Unit 7 Sustainable Tourism Development Solution

Introduction

This unit 7 sustainablet tourism development solution argues about the sustainable development in tourism industry. The unit initiates with the discussion of involvement of various stakeholders that are benefitted by the planning of travel and tourism development. It also focuses on the various other factors such as advantages and disadvantages of private-public partnership in planning for tourism development. The scenario of Philippines has been discussed in order to understand the process of sustainability in tourism sectors. The last part of the unit focuses on the discussion of difference in the tourism issues at developing, developed and emerging nations.

Task 1

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

Tourism:

Tourism in general terms is the process of travelling from one place to another for having the feeling of pleasure. In economic terms, tourism is the business that focuses on attracting the tourists from different place to come and visit in the host country as it increases income of the company. (Burns and Novelli, 2007)

Today, tourism is the major source of income for the countries. This is the one of the most growing sectors that allows the country to earn foreign as well as domestic income in huge amount. Increase in tourism not only support the economy of the country but also enhances the historical and cultural image of the country in the world.

Tourism in Philippines

Tourism plays a very important part n shaping the economy of Philippines. This sector has contributed around 10.6% of the total GDP of the country in 2015. It is the place that is famous for its rich biodiversity and draws attention of the tourists by its beautiful beaches, islands, rain forests, diving spots, mountains etc. the country is also known for its rich heritage and culture. As far as the tourists data has been considered, the country has successfully attracted served around 5,360,682 foreign tourists in 2015. 4.99 million Filipinos are employed under this sector. (visitmyphilippines.com)

Planning for tourism development

There are many challenges that have been faced by Philippines in order to create sustainable development in tourism. These challenges can only be fought with effective planning of tourism development. Philippines is the place whose economy is very much dependent on its tourism and thus it is very important to plan for the development of tourism in the country. Planning for tourism involves sustainable development plan that provides best experience of tourism to the present generation without harming the opportunities of future.

Stakeholders involved in tourism development:

In tourism industry, stakeholders are the people who are somehow associated with this industry and contribute in the industry as well. These stakeholders are classified manly into three major types:

• National government: At national level, the regulatory authority of tourism is DOT. It is the government organisation that regulates the tourism sector at national level and frames the policies at with aspect for the whole nation. (Cooper and Hall, 2008)
• Local destination: Local tourist destination involve the organisaton that works and regulates at local level. These include the Local Government Units, local members of civil society that usually represented by the nongovernmental organizations and community based organizations.
• Tourism sector operating in the destination: This is the last group that has been classified under tourism stakeholders. This group involves the private businesses that provide accommodation, transportation and other services to the tourists. (Evans, Campbell and Stonehouse, 2003)

Benefits to stakeholders from planning of tourism development

There are many benefits that can be enjoyed by various stakeholders of the tourism industry. The first and foremost benefit that has been enjoyed by every stakeholder as well as whole country is the economic benefit. It is observed that Philippines is the country in which 10% of the GDP is contribution of the tourism sector. Thus, it is very clear that the economic growth of the country is dependent on the tourism sector. Planning of tourism development is also necessary to develop the employment growth in the country. Employment opportunities have been usually provided by the local and the private tourism sector that serves the tourist by their services. Other benefits include conservation of the wildlife and heritage of the country as planning for development of tourism results in plans and programs for conserving the natural resources because they are the foundation of the tourism for the country.

1.2 Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of public/private sector tourism planning partnerships drawing on a current example.

Public/private partnership

Public/private partnership: It is the partnership between the government tourism organizations with the local and private tourism service providers. The collaboration between the two results in integrated planning and achievement of goals of sustainable development in Philippines. Partnership helps both the sectors to work n an integrated manner and also gets the support of each other. Thailand’s success in rejuvenating Pattaya is the result of integration of public and private tourism sector. Thus, it is very necessary for Philippines to do the same in order to achieve the objectives related to sustainable development. (Harris, Griffin and Williams, 2002)

There are various benefits and risks attached with the partnership of public and private sector. Some of them are discussed below:

Advantages of public/private partnership

1. Better infrastructure solutions: When both the sectors work together, they merge the best activities they do in order to get the best results. Therefore it is very efficient to integrate the activities of public and private sectors in tourism.
2. Faster project completion: This is also the benefit associated with the partnership. The task or the project can be completed early than the deadline when both the sector takes equal participation in the task.
3. Involvement of both the sectors in the single project results in integration of ideas, innovations as well as financial support. This ultimately leads to high rate of returns due to high innovation practices. (Tourism.gov.ph, 2016)
4. High quality projects: The integration of public and private activities results in effective use of resources. Private firms are much more experienced in cost allocation and maintenance. Thus, government funds can be effectively used on the project.

