
• Cultural event organizers
• Tourist attraction operators (e.g. museums, cultural centres)
• Sporting event organizers
• Golf course operators
• Community Futures Development Corporations

When these businesses and organizations are reached, committee members should provide them with copies of completed Tourism Market Profile Charts and ask for input. This is also an opportune time to explain the tourism planning process.

Mention that assistance would be appreciated at this stage and suggest that there will be further opportunities for input when a draft tourism plan has been formulated. Ask what tourism promotional activities are currently underway and what is planned for the future.

Additions or changes that result from talks with others in the community should be discussed at a subsequent committee meeting. A record of any approved changes or additions should be made at that time.

The next step is to list your community's tourism assets.

Tourism Assets

This part of the process features a brainstorming session by the tourism committee. The session is aimed at developing five lists that will include all of the tourism assets in and around your community. The lists will correspond to the five components of tourism:

Defining Tourism Assets

Tourism assets should be confined to those community assets that can or do attract and serve tourists.

Your community may have a high school, a new grocery store, a recently expanded library and an RCMP detachment – all of which constitute community assets. However, none of these relate directly to tourism unless the asset is somehow unique. For example, a retail outlet that is housed in an historical building would qualify.

Listing and Ranking Tourism Assets

Mark five flip chart sheets with an asset category corresponding to the five components of tourism.

The chairperson can ask the committee to either brainstorm the community’s tourism assets or offer suggestions, one by one, until all possibilities have been explored.

Keep in mind that assets can be placed under more than one category. This is helpful if the committee has difficulty deciding where an asset fits. Also, tourism assets do not necessarily have to be within your community. For example, tourists travelling through your area may be going to or coming from an attraction, such as a national or provincial park, that is some distance away. In this instance, the park should be recorded on the Tourism Attraction Assets list.

Once you have established a list of assets for each of the five key components of tourism, each list should be ranked.

Your tourism assets should be ranked to highlight the community's tourism strengths. You will want to build on these when it comes time to establish your tourism objectives and tourism action steps. When considering the importance of tourism assets, the committee should ask the following:

• How attractive is the asset to tourists?
• How unique is the asset to your community?
• How easily can the asset be promoted to tourists?
• How effective is the asset in attracting tourists to your community to spend time and money?

The chairperson should lead the group in ranking the tourism assets that have been identified for each of the five components of tourism. The importance of each asset should be designated by assigning it a number. Rank the assets, one-by-one, from most important to the least. For example, consider all of the assets listed under Tourism Attraction Assets and number accordingly, then move on to Tourism Infrastructure Assets and so on.

If difficulty arises during the ranking of any tourism asset, you can use the grading system described above.

Tourism Concerns

The committee is now ready to compile five lists of the community's tourism concerns. Again, one list is needed for each of the five key components of tourism. Before starting your lists, you must understand what is meant by tourism concerns and how they relate to your markets and your assets.

What are Tourism Concerns?

Tourism concerns can include:

• Negative assets – Check your lists of assets, as well as your Tourism Market Profile Chart. Do either your assets or your markets have any negative features?
• Outright liabilities – Perhaps there is a shortage of skilled employees, which are critical to providing the quality tourism experience visitors expect. Committee members should try to list all concerns, even those that seem insurmountable, because someone else may be able to offer a solution. Even if no solution is found, you will have discussed the matter and put it into realistic perspective for the community.
• Undeveloped ideas – They may include great ideas that have not received action. Again, your assets lists and market profiles will likely reveal interesting suggestions about what could or should be done to increase tourism in your community.

It is important to consider both the positive outcomes and the challenges of proposals for increasing tourism. When rephrased negatively, a great idea can become a concern.

• Few clean washrooms at local service stations (tourism businesses)
• No well-maintained and easy to reach parking areas (tourism infrastructure)
• Interesting attractions are not visible from the highway (tourist attractions)
• Some merchants have not recognized the importance of hospitality and customer service (tourism human resources)

Any one of the above could be listed as a concern. If you have difficulty categorizing a particular concern under the five key components of tourism, it probably has not been stated specifically enough.

