Unit 7 Sustainable Tourism Development Plan Assignment

Program	Diploma in Travel and Tourism
Unit Number and Title	Unit 7 Sustainable Tourism Development
QFC Level	Level 5

Introduction

Sustainable Tourism Development plan assignment report will give the glimpses of the different areas associated with the Sustainable Development plan in the tourism sector. In the context of the case study based on the country Philippines the entire report has been prepared. The first section will highlight the stakeholders associated with the tourism industry of Philippines along with those advantages and disadvantages will be discussed with the reference of public private partnerships. The second section will show the importance of the tourism planning system based on the different levels associated with the evaluation of different methods used to measure the impact of tourism. The third section of the report is the poster presentation where the issues related to the sustainability, stages to the sustainable development plan will be done. The fourth section will highlight the moral and ethical issues associated with the enclave tourism along with the implication of the demand and supply. At last the report will show the different issues in the emerging and developing tourist destination with the special reference to Thailand and Philippines.

Task 1

P1.1 Discuss how stakeholders can benefit from planning of tourism developments with reference to the Philippines case study.

Stakeholders are the groups or the individual who is directly or indirectly associated with the tourism sector. As per UNWTO, Stakeholders in respect with the tourism development can be the following:

• National Government
• Financial institutions
• Local population
• Tourism Associations and bodies
• Business organisations operating in the tourism sector
• Travellers

Planning is the identification of a goal and accordingly activities are designed to achieve the goal by defining the task and the dates. In the context of tourism, the strategies for the development by determining the demand and supply side as well as traveller’s perception falls under the tourism planning. With the reference of Philippines “Proactive Stance” can be analysed for developing the tourism planning. For example, the economic growth is growing steadily and it will reach 6.4% at the end of the year 2016. The reduction in the poverty and the increase in the employment opportunities are the positive trend for the country Philippines. More specifically, around 10.5% is the contribution of the tourism sector in the GDP of Philippines (Tourism. Gov. PH., 2016). The key potentials are the islands, rainforests, mountain along with that the cultural heritage sites attract the tourist all over the world. The lack in the infrastructure development limits the growth of the tourism but the Government of Philippines has observed this deficiency and increased the Government spending in the infrastructure development.

The related benefits from the planning of the tourism development are as follows:

• National Government: It helps the national Government of Philippines to attain the targets by enhancing the tourism development in the country. Planning support the Government to allocate the resources like the infrastructure efficiently for the sake of tourism development.
• Local Population: Around 5 million Filipinos are working with the  travel and tourism  sector which help them to support their living. The local people can get the benefit of earning by improving their living standards. On the other hand the development of the roads, hotels in the coastal areas created some conflicts with the local people which can be solved with the help of sound planning system (Hitchcock, 2015).
• Tourism Associations: The associations in the travel and tourism sector in Philippines that is Philippines Travel Agencies and Association can get benefited with the plan which helps them to design their activities for promoting the place by fostering the unity in the industry of travel and tourism in Philippines.
• Business Organisations: The organisations like hotels, tour agencies can be benefited with the plan in the form of information, statics and visitor’s details which help them to fix their strategies to attract more people across the world.
• Financial institutions: World Development Bank or other financial institution plays a major role for improving the tourism sector to a great extent. The plan can help the institutions to invest and get the return at the perfect time.

Thus it is the Tourism development plan that helps to integrate the determining factors in order to achieve the sustainable tourism development by considering the environmental, economic and cultural factors.

P1.2 Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of public/private sector tourism planning partnerships drawing on the Philippines case study

Networks can play an important role in the tourism sector where the opportunities are created with the help of the knowledge transferring that helps the tourism sector to flourish and grow. The cooperation between the organisations will help to face the diverse situations by allocating the appropriate resources. The rise in the public/private sector tourism planning is needed to face the factors like international competitiveness, technological progress, supplier sophistication etc.The tourism industry of Philippines generated P227.62 billion pesos from the international tourist and also boosts up the employment opportunities in the country (Tourism. Gov. PH., 2016). The development of the infrastructure can be observed from the activities of the Government which has created a conflict with the local people due to the degradation of the natural resources. However the public/private tourism planning partnerships can help the situation by finding a way-out that can bring win-win situations for all the stakeholders related with the tourism planning. Public/Private partnerships are very much essential for the development of the infrastructure development, community involvement, risk sharing, rewards etc. 

