Tourism Planning: Steps and Procedures

Tourism Planning: Steps and Procedures

Baikuntha Aryal

Abstract

Tourism planning is an important instrument to attract tourists in a particular area or country or anywhere. Only an appropriate and well formulated plan can make a country or area preferable tourist destination. The most important thing is to note that the tourism serves the community or area or country first and then only the tourists themselves. The tourism planning should always consider this point. The tourism planning, like any other planning, involves different steps. Further, because of its multi-dimensional nature and multi-dimensional impacts, many other issues should also be addressed while making a tourism plan. This paper tries to outline the steps involved in formulating a tourism plan, responsible organizations, market mechanisms and the environment for the tourism planning.  

1           Introduction

Tourism is one of many activities in a community or region that requires planning and coordination. Only with coordinated and better formulated planning, tourism yields fruits to the community as well as individuals and the whole society. Planning is the process of identifying objectives, setting targets and defining and evaluating methods of achieving them. By comprehensive tourism planning we mean planning which considers all tourism resources, organizations, markets, and programs within a region. Comprehensive planning also considers economic, environmental, social, and institutional aspects of tourism development.

Planning is a continuous process that helps to achieve the set objective(s) within a specified time frame. Albert Waterston defines Planning as “organized, rational and continuous effort to achieve specific objective”. Planning is a statement which tells about what to do, when to do, who to do and how to do. In general, planning is comprised of five D’s. The first D is about “Desire”, means the identification of the problem. The second D is about “Design”, means to prepare for fulfilling the desire. The third D is about “Deduction” in which the alternatives are identified and analyzed. The fourth D is “Decision” where the best alternative from the “Deduction” phase is chosen. The final D is “Deeds” where the planning comes into action. Like any other planning, tourism planning also comprises all those five D’s.   

2          Tourism Planning

Planning the tourism is bit different than planning other economic and social or infrastructure sector. In fact, its planning process involves all these sectors as they are closely linked with the tourism. Without developing these sectors, tourism cannot be developed on one hand and on other hand each sector addresses the issues of tourism. A good and coordinated planning tries to involve the two approaches of tourism – service and the business.

Tourism is one of many activities in an area that must be considered as part of physical, environmental, social, and economic planning. Though the degree may be different, it is common to find tourism addressed, at least partially, in a regional land use, transportation, recreation, economic development, or comprehensive plan. It depends on the relative importance of tourism to the community or region and how sensitive the planning authority is to tourism activities.

Tourism may also be viewed as a business in which a community or region chooses to engage. Individual tourism businesses conduct a variety of planning activities including feasibility, marketing, product development, promotion, forecasting, and strategic planning. If tourism is a significant component of an area's economy or development plans, regional or community-wide marketing plans are needed to coordinate the development and marketing activities of different tourism interests in the community.

A comprehensive approach integrates a strategic marketing plan with more traditional public planning activities. This ensures a balance between serving the needs and wants of the tourists versus the needs and wants of local residents. A formal tourism plan provides a vehicle for the various interests within a community to coordinate their activities and work toward common goals. It also is a means of coordinating tourism with other community activities.

Although tourism planning does not guarantee the success in tourism, it is an essential activity for every tourist destination area. This is more important in today’s rapidly changing business environments. Planning is very important as tourism has both positive and negative impacts on tourist destinations. On one hand it explores room for the development of the area and on the other hand, it may damage the natural and cultural resources. Gunn (1994) in his authoritative book on tourism planning outlines five distinct reasons for tourism planning - (1) the negative and positive impacts of tourism, (2) more competitiveness of tourism than before, (3) tourism a more complicated phenomenon than previously thought, (4) damages by tourism to natural and cultural resources of the destination areas, and (5) wide participation of people and effects to the community. These reasons clearly suggest that the tourism is not an easy issue as it was thought to be in the past and its multi dimension nature demands clear planning to get benefited by it.  

3          Steps in the planning process

Like any planning, tourism planning is goal-oriented, striving to achieve certain objectives by matching available resources and programs with the needs and wants of people. Comprehensive planning requires a systematic approach, usually involving a series of steps. The process is best viewed as an iterative and on-going one, with each step subject to modification and refinement at any stage of the planning process. Though there are many views on steps of tourism planning we describe following six steps in the planning process.

