Tourism and regional development essay examples

Q. 1
Tourism planning is a concept that can be explicated as a form of economic development planning that has the primary aim of achieving tourism related objectives, which vary greatly between the public and the private sector. Most of the planning is carried out by the government in the public sector. Such tourism planning involves analyzing socioeconomic factors, environmental aspects, land and estate policies, infrastructure development, employment and labor concerns, and so on. However, the private sector concerns itself with investment objectives which include aspects of marketing, management, operations, finances and product development.
Tourism planning is essential in order to maintain a mutual direction and conviction for achieving tourism objectives, and it involves a participation which includes many representatives. The initial step of the practice is analyzing the result – negative or positive – of undertaking development, and issues of resources, that may arise. The second step is assessing how well a destination can perform in the travel market. The third step is concerned with the Provision of a certain level of foresight in the overall progress concerning tourism development in a certain region.
This Strategic Plan for Sustainable Tourism and Green Jobs looks into how tourism can be utilized to improve livelihood of the locals. This plan looks upon not only how tourism in Indonesia can be improved upon but also how it can be used for development purposes. Recognizing the need to develop this sector, the Ministry of tourism and creative economy has posted its vision “ the realization of welfare and quality of life of the people of Indonesia, through moving tourism and creative economy” . It can be seen that tourism has a direct effect on economic factors, such as employment. That is why, drafting a strategy and following it with proper execution is of the utmost importance to tourism development.
Q. 2
In certain areas of the world, sports are the primary tourist attractions. A link between sports and tourism can refer to one of two different scenarios: either, tourists are travelling in order to watch a sports event, or Athletes travel into the country to participate in a certain event. This form of tourism is known as Sports Tourism, and is so popular to the extent that the governments direct extra funds towards developing national sports. Getz (1991) listed 6 reasons why cities host such events. the first was to draw people into the city, second to attract people to the neighboring areas, third for publicity, fourth to initiate revisits, fifth to develop existing facilities and finally to aid regeneration. With time, many countries are embracing sports tourism. They consider this a lucrative idea in fighting recession. Sports tourists tend to spend more, stay longer as compared to other tourists.
Sports tourists can be categorized into several sub-categories: Elite athletes, Outdoor, adventure participants, Athletics spectators, committed football fans, Golf /skiing participants, Mass Participants in sport events, socials and enthusiasts and Nostalgia sports tourists. It is important to mention that sports tourism, much like many products in the service industry, is subject to seasonality. For instance, the inflow of tourists during Olympics compared to normal times.
In explaining how sports tourism can benefit a country, UK is a prime example. Figures based on a survey by the Office of National Statistics suggest that in 2011, there were 1. 3 million tourists who had traveled to the UK to view live sport events. Having stayed for long, the tourists spent an average of £850 during their stays, .
Q. 3
The three essential roles that the government plays in tourism are: planning, setting policies, and regulation. The role of tourism is noteworthy in a country’s economy and the government is expected to subsidize promotion, manage destinations and coordinate sectors. For proper delivery of the goals, governments are rapidly embracing partnerships with the private sector.
Tourism is a significant sector in Ireland. In 2002, tourism expenditure amounted to 6 million Euros. Revenues from tourists amounted to approximately EUR 4 billion. The Irish tourism industry is made up of small to medium sized enterprises which are mainly Irish-owned. .
As quoted in the National Tourism Policy Review of Ireland 2004, “ Government policy for the development of the tourism sector in Ireland has focused on supporting sustainable growth in visitor expenditure with an emphasis on a wider regional and seasonal spread of business.” A lot of emphasis is laid on enhancing the tourist experience, as can be seen by the New Vision for Irish Tourism 2003 to 2012, by promising to be the destination of choice which has a wide range of competitive products and services widely distributed throughout the country. There was also promise to provide a tourism experience that constantly exceeds expectations of the customer in terms of sociability, quality of the environment, assortment and culture. The destination would be made a vivacious source of foreign and local revenue. The new vision would respect the natural and constructed environments and supports their conservation and enhancement. .
The following past tourism projects were carried out by the government within the EU support framework for Ireland: The Program for National Recovery 1988-1993, The Operational Program for Tourism 1994-1999, as well as The National Development Plan 2000 -2006. . How the changes required now for sustaining the tourism industry are predicted, analyzed, organized and regulated will define how successful this industry as an investment opportunity and as a source for future government development policies.
Q. 4

Essentially, tourism has two definitions:

1) A socioeconomic activity involving a large population of people traveling domestically or internationally.
2) A vast industry that enables people to participate in tourism as described in (1)
Tourism is a major contributor to economic in a region. Hence plan and administration is required in the industry. This is done with an aim of getting maximum benefit and minimal negative.
In order to compete in the international tourism market, many parties promote and aid in its development. Hence, the formulation of tourism policies is essential in the development process. These policies establish frameworks that contain decisions as to how the process of tourism management may be carried out in a destination. In order for that to happen, the administration in a country must produce statements of intent across their full range of policies, for instance, the economy, health, foreign affairs and so on. A good policy addresses: Objectives of Tourism Development, Rate of Growth, Types of Tourist Development as well as Private and Public Sector Responsibilities.
Sustainable Development can be defined as development that satisfies the needs of the present generation, with negatively affecting the capacity of future generations to satisfy their needs. Planning for sustainable development is necessary, because the amount of tourism in a country is entirely dependent upon the extent to which the external environment and the culture are protected. In order to draft successful policies some of the elements in these policies must be evaluated for sustainable development. This ensures that the environment, community and culture of a destination will be respected.
Q. 5
The UNWTO defines sustainable development as a form of tourism that addresses the needs of all current stakeholders, without hurting the needs of the future stakeholders. Sustainable development can be defined by the environment, socio-cultural factors and economy. The concept here is to maintain stability among all three factors. There are ten basic principles that define Sustainable Development:
– Support the local economy
– Employing staff locally
– Operates in an environmentally friendly manner
– Establish and improve environmental policies
– Supports conservation
– Ecological carrying capacity,
– Involve local community,
– Promote and preserve local culture.
– Ensures quality and safety.
– Educate the visitor.

