Unit 7 Sustainable Tourism Development Assignment

Unit 7 Sustainable Tourism Development Assignment

Introduction

The report has been prepared to study the different aspects associated with Planning for Sustainable Tourism Development. The report provides an insight into the planning arrangements for major sporting events showing the responsibilities of the various parties and how they co-ordinate their activities to ensure the promotion and staging of successful events. Further study involves study of various aspects of tourism development in developing countries and impact of key factors such as enclave tourism, main characteristic’s, problems and issues of tourism development in developing countries, moral and ethical issues of enclave tourism, current issues associated with tourism development in developing nations and recommendations for the future development of tourism in these countries.

Task 1

Benefit to stakeholders

There are different stakeholders considering planning of tourism developments with reference to the Beijing Olympic Games. These are developers, local public, investors and the government. The stakeholders that have been identified are as follows (Hritz & Ross, 2012)
Developers: There will be more development opportunities and increased returns for the developers in the region
Local Public: Another benefit is that spending in local community will be there by the tourists that will increase the income of the locals. Further the infrastructure will be developed at a fast pace which will be utilised by the nation after the sporting event and lastly it resulted in the diversification for China which was mainly manufacturing oriented country earlier and new prospects of foreign income opened up as a result of Beijing Olympics.
Investors: The country witnessed for inflow of foreign investment. This increased opportunities in the country and led to better development and also higher returns for the investors
Government: the government will be benefitted as the revenue in the form of taxes will be there and at the same time the government involvement will be less in infrastructure planning and development in relation to tourism industry.. Thus leading to reduced government spending, increased profits and better infrastructure development.

Advantages and disadvantages of public/private sector tourism planning partnerships

Public Private Partnership is the cooperation between the government and the private financing for the development of assets that are for the benefit of public. There are two fundamental drivers of the PPP. Firstly it will enable the government to harness the   expertise the efficiency associated with the private players in the market in the delivery and development of facilities and services.
The second biggest advantage of the PPP is that it will reduce the borrowings of the government as the funds will be provided by the private player implementing the project along with the government.
However there are certain disadvantages of the PPP as it results in complicated contracts and complex negotiations and might result in giving away right to use certain assets to the private player that results in reduced overall benefit. Such risks are always there. Further there is risks that in certain sectors the benefit is there if government alone takes the initiative rather than in partnership. Such aspects need to be analysed before deciding on the PPP model.
Considering some of the examples from the Beijing Olympics, the Bird's Nest serves as a winter amusement park known as the Happy Ice and Snow Season. Apart from this it is being used to stage a celebrity rock concert. However most of the infrastructure has been dismantled due to lack of opportunities and the potential players but according to the government building creates jobs, and feeds prestige, and pumps up the GDP. In the year after the Olympics, the iconic 91,000-seat Bird’s Nest hosted a Jackie Chan concert, an Italian soccer match, an opera and a presentation of Chinese singing standards.  However there was an option for the local soccer tem to make it home field that option was declined by the team itself. But this is to mention that such opportunities are always there that generate business. With the help of PPP arrangements the boost to the economy was there.

Tourism development planning

The tourist development planning involves integrated local development. The public private cooperation has been encouraged. The important features with respect to tourism development planning involve planning at international level, national level, regional level, destination level and site level. At international level planning the International Olympic Committee performs various tasks which include international transport services, tour programme planning for the tourists, development of major attractions and facilities in the nearby region and marketing strategies and promotion programmes at international level. In case of Beijing Olympic the International Olympic Committee is involved in all these aspects. At national level the planning includes defining the objectives, general amount, types and quality level of accommodation and other tourist facilities, establishment of information systems, Human resource development, education and training programmes and several related aspects. In case of Beijing Olympics the China Olympic committee performed all these tasks with the association of the sports ministry of the country. Going further at the micro level the regional level planning includes Regional access and the internal transportation network of facilities and services and further detailed planning of the aspects identified at the national level. Various departments are involved to perform all these tasks. The transport ministry, urban development and the infrastructure development is important and thus the association and coordination of all the departments at regional level is required. The destination level and site level planning is entirely different from the earlier levels that have been discussed. This planning includes the time frame within which the tourism development will take place, resources that will be required. In Beijing Olympics various teams were developed to perform the tasks. Further the role of these teams was specific and overviewed by the targets of the regional level committees that are framed. Broadly it is associated with the development or execution of the plan framed at international, national and regional level.

