– The Sustainable Tourism Development Plan –
Frameworks for destination success
Armed with in-depth knowledge of a destinations’ facilities, infrastructure and its tourism products and the range of natural, cultural and attraction assets, a sustainable tourism strategy can be formulated for the future.
A thorough assessment of the destinations’ physical environment, its urban, rural and natural habitats allows us to gauge the potential for certain types of tourism. Only when an understanding of the nature of the physical, cultural and commercial environment can a destinations’ suitability for certain sectors of tourism be ascertained; and a sustainable range of products, services and attractions be developed commercially and protected from abuse and overuse.
This phase is the most critical phase in sustainable tourism development. Potential tourism product development, matched to the best possible economic opportunities within suitable locations and environments is the goal, adding commercial and financial value to the society and the destination. It develops those destination activities, products, themes and cultural qualities which create uniqueness and differentiation amongst tourism source markets.
Sector Prioritization
Preparing existing tourism sectors for its sustainable future, is the challenge in many destinations.
Leisure or MICE; ecotourism or cruise tourism; from traditional villages to
sophisticated urban entertainment: Analysis, prioritization and engagement across all levels of
government, private sector and community is key to defining a sustainable development strategy.
Product Clusters
Single attractions or developments seldom achieve the
destinations’ development goals alone.
It is often the careful “clustering” of diverse products and services around points of attraction that achieve success. This creates competitiveness, while providing opportunities for SME’s and local... communities.
Single mega-developments can negatively affect destinations not ready for their impact, creating ‘bottlenecks’ in services and infrastructure, creating reputation damage through a lack of product diversification to meet wider market interest.Read More
District Planning
In many destinations ‘themes’ begin to emerge in specific
locations, acting as attractions for specific market interests. The ‘Theatre District’, or ‘Art District’ attract both tourists, residents and local artisans alike into a specific locations.
Protected Areas or UNESCO sites are natural ‘districts’, and can be developed within destinations...
with a diversity of offerings around a common theme or experience. Product Clustering and District Planning is an important, strategic dynamic.Read More
Infrastructure requirements
Tourism infrastructure is financially onerous, from obvious infrastructure such as roads and electrification, to airports, ports and cruise terminals, development impacts need to be integrated into existing local systems.
Sustainable, green solutions and circularity curbs impacts of waste excessive power demand. Sound infrastructure balances demands between local communities and tourists. ... All impact the quality of the tourist experience and benefit the local communities.
Read More
Beyond Public Sector investment in infrastructure and nurturing tourism development, there must be a tangible and structured plans to attract and enable private sector investment into tourism. From World Bank (MIGA) infrastructure funding, to Private Sector investments through Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), PPP or debt funding, a central strategy needs to be aligned and supportive of Tourism Investment Promotion.
Destinations and governments need to align around measurable impacts of tourism, best done through the introduction of the Tourism Satellite Accounting system. This methodology guides both large and small destinations through rigorous production of proper tourism economic analysis.
Product definitions and incentives
How ready is the local market to invest in tourism, tourist accommodation or
staff development? Is the market in a primary stage or mature, where services and ‘soft’ assets
are appreciated? What leapfrog technologies are appropriate over traditional infrastructure
investments?
Incentivized investment is required across ‘hard’ assets as well as ‘soft infrastructure'...Investments may, for example, may not be accepted for
local financial institutions who prefer physical assets. Starting with the ‘end-game’ in
mind and setting gateways and KPI thresholds for each sector is important to development of
a resilient strategy. Over-development, or out-of-sync development in the tourism value
chain creates price fluctuations and bottlenecks.Read More
Govt. FDI institutional frameworks
Facilitation of FDI is never a simple function within the government sector.
Clear guidelines and the ability to facilitate ideas and changes via a roadmap of which sectors
within the tourism value-chain need investment are needed. Alignment of policy between Central
Banks, (or local Development Banks), are key to ensuring clear and clean decision-making in a
transparent manner...
There needs to be an
alignment of
needs, processes and policy, and the time is well spent to ensure legal frameworks are
legally clear to so investment decisions can be rapidly made. Assessment criteria need to be
understood by Investors, Assessors and applicable State or local authorities in a
transparent and open manner.Read More
Local Financial Institutions
How open and creative are local banks to tourism and services funding? The
banking landscape is relevant to lending policy, but it will not help local SME’s Tourism
Startups if substantial collateral guarantees are needed.
Development Banks should consider
Services and even Event funding, but equally policy should not confine lending to only large
commercial bidders with extensive...
collateral and large corporate valuations not supportive of SME’s.
A deep assessment of policies and the alignment of Central Banks, Ministries of Economy and
Finance to the destinations’ “Sustainable Tourism Development Plan”.Read More
Local and Foreign Investor appetite
Hand-in-hand with both local and foreign investors is the ‘ease of entry’ into
the tourism market, and the level of complexity and protectionism in place.
A clear legal and
commercial framework to ensure standards are maintained, while prevent oversupply and a balance
of competitiveness which allows reasonable pricing, (see fundamentals on ‘Pillars of sustainable
tourism’)...
‘Open’ proposals, vague and
undefined
policies are not an option, but a single, aligned and joined-up investment concept succeeds
over ‘grabbing’ at investors.Read
More