What Is a Tourism Policy - Assignment Example

?Tourism Management Week 5 Assignment Chapter 15 What is a tourism policy, and why is it important for a tourism destination to have a formal policy? Answer: According to Goeldner and Ritchie (2009) “tourism policy seeks to provide high quality visitor experiences that are profitable to destination stakeholders while ensuring that the destination is not compromised in terms of environmental, social and cultural integrity”. The purpose in creating policies is in protecting the land, the population, and the economies that are in place in a region while encouraging tourism in a healthy and positive relationship with the existing environment and culture. It is important for the success of tourism and will help to define the rules under which the situation of tourism will exist. Policies will frame the way in which tourists will be guided to behave and in what activities will be acceptable within a region. Policies provide a framework in which all the stakeholders can work, with an agreement on what the goals and objectives of the activity of tourism will fulfill. 2. Why might a major stakeholder not wish to participate in the policy process? Answer: If a policy conflicts with the goals of a stakeholder, or if being a part of the process is in conflict with the integrity of that process, the stakeholder might want to opt out of participating in creating policies. When the policy conflicts with the goals of the stakeholder, the option to participate and help form those policies is one way to gain advantages that are desired. However, if it is clear that policies will be in direct conflict with goals, the stakeholder may choose to not participate in the policy process, but find other means to accomplish those goals through circumventing those policies as opposed to participate and be held responsible for working within them. Another example of not choosing to participate in the policy process may occur when an individual has stakes in both the community and in a business enterprise that would result in a conflict of interest. As an example, a city official who normally participates from the municipal side of the decision making process who has invested in a new development may stay out of the policy process in order to make sure the integrity of the process is maintained. 3. How might tourism policy differ from countries, states/provinces, and cities? Why might it differ? Answer: Different internal policies between different governing parties will change how tourism policy will vary. As an example, a country that is developing and in a state of economic hardship might put the needs of its immediate needs of its people well above the needs to develop high levels of sustainability. Today’s starvation might be a higher priority to tomorrow’s environmental peril. Another region may need to preserve their natural resources in order to sustain the tourism industry and put high levels of environmentally related policies into place. The nature of the policies that are developed will be in direct relationship to the overall benefits that those policies will provide. The nature of success needed will have the greatest impact on the nature of the policies. 6. What is the difference between a tourism policy and a tourism strategy? Answer: Tourism policy is a framework within which a strategy is created. The policy, for example, might be to protect a region and preserve the natural environment from damaging types of intrusion. A strategy might be to create structured tours in order to encourage tourists to experience the area without harming its natural ecosystem. The policy is the rule, the strategy is how the rule is used to create benefit. 10. Must there be total consensus by all stakeholders on the content of a region's tourism policy? If not, how would you determine if there was adequate support for the different components of a policy? Answer: There are two sides to the answer to a question concerning policy. One answer will benefit the stakeholder, while the other will benefit the environment that it concerns. The hope is that the needs of all sides of a tourism policy question can be satisfied by the same policy, but this does not always occur. A vote is not always the way to go either. The sustainability of the region must always be the highest concern, which will not always be in the immediate, short term interests of the majority of the stakeholders. Therefore, policy must be concerned with how best to sustain the region and policy makers should be those who do not directly profit from the answers to the questions posed by policies. Chapter 16 2. What is destination competitiveness? Answer: Destination competitiveness is developed through the nature of the attractions that are within an area and how they develop into a set of competitive entities. The first aspect of this, according to Wang and Pizam (2011), is in seeing that the experience is the product. It will involve the cultural, social, technological, political, and environmental strengths. The product is strong when it is able to encourage increases in expenditures by tourists. 6. Why is tourism developmental planning so necessary? Answer: Without strategic and targeted planning, exploiting the available opportunities will not occur. Without good planning, the resources that are available will be exploited to the point of being used up. Therefore, good planning means success on the short term and in the long term, preserving the environment and the cultural nature of an area so that the tourism will last for years in the future. With good planning, the nature of the areas resources in regard to tourism can be cycled so that it will continue to support the region for many years to come. Without good planning, the area will never meet its full potential. 14. Would you encourage tourism development if your community and area were already very prosperous ones? Answer: Tourism can destroy a great deal of the culture of an area. The development of tourism is based upon the observation of outsiders into a new environment. Unfortunately, by virtue of observation, an area can be fundamentally changed. Tourism should not be encouraged in areas that are prosperous because it can destroy the symbiotic relationships within a region. In a region that needs the economic boost, these loses might be worth the risk, but in an area that does not need that economic boost, tourism can be as destructive as it is successful so should not be encouraged. 15. Enumerate various kinds of environmental pollution that unwise developments can create. Answer: There are a variety of ways in which an environment can be polluted by unwise developments. Everything from construction waste to the destruction of natural habitats can cause pollution into an environment. Simple things as the waste created by tourists through drinking cups and eating containers can cause problems for a region. Something such as the Acropolis in Athens would have this type of issue, the waste left by tourists being dealt with so that it did not affect the event of seeing the sights available. So: 1. Destruction of habitats 2. Lack of planning for tourist waste 3. Construction waste 4. Lack of infrastructure planning 5. Lack of planning for natural sustainabiility Chapter 17 1. What exactly is ecotourism? Why are there so many different terms for this idea? Answer: Ecotourism is tourism that uses the natural environment as a way to inform, inspire volunteerism, or promote awareness to others in order to encourage ecological attention. Ecotourism is often confused or combined with extreme tourism in which the natural environment is engaged, such as through activities as rock climbing, mountain climbing, or any other type of naturalized adventure. 2. Why has this concept become so popular? Answer: There are a number of reasons why ecotourism is popular. One reason is because of the feeling of satisfaction that comes from thinking that one has contributed to the health of the planet through engaging in activities that are considered eco-friendly. Another is because of the higher level of physical fitness that some of the population has developed and desires to be physically challenged during their vacation. The concept has many incarnations, but is primarily defined by an awareness of the environment around the individuals involved. 5. Describe the role of local people in ecotourism, in sustainable development. Answer: Local people are actively engaged and usually well informed on the ecological environment within which they live. The development of ecotourism must accompany a community agreed policy of how to create sustainability so that the natural resources can be exploited for the long term. 9. Identify the principal limitations to ecotourism. Answer: The limitations on ecotourism include the consumption of resources that might be needed by the local population while the financial advantages may not be shared with this same population. This trade off might create a further impoverished local population. Another problem is that research is inconclusive on the depth of impact that tourism can have on a region, thus there is a high risk of irreversibly harming a local environment. The final reason is that in a delicate environment, sustainability might require specific frameworks, but the nature of tourism is that it is not easily controlled. This creates a high level of risk. 11. Why is capacity so important? Answer: Capacity is important because without an understanding of how many people can be included in an experience at one time without causing harm or affecting sustainability. Creating enough capacity to significantly allow for expenditures without over extending on the resources, or creating too many spaces so that there is not an excess that causes deficits where income is needed to support those spaces is important when capacity is assessed. Potential available spaces are not the same as knowing the potential number of tourists who will realistically attend. How capacity will be built and how it will be filled are two of the most important parts of understanding capacity. Goeldner, C. R., & Ritchie, J. R. B. (2009). Tourism: Principles, practices, philosophies. Hoboken, N.J: John Wiley. Wang, Y., & Pizam, A. (2011). Destination marketing and management: Theories and applications. Cambridge: CAB International. Read More