Evaluation methods for tourist impact

It is important to evaluate the tourist impact by using various methods. First is the accessing the growth in spending, sales, income, job and tax receipts. The income growth is reflected by increase in wages, salaries and profits generated by tourist spending. Value added in terms of the revenue to local government offices from taxes. This is one of the most preferred measures for accessing the impact of the tourism. Spending is not favoured by certain economists as the spending will have an impact if tourists buy local products. In such cases retail margins on such goods is considered. Capture rate, portion of tourism spending highlighting direct sales, is used to measure the impact of tourism. Job creation is also not favoured due to the limitations associated with employment. This is to say that tourism may create part time and seasonal jobs. Further all jobs are not equal and the impact of job creation may largely depend on industry. However it may be considered as a measure to study the impact on the high level. Considering the above discussion it can be said that income and value added are relatively clear measures of impact that can be directly compared across industries and regions with quite distinct types of tourism and economic activity. Such benefits have been witnesses in case of South Africa as it organized different sporting events such as Football World Cup, cricket tournaments etc. This is the best example of how a developing nation is benefitted by the sporting events and the development of infrastructure required for organizing of these events. Similarly Malaysia is the home to the famous Azlan Shah Hockey tournament and has triggered the growth in the country to a certain extent.

Task 2

Sustainable Tourism and Culture

Cultural tourism refers to the tourism generated by the culture in the region. The tourism generated is with respect to the lifestyle, religion and the events that attract tourist and generate interest in the understanding of the culture.
Cultural tourism is related to all the aspects of past and present of the community that it considers valuable and desires to pass on to the future generations. Heritage is valuable and cannot be recreated. Cultural tourism can encourage revival of traditions and recreation of sites and monuments. Every culture is different in itself and highlighting the key features in a culture can be used to generate interest in the culture and thus can be the sustainable tourism. For example, For most of the tourists it is the desire to experience something unfamiliar that encourage them to go to different places. This is fulfilled by the unfamiliar foreign cultures and their manifestations (Timur & Getz, 2009). Cultural tourism has long existed and is the source of tourism for many countries. Further it has been observed that the popularity of tourism involving culture and nature as attractions has increased. According to the study conducted by Stanford University cultural tourism is expected to grow by 10 to 15%. Lastly not all the countries have natural beauty to attract tourists. Others might not have infrastructure to attract adventure lovers or sport lovers. Culture is one such aspect that will always remain. Efforts are made by the government to protect historical places, buildings and heritage sites. Sustainable tourism has grown out of sustainable development as it involves development of present without compromising by way of tourism (Wall & Mathieson, 2006). Thus sustainable tourism provides an opportunity to investing in heritage sites not only to protect them but also generate revenue by attracting tourists. It will provide dual benefit to the place, government and the people.
Cultural tourism will not only be important in the development of sustainable tourism but will also be helpful in protecting the historical sites and at the same time protect the certain aspects of culture such as language, dresses, dance forms and tradition practices. This is because these aspects will be source of income.