Example:                                                                                                                             

Philippines government takes the initiative to push the use of PPP that is private public partnership in order to fix the country’s dysfunctional airports and roads. The PPP has used to raise the fund requirement of the government led infrastructural projects in Philippines. This results in completion of the project very early with ease. The push to use public-private partnerships, or PPP, to revitalize the Philippines’ creaking infrastructure.

Disadvantages of public-private partnership

1. The cost of bidding is the biggest disadvantage in this case. It is very difficult to decide the cost of bidding.
2. Less number of private participants: There are very less number of participants from the private sector, this leads to problem of cost effectiveness to the government. As there is no cost competition between the private firms, governments looses the chance to bargain.
3. If there is large expertise from the private side, government bears the losses as the private participant have the power to decide on the cost of the project. (Miller and Twining-Ward, 2005)

Task 2

2.1 Analyze features of tourism development planning at different levels.

Nature of tourism planning in Philippines

In Philippines, tourism holds the promise of enhancing income opportunities by increasing employment especially for the Filipinos living at coastal and rural areas of the country. The biggest challenge in front of the country’s tourist industry is the maintenance of sustainable tourism in the country. Planning is the one and only solution to face this challenge. Planning of tourism development refers to mapping out the process and approaches that needs to be used in order to develop and increase the social, political and environmental benefits to the country.

Tourism planning at different levels

There are different levels at which panning of tourism development have been done. Features of tourism palnning at different levels have been discussed below:

1. International level: International tourism refers to the tourism business that involves the tourists from outside the country. It is very important to develop plans for the growth of international tourism because it provides the opportunity to raise the economy of the country by foreign exchange as well as development of the cultural heritage of the country at international level. Planning at international level mainly focuses on improving the transport facilities as well as investing into the multi-country marketing strategies. (Page, 2009)
2. National level: This involves the business from the national or domestic tourists. At national level, the tourists visit the places in the same country where they live. This is the method of earning from the domestic tourists. At this level, the major concern of development is the major routes if the country as well as the accommodation facilities and services for the domestic tourists. Short term development planning has been done in order to make the strategies at domestic or national level.
3. Regional level: Regional level tourism involves the tourism in a particular region of the country. IT mainly focuses on developing the location of attractions. Transport facilities and proper accommodation facilities have also been considered as the important aspect that needs to be improves to enhance the regional tourism. (Pineda and Brebbia, 2004)
4. Sub-regional level: At this level, the policies and strategies are formed when required. It focuses on improving the conditions at local attractions and improving the local public transport facilities for the local people to visit the places frequently.

2.2 Evaluate the significance of interactive planning systems and processes in tourism developments.

There are different approaches that have been used in order to attain the objectives of tourism development. These approaches discuss about different processes and systems in tourism development:

1. Boosterism: This is the planning approach of tourism development that focuses on stimulating the tourism in order to increase the economic benefit to the country. This approach does not focus on sustainable practices but only looks at the economic development of the country through tourism. The practices have been practiced when the politicians think that only economic growth is necessary for development. (Richards and Hall, 2000)
2. Conventional: It focuses on the reactive approach of planning. This system believes in planning for the improvement when required.
3. Interactive: This is the collaborative approach that involves collaboration of the local authorities with the public tourism regulatory authorities to make the plan for improvement. This approach is very effective as the participation process followed by this approach results in making better decisions.
4. Integrated planning: It is the approach that believes in continuous planning process that involves the modifications and innovations according to the changes. This system is very effective in facing the dynamic challenges.
5. Supply-led: It is the approach that deals with improving only that attraction that is found to be interested by the people or tourists. (Seyfi, 2016)
6. Market –led: This is the approach that should be used to improve and develop tourism. This approach focuses on improving the locations and developing marketing strategies to make them tourists attractions.

2.3 Evaluate different methods available to measure tourist impact.

Need to measure the tourist impact

It is very important to measure the tourist impact in order to identify the level of improvement in tourism sector. Measuring the impact results in provision of the change in values of tourism at local level and thus it helps in making the strategies according to the data and trend of changes occurred. The negative and positive aspect of tourists on local communities can also be examined by measuring the impact. (Sharpley, 2006)

Methods of measurement

1. Cambridge Economic Impact Model: Development of this method aims at calculating the value of tourism in the local economies. This model uses the local data to calculate the value. This model usually considers two stages; the first stage is about calculating the value and volume of the visitors staying in that area and then examines the impact of visitor’s spending on the local economy. The method is very affordable and this is the reason it is used by many local authorities.