The advantages are as follows:

• With the partnerships the Government can reduce the cost of the operating capital for the development projects and compensate that cost by promoting the awareness among the local people who are having negative thoughts regarding the development
• The maintenance of the projects can be done effectively and the result to attract more tourists will be more prominent. 
• The public/private partnerships will explore the opportunities to bring the innovative services which will not available from the conventional service providers.

The disadvantages are as follows:

• The Government of Philippines can lose their control on the partnership activities which may bring unethical practices
• The sharing of the responsibilities in the partnerships brings conflict in the future. The avoidances of the duties develop misunderstanding and affect the project negatively (Hassan, 2011).
• The risk of creating proper structure in the partnership is there which may lead to the quality malfunctioning as well as inefficiency.

The strictness in the nationality requirements affects the projects in the delivery perspective. For example the construction and maintenance of the public infrastructure is prohibited for the private companies who have less than 60% ownerships of Filipino. The amendments are required to develop the tourism infrastructure in the country Philippines.

Task 2

P 2.1 Analyse features of tourism development planning at different levels with reference to the Philippines case study

While developing the tourism planning it is needed to recognise the different levels that are associated within the tourism sector. The characteristics of all the organisations are needed to be identified before initiating the development process of the planning system. The potentials are high in Philippines and the visitor’s are also showing their interest. The conflicts with the local people for the development projects can create a negative impact in a long run as per the case study. Thus it is needed to analyse the features in the following way:

• International: the organisation operating in the international level like Organisation for economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) is having an aim to enhance the economic and social welfare of the people across the world and especially to the developing destinations like Philippines. They work with the Central Government of the country to boost the economy and bring employment opportunities by exploring the sector internationally (OECD, 2016).
• National: At the national level, the public as well as private organisations are considered to support the tourism operation in a country. The Department of Tourism, Philippines are introducing several initiatives to support the tourism industry by implementing several strategies at the national level. The modification in the international relation activities have been undertaken in the way like granting the free visa for Indian citizens as well as American, Japanese, UK etc. National strategies are being focused at the national level. The tourism authority of Philippines works with all the organisations at the national level for to help them for conducting the business successfully (Reddy, 2015).
• Regional: The characteristics of the regional bodies are more clear and specific as it only involves the local communities in the planning procedure. The local Government of Philippines consist of the municipalities, provinces and autonomous regions. They can play a major role for creating awareness among the people about the tourism development. On the other hand sharing the feedbacks of the local communities can be done instantly with the help of the regional bodies
• Sub-Regional: These are the bodies which are responsible to create a link between the regional and national level. The sub regional plan is often created to protect the destinations. The local sentiment can be understood easily from these bodies as they are working in the grass root level. The conflicts among the citizens with the Government can be resolved by conducting meeting and explaining them about the future benefits.

P 2.2 Evaluate the significance of interactive planning systems and processes in tourism development with reference to the Philippines case study

Developing the tourism of a country will bring up several issues that are the overcrowding, congestion, environmental damages etc. Insufficient tourism planning is the main reason that brings these issues. The conventional planning mechanisms are not clear in its approach and thus bring the chances of conflict among the participants.  On the other hand it is the Interactive Planning systems that bring collaboration, cooperation and participation among the participants which can help to attain the objective effectively.As per the case study is concerned, the Government of Philippines gives emphasis to development of the infrastructure to boost the employment opportunities and increase the revenue generation sources. The increase in the social cost and the damages on the environment can also be observed with the development of the tourism in Philippines. At this point, Interactive Planning systems and processes can be implemented after conducting the evaluation in the following way:

The positive side of the Interactive Planning system are as follows (Boelens, 2010):

• A better decision can be taken by the Government by involving all the people living in the coastal areas or in the place where the infrastructure development is going on. The feedbacks and negotiations can be done in this system
• The active involvement of the stakeholders in the tourism plan can restrict the negative impact on the communities of Philippines
• The deficiency to meet the environmental benchmark can be identified immediately which will help to make the plan sustainable for the future and will also attract more tourist across the world.
• Avoiding the local communities and people can bring conflicts and as a result the development work can get affected

The negative side of the Interactive Planning system:

• Considering all the feedbacks and opinion from the local communities and other stakeholders can bring more complexities. It will be difficult for the organisation to evaluate all the feedbacks and consider the specific one (Rodríguez, Molina, Pérez, and Caballero, 2012).

