BASIC CONCEPT IN TOURISM

PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT

LEARNING OBJECTIVES:
At the end of this chapter, the learners are expected to:
1. Define tourism policy, tourism planning and tourism product
development and explain their relationship.
2. Explain the dimensions of tourism planning in terms of levels, time
frames, scopes and spatial units;
3. Describe tourism’s special characteristics as a product and their
implications on planning
4. Explain the benefits of planning; and
5. Identify the pre-requisites for effective tourism plans and product
development.
TOURISM POLICY
It is a set of regulations, rules, guidelines, directives, and
development/promotion objectives and strategies that
provide a framework within which the collective and
individual decisions directly affecting long-term tourism
development and the daily activities within a
destination are taken.

– (Goeldner & Ritchie 2003)

TOURISM PLANNING
- is the process of gathering of evaluating information to
identify and prioritize current tourism development issues
- imagining a desired future state of tourism in the
destination and
- choosing from a number of alternatives for achieving
them.
TOURISM PLANNING( CONTINUATION)

Situational Vision,
Analysis Goals and Strategies
Objectives
SITUATIONAL ANALYSIS

Analyzing the area with the

use of analytical tool.
E.g. SWOT Analysis
PEST analysis
VISION
A desired
future state of
the destination
broad-based targets for tourism
( e.g. to modernize the international airport)
are targets that are:
 E.g. to increase passenger
handling capacity of X Airport
to two million a year starting
2019
STRATEGIES
The method by which
objectives will be achieved
(e.g. public-private partnership)
STRATEGIES (CONTINUATION)

For short term and medium term plans should

also contain an implementation or action
plan which provides a detailed list of the
activities that need to be done within each
strategy.
TOURISM PLANNING DIMENSIONS
1. LEVELS
1. International
2. National
3. Regional
4. Provincial
5. Municipality/city
6. Site level
2. TIME FRAME
Short-term - 2 years or less in the future
Medium term – two to five years
Long term – five years and up
3. SCOPE
The tourism plan may be:
1. comprehensive in scope
A COMPREHENSIVE MASTER PLAN - is also known as MASTER
PLAN. It is actually composed of several smaller plans.
-e.g. the Bohol Tourism plan of 2007 that includes six
components namely:
- physical( structure plan and transportation infrastructure plan)
- environmental management plan
- Conservation management plan
- Entrepreneurship development plan
- Various sustainable development proposal
- Implementation plan
SCOPE (CONTINUATION) )

Most plans starts with the SWOT analysis. It may use the tourism competitiveness
framework of the World Economic Forum which analyzes how a country fares in terms
of the following aspects:
policies and regulation
Environmental sustainability
Safety and security
Health and hygiene
SCOPE (CONTINUATION) )

2. A tourism plan may concentrate on just

one or two components.

e.g. a tourism development plan of UNWTO for Sri

Lanka after the Asian tsunami in 2004 focused on
developing livelihood for the coastal areas.
4. SPATIAL UNITS
The space covered in tourism planning is called a tourism
development unit. The Department of Tourism – Japan
International Cooperation Agency ( DOT-JICA) and the
UNESCO provided the following spatial concept.
Tourism site
Tourism development area (TDA)
Tourism cluster
Tourism circuits
Tourism corridors
TOURIST SITE

- is an area that contains

one or more tourist
attraction.
 TOURIST ATTRACTION
“ a physical or cultural features of the
particular place that individual travelers or
tourists perceived as capable of meeting one
or more of their specific leisure-related needs,
or positive or favorable attributes of an area
for a given activity or set of activities as
desired by a given customer or market,
including climate, scenery, activities and
culture”.
- Tourism Western Australia 2006
 Geophysical –
FOUR CATEGORIES OF ATTRACTION
landscape Aesthetic Ecological-biological Cultural – historical Recreational
• Human constructions, practices, • Theme parks
• Mountains Organisms ( their parts, and remains ( archaeological)
• Gorges
behaviors, aggregations • Botanical gardens
• Manifestation of human
• Big rocks • Sports fields
or associations in evolution and cultural expression
• Caves • Motion-based
communities with their • Ideas of particular individuals
• Rivers
organisms or events that are interpreted attractions (such as
• Water bodies
• Scenic views
through objects and places like roller coasters)
a house or person’s possession • Zoos
• Unusual Cloud Ecological events or (e.g., the house of the national • Museum
formation processes ( hero) • Theaters
• Unusual meteorological decomposition, • Buildings w/c may be tourism
conditions ( e.g., high
reproduction, predation, • Shopping malls
specific and/or nor tourism
velocity wind behavior) • Events (e.g. sports
migration, and fossil specific attractions
• Thermal waters events, festivals, sales
remains) • Buildings Include: churches,
• Volcanic activity
historic houses, archeological and exhibitions
• Unusual celestial events
sites, ancient monuments,
( e.g., Northern Lights,
amusement parks, theme parks,
Persed Meteor Showers
open air museum, marinas,
or exceptionally clear
exhibition centers, craft centers ,
night views for
casino, health complexes, picnic
stargazing)
sites and retail complexes,
TOURISM DEVELOPMENT AREA(TDA)
An area designated for possessing an important site or
groups of tourist sites. Any town or city that has one or
more tourist sites can be considered as TDA.

Ex. Baguio City – there is session road for shopping, dining and
entertainment, the Mines View Park, Philippine Military Academy,
Wright Park and several others.
Vigan- Laoag TDA.
TOURISM CLUSTER
- Composed of two or more TDAs.
Example:
A. the Central Visayas Tourism Cluster consists of 5
TDAs namely;
 1. Northern Cebu-Bantayan- Malapascua
 2. Metro cebu-Mactan-Olango Island
 3. Southern Cebu
 4. Negros Oriental-Siquijor
 5. Tagbilaran- Panglao Island
TOURISM CLUSTER(CONTINUATION)

- Composed of two or more TDAs.

Example:
B. Palawan
C. Northern Leyte and Southern Samar Island
Tourism Cluster
TOURISM CIRCUIT
Defined as a route involving at least three major tourist
destinations which are located in different towns, villages
or cities and the destination share a common characteristics
or themes.

Example: gastronomic – ( Pampanga, Bicol, and Iloilo)

Surfing circuit – (La Union, Baler, and Calicoan and Eastern
Samar )
TOURISM CORRIDOR
It refers to a route defined by a theme, spanning
several countries or even continents.

Example: Silk Heritage corridor, a civilization spanning several

countries in Asia, Europe and Africa.
The Inca corridor in South America covers Chile, Bolivia, Peru,
Ecuador, Argentina and Colombia.
 THE NATIONAL TOURISM DEVELOPMENT PLAN IDENTIFIED 20 CLUSTERS
COMPOSED OF EXISTING AND EMERGING TOURIST DEVELOPMENT
AREAS (TDA). THE TOURISM CLUSTERS ARE:
Northern Philippines
1. Batanes, Cagayan Coast and Babuyan Islands
2. Laoag – Vigan ( Laoag – Pagudpud, Vigan)
3. Sierra Madre ( Tugegarao -Tabuk, Ilagan and Isabela Coast; Quirino
4. Cordillera (Central Cordillera; Benguet -Baguio- Mt. Province, Nueva Vizcaya
5. Lingayen Gulf ( La Union Coast; Western Pangasinan Loop;East Pangasinal Circuit,
Lingayen Coast Islands)
6. Central Luzon Luzon (Subic- Clark-Tarlac Corridor; Nueva Ecija; Pampanga; Bulacan;
Zambales Coast; Bataan Coast and Inland; Aurora
7. Metro Manila and CALABARZON ( Metro Manila and Environs; Nasugbu-Looc-Ternate-Cavite
Coast; Laguna de Bay; Batangas Peninsula; Quezon Coasts and Islands
 THE NATIONAL TOURISM DEVELOPMENT PLAN IDENTIFIED 20 CLUSTERS
COMPOSED OF EXISTING AND EMERGING TOURIST DEVELOPMENT
AREAS (TDA). THE TOURISM CLUSTERS ARE (CONTINUATION):
Central Philippines
1. Bicol ( Camarines and Cantanduanes; Albay- Sorsogon-Masbate)
2. Marinduque – Mindoro- Romblon ( Marinduque Island; Romblon Island; Puerto Galera; Southwest
Mindoro Coast )
3. Palawan (San Vicente- El Nido – Taytay; Puerto Princesa; Southern Palawan;
Busuanga –Coron- Culion Island
4. Western Visayas( Metro Iloilo-Guimaras;Bacodol-Silay;Boracay Island – Northern
Antique Kalibo;Capiz)
5. Central Visayas ( Northern Cebu-Bantayan-Malapascua; Metro Cebu- Mactan- Olango
Island; Southern Cebu; Negros Oriental- Dumaguete –Siquijor; Tagbilaran- Panglao)
6. Eastern Visayas (Northeastern Leyte-Basey-Marabut; Northeastern Leyte-Biliran;
Southern Leyte; West Samar; Eastern Samar; Northern Samar
 THE NATIONAL TOURISM DEVELOPMENT PLAN IDENTIFIED 20 CLUSTERS
COMPOSED OF EXISTING AND EMERGING TOURIST DEVELOPMENT
AREAS (TDA). THE TOURISM CLUSTERS ARE (CONTINUATION):

Southern Philippines
1. Surigao-Dinagat Island ( Dinagat- Siargao Islands; Surigao city – Lake Mainit)
2. Agusan River Basin ( Butuan city – Cabadbaran; Agusan Marsh; Agusan Sur- Hinatuan; Agusan
Sur –Bislig)
3. Cagayan de Oro Coast Hinterland (Camiguin island; Cagayan de Oro – Misamis Oriental coast;
Iligan city/Lanao del Norte; Misamis Occidental Coast; Tangub Bay/Ozamis-Oroquieta; Bukidnon)
4. Zamboanga Peninsula ( Zamboanga Sibugay, Zamboanga city – Sta. Cruz –Isabela; Pagadian
city – Zamboanga del Sur; Dapitan; Dipolog)
5. Davao Gulf and Coast ( Davao city- Samal Island- Davao del Norte; Davao Del Sur; Compostela
Valley – Davao Oriental)
6. Cotabato- Sarangani (Cotabato Province – Mt. Apo; South Cotabato – Lake Sebu; Sultan
Kudarat;General Santos –Sanrangani;Cotabato city)
7. ARMM(Basilan – Tawi-tawi – Jolo;Lanao del Sur- Maguindanao)
TOURISM DESTINATION
Regardless of an area, number and levels of political units
involved, any tourism development unit may comprise a tourism
destination.
A tourism development unit is a destination.

Tourism Destination – “a physical space in

which visitors spends at least one overnight”.
----- UNWTO 2004
TOURISM CHARACTERISTICS AND
THEIR PLANNING IMPLICATIONS
 1. TOURISM IS A COMPOSITE PRODUCT
It comprised of goods and services that are
provided by entities in tourism value chain.

VALUE CHAIN refers to the series of public and

private entities that convert resources into value
added tourism products that are sold to tourist.

IMPLICATION TO PLANNING: Rationale of

tourism planning is to identify , organize, and
integrate entities along tourism value chain
to ensure the delivery of consistently high
quality tourist experiences.
 2. TOURIST DESTINATION ARE INTANGIBLE

Potential visitor cannot try them prior to purchase

of tickets, rooms or tour package. Potential tourist
based their decision on images and expectation.

IMPLICATION TO PLANNING: Tourism Planners

should incorporate strategies for managing
expectations and maximizing visitor satisfaction.
 3. TOURIST DESTINATIONS HAVE
LONG GESTATION PERIOD

Very few destinations achieve overnight

success. Boracay and Puerto Princesa took
several years to reach their present status.

Implication: Tourism Plan must cover a

long-term horizon, and tourism entities
should give it their enduring commitment.
 4. TOURISM IS CAPITAL INTENSIVE
Particularly at the incipient stage of
development when a lot of money is
required to build infrastructure, facilities,
and human expertise.
IMPLICATION:
Tourism Plan must be able to present
realistic estimates of the financial requirements,
identify sources of financial assistance and find
ways to avail fiscal and non-fiscal incentives from
the government.
Feasibility studies can help potential
investors to firm up their decisions whether
to venture or not into tourism.
 5. TOURISM’S MAIN ASSETS ARE THE
NATURE AND CULTURE
Nature and culture are Finite resources that
have to be protected for posterity

IMPLICATION: Tourism Plan must incorporate

strategies for natural and cultural protection at:
- Pre-development stage (Legislative controls on
setback, building heights, architectural designs,
preservation of historic towns, density limits and
waste management.
- In built-up area( strategies for revitalizing or
rejuvenating the sites or blending with the
character of a heritage destination.
 6. TOURISM IS SUBJECT TO EXTERNAL
FORCES THAT ARE LARGELY
UNCONTROLLABLE
External Factors affecting tourism industry
Political situation Natural calamities
Weather Currency fluctuations
International relations
IMPLICATION: Tourism planners must be able to spot
key drivers of tourism growth or decline and identify
strategies that will help the destination exploit
opportunities and prepare contingency measures for
worst case scenarios.
• Planners must temper their optimism and
pragmatism.
 7. TOURISM EXERTS IMPACTS ON THE
ENVIRONMENT, CULTURE AND
ECONOMY OF THE DESTINATION
The impacts are intertwined; there is a correlation between
poverty and environmental quality. Many destination
suffer from permanent environmental damage due to want
or abuse.
IMPLICATION:
Planners must help avoid undesirable changes from occurring
by drawing up precautionary measures at the earliest stage
of tourism development.
Planners must also deal with numerous agencies at various
levels of governance to register business name, apply for
environmental impacts assessment , obtain business license,
secure accreditation and get a loan and financial incentives
among others.
 8. TOURISM IS HIGHLY DYNAMIC AND
COMPETITIVE INDUSTRY

Tourism Planners must always keep track of

the latest trends in the tourism product
development, as well as changing customer
profiles and adjust accordingly.

Planners must also devise competitive

strategies and collaboration strategies at
the same time.
 9. STAKEHOLDERS PROVIDE VALUABLE
INPUTS IN PLANNING.
Stakeholders
Local community
Residents
Donor agencies
Tourism associations
Government offices
Indigenous people in some areas
Existing tourism business

They provide valuable inputs in planning in terms of

knowledge, experiences, and inside information.
Their support is critical to in securing the approval of
tourism plans
 THE BENEFITS OF
TOURISM PLANNING
1. MENTAL EXERCISE

-It forces us to focus on the

task at hand and to think
critically.
-We are able to crystallize
issues and identify
development priorities.
2. Leads to discovery of new knowledge,
experiences and insights that could be
used to produced better plan in the
future.
3. Local support staff also
benefit from the transfer of
skills and knowledge.
4. PREVENTS WASTE OF TIME, MONEY AND EFFORT

- drawing up a plan may take time but it reduces

the total time needed from conceptualization to
implementation.
A written plan avoids trial and error, which can
leads to escalated costs and longer project duration.
Mistakes can be very costly.
5.HELPS AVOID MISTAKES THAT CAN LEAD TO
IRREPARABLE DAMAGE TO DESTINATION
The absence of plan can result in unregulated construction
of resorts that may destroy the natural beauty of an
island.
Poor Planning may result in poor demand forecast that can
result in actual and potential financial losses.
Good planning may help prevent the occurrence of these
negative impacts.
5. CONTRIBUTES TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF SOCIAL
CAPITAL BY BUILDING TRUST AND SUPPORT AMONG
THE VARIOUS STAKEHOLDERS IN THE DESTINATION

Relationships created by networking and engaging in

dialogue with tourism industry, government, Non-
government organization (NGOs) and local
communities help in gathering support for the
approval and implementation of the plan.
 FACTORS TO CONSIDER FOR
EFFECTIVE TOURISM PLANNING
AND DEVELOPMENT
1.Availability and Quality
of Tourism Relevant Data
Data must be available and must be up-to-
date.
It affects the level of accuracy of estimating
supply capacity, forecasting demand and
monitoring outcomes.
National level tourism-related data are
generally updated every year and are
relatively accessible even in the internet.
2. Caliber of Planning Expertise

The caliber of planning expertise determines

the quality of planning output.

This expertise can only be built over long

years of education and professional
experience.
 3. Types and varieties of tourism resources
Destination can capitalize on unique
cultural and natural assets by
developing tourism around them

Example: Maldives – decided to concentrated

Example: Singapore – opted to develop theme parks, zoos on high-end resorts because of its limited
artificial gardens, shopping and entertainment and other man- absorptive capacity
made attraction
4. Kinds of tourism resources in adjacent destination

The kinds of resources in adjacent destination has implications

on competitive strategies.
A Destination needs to differentiate its product with real or
imagined uniqueness to compete with destinations offering
similar attraction.
4. Kinds of tourism resources in adjacent destination
According to Prof. Felipe de Leon Jr., a destination can compete by
establishing its cultural identity in terms of the following:

being the first to have a particular attraction

4. Kinds of tourism resources in adjacent destination
According to Prof. Felipe de Leon Jr., a destination can compete by
establishing its cultural identity in terms of the following:

having something that can only be found in your destination

4. Kinds of tourism resources in adjacent destination
According to Prof. Felipe de Leon Jr., a destination can compete by
establishing its cultural identity in terms of the following:

being true to traditions and methods of preparation, not contrived.

4. Kinds of tourism resources in adjacent destination
According to Prof. Felipe de Leon Jr., a destination can compete by
establishing its cultural identity in terms of the following:

not found anywhere else

4. Kinds of tourism resources in adjacent destination
According to Prof. Felipe de Leon Jr., a destination can compete by
establishing its cultural identity in terms of the following:

being significant for a particular event

4. Kinds of tourism resources in adjacent destination
According to Prof. Felipe de Leon Jr., a destination can compete by
establishing its cultural identity in terms of the following:

being the tallest, smallest, biggest, scariest, or anything superlative

4. Kinds of tourism resources in adjacent destination
According to Prof. Felipe de Leon Jr., a destination can compete by
establishing its cultural identity in terms of the following:

having the highest quality

5. Culture of
Destination Resident
the cultural characteristics of a
destination have an impact on
the kind of tourists that are
attracted to it.

Example: a large number of

visitors from Middle East, Eastern
Europe and Africa come to
Malaysia because of affinity with
Islamic religion and culture.
 6. Geographic Location and
Spatial Distribution of the
Tourism Development Units
Geographic location has a direct
impacts on several factors that
affect tourism development such as
climate, security, vulnerability to
natural disasters and infrastructure
requirement.
Geographic location also affects
real and perceived security.
Example: Mindanao has the unenviable reputation
for being “dangerous” even though the island is
said to be generally peaceful, reducing the
attractiveness of the tourism properties that are
located there.
7. Target market
Market volume and
characteristics influenced the kind
of amenities and services that
are offered in the destination.
The wave of international tourist
in the Philippines
• 1970s – Japanese
• Late 1980s – Koreans
• Present -Chinese (have already
dislodge Koreans as the biggest
nationality group in Boracay)
8. Stages in the Tourism Area Life Cycle(TALC)
 The TALC goes through the
following process:
1. Exploration – the destination is
“discovered” by few people who are
mostly made up of independent travelers.
Facilities that are available are not of
“tourist standards”; they are used and
owned by the local.
Tourism is limited due to lack of access and
facilities.

Attitude of the residents to the tourist –

euphoria
 The TALC goes through
the following process:
2. Involvement – the destination experiences greater and regular
visitations and seasonal patterns may be observed.
The community begins to adapt to tourism and may even begin to
advertise.
The government may be pressured to provide infrastructure.

Attitude of the residents to the tourist –

euphoria
 The TALC goes through
the following process:
3. Development – additional tourism
infrastructure may be present. Well-
defined and regular market areas
stimulated by extensive advertising
emerge.
Tourist during the peak season
outnumbered the locals.
The community rapidly loses involvement
and control of tourism development

Attitude of the residents to the tourist –

apathy
The TALC goes through
the following process:
4. consolidation – growth rate in tourist arrivals declines, although
the numbers are still decreasing . A business zone appears and some
old facilities are perceived as second rate.
Local efforts are made to extend the visitor season and market area.
A major part of the local economy is tied to tourism, and native
residents may find some negative effects.

Attitude of the residents to the tourist – irritation

The TALC goes through
the following process:
5. stagnation – the number of
tourists reaches or exceeds the
carrying capacity.
Environmental, social and economic
problems are experienced.
The resort begins to lose its appeal
and property owner begins to sell.
Attitude of the residents to the
tourist – irritation
The TALC goes through
the following process:
6. Decline or rejuvenation– the alternative
outcome in the post stagnation phase.
Decline may ensue if the tourist market
continues to wane and the resort is not able
to compete with newer attraction.
The resort may go through rejuvenation, if
it is able to renovate or develop an artificial
attraction by exploiting untapped resources.
Attitude of the residents to the tourist –
antagonism
9. Tourism
development paradigm
The philosophy held by most
influential actors in the tourism
development defines the choice
of issues , goals and strategies of
tourism development.

Example: pro-poor tourism

paradigm andBiocentric tourism
paradigm
10. National Tourism
Policy and Legislation
The key features of this policy are:
The National tourism policy and • Nationalistic orientation
legislation set parameters to what • Sustainable tourism development
can and cannot be done. These • Tourism that is ecologically
priority areas are outlined in sustainable, responsible,
Republic Act (RA) 9593 or the participative, culturally sensitive,
Tourism Act of 2009. economically viable, and ethically
and socially equitable for local
communities
11. Stakeholder’s perception and Attitudes
Stakeholder’s perceptions and attitudes towards tourism affects the
degree of support the stakeholders give to the tourism development.

A positive perception of tourism results in the people embracing tourism

development
Negative perception will make people oppose.
 Some aspects of the external environment:
12. Awareness of the trend toward instant gratification, health
External Forces and fitness consciousness
The tourism planners must Aging population in the source markets
also be conscious of Rise of China, India, and Russia in the world
external developments that economy
can affect the viability of The convergence of technology, broader
the planned tourism access to the internet and the growing use of
projects. social media
Climate change, global warming,
deforestation
13. Financial Capital
Requirement
The amount of financial capital
required by a tourism project
and the ability to raise such
fund amount are also a major
consideration.