Planning is defined as “anticipating and regulating change in a system to promote orderly development so as to increase the social, economic and environmental benefits of the development process.” (Murphy,156) When applied to the tourism it entails laying strategies that will increase profits, create employment and increase the number of visitors received in a tourist site. There are various approaches to tourism planning such as boosterism, interactive, market led, supply led and integrated.
The integrated approach is an all-inclusive approach it involves all stakeholders such as politicians, local communities and business owners while integrating all factors such as economic, cultural and environmental so as to achieve success. It involves formulation of policies that provide a conducive environment for the harmonious working of all sectors. It creates new markets, maintains the uniqueness of the resources, emphasizes the need for conservation of the resources and avoids degradation of the resources and unhealthy competition. This kind of approach ensures profitability for both the business owners and the local communities while ensuring that the resources are conserved and available for future use because there is unity of purpose among all stakeholders.
Sustainability “implies that the natural, cultural and other resources of tourism are conserved for a continuous use in the future while still bringing benefits to the present generation” (UNEP,35) This is a very important aspect seeing as most tourist attractions are natural resources such as lakes, rivers, mountains and wild animals this is not forgetting cultural and historical sites. Natural resources are in a lot of danger now due to global warming, sport hunting, poaching and the destruction of historical sites. This shows that sustainability is the only way to ensure continuity of these resources while getting profit from them. It entails conservation of these resources, environmental planning and involving the local communities.
Another approach is boosterism which entails the advertisement and promotion of the tourist attractions in an area in an aim to increase the number of visitors that arrive in that area which leads to an increase in profits. This approach however does not involve the local communities and is not keen on conservation; it always leads to hostility from the local communities and the destruction of the tourist attractions. It is a shortsighted approach as it has short term economic gains which end up being lost due to lack of sustainability. (Andriotis, 64)
According to Andriotis, the interactive planning entails “top-down, together with bottom-up input, for the better implementation of plans.” This means that the opinions of the local communities are put into consideration, while this is a good approach there is still no mention of sustainability. The market led approach is whereby the needs of the market are the most important and advertising is aimed at attracting more tourists. Critics say that this approach often leads to the over use and consequent degradation of the resources as it is neither sustainable nor integrated. The product led approach focuses on the attractions that can be advertised and used sustainably so as to conserve them and reduce destruction.(65)
In view of all the approaches discussed, the integrated and sustainable development approaches are best suited to protect the interests of the tourism sector, this is because all stakeholders are involved which encourages conservation because everyone is benefiting from the tourism while sustainable development ensures that everyone is able to benefit from the resources presently and in the future.
REFERENCES
Andriotis, K. “A Framework for the Tourism Planning Process.” New Delhi: Kanishka Publishers 2007 Print
Murphy, E. Tourism: A Community Approach. Newyork: Routledge. 1985 Print
“Sustainable Coastal Tourism /An integrated planning and management approach.” UNEP 2009. Web Accessed 26 November 26, 2013.
