The Planning System in Tourism Industry - Essay Example

? TOURISM PLANNING WITHIN EUROPE IS STILL DOMINATED BY AN ESSENTIALITY 'ECONOMIC' APPROACH TO DEVELOPMENT. INTRODUCTION When people hear of the term Tourism, they immediately picture other individuals moving from one place to another either locally or internationally for the sole purpose of leisure. Tourism refers to that set of activities, industries and services that tend to deliver a travel experience to people and/or groups of individuals travelling from their place of residence for the purpose of pleasure (Gunn & Var, 2002, p.12). Tourism has a number of benefits to a country for instance it enhances social relations between the host and the visiting individuals where the tourist is viewed to be a representative of the home reference group (Lennon, 2003, p.56). Tourism is also considered a crucial aspect for developing nations as it tends to boost the economic status of a country. In other words the level of economic activities for the developing nations tends to increase through trade conducted with the tourists. Tourism not only accelerates the development of a particular region but it also offers employment opportunities to the locals. Additionally, it brings added customers for local businesses such as restaurants as well as supporting community activities such as cultural programs, retail stores and events (Murphy, 1985, p.70). Considering the fact that tourism is currently considered one of the most growing industries globally, tourism management and planning is necessary to ensure smooth management of visitors and finances acquired from their visit. ESSAY The planning system in tourism industry has an important role to play with regards to facilitation of the improvements and development of the industry in appropriate locations (Smith, 2010, p.43). Apart from south America, Europe is considered to be the world’s favorite tourist destination which has led it to experiences a number of difficulties in making its tourist industry more environmentally friendly (Sharma, 2004, p.100). European countries have realized the importance of tourism planning where it avoids consequences such as traffic problems, overcrowding, pollution, loss of cultural identities, and lack of education on tourism employees in hospitality and skills, failure to capitalize on new marketing opportunities, lack of sufficient attractions and events as well as inadequate representation of the tourism industries’ interest (Williams & Shaw, 1994, p.90). In the recent past, tourism activity within Europe has become more complicated, demanding of host communities as well as their culture and environment, more competitive and more extensive (WTO, 2001, p.2). Europe has also experiences a number of challenges relating to tourism planning for instance the threats of carrying capacity violations, response to threats of environmental deterioration due to the flow of tourist within the countries and inclination towards quality rather than quantity of products and services made available for these tourists (Gunn & Var, 2002, p.13). It has often been suggested that tourism planning within Europe is still dominated by an essentiality ‘economic’ approach to development. Keeping in mind the fact that the Euro is on the verge of becoming reality, European nations are now more than ever determined to offer their citizens a kind of economic development that is capable of meeting the needs of the present without necessarily compromising the capacity of future generations to meet theirs (Lennon, 2003, p.57). One of the ways by which these nations are making an effort is through the tourism industry. The new economics trend that is currently within Europe is founded on a vision that is perceived as a vision and a source of inspiration for majority of politicians as it tends to incorporate the effective preservation of resources and the environment, places ethics at the heart of economic life in addition to systematically developing individual responsibility (Murphy, 1985, p.71). As earlier mentioned, one of the benefits of tourism to any given nation is creation of employment opportunities. Europe has in the recent past been faced with a number of challenges that include an aging and stabilizing population, high levels of long term unemployment in some nations as well as greater global economic competition in addition to faster transformation (Smith, 2010, p.45). These factors have led such nations to put more focus and pay more attention to their tourism industry as a way of offloading some of the challenges experienced. Being the largest industry worldwide tourism is capable of assisting nations such as European countries deal with the crucial matters facing them and can therefore be positive or a negative force (Sharma, 2004, p.101). The tourism industry is considered a major economic activity which positively impacts the economic growth as well as employment in Europe. It is also viewed as being a key instrument in the reinforcement of Europe’s image in the world, projecting their citizens’ values and promoting attractions of the European model (Williams & Shaw, 1994, p.91). Tourism planning within Europe is still dominated by an essentiality economic approach to development. Tourism activities have in the recent past been interrupted by a number of factors such as the presence of volcanic ash that occurred in the year 2010 causing significant disruption to travel agencies and in the process affecting the tourism industry as a whole within and around Europe (WTO, 2001, p.3). Tourism planning is considered an essential tool in the enhancement of tourism within Europe as it is also an economic activity that is capable of generating employment as well as economic growth in the European nations. European countries are well aware of the fact that tourism planning is not static and approaches to this matter come about through the involvement of both private and public stakeholders, economic benefits sought by a particular country and the development of a community (Lennon, 2003, p.58). Included in the process of tourism planning within Europe is the development of tourism policy which is responsible for the utilization of sustainable resources, integration of tourism into the community, enhancing visitor/tourist satisfaction as well as response to residents’ social needs (Gunn & Var, 2002, p.14). Tourism within Europe has generally taken place at three main levels namely national, regional and within the framework of the two. At the first two levels, tourism planning is responsible for structure plans, institutional factors necessary for the development and management of tourism as well as tourism development policies (Murphy, 1985, p.72). On the other hand the framework of national and regional planning is concerned with urban and rural tourism development as well as plans for tourist attractions (Smith, 2010, p.47). Europe considers tourism