Limitation: Some of the limitations are also associated with the model. The first limitation is that the method uses range of data sources that uses different criteria to analyze the data. Another limitation is that the model does not consider the trips that are outside the area of the stay. This somehow deviates the final result from the original situation. (Verbeek and Mommaas, 2008)

2. STEAM model: The Scarborough Tourism Economic Activity Monitor is the model that focuses on day visitors as well as the tourists staying. This model extracts the data from four inputs:

• Information on occupancy percentages each month for each type of accommodation
• Bed stock of each type of accommodation
• Attendance at attractions/major events by month
• Tourist Information Centre (TIC) visitors by month

3. Pro Poor Tourism (PPT): PPT is the tourism approach that generates net benefits for the poor. This approach focuses on development of the policies that improves the tourism as well as benefits the poor as well.

Task 3

Poster

Sustainability in Philippines

Leaflet

Task 4

4.1 Evaluate methods of resolving a conflict of interests to ensure the future wellbeing of a developing tourism destination.

Conflict of interest refers to the conflicts that may have occurs due to different in the interest of the two parties engaged together. Conflicts may arise because of the involvement of so many stakeholders. As far as the tourism industry is considered, there are many stakeholders that are involved in tourism development of Philippines and have different interests. Government has the interest in growing economy of the country through tourism development while the tour operators try to engage in the activities that facilitates their business growth. Many industries are associated with the tourism sector and they work with each other in order to develop the tourism in the country. Collaboration also brings conflicts between the parties. Some of the conflicts have been discussed below:

1. Tension between the planners: When a plan has been made for achieving a particular objective, many planners have been involved. As the case of Philippines has been considered, many stakeholders like national government, local authorities and local communities take participation in the planning process. There may be different views of community and government. So, it becomes the reason of conflict between the planners. (Cooper and Hall, 2008)
2. Tour operators: Many tour operators have collaboration with the same hotels for providing accommodation services to their guests. Conflicts may arise between the operators and the hotel as well as between the two operators about acquiring the rooms and services at the same hotel.
3.  Local community: Local community plays a very important role in planning for the tourism development. This is because any modification at the location may affect the people living at nearby locations.
4. Guest-host relationship: It is very important for the hosts to treat the guests with grace. The conflict may arise when the guest feels to be neglected from the host’s side. This problem may occur at the peak of tourist arrival as there is less time to serve the guests. (Harris, Griffin and Williams, 2002)

Impact of the conflicts

Social: The conflicts between the parties on tourism development lead to many social impacts. Existence of number of conflicts may affect the social aspect of the society as it does ruin the image of the country in front of the tourist.

Economical: The destinations with more number of conflicts may affect the earning of the country through tourism as most of the tourists may not visit the place with conflicting nature.

Cultural: The cultural image of the country also suffers due to existence of conflicts. (Miller and Twining-Ward, 2005)

4.2 Analyze the implications of balancing supply and demand

Demand

Demand basically means the requirement of the buyers. It is the quality and quantity of the product that is needed or demanded by the buyers of the products.

In terms of tourism, demand is the total number of people travel or wish to travel the place is the tourism demand of that particular place. The tourism demand of the place can be increased by increase in the tourist’s opportunities. It is necessary to attract the tourists in order to raise the tourism demands. Tourism demand can be measures by examining the simultaneous consumption of the complementary products related to tourism. This suggests that rise in people visiting the place also give rise to the beds acquired in the hotels and food consumed in the restaurants. Tourism demands depend upon the competition, tourist’s attraction, opportunity and the season.

The above figure shows the visitor receipts and growth rate in visitors in Philippines. This determines that Philippines is at the growth stage in tourism demands.

Supply

In terms of tourism, supply is the mix of all attractions that is available for the tourists at the location or the destination. Theses attractions collectively fulfill the demand of tourisms. The tourism supply of the tourist destination shapes the tourism demand for the same. Tourism supplier involves the hospitality sector, transport sector and attractions of the destination. (Page, 2009)

Philippines is the place that has enormous amount of potential in terms of tourist’s attractions. The increase in the demand of the visitors suggests that Philippines is successful in satisfying the demands of the tourists. The suppliers of tourism at Philippines and the public-private relationship in the tourism sector leads to proper supply of the tourism to the visitors.

4.3 evaluate the moral and ethical issues of enclave tourism

Enclave tourism

It is the type of tourism in which the tourist destination is enclosed and all the tourist activities have been conducted in that enclosed area. The tourists are not allowed to go out at the remote areas but experience the travel and tourism attractions at the enclosed area. The enclave tourisms involve the islands, ships or resorts.

