“Tourism planning must be a process that is geared not only to government,

industry and tourist satisfaction but it should also incorporate the local
community and the public interest”.

Tourism is one of several human activities in a community or public interest, which has the
concept as an operation in the private and public sector, and especially as a field of government
involvement that needs planning and coordination. Tourism, on the one hand, is one of several
events in an area that must be taken into account as part of financial, physical, environmental and
social planning. Tourism planning is one of the most critical factors in growing its popularity for
destinations that work in a highly competitive environment (Moghavvemi, Woosnam, Hamzah &
Hassani, 2020). A healthy partnership between tourism planning and tourism growth is important
in order to improve the advantages of tourism development for local communities and visitors
and to reduce negative impacts, as tourism facilities rely on natural and human heritage. It is also
very important to ensure that the tourism sector is able to grow and expand by seeking to
leverage all these beneficial facets and to develop effective tourism planning at a local scale and
in the public interest. Tourism planning should be an important part of the tourism growth
strategy of every destination with a view to delivering the best outcomes and pleasing all
participants. In order to maintain sustainable tourism, tourism planning is essential. (Yuksel &
Culha, 2017).

Tourism helps the country to produce significant economic benefits, but it does not take into
account the wider viewpoint that tourism has to be sustainable and have numerous environmental
benefits and socioeconomic impacts. This ensures that tourism must aim to foster economic and
ecologically sustainable growth in such a way that projects are capable of serving the current and
long-term needs of individuals, visitors and locals at the same time, while ensuring that the
physical and cultural ecosystem is highly capable of supporting this use (Moghavvemi,
Woosnam, Hamzah & Hassani, 2020). Governments would also include guidance and strategies
to implement clear and effective tourism planning that will require many different approaches to
tourism planning that would help enhance tourism growth in a destination and support all the
people involved in the industry (Ndivo & Cantoni, 2016).

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At the destination level, four distinct frameworks to tourism planning can be recognized
according to the principles that sustain planning or policy action, namely boosterism, financial,
physical/spatial, and community-oriented, emphasizing the role that the destination society plays
in the growth and experience of tourism. This essay would primarily explore the approach to
tourism planning for local communities and the public interest (Moscardo, 2014).

Community-based tourism is one of the emerging ideas for ensuring the involvement of the
community in the growth of tourism as an aspect of sustainability. The Community approach to
tourism planning reflects on the social and political context within which tourism exists and
promotes increased influence over the development process by local society (Reid, Mair &
George, 2004). In this strategy, in order to increase their economic livelihoods while maintaining
their cultural traditions and preserving the natural environment, the community is regarded as the
focal point or agent who promotes the growth phase of tourism and seeks public engagement in a
destination (Bello, Carr & Lovelock, 2016). Community planning strategy involving a high level
of public involvement in the tourism planning process, firmly involving the community in the
decision-making and development process, as well as sharing tourism opportunities and sharing
tourism income with the local community. Consequently, in terms of its advantages, the key
strengths of this community-based approach would undoubtedly build and raise job prospects
available to local residents as more people engages in the process while also contributing
significantly to increasing household income and overall quality of life by the degree of
contribution ranging from one factor to another (Dodds, Ali & Galaski, 2016).

In addition, community participation is often expected to influence the growth of tourism in such
a manner that it is intended to support the local community and to allow them to take part in their
own growth by involving their own resources, recognizing their own needs and making their
own decisions about how to address them. Perhaps, if the government is cooperative and
encourages the community to give a substantial part in tourism decision-making, there would be
less friction between the government and the community, then if there is an issue, the community
will be able to make decisions then fix them on its own. One of the benefits of the group
approach is to add educational components to the entire society (Ndivo & Cantoni, 2016).

Locals expect to be learned and motivated to develop their awareness of tourism and as a result,
it will help them understand and maintain their local culture, natural resource traditions and build

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a positive picture of the attractions. Tourists from various regions of the globe will also inspire
local people to engage and provide cultural interaction between hosts and tourists, while at the
same time providing local people with the ability to learn foreign languages and to better
appreciate cultural nuances and to cultivate a welcoming attitude towards foreigners. Many
communities are developing community-based tourism as a source of supplementary revenue,
with the availability of funds to enable external audits as a primary consideration for the
feasibility of this strategy (Reid, Mair & George, 2004).