Remember, the more specific you are in expressing your concerns, the easier it will be to find a solution.Remember, the more specific you are in expressing your concerns, the easier it will be to find a solution.

Listing and Ranking Tourism Concerns

To list and rank tourism concerns, use the same procedures you followed for tourism assets. Create five lists of tourism concerns – one for each of the tourism components. If you have sufficient wall space, keep your tourism assets lists and the Tourism Market Profile Chart posted for easy reference.

Once each list is complete, the concerns should be ranked. By ranking, your biggest concerns will receive the attention that they deserve. When it comes time to seek municipal and public input on your tourism plan, it will become readily apparent if your principal concerns are in line with what others think. As an added benefit, if the committee identifies easily addressed concerns that can lead to highly visible and positive results, they can be used to bolster community support for the committee’s work.

The following criteria apply to determining the importance of tourism concerns:

• Issues that have a negative effect on many or all of your tourism markets should rank higher than those that affect a fewer number.
• Consider how much time, effort and money will be needed to address the identified matter. Obvious concerns that can be more easily addressed should rank higher than those requiring a substantial commitment. Capture the easy “wins” first.

Again, if the committee experiences difficulty when ranking concerns, use the grading system described above.

When this stage of the process is complete, the committee should have lists of valuable information and a reasonably good understanding of the community's tourism markets, assets and concerns, and how they relate to each other.

The recorder should make sure this background information forms part of the committee's minutes.

Your next step is to state your community's tourism goals.

Tourism Goals

Defining tourism goals.

Tourism goals are clear, concise statements that broadly outline what the committee would like to see happen to tourism in the community. All goals must be compatible with the community's tourism policy and should provide direction for more specific objectives to follow.

How to Develop Goals

A simple way to state tourism goals is to insert the words "to improve" in front of each of the five basic components of tourism. Thus, the committee's goals would be:

• To improve tourism attractions;
• To improve tourism businesses;
• To improve tourism infrastructure;
• To improve tourism human resources; and
• To improve tourism promotion.

By stating tourism goals in this fashion, the committee is assured that all the tourism concerns (also stated in relation to the five components) will be considered.

Tourism Objectives

Defining tourism objectives.

Tourism objectives are more specific than goals. They are the stated desires of your committee and represent the ends to which community action should be directed. If acted upon, tourism objectives will help you accomplish your tourism goals. Each tourism goal will likely involve several tourism objectives.

Setting objectives is a difficult, but necessary process. The following guidelines will assist the committee in determining them.

Tourism objectives:

• Do not have to be stated as complete sentences
• Should be clear and concise – Would someone outside of the committee or community understand it?
• Should help accomplish the goal to which they relate
• Should be measurable – In six months, will you be able to determine whether an objective has been fully accomplished, partly accomplished or not accomplished at all?
• Should be realistic – Does the objective relate to an existing or potential market? Do you have or can you acquire the resources needed to accomplish the objective?

How to Develop Objectives

Examples of tourism objectives can be found in the Sample Tourism Plan here . The committee should set aside a few minutes to read over the sample objectives provided. When this brief orientation is complete, you should be ready to develop objectives of your own.

Focus on one goal at a time. As you develop objectives for each of the five tourism components, be sure to have the Tourism Market Profile Chart and the corresponding list of assets and concerns posted for easy reference. For each tourism component, reproduce the Goals and Objectives Worksheet on a separate flip chart sheet.

Each objective is formed by restating one concern as a positive statement that will help to accomplish the tourism goal. It may be possible to have one well-worded objective that will adequately deal with more than one concern.

Avoid wording that is so broad or general that the objective becomes difficult to fulfil or measure.

In determining objectives, examine the relationship between the needs and wants of your tourism markets and the tourism resources of your community. For example, your community may be on a frequently used route for motorcoaches travelling along a major corridor. What are the needs and wants of these travellers? Motorcoach operators often want accommodations that provide quality service, competitive rates and restaurants capable of serving larger groups.

