STRATEGIES FOR DEVELOPMENT: THE ROLE OF PLANNING

IN TOURISM

Aroj Bashir&

Muhammad Qasim University of Gujrat

Introduction Planning and planning processes General model of the planning process Tourism and planning Tourism planning at national, regional

and local levels Planning Help to tourism for Sustainable

CONTENTS

The role of planning in shaping physical developments, highlights those aspects of tourism planning in which geographical perspectives are most useful in delivering an understanding of processes of change, although clearly this is not the only way in which tourism is influenced by planning processes.

Tourism planning is an overtly geographic phenomenon, varying not only through time but, more significantly, across space. Planning at national, regional and local scales is now widely encountered.

INTODUCTION

Planning has a key role to play in resolving many of the conflicts that such developments may generate.Planning contain at different mechanism

for: Integrating tourism alongside other economic

sectors Shaping and controlling physical patterns of

development conserving scarce or important resources Providing frameworks for active promotion and

marketing of destinations

INTODUCTION

PLANNING AND PLANNING PROCESSES

Planning has been defined in various ways, but a common perspective recognizes it as an ordered sequence of operations and actions that are designed to realize either a single goal or a set of inter-related goals and objectives.

From this broadly based definition, it follows that planning (including planning for tourism) may take on a variety of forms and may be deployed in a great diversity of situations including physical and economic development, service provision infrastructure improvement, marketing and business operations.

Anticipating and

ordering change

Forward-looking

Seeks optimal solutions to perceived problems

Designed to increase and

maximize possible

developmental benefits

Produce predictabl

e outcomes

PLANNING AND PLANNING PROCESSES

This conceptualization implies that planning is (or should be) a process

Planning

Process

GENERAL MODEL OF THE PLANNING PROCESS

Sets out a general model of the planning

process in which the principal elements in

devising and implementing a plan are predict

as a series of key stages.

GENERAL MODEL OF THE PLANNING PROCESS

There are several features of the general planning model to emphasize:

There is a progression within the planning process from the general to the specific. The process begins with broad goals and refines these to produce specific policies for implementation.

There is an evident circularity in the process by which objectives and the options for realizing those objectives are open to review and amendment in the light of either background analysis or the performance of the plan in practice.

GENERAL MODEL OF THE PLANNING PROCESS

The general model maps out a set of procedures that allow planning to be adaptive to changing circum- stances, a quality that is especially important to tourism planning, where patterns of demand and supply are often volatile. Flexibility should be a key concept for tourism planners.

The general model defines a typical process out of which may be derived many different types of plan or planning approach.

GENERAL MODEL OF THE PLANNING PROCESS

General

sequenc

e for the

producti

on and

impleme

ntation

of a plan

TYPES OF PLAN

TYPES OF PLAN

The master plan approach is perhaps the most traditional and also the least suited to the particular requirements of tourism.

Master plans centre on the production of a perfect statement that provides a framework for guiding development.

The plan defines an end-state (or set of targets) towards which public and/or private agencies are encouraged to work.

Master Plan

TYPES OF PLAN

Targets are normally expected to be attainable within set time periods—typically a five-year time horizon—and once set in motion, a master plan is normally left to run its course until its time has elapsed

The master plan approach has the advantage of adopting a comprehensive view of development processes but has also been widely criticized as being too rigid, inflexible and ultimately unrealistic—not least in the guidance of a variable activity such as tourism.

Master Plan

TYPES OF PLAN

The key difference between incremental plans and master plans is that whereas the master plan is a periodic exercise, incremental planning recognizes a need for constant adjustment of development process to reflect changing conditions.

Incremental Plans

TYPES OF PLAN

The master plan approach, in defining a blueprint for development, would place an emphasis upon Stages 1 and 2 of the general model (specification of broad goals and objectives), the incremental approach shows a much greater concern for Stages 8–10 (monitoring, revision of policy and objectives, and adoption of revised plans).

Incremental Plans

TYPES OF PLAN

The systems is founded on the recognition of interconnections between elements within the system, such that change in one factor will produce consequential and predictable change elsewhere within the system.

In a planning context, systems approaches attempt to draw together four key elements—activity, communications, spaces and time—and map the interdependence between these in producing patterns of development.

Systematic Plans

TYPES OF PLAN

The advantages of a systems approach to planning are that it is comprehensive, flexible, integrative and realistic, as well as being willing to implementation at a range of geographic scales.

On the negative side, however, a systems approach requires a great deal of information in order to comprehend how the system actually works.

It remains the least widely applied of the three methods described

Systematic Plans

TOURISM AND PLANNING Planning is important in tourism for a wide range of

reasons. But which have six important.

1st

Pysical planning processes to control development, it provides a mechanism for a structured provision of tourist facilities and associated infrastructure over quite large geographic areas.

This geographic dimension has become a more significant aspect as tourism has developed. Initially, most forms of tourism planning were localized and site-specific, reflecting the rather limited horizons that originally characterized most patterns of tourism.

TOURISM AND PLANNING2nd

In view of the natural patterns of fragmentation within tourism, any systems that permit co-ordination of activity are likely to become essential to the development of the industry’s potential.

This fragmentation is mirror in the many different elements that are required to come together within a tourism plan, including accommodation, attractions, transportation, marketing and a range of human resources.

Planning systems (when applied in a marketing context) will also enable the promotion and management of tourism places and their products, once they are formed.

TOURISM AND PLANNING

3rd Its clear links between planning

and principles of sustainability. Implicit in the concept of

sustainable tourism are a range of interventions aimed not only at conserving resources upon which the industry depends, but also at maximizing the benefits to local populations that may accrue through proper management of those resources.

