TPC 4 - TOURISM POLICY PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT

 A tourist attraction is defined by Tourism Western Australia (2006) as either

“a physical or cultural feature of a particular place that individual travelers or
tourists perceive 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 costumer or market, including
climate, scenery, activities and culture.
 It may be any object, person, place, or concept that draws people either
geographically or through remote electronic means so that they might have an
experience. The experience can be recreational, spiritual, or otherwise. (Strange
et al. n.d.)

Examples:
Calle Crisologo, Vigan - This 16th-century town, a UNESCO World
Heritage Site and a popular tourist spot in the Philippines, quietly boasts
old-world charm and Spanish colonial architecture and is the top attraction in
Vigan, Ilocos tours. The town has successfully managed to preserve the
historic district where you can still find calesas (horse-drawn carriages).

Mayon Volcano, Legzapi - Known as the world’s most perfect volcanic

cone, and the most active volcano in the Philippines, greets you with its
majesty. Mayon Volcano is one of the most beautiful places to visit in the
Philippines and is a top attraction in any Bicol tour.
Its sheer beauty (the name Mayon comes from the Bicolano word ‘magayon,’
which means beautiful) hides a violent core, with past eruptions that flattened
several towns.

Fort Santiago - a citadel that served as headquarters for armies and foreign
powers. It is a historically significant site where the national hero, Dr. Jose
Rizal, was imprisoned before his execution.You can learn more about its
history when you go on trips to Fort Santiago.

Puerto Princesa Underground River, Palawan - The gateway to the

Philippines’ Last Frontier, Palawan, is its capital Puerto Princesa. It is here
that you can find the world’s longest navigable underground river and
a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the Puerto Princesa Underground River or
the Puerto Princesa Subterranean River National Park. Paddleboats of
the Puerto Princesa underground river tour cruise through scenic limestone
cliffs as it makes its way through the 1.5-kilometer underground river cave.
The park is also teeming with wildlife like crab-eating monkeys, monitor
lizards, and bats.

Cloud 9, Siargao - Siargao’s rise as a top tourist destination in the

Philippines is nothing short of meteoric. Once a sleepy island in Surigao del
Norte, it has become one of the favorite destinations and playgrounds for
travelers, and it is primarily because of one activity: surfing. It is now known
as the Philippines' surfing capital, and some even regard it as the surfing
 mecca of Asia. Siargao’s rise as a top tourist destination in the Philippines is
nothing short of meteoric. Once a sleepy island in Surigao del Norte, it has
become one of the favorite destinations and playgrounds for travelers, and it
is primarily because of one activity: surfing. It is now known as the
Philippines' surfing capital, and some even regard it as the surfing mecca of
Asia.

4 Categories of attractions:

1. Geo-physical (Landscape)
2. Ecological (biological)
3. Cultural (Historical)
4. Recreational

GEOPHYSICAL-LANDSCAPE-AESTHETIC
-Mountains, gorges, big rocks, rock formations, caves, rivers, water bodies,
scenic views, unusual cloud formations, unusual meteorological conditions, thermal
waters, volcanic activity and unusual celestial events.
ECOLOGICAL-BIOLOGICAL
-Organisms and ecological events or processes.
CULTURAL-HISTORICAL
-Churches, historical houses, archaeological sites, ancient monuments,
amusement parks, theme parks, open air museums, marinas, exhibition centers, craft
centers, casinos, health complexes, picnic sites and retail complexes.
RECREATIONAL
-Theme parks, botanical gardens, sports fields, motion-based attractions, zoos,
museums, theaters, shopping malls and events.

• Tourism Sites (TSs)

- Area designated for possessing an important site or groups of tourist site.
- are the specific places which tourists come to see and experience. A TS
may be an existing natural attraction (volcano); an area of natural scenic
beauty (national park); or man-made attraction (heritage structure, beach/golf
resort). It can also be a site or area for potential development or enhancement
for tourism such as a green field site for a new resort, or a coastal area, which
could be designated as a marine park.
- A tourist site is an area that contains one or more tourist attractions.

• Tourism Development Areas (TDAs)

-Any town or city that has one or more tourist sites is considered as TDA
consist of at least one, but more usually several tourism sites. A TDA can either have
considerable existing tourism activity or have the potential for signifi cant tourism
development. By virtue of a combination of attractions, facilities and amenities which
meet tourists’ interests and needs, TDAs provide the operational focus for the
development of tourism within the various TDCs. Although TDAs are not limited by
geographical size, their boundaries correspond to administrative units – barangay,
municipality or province, depending on size.
• Strategic Destination Areas (SDAs) are a group of priority TDAs that are adjacent
to each other and are within their respective clusters. The criteria used to identify the
SDAs were: critical mass of attractions, facilities and services in the area; capacity of
environment to sustain tourism development; capability of direct accessibility from
key source markets; diversity of product off er in a way that can be promoted to diff
erent niche markets, thereby facilitating product/branding; area geographically large
enough to allow diff erent forms of tourist development to co-exist, for example
including particular areas for nature tourism only, other areas for more intensive use;
and, capable of being promoted as “stand alone” destination in the market place.
Tourism contributes to the overall development of the LGU.

