Policy and planning

Tourism College: Introduction Tourism forms the backbone of a country’s economic, social-cultural and environmental goalsfor the sustainable development of a country. The success of tourism is highly dependent on proper planning and effective development strategies that would be sustainable both in the short and long term. Researchers have stressed that there is a need to involve the stakeholders in tourism projects at the planning stage in order to achieve the development goals. Stakeholders include any direct or indirect beneficiaries of the tourism industry in a particular country. This is because the industry is highly sensitive to improper decisions and hence the decision making process must be thorough and predictable. This essay seeks to investigate the role of stakeholder and managers in this industry and the challenges they face during their engagement in the various stages of the development planning process. Stakeholder’s roles in tourism development planning and current challenges facing different stakeholders groups One crucial stakeholder in the tourism industry is the local people who reside in the tourist attraction sites (Fennell, 2001, p. 405). The local people influence the level of acceptability of a project, the efficiency of resource mobilization and hence the effectiveness of any development plans. In the planning stage, they play a key role during the initial research process by providing relevant information regarding the environmental facts within the interesting site (Ozbey, 2002, Para. 2). This information can be used to forecast the challenges that are likely to crop up during the implementation stage. This will help the management to anticipate and plan adequate mitigation measures against the foreseen challenges. Therefore, cooperation of the local people determines the eventual success of tourism project short and long term goals. In this view, the role of ground people is to empower the managers with information resource that helps in project planning and implementation. Stages in tourism planning process, integrated planning tools and spatial planning. Tourism planning process is a multi-stage process that can be effected using different approaches. The first stage requires that the management identify the best tourism system depending on their target environment and customers (Yunis, 2001, p. 33). In the second stage, it is necessary to define both short term and long term goals and objectives of the entire process and to evaluate their feasibility. After this point, it is wise to consider the best alternative project that satisfies the stated goals and objectives. This will ensure only the best tourism project is selected and forwarded for the implementation process. After implementation, it is important to track, monitor, evaluate and correct the various activities in order to align the plan with the laid goals and objectives. There are numerous approaches that can be employed during the planning stage though various countries emphasized on specific approaches. Integrative planning has garnered a lot of interest to many managers due to the advantages that are associated with it. Sustainable tourism development requires that the social, economic and environmental benefits expect from the projects be balanced to avoid the cost that may be paid if one is neglected (Andriotis, 2005, p. 12). The integrated planning process requires that all the stakeholders be engaged in the planning stage to ensure that the welfare of each beneficiary is accounted for before the implementation process (Dredge & Moore, 2000, p. 15). The tourism project must achieve its economic goal, while ensuring safety in the environment and taking care of the welfare of the community surrounding the tourism niche. Hall (2008, p. 76) argues that a strategic and integrated tourism planning maintains harmony among the stakeholders, which is critical for the maturation of the project. Spatial planning requires that proper mechanisms are defined in the planning stage to ensure that there is a prudent utilization of land and natural resources to avoid environmental pollution (Milne, 2000, p. 79). The role of human resources management in tourism enterprises and the contemporary challenges facing HR managers The human resource management is actively involved in the recruiting of the tourism labour force during the implementation stage. The role of the human resource manager is to identify, select, recruit and train the best labour workforce to ensure that there is smooth running of the various activities of the tourism enterprise. The process of recruitment has become a major challenge for the managers due to the diversity of the labour force that characterizes this sector. The tourism sector attracts people from all cultures, genders, languages, religion and the successful employment process relies on the ability of the managers to maintain a balance in the global diversity (UNWTO, 2010, Pp. 12-15). Also, there has been a great emphasis that tourism projects should empower the local community by providing employment to its residents. This has become a major challenge especially in communities where the knowledge and skills required in the tourism system may be limited, which is often the case. In a nutshell, the process of recruitment requires proper selection, motivation and training of the employees in order to achieve a reliable labour force. Discuss the significance of managing human resources for the tourism industry. Identify the key challenges faced by managers in the current environment use relevant examples to support to support your argument. The complexity of labour force in tourism industry requires that the labour force be managed effectively in order to maintain the virtues of teamwork and productivity. According to Pryce and LeeRoss (2010, p. 35), team work in a diverse labour force is at stake if proper human resource management is not instituted. To ensure that the employees get along smoothly, there is a need to foster social cohesion among them by engaging proper training, familiarization programs as well as social events. In South Africa, the human resource managers have had to introduce social games such as football to enhance cohesion among the multicultural nature of their employees (Supporting Tourism, 2013, Para 2). Tourism projects that are located in harsh environment have posed a great challenge since the cost of motivating employing the workers in quite high in these areas (Nickson, 2006, P. 6). This challenge has become evident especially in African countries where the tourist attraction sites are located in remote areas; in brief, management of employees in the tourism sector is significant to align the labour resource to the enterprise goals. In conclusion, tourism industry, the proper integrative approach needs to be upheld through the entire planning process for the project to benefit all the stakeholders. Apart from involving the shareholders of the tourism sector, it is important to apply spatial planning to protect the environment surrounding the tourism niche. The multicultural nature of this industry poses a great challenge to the human resource managers while recruiting the labour force. The human resource has a great task to maintain cohesion between the diverse employees to achieve the optimal goals of the industry. References Andriotis, K., 2005. Tourism Planning. Available through: < http://www. angelfire. com /ks/andriotis /Chapter3. pdf> [Accessed on 29th Aug, 2013] Dredge, D. and Moore, S. 2000. A Methodology for the Integration of Tourism in Town Planning. The Journal of Tourism Studies, 3(1), 8-21. Fennell, D. A. (2001). A Content Analysis of Ecotourism Definitions. Current Issues in Tourism, 4(5), 403-409. Hall, M., 2008. Tourist Planning: Policies, Processes and Relationships. UK: Prentice hall. Milne, S., 2000. Tourism and sustainable development: The global-local nexus. Harlow: Longman. (pp. 35–48). Nickson, D., 2006. Human Resource Management for the Hospitality and Tourism Industries. USA: Butterworth Heinemann. Ozbey F., 2002. Sustainable Tourism Development in Globalisation. International Scientific Conference on Process of Globalisation and Sustainable Development. Available through: [Accessed on 29th Aug, 2013] Pryce, D. and LeeRoss, D., 2010. Human Resources and Tourism, Culture and Industry. UK: Channel View Publications. Supporting Tourism, 2013. Challenges and Opportunities Facing Canada’s Tourism Industry. Available through < http://www. ic. gc. ca/eic/site/034. nsf/eng/00040. html> [Accessed on 29th Aug, 2013] United Nations World Tourism Organisation, 2009. Agenda 21 for Travel and Tourism Industry. Available through [Accessed on 29th Aug, 2013] United Nations World Tourism Organisation [UNWTO], 2010. Sustainable Development of Tourism: Conceptual Definition. Available through [Accessed on 29th Aug, 2013] Yunis, E., 2001. Sustainable Development and Management of Tourism in Coastal Areas. Madrid: WTO Press.