P 2.3 Evaluate different methods available to measure tourist impact with reference to Philippines case study.

There are different methods which are needed to be identified for analyzing the effectiveness to measure the impact on the tourism. The major objective of the tourism planning is to set the activities for developing the tourism sector in the country. The methods used to measure as follows:

• Economic Measures: the economic growth and prosperity of the country like Philippines can be assessed by considering the tourism related factors. The method like Scarborough Tourism Economic Activity Monitor (STEAM) gives the real trends of the visitors by highlighting the occupancy rates, attendance of the events, visitor’s details etc. The Government of Philippines can easily track the result while investing in the infrastructure development. They can also approach the citizens of Philippines by sharing the statics from the STEAM model by claiming that employment can be generated if the local people coordinate with the Government. There are also some limitations like the complexities in process to calculate the statistics (Robinson, 2013).
• Environmental measures: The cost to the environment while developing the tourism in a country is needed to be evaluated by considering the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA). This method collect the information regarding a place and then calculation of the damages are done in order to find the feasibility of the tourism development activities. The environmental damages cannot be measured properly as it is unpredictable partially (Halloway, 2015). So coming to an appropriate calculation is impossible and it can hinder the development activities related to the tourism in Philippines. 
• Social Measures: The socio-cultural impact is one of the most important considerations in the tourism sector. The information related to the cultural aspect in the tourism is very difficult to measure as it is qualitative in nature. The interviews, surveys are main methods to gather the information for measuring the impact of the tourism. Human Development Index (HDI) can be undertaken sometimes for integrating the financial and social divergences.

Task 3

P 3.1 Justify the introduction of the concept of sustainability in tourism development with reference to Philippines sustainable tourism development in a Poster Format.                                                                                      

Sustainable Tourism Development:

Sustainable Tourism development considers all the present and future economic, environmental and social impacts on the tourism by identifying the requirements of the visitors, industry trends and communities need.In the context of Philippines, the growth in the tourism can be observed from the different market research where it is predicting that around 6.4% the economic growth will reach at the end of the year 2016. Nearly P227.62 billion pesos have been generated last year from the international tourist at Philippines (Tourism. Gov. PH., 2016). This shows there is an opportunity for the tourism sector in Philippines and it is the Sustainable tourism that can achieve the growth for a long term period.

Environmental Sustainability reduces the negative impacts of the tourism on the local bio diversity. The optimal use of the resources like water, energy will going to save the resources for the future use. The reduction in the waste and implementing waste management is needed for making the environment suitable for living. As per the case study, the local people are opposing the development projects due to the damages but sustainable development can make use of the most efficient practice to develop the tourism by protecting the natural as well as built environment. 

The places in Philippines are exposing due to the growth of the tourism industry. Socio-cultural impact can be observed with the interaction of the international; tourist with the local inhabitants. The congestion, overcrowding, crime incidents will likely to be increased and that can affect the tourism industry of Philippines. Thus socio-cultural sustainability can only promote the positive side of interchanging the culture that will enhance the tourism opportunity in the country like Philippines and also reduce the objections from the local inhabitants. On the other hand the economic sustainability can increase the scope of the employment by involving the local communities in the decision making process.  As a result the conflicts as per the case study can be reduced and that will enhance the scope of the tourism.

P 3.2 Analyse factors that may prevent/hinder sustainable tourism development with reference to the Philippines in a Poster Format.