Factors affecting sustainable cultural tourism

The above discussion clearly highlights the benefit of having sustainable cultural tourism. However there are certain factors that impact the sustainable cultural tourism. Firstly the cultural tourism cannot be used to create instant demand. For example events such as sporting events or ceremonies may create instant tourism demand. Such aspects are missing in cultural tourism. Although this can be aggravated by highlighting the cultural practices backed by seasons but this would require huge efforts in terms of marketing. In case of sporting events the marketing is done at different levels, by different countries and the intended public is targeted by various agencies.
Another important aspect is that the cultural sites and building may be impacted by the tourists. For example the historical places might lose its identity due to continuous degradation due to its exposure to large population. This will increase the cost of maintenance for safeguarding the heritage sites. This is a continuous process. Such costs are not involved in organizing sporting events or other such tourism.
Huge investment is required for the development of sites and programmes for sustainable tourism that is oriented towards promoting cultural tourism. There are certain factors that can hinder the growth and the sustainability of the cultural tourism. The conditions of war, outrage or vandalism activities prove to be of huge loss for the cultural tourism. This is because of two reasons. Firstly cultural aspects are exposed and most impacted by activities like vandalism. It is very important to preserve the cultural and traditional sites and thus any act of vandalism not only result in huge cost to restore and at times lead to irreversible damages. Secondly huge arrangements are to be made to protect these sites. The historical monuments and traditional sites are part of cultural tourism and may lead to huge concern for the tourism industry. Any damage to sites related to other type of tourism such as sports and education can be reconstructed but the cultural sites are unique and once destroyed will be huge loss.
Due to absence of these factors and the lack of support certain cultures are neglected result in lack of sustainability and preservation of the cultural sites. One of the biggest examples of this is Lumbini in Nepal. The government has made efforts in this respect but lack of planning, infrastructure and tourist programs have not only impacted the historical sites in the region but also the region has not been utilised to its potential.

Stages in sustainable cultural tourism

The cultural tourism will be beneficial to the community and the region if it is implemented in a proper manner. Some of the factors that affect cultural tourism have been identified above. Considering these aspects different stages that have been identified for proper implementation and development of sustainable cultural tourism are as follows
Assess Potential: The complete evaluation of what the community has and can offer is done. These include tourist attractions, visitor services & cultural programmes and organizational capabilities.
Plan and Organize: Human and financial resource are key for success of cultural tourism making good use of these resources, setting priorities and measurable goals.
Prepare for Visitors: Based on the past experiences, the type of visitors expected to visit and the future need that can be provided and expected the complete preparation has to be done. This will ensure high tourist satisfaction
Protect and Manage Resources: This is the most major aspect of cultural tourism as the historical sites have to be preserved for long term sustainability. The future of tourist visiting the place will depend on how well the balance is maintained between the exposing of heritage site and management & protection of heritage resources
Market for Success: The effective marketing of the heritage sites, cultural programmes and tourism is important. Marketing has to be done for ensuring that target and potential visitors understand the tourist attractions and how the cultural tourism will be different from other tourist locations.

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Task 3

Enclave tourism refers to tourism at destination places where the tourist activities are planned in such a way that they are congregated in one small area. This results in tourists to experience travel and tourism intentions without much travelling. One example of Enclave tourism is ‘Sun N Sand’ resort in Caribbean. Enclave tourism has been discussed with respect to development of tourism, conflict resolution between stakeholders and the benefits and limitations of enclave tourism.

Development of tourism in emerging destinations

Tourism is defined as the social, cultural and economic phenomenon involving the movement of people for recreation or business purposes. The tourism development in the South American island countries such as Jamaica and Trinidad & Tobago is quite significant. The various factors that are important for these countries are physical, natural and cultural aspects. The accessibility to these destinations from the majority of the tourist countries is not there. The only countries that are significant for these locations are North American nations. The major tourist countries from Europe do not have too frequent flights to these countries. This is one of major concerns.
The natural aspects highlight that these nations have enormous natural beauty and can attract many ocean lovers. Although the destination faces competition from South Asian countries in this regard but certainly is a huge asset for these nations. Further there is significant historical importance of these nations as discovery of America by Columbus and labour issues that these countries faced historically. The historical aspects related to West Indies are also quite significant.
These countries are not culturally too rich as most of the area is habited by aboriginals. However this is of interest for many students and researchers. This also contributes to the tourist activities and also increases the awareness of these tourist activities.   