These principles hope to achieve the following objectives:

1. Placing the environmental factors at the very core of this policy at a local, regional, and overall national level.
2. Ensuring that essential environment and tourism assets are well protected and accounted for.
3. Conducting research in order to better understand and comprehend the connection between tourism and environment.
4. Promoting more greener and environment healthy practices in the tourism sector and also to encourage the development of ecotourism.
5. Establishing a number of beneficial partnerships in the process.
Sustainable development calls for active involvement of all stakeholders, and the political support to ensure that participation and consensus building can take place. However, to make sure such a program successful, effects have to be constantly supervised, and constant regulations and measures have to be introduced wherever necessary. Sustainable development should also ensure that the needs of the tourist are met. This will also be a good way to promoting sustainable tourism practices around the world.
Q. 6
A tourist is person who travels to other countries other than their own, temporarily in order to take part in experiences not found in his country of residence. To better understand tourist behaviour, it is recommended to examine models put forth by 3 theorists from the 1970’s; Plogs, Cohen and Doxey.
Plogs utilized his Psycho centric Model to analyze tourists. For this he used personality characteristics: he defined Allocentrics as Innovators who plan on experiencing new locations and activities, Psychocentrics as travellers who plan on visiting already popular destinations, and already expect what their experience will be like. Mid-centrics were defined as those in between the innovators and traditionalists
Cohen’s studies focused on the primary behaviour of the tourists. He categorized them into four categories: organized mass tourist will not do much themselves’ reliant on “ holiday packages”; Individual mass tourist who will utilize the services available within an existing tourism system to pre arrange a trip before departure from their local country; Explorer type will base their trips purely on what they’ve heard about a certain destination, rather than wanting to form a decision for themselves; and a Drifter- these kinds of tourists get a kick from having an adventure or a new experience, even if it means having to put themselves in danger
Doxey thought differently. He focused more on the impact that tourist would create on the destination region. He recognized the different stages of the relationship a guest holds with respect to his host, or the locals, rather. There are four stages; Euphoria, Apathy, Annoyance, Antagonism. This is referred to as Doxeys Irritation Index

Exploration

The foreigners adapt to the locals culture and get involved themselves, this way they are also able to acquaint themselves personally to some of the locals.

Visitors are welcomed into the country readily.

Apathy
Contact between the locals and a foreigner is formal, and tourism is taken only as a commercial activity, nothing more.
Annoyance
Locals are irritated by foreign people, because they believe tourism is adversely affecting their community and culture
Antagonism
Iritation is openly expressed, yet planning is carried out due to formality
Other factors to be considered include: Duration of stay of the tourist, the cultural gap the tourist and the locals have, how popular tourism is as an industry and the ratio of tourists to locals.
Q. 7
In order to develop a successful Sustainable Tourism Destination, so as to fulfil customer expectations, three factors need to be taken care of: Carrying capacity, designation management and Strategic planning

Carrying Capacity

Mathieson and Wall (1982) define carrying capacity as the maximum number of people that can be accommodated by a site without depletion in the quality of the site. There are four kinds of carrying capacities recognized under this principle:
– Physical Carrying Capacity: involves the tangible experience, such as hotel room, etc.
– Psychological Carrying Capacity: what experience the tourist undergoes
– Biological Carrying Capacity: this only occurs when environmental damage occurs
– Social Carrying Capacity: how the local population perceives the visitors and how they make the tourists feel.
Destination management can refer to how a place is set up to ensure that the experience at the destination spot is of the highest quality. Summarily, it is defined as the organized management of all the elements that a destination is comprised of. This concept also manages whatever consequences the tourists visit had on a destination. It is a holistic approach towards supervision and maintenance of the destination. This concept is the biggest factor which provides the tools to uphold qualities in a destination that make it competitive on the tourism market. It is carried out by the DMO, who, in collaboration with stakeholders, account for and manage the social political and economic factors that might affect the tourism within a destination.

An effective destination management plan requires development planning, marketing and management

A successful equilibrium of all three factors will ensure a sustainable and competitive destination.
Strategic Planning
This is used to plan out, short and long term, the manner in which tourist activities will be carried out. 3 types of strategic planning
– Traditional Strategic Plan which comprises mainly of: Situational Analysis, Objectives / Goals, Strategy Formulation, Market positioning and Mix as well as Implementation and Mix
– The Visionary Approach which is based around a vision; of what the destination may be like in the future. Stakeholders come together, and share their visions as to what the destination should be like and a strategy is drafted accordingly
– . Experience Strategies which has its foundations in what the customer wants in an experience, hence strategies are put forth to ensure the best quality experience for
Strategic Planning has a number of benefits apart from improving quality of the destination for tourism purposes. It brings about a sense of unity between stakeholders; they can then integrate common goals. Joint initiatives under public, private and voluntary sectors can be undertaken. It also brings about a sense of duty and ownership for the stakeholders

Bibliography

International Labor Organization, 2012. Sustainable Tourism and Green Jobs in Indonesia, s. l.: ILO Country Office Jakarta.
Meikle, J., 2012. Football fans boost UK tourism figures. The Guardian.
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, 2004. National Tourism Policy Review of Ireland, s. l.: s. n.
UNEP and UNWTO, 2005. Making Tourism More Sustainable – A Guide for Policy Makers. pp. 11-12.