Barriers to the Sustainable Tourism Development

Sustainable Tourism development signifies the economic, social and environmental aspects that will save the cost of the organisations operating in the tourism sector and also provide benefit to the communities and other stakeholders by protecting the environment as well as safeguarding the environment.The question arises when it involves the stakeholders in the sustainable tourism development. The interest of the stakeholders is very much different than one another and the conflict will be there when the tourism development plan will not satisfy their interest fully. The difference in the interest level of the stakeholders hinders the sustainable tourism development plan (Wickens and Bakir, 2014). The ideology of the consumerism contradicts the sustainability approach and gives main focus to the long term profit driven mentality. The changes in the organisation operation process for the sustainability will create conflicts among the employee and accordingly the resistance towards the change will be evolved. On the other hand the deficiency in the knowledge among the managers is also significant as per different market research which slows down the future initiative taking process. Lastly the innovation will maximise the cost and to bear such cost for all the organistaions equally is not possible. In these circumstances the small and medium sized organisations failed to consider the innovations related to the sustainability.The tourism development in Philippines brings the environmental issues that have created conflicts among the local communities. Illegal sanctions to the hotels by the local authority can be observed and significantly the forest coverage has been reduced from 70% to 20%. Although the Government of Philippines has undertaken the sustainable development project but still the business organisations are violating the rules due to the profit motive for a long term period.

P 3.3 Analyse different stages in planning for sustainability with reference to the Philippines and create a Leaflet for the government.

Stages to Sustainable Tourism development

Sustainable tourism establishes a relationship between the ecological, economic and social factors that boost the tourism industry of a country while safeguarding the environment. The different stages involved in the sustainability for the tourism sector in Philippines are as follows:

• Stage 1: The stage 1 will describe the aim of the sustainability plan associated with the time frames. The short term goals or long terms goals will be defined. For example, increase in the numbers of foreign visitor’s in the coming year or to enhance the supply side of the tourism by developing the infrastructure within 1 year is needed to be considered by analysing the national budget of the Philippines.
• Stage 2: This is a stage where the identification of the stakeholders related with the tourism industry in Philippines will be addressed in order to meet their objectives and needs. All the local communities, business organisations, tour operators, national park authorities, Government, visitors will be consider to fix a plan for the sustainable tourism development. The objectives of all the stakeholders need to be considered while designing the activities (Alampay, 2015).
• Stage 3: This is a stage where the places that have a potential to attract the tourism in Philippines will be considered. The details of the visitor’s interest, motives to visit the place, needs of the visitors will be considered while developing a infrastructure or development project in that area. The speciality of the region is needed to be addressed at this place and the existing infrastructure to support the tourism growth is needed to be detected before investment.
• Stage 4: The issues are needed to be addressed by consulting with all the stakeholders. For example, the issuing of the license to the hotels by the Philippines Government has brought conflicts among the local inhabitants. So it is recommendable to discuss with all the stakeholders before initiating the plan.
• Stage 5: This is the stage where the issues are analysed by proper research. The reason for the conflicts are needed to be identified at first priority and after that specific solution is needed to be developed by considering all the reviews of the stakeholders associated with the issue.
• Stage 6: After the issues and solutions are managed then it is the time to develop the ideas for the sustainable development. The guidelines will be drafted for all the stakeholders keeping inconsideration which will aim to protect the place and also attract large number tourist to boost the economy.

Task 4  

P 4.1 Evaluate methods of resolving a conflict of interests to ensure the future wellbeing of a developing tourism destination such as Philippines Case.

Conflict of interest will arrive when the there are different stakeholders with different objectives. However the Government and the voluntary organisations promoting the sustainable tourism development need to resolve the conflict of interest for successfully implementing the conflict of interest. As per the case study is concerned, the president of Philippines has a motive to develop the tourism in Philippines for the long term tenure but in his approach there is a some sort of violation in the perspective of ecological environment that has been observed from the case study which has created conflict in some group of stakeholders like the local communities. In this respect there are different methods which can be undertaken to resolve the conflict of interest in the following way:

Negotiation: This is the basic method of resolving the conflict. The clear cut communication and interaction is needed to conduct this method. The parties involved in the negotiation process needs to come across a fair deal that will create a win-win situation for the both. For example, the local authority of the Government of Philippines will conduct a meeting with the local communities for the development plans. In that meeting both the parties will share their issues and come at a point that it will be beneficial for both of them. The positive side is the effective solution which will establish a win-win situation but the limitation is the coming to the point of negotiation. As both the parties will not sacrifice their interest and thus the method is difficult (Zeppel, 2010).