In other words, enclave tourism can be defined as the customized tourism in which the tourists have got whatever they want at that particular place only.

There are many problems associated with the enclave tourism as there is less interaction between the tourists and the local people. This leads to reduction in the tourist earning of the local people. (Pineda and Brebbia, 2004)

Some of the ethical and moral issues associated with the enclave tourism are:

1. The local community of Philippines have not get benefitted from the tourism at the enclave areas remain restricted and there is not interaction between the tourist and the local people.
2. Enclave tourism also affects the cultural and heritage tourism of Philippines which is the actual tourist attraction of the country. The tourist remains restricted to the particular areas and could not see the actual culture and heritage of the country which somehow affect the reduction in the number of visitors at the historical attractions of the place.
3. Reduction in the earning of the poor people because of enclave tourism results in engagement of those poor people into activities that are illegal. These activities may be crime, prostitution etc. (Richards and Hall, 2000)

Task 5

5.1 Compare current issues associated with tourism development in a developing country and an emerging destination where the impacts of tourism are different

Impact of tourism in different aspects

Economical impact: tourism helps the country to raise its economy by earning revenue from the international and domestic tourists. It also helps the country with increase in employment opportunities for the people in tourism sector. The cultural heritage of the country gets the recognition with the help of the international tourists all over the world. (Seyfi, 2016)

Social-cultural aspect: The tourism in the country helps in integrating the culture of the different countries and hence brings the standard of living to the host country people. It also affects the culture of the host country as the host country population gets affected by the culture of the people that visits the country as tourists from different foreign lands.

Environmental aspect: Development of tourism helps in improvement in the wildlife and cultural heritage of the country. Another negative point is that tourism somehow affects the natural environment of the country.

Tourism area lifecycle phases

1. It is the stage in which the new product that needs to be served for the tourists has been manufactured.
2. It is the second stage that focuses on identification of the season and the number of visitors in that season.
3. It is the most important stage because it argues about the modifications in the tourism sector that are required according to the recent trends.
4. It is the stage where number of visitors has been increased.

Tourism at developing, developed and emerging destinations

Tourism business has been affected by the development and the economic growth of the country or the destination. The tourist attraction and their impact on developed country are very different from developing and emerging country. (Sharpley, 2006) There is difference between developing and emerging destination. The emerging destination is the place which is growing at faster pace in terms of economy as well as tourism while developing destination are those that are developing slowly and need help from others to get developed. World Bank, OECD and IMF categories the countries into different categories according to the tourism state. Developed countries or destinations are identified as the countries having highest GDP per capita income like US and UK. (Verbeek and Mommaas, 2008)

Tourism in Nepal: Nepal is the country which falls under the category of developing nation. The main tourist attraction of the nation is its beauty of mountains, flaura and fauna. There are various resorts, hotels and other accommodation services that are successfully meeting the needs of the tourists at very affordable prices. However the reasons that act as the drawbacks fir the nation are the issues like traffic due to narrow roads, poor transport networks etc. one of the major cause that restricts the tourism of the nation is the terrorist attacks in the country. The government here fails to manage these things that restrict the tourism in the country.

Tourism in France: France id the developed country and hence attracts many tourist because of its beauty. There are many attractive destinations that draw the attention of the tourist and forces people to visits the destination. The main porblem that restrict the tourism here is the language. The people that do not know French cannot visit the place easily as even the sign boards in the country is written in French. Another problem faced by the tourists is that the place is so expensive that it restricts the shopping business of the country by tourism. (Tourism.gov.ph, 2016)

5.2 evaluate, with recommendations, the future development of tourism in these destinations

Recommendations for Nepal

It is necessary for the government of Nepal to initiate some of the steps in order to improve the tourism in the country.

1. Provision of better transport facilities.
2. Construction of better and convinient roads and highways.
3. Better facilities in terms of accommodation and food.
4. Better security facilities for the tourists as well as fir the local people.
5. Preservation of the culture and heritage of the nation.

France

1. The government should take initiatives to put the sign board written in English so that tourists can understand them.
2. Use of language should be increased so the tourists from other nation can communicate with the local people.
3. Government guide facilities for the tourists.
4. Shopping materials should be sold at cheaper rates so the tourists can afford to buy such products.

Conclusion

Philippines is the nation with growing tourism sector because of the introduction of many initiatives by the government to plan the development of the tourism in the nation. Various stakeholders are involved in the process of development of plan of tourism. These stakeholders have different benefits by the tourism development process. It mainly helps in developing the economy of the nation. Different countries have different issues in tourism development according to their economic growth.