Tourism Policy and Planning Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Tourism Policy and Planning - Essay Example Tourism policy refers to the formulated guidelines that control all tourism development, operations, and management, to ensure that the government and the society attain the immediate and the long-term benefits derived from tourism (Edgell & Swanson, 2013:47). Thus, tourism policy can simply be defined as the progressive course of action that encompasses the principles, directions, guidelines, and procedures that represent the intent, objectives, and goals of the government and the society hosting the tourism visitors (Battaglia, Daddi & Rizzi, 2012:197). On the other hand, the concept of tourism planning refers to the whole process of identifying the appropriate steps that are geared towards the attainment of predetermined tourism goals and objectives (Gossling, 2012:902). The tourism planning process entails the acquisition of the knowledge regarding the tourism benefits and risks, followed by identifying the viable alternatives that allow for the enjoyment of the tourism associated benefits while limiting the associated risks. This is achieved through identifying alternatives, anticipating possible future conditions, developing the vision and finally formulating the possible course of action (Hall, 2008:21). Tourism is a sector of many economies that have been tied to many other products and services than the rest of the economic sectors globally. The complexity of tourism as a sector arises from the fact that an action geared towards allowing or limiting the growth and expansion of tourism activities has a range of spiral effects on the other sectors of the economy (Veal, 2010:215). Tourism is an activity that has allowed for leisure and vacation enjoyment in diverse environments for the tourists while benefiting the host societies both economically and culturally (Dredge & Jenkins, 2011:33). Thus, in order to sustain the mutual benefit that the tourism stakeholders attain from tourism, guidelines, and frameworks that define how the tourism activities are run are essential, making the need for tourism policy and planning is inevitable.