KRN-HOW TO DEVELOP AN EFFECTIVE TOURISM STRATEGY FOR YOUR DESTINATION

“Why do we need another plan?”

This question is mentioned a lot when asked to help a tourism destination develop a national, regional,
or destination specific sustainable tourism strategy. We believe strongly that every tourism destination
needs a tourism strategy, or a long-term tourism plan that unites the industry and the government to
peruse a shared vision for sustainable tourism development and management. But the question is how
do you develop a tourism strategy that is implemented and doesn’t just end up on the shelf?

Based upon our tourism planning and implementation experience in more than 500 destinations around
the globe, we know that tourism strategies often fail, but rarely because of a lack of good ideas. In our
experience, we believe the process is just as important as the end tourism strategy. We see the keys to
successful strategic tourism planning include:

 Buy-in and consensus, from the wide range of public and private sector stakeholders that will
be needed for successful strategy execution. Solimar uses a variety of tools and proven
approaches for achieving that buy-in and consensus.

 Detailed action plans that clearly define timelines, responsibilities, and the human and financial
resources that will be required for plan implementation. Unlike most tourism planners, Solimar
implements most of the tourism development strategies that we develop. That experience gives
us valuable perspectives in defining action plans that are time-bound, practical and achievable.

 A focus on demand-driven solutions. While policy frameworks, training, and infrastructure

development are all important components of a comprehensive tourism development plan,
increased demand is the primary and ultimately the only sustainable driver of more frequent
and affordable airlift, product diversification, and improved service delivery.

Solimar’s sustainable tourism strategic planning process is centered around helping tourism
stakeholders to answer 4 main questions:

1. Where are we now? – what is the current situation with our tourism industry? How is the
industry performing? How do we compare to our competition? What are our tourism assets?
What tourism services are available for visitors? Who is responsible for tourism policy,
management, marketing, investment, etc? How is the industry organized? But most
importantly – what are the main challenges that are preventing our industry from reaching
 its full potential? Through a careful review of tourism statistics, previous studies, online
research, and interviews and surveys with tourism stakeholders we are able to develop a
tourism sector analysis or a tourism situation analysis that sets the foundation for the tourism
strategy.

2. Where do we want to go? – the vision statement is one of the most important components of a
tourism strategy. The objective of the visioning process is to build consensus around a shared
vision for the future of the tourism industry in the destination. Solimar uses a variety of
different approaches to create a shared vision but this is mainly achieved through a participatory
planning workshop where stakeholders come together and think into the future and describe a
tourism industry that they would like to see for their destination. How has tourism changed
from today? What is improved? What remains the same? Asking tourism stakeholders to
describe their desired future of the tourism industry shows that while stakeholders have many
different opinions about what needs to be done and what should be prioritized, they often share
a common vision for what they want tourism to look like in the future for their destination.

3. How do we get there? – Once a shared vision is agreed upon, the next question is how the
vision will be achieved and how best to organize action plans to be implemented. While every
tourism destination is unique and has its own challenges and priorities, most tourism strategies
tend to prioritize 5-6 main pillars of the strategy that we call strategic objectives or strategic
goals. These tend to be focused around improving Policy/Coordination, Marketing,
Product/Destination Development, Workforce Development, Sustainability and other topics that
flow from the participatory planning process. After defining these main pillars, the next and
most important step of the strategic planning process is to define the specific strategies to be
implemented to achieve these goals. Individual strategies are the main components of the
document and what provides the direction for the industry to realize the vision. Through
stakeholder interviews and outcomes from the tourism planning workshop these strategies are
identified and grouped under the corresponding goals. A description of each strategy is
important to help everyone understand what is being proposed and why. The last and very
important step is the creation of detailed action plans. These action plans are developed
through working groups that include the public and private sector, conservation and community
organizations, and other stakeholders. The key to action planning is aligning the action plan
updating and reporting with the government’s own annual work planning and budgeting.

4. How do we know we’ve arrived? – Indicators are an important tool in a strategic plan to define
quantifiable targets that can be used to measure the results of the strategy implementation
process. Indicators should include not only economic performance, but also sustainability and
other policy focused metrics that demonstrate progress towards realizing the vision and
communicate progress.
A wise man once said “Without goals, and plans to reach them, you are like a ship that has set sail
with no destination”. Tourism is not the type of industry you want to allow to set sail without a clear
direction and someone at the helm. Sustainable tourism planning provides an important tool to bring
tourism stakeholders together and define in their own terms how tourism can and should contribute to
a desired future for their destination and community.

Herewith the four goals as described below;

1. The elements that describe the fundamental structure of a tourism system

2. Stakeholders involved in a destination system
3. Role of the industry/ attractions in the destination system
4. Concept of supply chain coordination importance

1.1 What is Tourism?

Before engaging in a study of tourism, let’s have a closer look at what this term means.