Conflict resolution between stakeholders

The issues are different for each of the stakeholders including local populations, the local government agencies, the destination owners and the tourists. One of the emerging tourist destinations is the island countries in South America such as Cuba and Jamaica. The issues faced by each of the stakeholders in these countries are highlighted below
The Tourists: the issues that are faced by the tourists to these countries are related to accessibility of these destinations, facilities at these destinations and security issues. The accessibility to these destinations from the majority of the tourist countries is not there. Further there might be issues related to availability of services. Lastly the security in these countries is of huge concern. 
Local populations: The issues that the local population may face are that there is scarcity of resources. The scarcity includes capital and other resources such as food and essential resources like drinking water etc. The availability of resources and investment in necessary sectors will reduce. This will impact the comfort level of the local population.
The local government agencies: The local government agencies will have to face the issues of making arrangements for the funds for the development of infrastructure, provide necessary arrangements for the satisfaction of the tourists and lastly to maintain the balance between the development of infrastructure for tourists and the local public will have to be ensured. Lastly the government also faces issues with respect to policy framework. The government needs to frame policies that are favorable for the sector such as subsides for the developers and promoting the tourist destinations.
The destination owners: The destination owners need appropriate return on investments. Unless this is there the destination owners will not develop and invest in the tourism industry. The government support and necessary subsidies if necessary will have to be provided.  

Moral and Ethical issues in enclave tourism

The concept of development of enclave tourism is gaining recognition in developing countries. Tourism is in a way the backbone of most of the developing nations. In the study conducted by Mbaiwa (2005), the tourism in developing nations is taking the form of enclave tourism. This is because developing nations are dependent on developed nations for their tourism industry to flourish. It results in the socio economic regional disparities in developing nations as tourism in developing nations is concentrated and organised in regions in natural surroundings in a way that suits the travellers from developed nations providing them the feel of the natural beauty and at the same time take care of the comfort. The enclave tourism is considered as the prepaid trip planned by organiser. The tour travellers and cruise are examples of enclave tourisms. Another reason that the tourism in developing nations is shifting towards enclave tourism is the requirement of foreign investments. The resorts are being developed that are funded by developed countries. These plans that are prepared related to the tourism activities have limited visits to tourist laces but provides leisure services in a cost effective way at resorts or cruise. However the important factor that has led to the development of enclave tourism in developing countries is the lack of facilities like safe drinking water, health issues, and infrastructure and security issues. Considering this the tourists prefer tour packages that will provide services which will remove all these limitations.
Thus enclave tourism has in a way resulted in developing nations owing to the need. This has resulted in several limitations. Firstly there is little benefit for the local people. Most of the tourists are confined to places they have been allocated. So all the spending is concentrated at one place. The second aspect that has been identified is that with the development of enclave tourism the foreign funding has increased which has resulted in the development of infrastructure that will support tourism industry but at the same time it will generate profits for the foreign countries where these companies are based (Anderson 2011). It results in the socio economic regional disparities in developing nations as tourism in developing nations is concentrated and organised in metropolitan regions. Thus the development of whole countries does not takes place rather small region is benefitted. Lastly the infrastructure and facilities that will be developed will not benefit the local public as it will be out of reach. The domestic tourism will not be benefitted by this.Thus the enclave tourism will have little benefit for the local population in terms of generating revenue and access to facilities (Anderson 2011). Certainly there will be benefit of increased revenue and indirect income for the country. The infrastructure will be developed and foreign investment in the region will increase. But all this will be at the cost of little benefits to the local public. Enclave tourism will benefit only clusters and that too concentrated in a certain region.

Task 4

South Africa and Zimbabwe are two countries in African continent that have huge potential for tourism. The comparison of tourism development in Zimbabwe has been made with that of South Africa. South Africa has strategically developed tourism whereas Zimbabwe has faced certain issues in tourism development. These aspects have been discussed below followed by recommendations for tourism development in Zimbabwe.

