Tourism Policy and Planning - Essay Example

Critically examine the need for tourism policy and planning Tourism is an important economic activity especially in the 21st century, where globalization has made it possible for diverse cultures to interact and share in ways that were not previously possible. Tourism comes with certain economic and socio-cultural benefits, but it also has a potential for creating negative implications especially in the societies that are visited by foreign tourists (Wray, 2009:367). It is the associated benefits and the potential negative implications that come with tourism that calls for both policy and planning measures, which will enhance the attainment of the tourism benefits, while limiting the risks and the negative implications that comes with tourism. Tourism policy refers to the formulated guidelines that control all tourism development, operations and management, to ensure that the government and the society attain the immediate and the long-term benefits derived from tourism (Edgell & Swanson, 2013:47). Thus, tourism policy can simply be defined as the progressive course of action that encompasses the principles, directions, guidelines and procedures that represent the intent, objectives and goals of the government and the society hosting the tourism visitors (Battaglia, Daddi & Rizzi, 2012:197). On the other hand, the concept of tourism planning refers to the whole process of identifying the appropriate steps that are geared towards the attainment of predetermined tourism goals and objectives (Gossling, 2012:902). The tourism planning process entails the acquisition of the knowledge regarding the tourism benefits and risks, followed by identifying the viable alternatives that allows for the enjoyment of the tourism associated benefits while limiting the associated risks. This is achieved through identifying alternatives, anticipating possible future conditions, developing the vision and finally formulating the possible course of action (Hall, 2008:21). Tourism is a sector within many economies that has been tied to many other products and services than the rest of the economic sectors globally. The complexity of tourism as a sector arises from the fact that an action geared towards allowing or limiting the growth and expansion of tourism activities has a range of spiral effects on the other sectors of the economy (Veal, 2010:215). Tourism is an activity that has allowed for leisure and vacation enjoyment in diverse environments for the tourists, while benefiting the host societies both economically and culturally (Dredge & Jenkins, 2011:33). Thus, in order to sustain the mutual benefit that the tourism stakeholders attain from tourism, guidelines and frameworks that define how the tourism activities are run are essential, making the need for tourism policy and planning is inevitable. The question in relation to whether there is a need for tourism policy and planning can easily be answered by considering tourism as an important economic sector within a country’s economy, and then assessing the basis under which a sector within an economy runs. All important economic sectors within an economy follow a series of guidelines, roadmaps and frameworks that are intended to ensure that the sectors meet the objectives set by the government, for the benefit of the whole society (Mason, 2008:41). Similarly, tourism is an important economic sector within many global economies due to its foreign exchange earning capacity, which requires deliberate and conscious planning and formulation of guidelines that will ensure that the sector runs in an organized manner that aims at achieving certain predetermined goals (Erkus, 2010:107). In the 21st century, tourism is an important vehicle for fulfilling the aspirations of different individuals, communities and governments (Kennell & Chaperon, 2013:279). Such aspirations might be conflicting such that the aspiration of one party may hinder or adversely affect the achievement of the aspirations of the other parties. Competitiveness and sustainability are the key functions that drive the need for tourism policy and planning, such that the tourism activities are formulated in a manner that will ensure that a nation or a given region is a competitive tourist destination. Different tourism destinations globally are competing for the economic and socio-cultural benefits that derive from tourism, such as foreign exchange gains and creation of employment for the local population (Hall, (2011:438). Nevertheless, while focusing on improving the competiveness of a tourist destination, there are numerous associated negative implications that can arise. Such negative implications that are associated with tourism include habitat destruction, disturbance of wildlife and adverse socio-cultural effects such as introduction of negative and unethical cultures that eventually conflict with the traditional cultures of a community or a nation (Chong, et al., 2013:185). It is due to such negative implications that the concept of tourism sustainability, which highly conflict with the concept of tourism competitiveness, needs to be harmonized. Therefore, the tourism policies sets the strategies for enhancing tourism competitiveness and increasing the benefits derived from the tourism activities, while tourism planning sets the limits and effectively mitigates the adverse effects that accrues from tourism, whether originating domestically or outside the tourist destination’s boundary (Briassoulis & Straaten, 2000:261). Tourism policy and planning should therefore not only consider the internal environment, but also reflect the international standards and tourism regulations and policy frameworks, to enhance the inflow of international tourists into a given tourist destination. The objective of tourism policy and planning is to improve the progress and sustainability of the tourism sector within an economy, in order to ensure that tourism activities benefit the nation, society and local communities in a manner that maximize the positive gains while limiting the associated risks (Edgell & Swanson, 2013:12).This calls for the need to establish requisite tourism policies and planning, which will then ensure that all the parties to the tourism sector benefit from the tourism activity without conflicting. In this respect, the formulation of a framework within which the individual, communal and governmental decisions are collectively and individually made in a way that enhances progress, sustainability and high productivity of tourism is important. Tourism policy and planning addresses several key areas, which include the role that tourism plays in the overall socio-cultural and economic progress of the lives of individuals, communities and the nation (Battaglia, Daddi & Rizzi, 2012:202). The other major area that is addressed by the tourism policy and planning is the type of tourism destinations, financing and provision of the transport and other essential tourism infrastructure, as well as the tourism activities conduct and environmental interaction regulations (Erkus, 2010:116). Kenya is a country that features prominently in the global map of the most prime tourist destinations, owing to