You may have these assets and wish to establish an objective such as “to increase motorcoach stopovers in our community from five this year to 20 stopovers next year.” You might consider the following action steps to achieve that objective:

• Identify special tour services in publications and websites produced by Tourism Saskatchewan and local tourism associations
• Contact appropriate tour companies recommended by marketing consultants at Tourism Saskatchewan

Your community may be an attractive location for shopping, business conferences or outdoor activities. An objective might be: “To increase the number of visitors to our community for shopping, business conferences, etc.” Newspaper ads, highway signs, store or mall displays and many other promotional options are additional actions that could help you achieve your objectives.

You can promote a service or an attraction in a number of ways. You will have to choose the option(s) appropriate to your tourism policy, the specific tourism market(s) you are trying to reach and your community's financial and human resource capabilities.

As you establish objectives, always consider your tourism markets, assets and concerns, and think about how realistically you can satisfy the market needs that you have identified.

The process for developing objectives should unfold as follows:

• Display the necessary flip charts.
• Write your goals in the appropriate column of the Goals and Objectives flip chart sheet. Committee members may follow along on their individual Goals and Objectives Worksheets.
• Take a few minutes to review your Tourism Market Profiles, as well as the tourism assets and concerns lists relating to the goal you are considering.
• Focus on the tourism concerns list and be certain all wording is specific and easily understood, and that all your bases have been covered.
• Make any changes to your tourism concerns list that result from your review.
• Focus on the first concern on the list and determine what should be done to address it.
• Write an objective that addresses this concern (refer to the Sample Tourism Plan for hints on what objectives could look like). Experience has shown that it is often best to write down your first thoughts. Once the committee has something on paper, you can add, delete or amend at will. Do not worry about neatness, this is a time for creative thinking.
• When everyone is satisfied with the wording of the objective, move on to the next concern and develop the next objective.
• When all tourism concerns relating to your first goal have been addressed, display your tourism assets and concerns lists for the next goal and repeat the process.

As you continue, make sure the committee's recorder captures the conversation accurately. When you are satisfied that the concerns have been properly stated and addressed with objectives, you are ready to start ranking the objectives. To avoid fatigue, committee meetings should not exceed two-and-a-half hours. Consequently, you may decide to rank the objectives at your next meeting.

Ranking Objectives

The procedure for ranking objectives differs from the process that you used to rank tourism assets and concerns. Objectives are ranked together regardless of the tourism goal to which they relate.

To rank objectives, make use of the grading system described above. Following this procedure, as you grade each objective you are also determining the rank. To start with, the committee should rank only about 10 objectives in order of priority (one being the most important and 10 being the least).

A priority list of 10 objectives is recommended to provide direction as to what the committee wants to initially achieve. All remaining objectives should be considered of equal importance and may be addressed whenever the committee wishes.

Ranking your objectives is a very worthwhile exercise. For everyone who will review the plan, the process highlights what the committee feels are the community's tourism priorities. When it comes to implementing the plan, the committee will be able to assign responsibility and develop timelines quickly and appropriately.

To begin, display your Goals and Objectives Chart and look at all of the objectives together. The following criteria will help you to assess and prioritize your objectives. Consider how effectively they:

• Attract more visitors
• Encourage visitors to stay longer
• Encourage visitors to spend more money
• Minimize adverse social, economic and/or environmental effects
• Produce highly visible results when accomplished
• Appeal to the community at large
• Support the community at large
• Reflect what the community is capable of achieving

There will be both short-term and long-term objectives. Short-term objectives are identifiable by how easily they can be accomplished and how quickly they will show results. By their nature, long-term objectives will require considerably more time to accomplish.

The committee is now well on its way to completing the first draft of the tourism plan. You have stated all your objectives clearly and are ready to carry on with how you propose to accomplish them.

Tourism Action Steps

Defining tourism action steps.

It is important to outline in a detailed, step-by-step fashion, the various actions needed to achieve individual objectives. In all likelihood, a number of action steps will be required for each. They should be very specific, and should dispel any confusion about what needs to be done and how to accomplish it. While tourism action steps represent the committee’s best guess as to what should be undertaken to accomplish each objective, they may lead to a dead end or indicate the need to develop alternate plans.

For examples of tourism action steps, refer to the Sample Tourism Plan here .