Mediation: This is the voluntary process that results to a mutually acceptable agreement. It is the method where the parties actively participate in the proceedings and find a solution to resolve the conflict. For example, the local authority can ensure job opportunities to the local communities which may resolve the misunderstandings and a supportive environment can be created which is the positive side of this method. Sometimes ensuring certain things are impossible for the mediator due to the adverse situation which is the limitation of this method. P 4.2 Analyse the implications of balancing supply and demand with reference to the Philippines Case

In the context of the tourism at Philippines the receipts from the international visitors has been decreased by 28% that is from Php 21.97 billion to Php 15.69 billion. Visitors from Korea, Japan and USA used to contribute maximum to te tourism of Philippines. The amount of expenditure is nearly stand around Php 102.88 million, 42.1 million and 42.8 million for the countries Korea, Japan and USA respectively. There is an increase in the number of visitors from 480689 in 2015 to 502739 at the month of August in the year 2016. The visitors are manly from the Asian countries which constitute nearly 69%. Around 10% of the contribution towards the GDP of the country comes from the tourism industry and it support nearly 4.99 million jobs for the Filipinos. Huge potential is there for the growth of the tourism in Philippines as it covered with 7000 islands and the speciality lies over the rich biodiversity which consist of the mountains, islands, rainforests etc. The economy of the country is centred with the place Metro Manila that is ranked 11 in the world for the potential shopping place (Tourism. Gov. PH., 2016). The visitors from USA used to shop from this city and that has increased the demand of the tourism at Philippines.

In order to meet the demand of the tourism at Philippines, the supply is needed to be considered in order to satisfy the visitors and also to boost the economic development. The National Tourism Strategy of Philippines recognizes the critical factors associated with the tourism environment. The focus is given on the environmental issues, infrastructure development and community welfare projects for boosting the tourism sector. Investment driven strategy is undertaken towards the accommodation facilities, infrastructure development adequate airlift in the places like Cebu, Boracay etc. DOT and DENR also focused their strategy towards product development for satisfying the tourist. The Cambubhat River cruise, Pamilakan island Dolphin watching tours, scuba diving for the overseas market, organising the events like Akian, Iloilo are conducted to attract more number of tourist towards Philippines. This is the positive implication from the side of the Government in order to match the growing demand of the tourism in Philippines (Tourism. Gov. PH, 2016). Along with that ensuring sustainability towards the tourism is also needed to secure the growth of the tourism as well as ecological balance.

P 4.3 Evaluate the moral and ethical issues of enclave tourism in the Philippines Case study.

Enclave Tourism is the activity that is undertaken over a small geographic area in order to satisfy the visitors with the entirety of the intentions they are carrying over a place. This is type of activity is manly undertaken by the Government to satisfy the visitors who have a small plan or limited resources to spend more time. The coastal areas of Philippines are mainly considered for the enclave tourism by equipping with adequate accommodation or transport facilities. The level of competition among the service providers over these places is very high due to the highly saturated market. The low price for the service delivery often brings losses to the business organisations or service providers over those places.

The moral and ethical issues associated with the Enclave Tourism are as follows (Anderson, 2011):

The local communities of Philippines will not be benefited due to the restriction in the accessibility and the business organisations are used to dominate that area for the motive of profit maximisation. The sanctioning of the licenses are done unethically by the local authorities for the expansion of the buildingsThe cultural aspect of the Philippines are hampered due to the transitional culture that is being imported from foreign countriesThe illegal and unethical activities like prostitution, child labour can be increased due to match excess demand of the tourism.The environmental damages due to the deforestation are creating serious damages to the ecological environment of PhilippinesTask 5

P 5.1 - Compare current issues associated with tourism development in a developing country and an emerging destination where the impacts of tourism are different. Your article should be professionally presented such as using comparative tables.