its diversity in wildlife products, ecotourism features and socio-cultural attractions comprising of 42 local tribes (Kumar, 2014:577). The country gained independence from Britain in1963, after the newly established African government set tourism as a key pillar for enhancing economic growth and also sustaining international interaction with the world. Nevertheless, the previous tourism framework that was established by the pre-independent Kenya National Parks Service comprising of licensed poaching and hunting as one of the selling tourism product for the country, increasingly proved to be detrimental (IUCN, 2012:n.p.). This is because, by 1970, the effect of licensed poaching and hunting of the wildlife appeared to have caused a huge decrease in the population of wildlife in the country. This caused the independent government to rethink and reevaluate the tourism policies, and consequently establish new tourism policies and planning frameworks that would enhance the sustainability of the wildlife population, while at the same time presenting Kenya as a key tourist destination globally. The first major shift in the tourism policy came in 1977, when the Kenyan government introduced a total ban policy on wildlife hunting (IUCN, 2012:n.p.). This policy was set towards the preservation of the big game species like the elephants, lions, buffalos, rhinos, leopards and cheetahs, which were the major species whose survival was threatened by the licensed poaching and hunting policies of the pre-independent Kenyan government. Additionally, the Kenyan government introduced another policy that effectively declared a total ban on commercial trade in wildlife trophies (IUCN, 2012:n.p.). The Kenyan tourism policy shift is a good example of the relevance and the need for tourism policy and planning for tourism destinations. The establishment and implementation of the ban on licensed poaching and hunting, followed by the ban of any form of trade in wildlife trophies were policies measures that were targeted at securing the sustainability of the wild game. Despite the fact that the operation of the pre-independent policies that allowed wildlife hunting and trading in wildlife trophies were more popular policies for tourists, the Kenyan government had to establish and implement the less popular polices that would lockout some categories of tourists from visiting Kenya as their preferred tourism destination (Kumar, 2014:581). In this respect, the sustainability need of the wild game takes preference over the competitiveness need for the tourism destination. The conflict between the tourist destination competitiveness and the sustainability of the wildlife is an example of a situation where the tourism policy and planning is needed, since without the establishment of such restrictive policies on game hunting and trading in game products, Kenya will be a country that could no longer attract tourists in the future, since its important tourism competitive product, which in this case is the wildlife, could have been extinct, due to the threatening tourism activities of poaching and game hunting (Kumar, 2014:575). However, due to the tourism policy shifts that were implemented by the independent Kenyan government, Kenya remains a popular tourist destination of the 21st century globally. Tourism planning is yet another concept that is shown as essential by the Kenyan tourism sector. The mere establishment and implementation of the restrictive policies that banned licensed wildlife hunting and poaching, as well as the policy that banned the trade in wildlife trophies could not have helped improve the state of Kenya as a popular tourist destination globally, if tourism planning was not integrated (Kumar, 2014:587). The banning of wildlife hunting and trade in wildlife trophies had the detrimental effect of reducing the rate of tourism into the country, while at the same time causing the unemployment of many locals, whose livelihoods depended on licensed hunting and trading in wildlife trophies. This caused the Kenyan government to plan on enhancing the future of Kenya as a tourist destination that would attract more tourists and create more employment opportunities for the locals. The plan came in the form of rebranding the Kenya as an ecotourism destination, as was summarized by the slogan "Come shooting in Kenya with your camera" (IUCN, 2012:n.p.). This rebranding of Kenya as an ecotourism tourist destination, as opposed to the country being a game-hunting tourist destination, required the expansion of the tourist products from the previously limited wildlife product, into more diversified products such as beach tourism at the Kenyan coast, mountain picnics and hiking as well as the archeological and museum tourism that are the key tourism products of modern Kenya tourist destination (Kumar, 2014:581). Through the tourism planning in form of rebranding Kenya as a tourist destination by the government, the country was able to revive the tourism sector attractiveness, and by 1988, tourism had become Kenya’s top foreign exchange earner, replacing both tea and coffee exports which had traditionally been the major earners of foreign exchange for the country (IUCN, 2012:n.p.). The popularity of the rebranded Kenya as a tourist destination has survived to modern day, with the country earning around US$400 million annually from the tourism sector (IUCN, 2012:n.p.). Nevertheless, despite the fact that rebranding Kenya as a tourist destination was a key milestone in enhancing the tourism sector in the country, there were still several challenges that the country faced regarding tourism sustainability. The most important hindrance to the prosperity of tourism in Kenya was the little management and conservation of the game parks and other scenic destinations that comprised the overall Kenyan tourism product offering (IUCN, 2012:n.p.). To address this challenge, the Kenyan government established a government organ under the name of Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS), which was tasked with the role of managing and conserving the game parks and other tourist destinations within the country in 1989 (IUCN, 2012:n.p.). Additionally, other tourism attraction measures to streamline tourist travel and delay problems were enacted through the collaboration of the government and the private tourism actors in Kenya , while incentive such as tax rebates and duty free import of tourism equipments were also enacted through the Foreign Investments Act (IUCN, 2012:n.p.). The result of the implementation of these measures is to have a functional tourism sector that Kenya prides in as a major competitor in the global tourism sector. Thus, through the Kenyan case, it can evidently be seen that tourism policy and planning are essential for a tourist destination. References Battaglia, M., Daddi, T., & Rizzi, F. (2012). Sustainable Tourism Planning and Consultation: Evidence from the Project INTER.ECO.TUR. European Planning Studies, 20(2), 193-211. Briassoulis, H., & Straaten, J. (2000). Tourism and the environment: Regional, economic, cultural and policy issues. Dordrecht [u.a.: Kluwer Acad. Publ. Chong, Y., et al. 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