How to Develop Action Steps

Distribute copies of the Actions Steps Worksheet which can be found here . The worksheet summarizes the process of developing action steps that are required to achieve your determined objectives. The top of the worksheet should be completed for each objective before you develop the corresponding action steps. There is also a space to provide background (or justification) for the objective that has been stated. This brief background statement should be developed by the committee and noted as each objective is addressed. It allows the committee to describe why the objective is being proposed, and will help municipal council and others to better understand your thinking.

As you proceed, keep in mind that individual committee members will eventually be responsible for supervising the coordination of each step after the tourism plan has been drafted, submitted to the municipal council for review and approval, and feedback has been received from the public.

Action steps should be listed in the order in which you expect them to be accomplished.

For the moment, there is no need to formally assign responsibility or set specific deadlines for the action steps. This will be done after the committee has received input from municipal council and the public. Input may result in significant changes to the plan. The committee should always strive to be as flexible as possible throughout the process.

Once you have outlined your tourism action steps, you will have everything you need to develop the first draft of the tourism plan. Remember, you can always refer to the Sample Tourism Plan to review the outline and content for your draft plan.

When the draft plan is submitted to municipal council, it is advisable to include a list of businesses, individuals, organizations and other government agencies that the committee feels should have input into the plan. Council may wish to make additions to this list.

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Tourism master plan to revive Great Keppel (Woppa) Island features eco-resort, jetty and sewage plant

Once an 1980s party paradise, Great Keppel (Woppa) Island could soon be transformed back into a tourism mecca featuring an eco-resort, glamping space and conservation areas.

After more than 15 years of uncertainty, the Queensland government has released a master plan for the island's future.

Big ticket items include allowances for an eco-resort, glamping, an access jetty, new sewage infrastructure and more cultural experiences.

"It's a beautiful island," Minister for State Development and Infrastructure Grace Grace said.

"We'll be building boardwalks, we'll be putting the infrastructure in to meet the visitation and tourism increases.

"We'll be looking at concept designs, we'll be looking at marina facilities, we'll be doing all that work."

Buildings in ruins

Sydney-based developer Tower Holdings bought the leases to the site in 2006 but shut the doors two years later.

Although a number of developers have tried to revive the resort, it has sat idle ever since and buildings are in ruins.

The Queensland government has been working with the Livingstone Shire Council, local operators and traditional owners for more than five years to develop the master plan for the island.

Queensland Tourism Minister Michael Healy said the government would put $30 million towards implementing the plan in partnership with the local council.

"Our $30 million investment provides a significant boost towards implementing the concept master plan and delivering the priority actions, such as a new wastewater treatment plant and improving maritime access," he said.

Meeting Queensland's tourism targets

Despite more than 50,000 visitors each year, it is hoped the new plan will attract people for longer stays on the island and bring even more visitors to central Queensland. 

Capricorn Enterprise chief executive Mary Carroll has welcomed the initiatives. 

"This master plan is the critical first step in ensuring that the necessary technical bodies of work can be expedited by government to pave the way to attract sustainable development as soon as possible for our destination to help achieve the state's Towards Tourism 2032 targets," she said.

"One quarter of the Capricorn Coast's tourism economy is generated because of Great Keppel Island (GKI), which increases to over 50 per cent with the realisation of the GKI master plan vision."

She said visitors to the island generated $49.9 million in revenue for local businesses and that would increase by another $95.9 million with the implementation of the master plan, "bringing the total visitor spend to $145.8 million".

Tristan Jones has worked on the Island for five years and said the biggest issues were wastewater, a lack of fresh water and getting onto GKI safely.

"The sooner we can get some sort of mini marina or something like that built where we can land the ferry safely, the better," he said.

He said when he speaks to visitors, many of them talk about seeing the Island returned to its "former glory". 

Traditional owners have also welcomed the provisions in the new master plan for cultural tourism.

Woppaburra Land Trust chairperson Valmai Smith said it would create on-country employment.

"The rejuvenation of Great Keppel Island (Woppa) will benefit the Woppaburra people by caring for country and maintaining our cultural and spiritual connection to the island," she said.

"It will also create on-country employment and economic opportunities for Woppaburra people, and we look forward to working in partnership with other businesses, organisations and all three levels of government to realise these opportunities."

Work is expected to start this year.

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