Planning Factors and Implication

Characteristics of Tourism and their Planning Implications

 Tourism is a composite product. It is comprised of goods and services that are

provided by entities in the tourism value chain.

* Thus, one of the rationales for tourism planning is to identify, organize, and
integrated entities along the tourism value chain t ensure the delivery of consistency
high quality tourist experience.
* Tourist destination are intangible, which means that potential visitors
cannot try them prior to purchase of tickets, rooms, or tour package.

 Tourism is very capital intensive, particularly at the incipient stage of

development when a lot of money is required to build infrastructure, facilities and
human expertise.

*Tourism’s main assets are nature and culture.

Building heights
Architectural designs
Preservations of historic towns
Density limits
Waste management

 Tourism is subject to external forces that are largely uncontrollable, such as the
political situation, weather, nature calamities, currency fluctuations, and
international relations.

*Tourism exerts impacts on the environment, culture and conomy of

destinations.
*Tourism is a highly dynamic and competitive industry.

Factors to consider for effective tourism planning and development

 Availability and quality of tourism relevant data

 Availability of tourism planning expertise
 The type and variety of tourism resource
 The culture of the destination residents
 Geographic location and spatial distribution of the tourism development units
 Target market
 Stage in the tourism area life cycle
 Tourism development paradigm held by the influence actors in tourism
development
 National tourism policy and legislation
 Perceptions and attitudes of stakeholders
 Awareness of external force impinging on tourism planning and development and
 Financial capital requirements

Availability and quality of tourism relevant data

The availability of up to date and comprehensive tourism relevant data affects the
level of accuracy of estimating supply capacity, forecasting demand, and monitoring
outcomes.

Caliber of planning expertise

The caliber of planning expertise determines the quality of planning outputs.
Expertise can only be built over long years of education and professional experience.

Type and variety of tourism resources

The type and variety of tourism resources in the tourism development unit limits
options for tourism product development. Destinations can capitalize on unique
cultural or natural assets by developing tourism product around them.

Kind of tourism resources in adjacent destinations

A destination needs to differentiate its product with real or imagined uniqueness
to complete with destinations offering similar attractions.
Originality
Indigenousness
Uniqueness
Historically
Magnitude
Excellence

Culture of the destinations residents

The cultural characteristics of a destination have an impact on the kind of tourist
that are attracted to it.

Geographic location and spatial distribution of the tourism development units

Target market
Market volume and characteristics influence the kind of amenities and services
that are offered in the destination.

A target market is the market a company wants to sell its products and services to,
and it includes a targeted set of customers for whom it directs its marketing
efforts.
Stage in the tourism area life cycle

TALC- is another important consideration in tourism planning. A popular model

for analyzing the development of tourism destination.
 The Tourism Life Cycle Model

Butler proposed that most tourist resorts go through a six stage model and he called this
the tourism life cycle model.
It states that most tourist resorts start on a very small scale and get bigger and bigger
until stagnation occurs. Within the 6 stages the following happens:

 Exploration - At this stage, the facilities that are available are not of “tourist
standard” they are used and owned by locals. Tourism is limited due to lack of
acces and facilities
- a few hardy and adventurous people looking for something
different in a holiday find a place that is special in terms of its culture,
natural beauty, history or landscape. There may be no tourist services
available and local people will not be involved in tourist money making
activities.
 Involvement - The community begins to adapt to tourism and may even begin to
advertise
- local people start to notice that there are increasing numbers of
people coming to their local area. They start businesses to provide
accommodation, food, guides, and transport.

 Development - Additional tourism infrastructure may be present.

- Big companies start to see the emerging potential of the area as a
tourist resort and therefore start to invest money in the region. They
build large hotel complexes and sell package holidays (a package
might include travel, accommodation, food and excursions).
 Consolidation - Growth rate in tourist arrivals declines, although numbers are
still increasing
- The local economy is probably dominated by tourism at this
stage, and many local people will make their money from this type
of industry. However, this can remove people from other
industries such as farming and fishing and these industries can
suffer as a result.
 Stagnation - The number of tourist reaches or exceeds the carrying capacity and
environmental, social, and economic problems are experienced.
- competition from other resorts, rowdiness and a loss of the
original features (e.g. if it had a great beach but that is now crowded
and full of rubbish) can cause the resort to stop growing. The
number of people going levels off then starts to decline, threatening
local businesses and services.
 Decline or Rejuvenation - Decline may ensue if the tourist market continues to
wane and the resort is not able to compete with newer attractions.
- From the stagnation point onwards there are
2 basic possibilities: Decline in various forms or rejuvenation
(regrowth of the resort) Decline can be slow or rapid, and regular
visitors are replaced by people seeking a cheap break or day
trippers. Rejuvenation involves a cash injection from either a private
company or the government, to create a new attraction within the
original resort to boost its popularity - such as the Pleasure Beach at
Blackpool.