Tourism in Nova Scotia is one example of a strong community Tourism Planning. 24,000 jobs in
the province are funded by tourism. There were 2 million visitors from outside the province
during 2012. As the most popular aim of the trip was to meet friends and family, Nova Scotians
traveling throughout the province are a major tourism sector for regions and communities. In
Nova Scotia, there are several companies, government offices and agencies engaged in tourism.
Regional Industry Networks that put corporate communities, territories, towns and other
economic growth organizations together (A guide to planning and hosting a community festival
or event in Nova Scotia, 2005). Moreover, a number of NGOs have been engaged in community-
based tourism in Southeast Asia over the last two decades and have carried out many capacity-
building and community growth activities. In Thailand, the key goal of the criteria of the Thai
Community Based Tourism Institute is to specify and protect the interests of the community.
While being approved by an impartial agency has been seen as a source of community pride,
resulting in enhanced reputation, strengthened consumer access, and increased trust in the sector
among stakeholders (Ndivo & Cantoni, 2016).

For another example, in contrast to a fishing community in the Philippines, a community based
tourism project bringing visitors to Thailand's hill tribes could have somewhat different
environmental settings. As a result, indicators like air emissions, health and safety or housing
structures would differ greatly. The goal was to establish a common set of industry standards to
help community-based tourism networks in Indonesia, Mongolia and Cambodia, to examine and
strengthen the supply chain of tourism and to encourage community-based tourism.

Cambodia has been selected as the host country for introducing community-oriented tourism,
relying on funds from the EU Asia-Invest programme, with the goal of encouraging and
facilitating European-Asian business collaboration (Novelli, Klatte & Dolezal, 2016). A further

3
productive community project is the Chalalan Eco lodge in the Bolivian Amazon, a collaborative
venture of the San Jose de Uchupiamonas rainforest community and Conservation International
(CI) in Bolivia. Founded in 1995 by a pioneering group of villagers from San Jose, the Eco lodge
offers job opportunities across nature-based tourism, an even-needed economic substitute for
logging. The purpose of the Chalalan project was to develop a viable eco-lodge fully created and
controlled by local managers and employees. Villagers have been trained in a wide variety of
practices to do this, including promotion and administration, housekeeping, food storage and
how to direct tours. The community granted full possession of the lodge from Conservation
International in 2001. Presently, 74 families earn economic benefits on a daily basis from jobs
and eco-lodge management. Chalalan Ecolodge is now commercialized effectively by
Sustainable Travel.

In the other hand, in terms of the limitations or challenges in adopting a community approach to
tourism planning in tourist destinations, there are shortcomings of this strategy. The biggest
challenges or hurdles to implementing public involvement in tourism planning may include the
lack of financial and work force, especially in developing countries, in the tourism sector. Local-
level assets will not be adequate to fund the existing tourism growth rate, which would thus deter
community engagement in tourism planning (Ndivo & Cantoni, 2016). In general, therefore, the
public can have trouble recognizing complicated and technological preparation problems, not
always aware of the decision-making process, and the trouble of retaining representativeness in
the decision-making process due to the lack of information, perspectives and potential
disagreements that might occur between cultures. Additionally, the government still has to be
able to accommodate the participation of the community that wants to accomplish the intended
effect, but it does not give the community the feeling of government influence.

In a community, authority can therefore be spread equally so that certain organizations or people
do not have the right to exercise more impact than others on the development process (Hafsa,
2019). As an example, Sylhet has become one of Bangladesh's naturally blessed regions, with

4
tea-garden, waterfalls, tropical trees, villages and religious views. However, because of
numerous factors, the Neighborhood citizens lack confidence in the involvement of tourism
events (Graja-Zwolińska & Spychała, 2014).

Conclusion

It is clear that the government needs to promote tourism planning, include the local community
and the public interest in the mechanism and decision-making, and use multiple tourism planning
techniques that play a significant role in the region's tourism growth. Planning is therefore
important for the growth of tourism in the region, while at the same time supporting the
communities and locals in terms of the economic, social and environmental forms of tourism.
Community engagement in tourism plays an vital role, contributing to economic growth and resulting
increases in local neighborhood quality of life. In addition, strategic planning can also be introduced
by requiring a sequence of measures to meet particular tourism growth targets, and closely
integrated with local community and regional planning activities. In the other hand, there are also
many difficulties or obstacles that organizers may face in tourism planning including the lack of
a preparedness and acculturation framework in the region, whilst the community also needs to
conserve and retain their unique, strong cultures.

References

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