TOURISM AND PLANNING4th

Planning can be a mechanism for the distribution and redistribution of tourism-related investment and economic benefits.

This is a particularly important role for planning given that tourism is becoming an industry of global significance but one where activity does not fall evenly across different regions and where the spatial patterns of tourist preference are also level to variation through time.

Planning may assist both the development of new tourist places and, where necessary, the economic realignment of established places that tourists have begun to desert.

TOURISM AND PLANNING5th

The integration of tourism into planning systems gives the industry a political significance (since most planning systems are subject to political influence and control) and therefore provides a measure of status and legitimacy for an activity that has not always been taken too seriously as a force for economic and social change.

TOURISM AND PLANNING

6th A common goal of planning is to anticipate likely

demand pattern and to attempt to match supply to those demands.

Through the exercise of proper controls over physical development and service delivery, planning will aim to maximize visitor satisfaction.

There is now sufficient evidence from around the world that the unplanned tourist destinations are the ones that are most likely to be associated with negative impacts and low levels of visitor satisfaction, whereas the application of effective planning has often enhanced the tourism product, to the benefit of both host and visitor alike.

PRINCIPAL COMPONENTS IN A TOURISM PLAN

DIVERSITY OF TOURISM PLANNING

TOURISM PLANNING AT NATIONAL, REGIONAL AND LOCAL LEVELS

The use of geographical scale is a particularly valuable device for drawing out key differences in emphasis and application within tourism planning, and to illustrate the point, the chapter now addresses tourism planning at the national, regional and local levels.

First, although we may distinguish various geographic scales of planning intervention in tourism, these should be seen as interconnected rather than separate spheres of development.

TOURISM PLANNING AT NATIONAL, REGIONAL AND LOCAL LEVELS

Second, in view of the interconnectivity between the different scales of planning, it follows that some areas of concern will form strands that run across all three levels, albeit with varying degrees of emphasis.

Third, it is inevitable that given the widely differing developmental situations in which tourism planning is applied, there will be marked differences within as well as between levels, from place to place.

A MODEL PLANNING HIERARCHY

TOURISM PLANNING AT THE NATIONAL LEVEL

The significance accorded to national-level planning of tourism varies considerably between destinations but is typically conceptual in character and normally seeks to define primary goals for tourism development and identify policies and broad strategies for their implementation.

a growing number of nations, especially in the developing world, have positioned tourism centrally within their national economic development plans.

TOURISM PLANNING AT THE NATIONAL LEVEL

Second common role for national tourism plans is the designation of tourism development regions.

This may be done for any of several reasons: to help structure programmes for the redistribution of wealth and to narrow inter-regional disparities; to create employment in areas where unemployment is an issue; or to channel tourism development into zones that possess appropriate attractions and infrastructure and are therefore considered suitable for tourism.

TOURISM PLANNING AT THE NATIONAL LEVEL

A third focus of national-level tourism planning is marketing, and this is especially prominent amongst developed destinations that possess the expertise and the resources to form and promote a distinctive set of national tourism products.

The strategic planning of British tourism development at the national level is largely absent and the primary role of national agencies such as the British Tourism Authority (BTA) is the marketing of British destinations to domestic and, especially, foreign travellers.

MAIN DETERMINANTS OF NATIONAL TOURISM PLANS AND

POLICIES INFORTY-NINE COUNTRIES

TOURISM PLANNING AT THE REGIONAL LEVEL

In comparison with national forms of tourism planning, regional tourism plans are usually distinguished by a marked increase in the level of detail and a sharper focus upon particular developmental issues.

National plans tend to be broad statements of intent, but at the regional level the implications of those intents can be mapped far more precisely and planning can reflect specific requirements.

The implications of development proposals for individual localities also become more apparent, some degree of public interest or participation within the tourism planning process may also be evident.

TOURISM PLANNING AT THE REGIONAL LEVEL

Several themes are likely to be carried through from the national to regional levels; in particular:

Concerns for the impact of tourism upon regional economies and employment patterns.

Development of infrastructure, including transport systems to assist in the circulation of visitors within the region, as well as provision of public utilities such as power and water supplies, both of which are frequently organized at regional levels.

Further spatial structuring in which tourism localities within regions are identified.

Regional-level marketing and promotion, especially where the region possesses a particular identity and/or set of tourism products.

TOURISM PLANNING AT THE LOCAL LEVEL

Local-level planning of tourism is a highly variable activity, reflecting the diversity of local situations in which tourism is developed.

Most forms of local tourism plan are primarily focused upon the physical organisation of tourism resources (accommodation, local transport, catering and local attractions), the control of physical development (such as hotel construction) and the exercise of local visitor management.

Local plans are typically short term and regulatory in nature (rather than being longer-term, strategic statements) with particular concerns for reducing development conflicts and harmonizing activities that use the same spaces and/or resources.

TOURISM PLANNING AT THE LOCAL LEVEL

Local planning is often seen as the most effective level for the

implementation of physical land use plans and associated tasks such as the spatial zoning of activity and developments.

it is the planning level at which there is most likely to be a legally enforceable system of planning control.

In most cases the appropriateness of a proposed development is most effectively judged in a local context, since this is the level at which impacts are to be most clearly felt.

PLANNING HELP TO TOURISM FOR SUSTAINABLE

Sustainable tourism is about re-focusing and adapting. A balance must be found between limits and usage so that continuous changing, monitoring and planning ensure that tourism can be managed. This requires thinking long-term (10, 20+ years) and realizing that change is often cumulative, gradual and irreversible. Economic, social and environmental aspects of sustainable development must include the interests of all stakeholders including indigenous people, local communities, visitors, industry and government.