Definition of Tourism

There are a number of ways tourism can be defined, and for this reason, the United Nations
World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) embarked on a project from 2005 to 2007 to create a
common glossary of terms for tourism. It defines tourism as follows:
Tourism is a social, cultural and economic phenomenon which entails the movement of people to
countries or places outside their usual environment for personal or business/professional purposes.
These people are called visitors (which may be either tourists or excursionists; residents or non-
residents) and tourism has to do with their activities, some of which imply tourism expenditure (United
Nations World Tourism Organization, 2008).

Using this definition, we can see that tourism is not just the movement of people for a number of
purposes (whether business or pleasure), but the overall agglomeration of activities, services, and
involved sectors that make up the unique tourist experience.

Tourism, Travel, and Hospitality: What are the Differences?

It is common to confuse the terms tourism, travel, and hospitality or to define them as the same
thing. While tourism is the all-encompassing umbrella term for the activities and industry that
create the tourist experience, the UNWTO (2020) defines travel as the activity of moving
between different locations often for any purpose but more so for leisure and recreation (Hall &
Page, 2006). On the other hand, hospitality can be defined as “the business of helping people to
feel welcome and relaxed and to enjoy themselves” (Discover Hospitality, 2015, p. 3). Simply
put, the hospitality industry is the combination of the accommodation and food and beverage
groupings, collectively making up the largest segment of the industry (Go2HR, 2020). You’ll
learn more about accommodations and F & B in Chapter 3 and Chapter 4, respectively.

Definition of Tourist and Excursionist

Building on the definition of tourism, a commonly accepted description of a tourist is “someone

who travels at least 80 km from his or her home for at least 24 hours, for business or leisure or
other reasons” (LinkBC, 2008, p.8). The United Nations World Tourism Organization (1995)
helps us break down this definition further by stating tourists can be:
1. Domestic (residents of a given country travelling only within that country)
2. Inbound (non-residents travelling in a given country)
3. Outbound (residents of one country travelling in another country)

Excursionists on the other hand are considered same-day visitors (UNWTO, 2020). Sometimes
referred to as “day trippers.” Understandably, not every visitor stays in a destination overnight. It
is common for travellers to spend a few hours or less to do sightseeing, visit attractions, dine at a
local restaurant, then leave at the end of the day.

The scope of tourism, therefore, is broad and encompasses a number of activities and sectors.
Spotlight On: United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO)

UNWTO is the United Nations agency responsible “for the promotion of responsible, sustainable and
universally accessible tourism” (UNWTO, 2014b). Its membership includes 159 countries and over 500
affiliates such as private companies, research and educational institutions, and non-governmental
organizations. It promotes tourism as a way of developing communities while encouraging ethical
behaviour to mitigate negative impacts. For more information, visit the UNWTO website.

NAICS: The North American Industry Classification System

Given the sheer size of the tourism industry, it can be helpful to break it down into broad
industry groups using a common classification system. The North American Industry
Classification System (NAICS) was jointly created by the Canadian, US, and Mexican
governments to ensure common analysis across all three countries (British Columbia Ministry of
Jobs, Tourism and Skills Training, 2013a). The tourism-related groupings created using NAICS
are (in alphabetical order):
1. Accommodation
2. Food and beverage services (commonly known as “F & B”)
3. Recreation and entertainment
4. Transportation
5. Travel services

These industry groups (also commonly known as sectors) are based on the similarity of the
“labour processes and inputs” used for each (Government of Canada, 2013). For instance, the
types of employees and resources required to run an accommodation business whether it be a
hotel, motel, or even a campground are quite similar. All these businesses need staff to check in
guests, provide housekeeping, employ maintenance workers, and provide a place for people to
sleep. As such, they can be grouped together under the heading of accommodation. The same is
true of the other four groupings, and the rest of this text explores these industry groups, and other
aspects of tourism, in more detail.

Figure 1.1 Front desk personnel, working their hardest.

It is typical for the entire tourist experience to involve more than one sector. The combination of
sectors that supply and distribute the needed tourism products, services, and activities within the
tourism system is called “the Tourism Supply Chain”. Often, these chains of sectors and
activities are dependent upon each other’s delivery of products and services. Let’s look at a
simple example below that describes the involved and sometimes overlapping sectoral chains in
the tourism experience:
 Figu
re 1.2 The tourism supply chain. [Long Description]

Before we seek to understand the five tourism sectors in more detail, it’s important to have an
overview of the history and impacts of tourism to date.

Long Descriptions

Figure 1.2; has a long description in the above Diagram showing the tourism supply chain. This
includes the phases of travel and the sectors and activities involved during each phase.

There are three travel phases: pre-departure, during travel, and post-departure.
1. Pre-departure, tourists use the travel services and transportation sectors.
2. During travel, tourists use the travel services, accommodations, food and beverage,
recreation and entertainment, and transportation sectors.
3. Post-departure, tourists use the transportation sector.

Reference;

What is Tourism? – Introduction to Tourism and Hospitality in BC – 2nd Edition (opentextbc.ca)

Extract Written by Chris Seek on September 16, 2019. Posted in Blog, Strategic Planning.