Thailand is a developing country and its tourism contributes significantly for the development of the economy. Around 9% of the contribution in the GDP of the country comes from the tourism sector. The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) recognizes the growth of the tourism sector and implemented sustainable tourism development plan under the theme “Amazing Thailand”. From the different market research it has been found that Thailand ranked top in the areas like natural resources, tourist destinations etc. but very low score on the areas like environmental sustainability as well as safety and security. On the other hand Philippine is an emerging tourist destination which is rising steadily in the map of the world tourism. The economic growth is moving steadily towards upward and it will reach 6.4% at the end of the year 2016. The reduction in the poverty and the increase in the employment opportunities are the positive trend for the country Philippines. More specifically, around 10.5% is the contribution of the tourism sector in the GDP of Philippines ensures the potential of the tourism in Philippines.

The current issues which are dropping the tourism attractiveness in both the countries can be addressed from the following table:

Impacts	Thailand	Philippines
Environmental	With the development of the tourism, the countries are facing environmental issues. In the context of Thailand, the increased level of pollution, deforestation, soil erosion is the main issues. The bleaching in the coral reefs damaged the habitats and also making the eco system vulnerable. Due to the extreme heat reduction in the working hours for the employees are observed and the rate of reduction will increase within the year 2050. Deforestation for the development projects increased the soil erosion.	Environmental damages have just started to the emerging destination that is on Philippines. The increased soil erosion, deforestation has created a negative impact in the coral reefs and coastal areas of Philippines. The coverage of the forest has reduced from 50% to 20% which is high alarming for the Government of Thailand.
Socio-Cultural	The growth in the tourism also creates negative impact on the social or cultural norms of Thailand. The organisations operating in the hospitality segment will try to match the culture of the foreign tourist in Thailand in order to satisfy them and significantly it will damages the local culture of the people of Thailand (Lacher and Nepal, 2010)	With the integration of the different culture for the tourism, there are some issues which can be observed from the socio-cultural side. The number of the child labour incidents is increased in order to meet the needs of the tourist.
Economic	The economic impact is based on different incidents. Recently the bombing in Bangkok has created a negative impact in the tourism sector. The country has a strong potential for which it has attracted 46 billion US dollars from the international tourist (Beirman, 2015).	The issues associated with the economic area can be the excess investment for setting the tourism industry in Philippines. The extra investment can be allocated to the emergency sector where the support is needed for the real development.

P 5.2 – Evaluate, with recommendations, the future development of tourism in these chosen destinations as a Magazine Article

Sustainable tourism development plan is the only measure that can reduce the negative impact over tourism in the countries like Thailand and Philippines. The negative side will be the different interest of the stakeholders related to the tourism industry and meeting all their requirements is difficult that is the ultimate barrier to the sustainable development plan. The optimum use of the resources by enhancing long term socio-economic benefits to the stakeholders are needed to be considered while developing the sustainable development plan for the countries (Holden, 2012). The stability in the income opportunities and also to secure the environment is needed to be considered in the Sustainable Development plan. The three major areas that are needed to be focus are as follows:

• Environmental: The sustainable use of the resources by reducing the wastage of water and energy are to be considered by increasing the awareness. The aim should be to reduce the negative impact on the bio diversity
• Social: Empowering the local groups, employees in the  decision making  process should be supported in order to establish a friendly tourism environment in the countries. Gender equality, prohibition of the child labour, protection to the women is the steps that must be implemented (Miller et al, 2010).
• Economic: The economic prosperity of the country is related with the employment, competency development and earning capabilities. The Government needs to chalk out a plan to use the foreign currencies effectively in those countries for the development of the livelihood.

Conclusion

In order to conclude, the report has highlighted the areas associated with the Sustainable Tourism Development. The factors which are included in the sustainability are the socio-economic and  business environment  aspects. The involvement of all the stakeholders towards the development plan is needed to be considered in order to reduce the conflicts. Sustainability can only bring the real economic development in the terms of environmental protection as well as employment and earning opportunities. The interest of the stakeholders is very much different than one another and the conflict will be there when the tourism development plan will not satisfy their interest fully. The difference in the interest level of the stakeholders hinders the sustainable tourism development plan which is the major barrier towards the sustainable development plan.