Tourist Development Issues

Several issues impacting the tourist development in Zimbabwe have been identified. These are as below
Political issues: This is the major factor in the development of tourism in the region. The policies and support of the government is important in the tourism development. In case of political issues it is difficult to implement policies that can provide opportunities for the development of tourism sites and attract tourists (Lundber, 2011).
Economic Issues:Zimbabwe is facing huge economic issues. The high inflation rate and low value of currency in the international market are the major factors that have impacted the development plans in the country. For example the infrastructure like hotels and lodges isn’t well developed. High inflation rate also impacts availability of quality food for tourists.
Lack of internal airline connectivity:This is more related to currency value. The airports are notthere and the fuel prices are quite high. The lack of airline connectivity makes tourist attractions less accessible. For example the destinations such as Kariba, Victoria Falls, Masvingo are having almost no link with the major cities. Further there are no luxury coaches linking the respective tourist destinations with the major cities/ towns except for the Harare?Bulawayo?Victoria Falls route. This has to be considered which can be a huge boost to the tourism in the country.
Poor marketing strategy and programmes: The marketing strategy and programmes of the government are concentrated on a few locations only. For example the Victoria Falls is at the centre of every programme and the key attractions like Mutirikwi in Masvingo is underutilized due to lack of promotion.
Lack of domestic tourism promotions:The contribution to tourism by domestic tourists is minimal. In contrast South Africa has been benefitted by vibrant domestic market. The majority of the domestic tourists are mainly people who are on business trips or conferences who have limited consumption of tourist products (Lundber, 2011).
Lack of Skills and experience:The sector does not have competent and skilled workforce which is required at international standards. The exodus of manpower occurred during crisis. The lack of availability of such workforce impacts international tourists’ visits.
Unfriendly Visa Policies:The government policies are antiquated. The visa policies of the government do not support tourism industry. This gives advantage to regional competitors such as South Africa. (Lundber, 2011). For example it has been reported that many tourists have cancelled their trips due to delay in getting the Visa. These tourists were travelling from South Africa.
Overall the major issues related to tourism development in Zimbabwe are linked to the government policies and inflation. This is affected by the stable political scenario of the country. This aspect has affected all other factors. Further certain policies associated with the marketing, workforce development and international policies also contributed to the lack of tourism development.
Comparing these developments in South Africa, the potential and the opportunities have been harnessed well by South Africa. The country has hosted several sporting events, has entered into economic coalition with several countries and has developed infrastructure at a rapid pace. Zimbabwe has been lacking in all these factors. However such rapid expansion and investment as a result of hosting too many events has certainly put pressure on the government. But this factor has been strategically managed as a result of investment by international players. Such strategy needs to be developed by Zimbabwe as well. In the report by Nzenga (2013), almost 50% of the tourists faced issues in South Africa due to lack of management. The biggest example of the lack of effective policy implementation is the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa as there were many loopholes in the policy that has been implemented resulting in high level of inefficiencies in the entire sector in the province.

Tourism Development Recommendations

Based on the above study several recommendations have been framed in order to promote and support tourism in Zimbabwe. These are as follows
Visa Liberalization: This is issue is at the forefront. The solutions that have been suggested to increase the efficiency and make it easier for international tourists include ‘On Arrival Visa’ and ‘UNIVISA’ system with Zambia (Ndlovu& Heath, 2013).
Market Syndication: Market syndication is associated with the development of teams in support with the private players to develop marketing strategies, skilled workforce and promotion of domestic tourists. Development of such teams will enable the
Support Domestic Tourism: Schemes need to be developed that attract domestic tourists. Schemes such as providing attractive packages and providing facility like ‘Visit Now Pay Later’ will boost domestic tourism (Ndlovu& Heath, 2013).
Improve Destination Image: Zimbabwe is considered as most outdated country with lack of facilities and infrastructure. