TOURISM POLICY

Forms of Tourism Development

In formulating tourism development policy and plan, it is important to understand the different forms and physical types of tourism development

1. Resort based tourism

2. Urban tourism

3. Special interest and adventure tourism

4. Water transport tourism

5. Residential tourism

6. Alternative forms of tourism

7. Other forms of tourism

RESORT BASED TOURISM

A tourist resort can be defined as a destination areas that is relatively self-contained and typically provides a wide range of tourist facilities and services including those designed for recreation & relaxation

The two (2) principal forms of resorts are integrated resort and town resort

Integrated Resort

Including holiday villages, are plan developments for virtually exclusive use by tourists, although employees may live in or near the resorts

Are oriented to particular features such as;

1. beach, lake and marine recreation areas, ski slopes, mountain scenery

2. national parks or major natural features

Are varied in size from one hotel to several hotels

Typically self contained, including various tourist facilities & services of a commercial center or facilities, recreation & sport facilities, sometimes cultural facilities and perhaps a conference center or major meeting facilities in the hotels

Some integrated resort contain a wide range of accommodation from various types of hotels and cottages to self-catering apartments (may be lived in by retirees, be second vacation homes, or available for rent to short term visitors), townhouses and villas

Eg: Hawaii, Genting Highland Resorts, A’Famosa Resort

Town Resorts

Combines the usual land uses and activities of a town community but is economically focused on resort activities and contains hotels and other types accommodation and tourist facilities and services

Typically oriented to specific attraction feature (snow skiing, spa facilities, religious pilgrimages)

Eg; beach resort town in Australia, spa resort town in Japan, Sunway Lagoon Resort (Sunway Resort & Spa)

Retreat Resorts

A form of integrated resort; becoming popular in various parts of the world such as the Caribbean and Pacific Islands

Small scale (25-50 rooms), but often high quality planned resorts located in remote areas such as on small islands or in the mountains

Only access may be by boat, small airplane

Cater to guests who wish a quiet, isolated vacation environment but usually with some recreation activities available

Remote hunting and fishing lodges often function as retreat resorts

Because of their specialized character and often high development and operational costs, retreat resorts require careful feasibility analysis

Eg: Frasers’s Silverpark Resort, Fraser Hill; Eco-retreat, eco-resort ( Borneo Highland Resort), Sukau Eco-lodge

URBAN TOURISM Take place in large cities where tourism may be

important but is not a primary activity in the urban area

Serve both holiday and business traveler Tourist attractions are typically ones that are

visited and used by residents as well as tourists A common practice to develop or redevelop

certain urban areas Conference & convention facilities are often

developed in cities to attract more tourists

SPECIAL INTEREST & ADVENTURE TOURISM

Refers to tourists, usually in a small group tours, who are traveling to learn about and experience particular specific features related to an area

Often associated with the tourists’ long term avocational or vocational interests

Can focus on a wide range of features (infinite)

Related to special interest tourism is adventure tourism whereby tourists engage in physically challenging and sometimes dangerous ( or perceived to be dangerous) activities

This types of tourism does not require large scale or expensive development of facilities and infrastructure

Careful organization, knowledgeable guide services, at least basic accommodation and catering facilities are essential

WATER TRANSPORT TOURISM

Is very much resource based and depends on availability of navigable waterways and imaginative development

3 types of water transport tourism;

1. Cruise ship tourism

2. River and canal tourism

3. Yachting tourism

Cruise Ship Tourism

“fly-sea cruise” Specialized “adventure” cruises (developed

by Lindblad) – high cost cruises to exotic places as the Antarctica and Galapagos Islands (now alliance with National Geographic Society)

Star Cruise, SuperStar Virgo

River and Canal Tourism

River boat tourism involves tourists taking river boat cruises with accommodation and meals provided on board of the boat

Eg; Nile River and Mississippi River; Putrajaya River Cruise, Sarawak River Cruise

Old canal systems offer the potential for houseboat vacation travel

River rafting and canoeing; with overnight camping alongside the river, can be considered a special form of river transport tourism

Yachting Tourism

Located at some coastal and island ports in interesting sailing areas and posses protected anchorage

“fly sea yachting” arrangements Well developed in Mediterranean and

Caribbean regions

(sail and cruises)

RESIDENTIAL TOURISM

Refers to cabins, houses, villas, townhouses and apartments that are developed expressly as vacation or retirement homes, and often include a combination of these in one development (the length of stay may be more than a year)

Vacation or holiday second homes have become a common form of tourism development in North America and Europe

ALTERNATIVE FORMS OF TOURISM Examples (pg 166-167)

1. Village tourism (Sarawak Cultural Village)

2. Rural, farm or agro tourism (homestay, Dusun Eco-Resort)

3. Walking and cycling tours

4. Fishing tourism (Perkampungan Nelayan)

5. Nature eco-tourism of hiking, trekking and canoeing in natural areas

6. Urban eco-tourism

OTHER FORMS OF TOURISM

1. Transportation-oriented tourism (eg; Airport hotels, motels along roads)

2. Camping and caravan tourism (eg; RV)

3. Youth tourism (eg; travel for education, recreation and sports such as YMCA; facilities such as youth hostel)

4. Safari, trekking and mountain tourism

5. Social tourism (provide vacations for lower income people and those who would otherwise not take the initiative to travel – subsidized by the government and employers or trade unions, clubs and other associations to which the people belong)

DEFINITION

Can be defined as 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,2006)

FUNCTIONS OF TOURISM POLICY It defines the rules of the game – the terms under which tourism

operators must function It sets out activities and behaviors that are acceptable for visitors It provides a common direction and guidance for all tourism

stakeholders within a destination It facilitates consensus around specific strategies and objectives

for a given destination It provides a framework for public/private discussions on the role

and contributions of the tourism sector to the economy and to society in general

It allows tourism to interface more effectively with other sectors of the economy

AREAS OF TOURISM POLICY

In general term, a formal tourism policy for a given destination will address such areas as (at national level):

1. The roles of tourism within the overall socioeconomic development of the destination region

2. The type of destination that will most effectively fulfill the desired roles

3. Taxation – types and levels4. Financing for the tourism sector – sources and

terms

5. The nature and direction of product development and maintenance

6. Transportation access and infrastructure7. Regulatory practices (eg; airlines, travel agencies)8. Environmental practices and restrictions9. Industry image and credibility10. Communication relationships11. Human resource and labour supply12. Union and labor legislation13. Technology14. Marketing practices15. Foreign travel rules

APPROACHES TO POLICY FORMULATION

Policy is determined based on several considerations and approaches

These include;

1. The objectives of developing tourism provide the basis for establishing policy because policy is the expression on how the objectives can or will be achieved. For eg; if the objective is for minimization of sociocultural impact, then the policy may be for highly controlled, limited tourism development

2.It must reflect the overall development policy and plan for the country or region so that tourism is an integrated sector. The background review of existing policy & planning will have provided the basis for thin integration. The political and economic ideology of the country or region also affects the policy as related to the respective roles of the public and private sectors in developing tourism

3.It evolves from the survey, and synthesis of any present tourism development patterns and infrastructure, tourist attractions, and tourist markets. Socioeconomic and environmental factors are very important consideration in policy determination, especially the social and the environmental absorptive or carrying capacity of the area

4. It must be based on all considerations for domestically or internationally so that the tourism will be developed in a balanced manner

5. The government should assume the lead role in determining tourism policy because policy affects the entire country and its communities

6. The private sector and community or its representatives should also be involved in the policy decision-making process, and the resulting policy should provide a framework within which they can effectively function

7.It may spell out certain assumptions about tourism development, and especially the expected benefits form tourism. They may identify weaknesses within the destination that need to be addressed and also identify anticipated constraints on development such as insufficient quantity and quality of accommodation or lack of skilled labor or shortage of capital

POLICY CONSIDERATIONS

1. Role of government

2. Environmental protection, cultural conservation, and sustainable development

3. Reasons for developing tourism

4. Type of tourism to be developed

5. Extent of tourism development

6. Growth rate of tourism

7. Location and staging development

8. Other types of policies

Role of Government

Passive, active or somewhat intermediate role

Passive – the government neither discourages nor encouraging tourism, adopts measure for the general development process which may assist tourism but are nor specifically designed to this sector

Active – the government has adopted a general policy for developing tourism (set objectives, specific policies, adequate budget and actively promotes tourism by providing some or all of the infrastructure for tourism developments such as resorts, developing tourist attraction features and etc)

In newly developing tourism areas and especially in developing countries, the government usually must perform a very active role to get tourism started

After tourism has become established, the government can assume a more normal active role

Environment Protection, Cultural Conservation and Sustainable Development

A policy may be stated about tourism being developed in a controlled manner in order to achieve sustainability of its resources

Eg; National tourism policy

Reasons for Developing Tourism

1. Economic reasons

2. Social reasons

3. For domestic tourism

4. Using tourism to help achieve environmental and cultural conservation objectives

Type of Tourism to be Developed

Can range from general sight-seeing or large scale beach or mountain resort oriented tourism to small scale special interest tourism

“quality” tourism – controlled development aiming for high expenditure tourist markets

Extent of Tourism Development

Range from a very limited small-scale level of few thousands tourists annually to mass tourism involving millions of visitors

A large country or region may decide to develop different levels of tourism in different areas, and at a different times

Growth Rate of Tourism

Slow, medium or fast May be desirable to control the growth rate

for several reasons;

1. Social reasons

2. Development reasons

3. Manpower planning reasons

4. Economic reasons

Location and Staging of Development

Certain areas and not others will be developed during the time frame of the plan, or that development should be staged in a particular manner to be compatible with overall development objectives

Sometimes that development be staged in a particular manner for political reasons

Other Types of Policies

Multi use of tourism infrastructure Relation between domestic and international

tourism Education and training Investment and employment policies ( may

involve national/regional capital vs joint venture and national citizens vs outsource)

Need to be flexible

NATIONAL AND REGIONAL PLANNING PRINCIPLES

Gateway and staging area concept (access points)

Clustering of attractions development (secondary attractions)

Establishment of tourism regions and development areas (the criteria's, pg 183)

Transportation and other infrastructure principles (internal transportation; maximum use of existing infrastructure; alternative routes)

Seasonality considerations Staging of development