planning as the most effective control in as far as tourism development is concerned. This is due to the fact that it tends to establish overall strategies as well as policies for tourism development in addition to providing a foundation of the sustainable development of tourism where environmental planning approach is concerned (Sharma, 2004, p.102). It is important for tourism planning to be integrated with planning in other areas of a country’s economy as a way of avoiding clashes of interest and the overutilization of resources. In the economic sense tourism within Europe has been observed to compete with other sectors for scarce resources making it crucial for European governments to define the role of tourism in the national economy together with its relation to other development areas (Williams & Shaw, 1994, p.92). A number of tourist destinations across Europe have established a sense of economic dependence on tourism which in turn brings about a number of economic challenges during times of crisis. The development of tourism in majority of European nations has been characterized by an economic approach to development where private sectors dominated the industry and were strongly dependent on market demand (Lennon, 2003, p.59). Economic opportunities offered by tourism industry appeared attractive and this led to majority of nations across Europe as well as globally to develop tourism industries as a way of satisfying the increasing demand associated with the industry (WTO, 2001, p.4). European approach to tourism development is considered prejudiced where its economic objective and planning scale is concerned. This can be attributed to the fact that majority of European nations seldom accompany the pursuit of economic benefits with concern over lost opportunities (Murphy, 1985, p.73). In countries where the tourism industry tends to be dominated by small businesses economic considerations have not been effective enough in handing over priority to other social, economic and political concerns. However, success of past development has encouraged the connection of tourism’s social, environmental and economic impact to public interest objectives (Gunn & Var, 2002, p.15). European nations have slowly begun appreciating the fragility of certain resources while protecting their own resource base in an effort of developing a long term tourism industry. Any transformations taking place in a nation’s objectives and priorities are bound to alter exchange rates or minimize public funding of that particular nation which in turn strongly influence planning policies (Smith, 2010, p.49). The general emphasis within Europe in regards to tourism has been that of integrating tourism planning into a provincial plan of social and economic development (Sharma, 2004, p.103). Europe has now realized that closer integration offers opportunities for harmonization of standards as well as practices throughout the growing European club consisting of European nations and in the process recognize the importance of tourism to culture, environment, economy and society across Europe (Williams & Shaw, 1994, p.93). One of the key issues that has been a concern within Europe is the relationship between the European Union governance and tourism development, the role that tourism plays within the Commission’s large spending programmes and the structural position of tourism within the European Union (Lennon, 2003, p.60). Destinations looking for European Union support with regards to tourism projects are thus forced to look to instruments designed solely for other purposes (WTO, 2001, p.5). In the recent past Europe has enjoyed high travel media profile which has prompted increase in new entrants to the industry. This has in turn brought about a key challenge for such new entrants which are that of communicating their products and attractions with greater visibility (Murphy, 1985, p.74). Social costs of tourism have also been incurred by European nations as a result of promoting foreign investment opportunities. Despite the strong performance that has been there in regards to tourism industry in European countries majority are characterized by travel account balances considered to be in deficit (Smith, 2010, p.51). Residents from developed economies such as those from the United States and Europe generate the bulk of international tourist expenditure thus making the travel account balance in developing nations to be persistently in surplus (Gunn & Var, 2002, p.16). At the national level infrastructure provisions as well as issues of socio-cultural cohesion in Europe tend to play an important role in the influence of tourism’s development results. From a tourism perspective national governments across Europe tend to appear to be playing an active role where coordination of tourism marketing campaigns and broad based product development is concerned, which also tend to play a key role in shaping tourism behavior and demand (Lennon, 2003, p.61). The community level within Europe has in the past been considered an important factor in influencing economic development results where majority of governments placed community at the core of creating economic regeneration as well as remedy social ills (Sharma, 2004, p.104). Economies of system gains, segmented markets and scope are becoming more important especially where competitiveness and profitability in tourism is concerned. Technological advances have also aided in Europe’s economic approach to development in that both local and international businesses have been in a better position of forming alliances and networks between firms (Smith, 2010, p.52). Networks play a crucial role in the influence of economic success, sustainability as well as structure of the tourism industry in Europe as majority of destination communities tend to rely on network information as a way of developing competitive tourist products (Williams & Shaw, 1994, p.94). CONCLUSION Tourism is one of the world’s main economic activities which has had a huge impact on local as well as international communities with regards to tourist destinations. It has also positively impacted the economic growth and increased employment opportunities in Europe. Despite the challenges that European tourist industry has faced in the recent past, resilience has been observed and this has been largely attributed to the importance attached by European citizens to holidays and travel. Tourism has grown worldwide in the recent past where technological advancements, broader processes of globalization and improved living standards have led to increased number of visitors, enhancing economic status of nations. REFERENCES Ashley, C., Roe, D., & Goodwin, H. 2001 Pro-Poor Tourism Strategies: Making Tourism Work for the Poor, London: ODI. Collins, A. 1999 Tourism Development and Natural Capital, Annals of Tourism Research 26, no. 1, Pp. 98 – 109. 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