3.1          Defining Goals and objectives

Obtaining clear statements of goals and objectives is difficult, but important. Ideally, tourism development goals should flow from more general community goals and objectives. It is important to understand how a tourism plan serves these broader purposes. It has to be identified whether the community seeks a broader tax base, increased employment opportunities, expanded recreation facilities, better educational programs, a higher quality of life or any other activities and overall economic development of the community as well as the country.  

3.1.1          How can tourism contribute to these objectives?

If tourism is identified as a means of serving broader community goals, it makes sense to develop plans with more specific tourism development objectives. These are generally defined through a continuing process in which various groups and organizations in a community work together toward common goals. A local planning authority, chamber of commerce, immigration authority, or similar group should assume a leadership role to develop an initial plan and obtain broad involvement of tourism interests in the community. As the impacts of tourism are on general public, their support for the planning process and plan is also important.

Having a good understanding of tourism and the tourism system in community and the tourist destination area is the first step toward defining goals and objectives for tourism development. The types of goals that are appropriate and the precision to define them depend upon how long the community has been involved in tourism and tourism planning.

In the early stages of tourism development, goals may involve establishing organizational structures and collecting information to better identify the tourism system in the community. Later, more precise objectives can be formulated and more specific development and marketing strategies evaluated.

3.2         Identifying local tourism system

When planning for any type of activity, it is important to first define its scope and characteristics. The plans should be clear about exactly what the plan encompasses. A good initial question is, "What does tourism mean?" Tourism is defined in many ways. Generally, tourism involves people traveling outside of their community for pleasure. Definitions differ on the specifics of how far people must travel, whether or not they must stay overnight, for how long, and what exactly is included under traveling for "pleasure". And it has to be clear that whether the tourism plan includes day visitors, conventioneers, business travelers, people visiting friends and relatives, people passing through, or seasonal residents.

Which community resources and organizations serve tourists or could serve tourists? Generally, tourists share community resources with local residents and businesses. Many organizations serve both tourists and locals. This complicates tourism planning and argues for a clear idea of what your tourism plan entails.

The tourism system by can be clarified by breaking it down into three subsystems:

(1) tourism resources,

(2) tourism organizations, and

(3) tourism markets.

An initial task in developing a tourism plan is to identify, inventory, and classify the objects within each of these subsystems.

3.2.1         Tourism Resources

Generally tourism resources are any (1) natural, (2) cultural, (3) human, or (4) capital resources that either are used or can be used to attract or serve tourists. A tourism resource inventory identifies and classifies the resources available that provide opportunities for tourism development. The following table shows the different type of tourism resources.

Table 1: Tourism resources

Natural Resources	Cultural Resources	Human Resources	Capital
·      Climate-seasons ·      Water resources-lakes, streams, waterfalls ·      Flora-forests, flowers, shrubs, wild edibles ·      Fauna-fish & wildlife ·      Geological resources-topography, high mountains, soils, sand dunes, beaches, caves, rocks & minerals, fossils ·      Scenery-combinations of all of the above	·      Historic buildings, sites ·      Monuments, shrines ·      Cuisine ·      Ethnic cultures ·      Industry, government, religion, etc. ·      Anthropological resources ·      Local celebrities	·      Hospitality skills ·      Management skills ·      Seasonal labor force ·      Performing artists-music, drama, art, storytellers, etc. ·      Craftsman and artisans ·      Other labor skills from chefs to lawyers to researchers ·      Local populations	·     Availability of capital, financing ·     Infrastructure-transportation roads, airports, railroads, harbors & marinas, trails & walkways ·     Infrastructure: utilities water, power, waste treatment, communications

3.2.2        Tourism Organizations

Tourism organizations combine resources in various proportions to provide products and services for the tourist. The following table is a partial list and classification of organizations that manage or coordinate tourism-related activities. It is important to recognize the diverse array of public and private organizations involved with tourism. The most difficult part of tourism planning is to get these groups to work toward common goals. A list of these organizations within a community should be developed and their input and cooperation should be obtained in tourism planning efforts. Setting up appropriate communication systems and institutional arrangements is a key part of community tourism planning.

Table 2: Tourism Organizations and Services

Off-Site: Coordination, planning, technical assistance, research, regulation

On-Site: Development, promotion and management, of tourism resources

·      Governmental departments of tourism, commerce, transportation, & natural resources ·      Central, regional, & local tourism associations ·      Educational organizations & consultants, e.g., Travel & Tourism Research Association; Tourism Board ·      Travel information & reservation services

·      Local government organizations, e.g., visitor information, chamber of commerce, convention & visitor's bureaus, parks ·      Businesses: Accommodations: Hotels, motels, Lodges, resorts, bed & breakfast cabins & cottages, Condominiums, second homes, Campgrounds Food & Beverage: Restaurants, Grocery, Bars, nightclubs, Fast food, Catering services Transportation: Air, rail, bus; Local transportation: taxi, limo, Auto, bicycle, boat rental; Local tour services Information: Travel agencies, Information and reservation services, Automobile clubs Recreation Facilities & Services: Winter sports; ski, skating, snowmobile areas; Golf courses, miniature golf; Swimming pools, water slides, beaches; tennis, handball, racquetball courts, bowling alleys; Athletic clubs, health spas; boat rentals and charters; fishing guides; Sporting goods sales & rentals Entertainment: Amusement parks, spectator sport facilities; Gambling facilities such as casinos, bingo; video arcades; art galleries and studios, craft shops, studios, demonstrations; theater, dance, music, film; historic & prehistoric sites; museums: art, history, science, technology; zoos, nature centers, Special festivals and events Support services: Auto repair, boat & recreation vehicle dealers and service; retail shops, sporting goods, souvenirs, clothing; health services: hospitals, clinics, pharmacies; laundry and dry cleaning; beauty & barber shops; communications: newspaper, telephone; banking and financial services

3.2.3        Tourism markets

Tourists makeup the third, and perhaps most important subsystem. Successful tourism programs require a strong market orientation. The needs and wants of the tourists to attract and serve must be the focus of much of the marketing and development activity. Therefore, it is important to clearly understand which tourism market segments to attract and serve. Tourists fall into a very diverse set of categories with quite distinct needs and wants. The different types of tourists, or market segments should be identified that presently serve or would like to serve. This may involve one or more tourism market surveys.

(a) Visitor survey

A visitor survey identifies the size and nature of the existing market and asks the following questions:

• What are the primary market segments that presently attract the tourists?

• Where do they come from?
• What local businesses and facilities do they use?
• What attracted them to the community?
• How did they find out about the local community?
• How satisfied are they with the offerings provided by the community?

(b) Market survey

A market survey (usually a telephone survey) also can be conducted among households in regions from which the tourists are attracted. This type of study helps identify potential markets, and means of attracting tourists to your area.

3.2.4        Tourism market segments

In a general tourism plan, some clear target tourism market segments should be identified. It can be begun by defining the market area from which most of visitors will be drawn. The size of the market area depends upon the uniqueness and quality of the particular "product", transportation systems, tastes and preferences of surrounding populations, and competitiveness. Identifying the market area will help target information and promotion and define transportation routes and modes, competition, and characteristics of local market. Next, the package program should be developed with full descriptions of the time bound activities. The mode of transportation and expected costs should also be outlined.

After having an idea of the market area and kinds of trips that will be serving, begin defining more specific market segments like vehicle campers, downhill skiers, sightseers, family vacationers, single weekenders, and the like. These segments can be more clearly tied to particular resources, businesses, and facilities in the community.

What kinds of products and services are likely to attract each of these groups? Tourist needs as well as their impact on the local community are quite different for day tourists versus overnight tourists. Areas catering primarily to weekend traffic will experience large fluctuations in use. In deciding the relative importance of these different segments, communities need to assess both their ability to provide required services as well as the demand for different types of trips relative to the supply and the competitiveness.

3.2.5        The Environment

A tourism plan is significantly affected by many factors in the broader environment. Indeed, one of the complexities of tourism planning is the number of variables that are outside of the control of an individual tourism business or community. Local populations also must be considered in tourism planning. As they compete with tourists for resources, they can be significantly affected by tourism activity, and they are an important source of support in getting tourism plans implemented. A survey of local residents can be conducted to assess community attitudes toward tourism development, identify impacts of tourism on the community, and obtain local input into tourism plans. Public hearings, workshops, and advisory boards are other ways to obtain public involvement in tourism planning. Local support and cooperation is important to the success of tourism programs and should not be overlooked.

3.3         Generating Alternatives

Generating alternative development and marketing options to meet the goals requires some creative thinking and brainstorming. The errors made at this stage are usually thinking too narrowly or screening out alternatives prematurely. It is wise to solicit a wide range of options from a diverse group of people. If tourism expertise is lacking in the community, help and advice from outside the community should also be taken.

Tourism planning involves a wide range of interrelated development and marketing decisions. The following development questions might be a good start:

• How much importance should be assigned to tourism within a community or region?
• Which general community goal is tourism development designed to serve?
• Which organization(s) will provide the leadership and coordination necessary for community tourism planning?
• What are the relative roles of public and private sectors?
• Which market segments should be pursued; geographic markets, trip types, activity or demographic subgroups?
• What kinds of tourism products and services should be provided? Who should provide what?
• Where should tourism facilities be located?
• What kinds of promotion should be used, by whom, in which media, how much, when?
• What community tourism theme or image should be established?
• What prices should be charged for which products and services?
• Who should capture the revenue?

3.4         Evaluating Alternatives

Tourism development and marketing options are evaluated by assessing the degree to which each option will be able to meet the stated goals and objectives. There are usually two parts to a systematic evaluation of tourism development and marketing alternatives: (1) Feasibility analysis, and (2) Impact assessment. These two tasks are interrelated, but they are linked to answers of two basic questions:

• Can it be done?, and
• What are the consequences?

A decision to take a specific action must be based both on feasibility and desirability.

3.4.1         Feasibility Analysis

Screen of alternatives and eliminating those that are not feasible due to economic, environmental, political, legal, or other factors is a first step in the feasibility analysis. Then the remaining set of alternatives in more detail, paying particular attention to the market potential and financial plan should be evaluated. A realistic assessment of the community's ability to attract and serve a market segment or segments is a next step. This requires a clear understanding of the tourism market in the area and its changing pattern. Also careful identification of competitiveness and evaluation of the local advantages and disadvantages compared to the competition is needed.

Plan toward the future should be made because it takes time to implement decisions and for the actions to take effect. Therefore, a close look at the likely market and competition for several years to come is highly required. If available, forecasts for the travel market in the area should be reviewed.

3.4.2        Impact assessment

When evaluating alternative development and marketing strategies it is important to understand the impacts, both positive and negative, of proposed actions. Table 3 presents a classification of economic, environmental, and social impacts associated with tourism development. The types of impacts and their importance vary across different communities and proposed actions. Generally, the size, extent, and nature of tourism impacts depend upon

• volume of tourist activity relative to local activity
• length and nature of tourist contacts with the community
• degree of concentration/dispersal of tourist activity in the area similarities or differences between local populations and tourists stability/sensitivity of local economy, environment, and social structure
• how well tourism is planned, controlled, and managed.

Both the benefits and costs of any proposed actions should be assessed. While tourism development can increase income, revenues, and employment, it also involves cost. Benefits and costs of tourism development from the perspectives of local government, businesses, and residents should be analyzed.

Table 3: Impacts of Tourism

Economic Impacts	Environmental Impacts	Social Impacts
·   Sales, revenue, and income ·   Employment ·   Fiscal impact-taxes, infrastructure costs ·   Prices ·   Economic base & structure ·   Local and national poverty reduction	·     Lands ·     Waters ·     Air ·     Infrastructure ·     Flora & fauna	·   Population structure & distribution ·   Values & attitudes ·   Education ·   Occupations ·   Safety & security ·   Congestion & crowding ·   Community spirit & cohesion ·   Quality of life

In addition to these impacts, the tourism planning has impacts on local governments also as local government provides most of the infrastructure and many of the services essential to tourism development, including highways, public parks, law enforcement, water and sewer, garbage collection and disposal. Thus tourism decisions should be evaluated with a clear understanding of the capacity of the local infrastructure and services relative to anticipated needs, and both the needs of local populations and tourists should be taken into consideration.

A fiscal impact analysis evaluates the impact of tourism on the community's tax base and local government costs. It entails predicting the additional infrastructure and service requirements of tourism development, estimating their costs, deciding who will pay for/provide them, and how. Further, the question “Will tourism generate increased local government revenue through fees and charges, local sales or use taxes, increased property values or property tax rates, or larger local shares of federal and state tax revenues?” should be tried to addressed.

(a) Impacts on Business and Industry

Businesses that are directly serving tourists benefit from sales to tourists. Through secondary impacts, tourism activity also benefits a wide range of businesses in a community. For example, a local textile industry may sell to a linen supply firm that serves hotels and motels catering primarily to tourists. A local forest products industry sells to a lumberyard where local woodcarvers or
furniture makers buy their supplies. They in turn sell to tourists through various retail outlets. All of these businesses benefit from tourism. If most products and services for tourists are bought outside of the local area, much of the tourist spending "leaks" out of the local economy. The more a community is "self-sufficient" in serving tourists, the larger the local impact.

(b) Impacts on Residents

Local residents may experience a broad range of both positive and negative impacts from tourism development. Tourism development may provide increased employment and income for the community. Although tourism jobs are primarily in the service sectors and are often seasonal,
part time, and low-paying, these characteristics are neither universal nor always undesirable. Residents may value opportunities for part time and seasonal work. In particular, employment opportunities and work experiences for students or retirees may be desired.

Residents may also benefit from local services that otherwise would not be available. Tourism development may mean a wider variety of retailers and restaurants, or a better community library. It may also mean more traffic, higher prices, and increases in property values and local taxes. The general quality of the environment and life in the community may go up or down due to tourism
development. This depends on the nature of tourism development, the preferences and desires of local residents, and how well tourism is planned and managed.

3.5         Implementation, and Monitoring and Evaluation

We will not attempt a complete discussion of decision making, plan implementation, and monitoring, but these are critical steps in the success of a tourism plan. A set of specific actions should be prescribed with clearly defined responsibilities and timetables. Progress in implementing the plan should be monitored and the success of the plan in meeting its goals and objectives should be evaluated on a regular basis. Plans generally need to be adjusted over time due to changing goals, changing market conditions, and unanticipated impacts. It is a good idea to build monitoring and evaluation systems into your planning efforts.

4          Conclusion

Successful tourism planning and development means serving both tourists and local residents. This market orientation must be balanced with a clear view of how tourism serves the broader community interest and an understanding of the positive and negative impacts of tourism development.

It should be noted that tourism should serve the community first and the tourist second. Tourism development must be compatible with other activities in the area and be supported by the local population. Therefore, the tourism plan should closely be coordinated with other local and regional planning efforts, if not an integral part of them.

5          References

Gunn, C. A. (1979). Tourism Planning Crane, Russak & Co. New York.

Kaiser, C. and Helber, L. E. (1978). Tourism Planning and Development, CBI Publishing Distributed by Wm. Heinemann Ltd. London.

Lundberg, D. E. (1980). The Tourist Business (4th ed) CBI Publishing. Boston, Mass. 

McIntosh, R. W. and Goeldner, C. R. (1984). Tourism: Principles, Practices, Philosophies (4th ed.), Grid Publ. Columbus, Ohio.

Mill, R. C. and Morrison, A. (2002). The Tourism System Kendall Hunt Publishing Company, Iowa.

NPC (2007). Three Years Interim Plan National Planning Commission, Kathmandu, Nepal.

Pearce, D. G. (1981). Tourist Development, Longman Group Ltd. London.

Ritchie, J. R. B. and Goeldner, C. R. (Eds) (1987). Travel, Tourism and Hospitality Research: A Handbook for Managers and Researchers, John Wiley and Sons; New York. 1987.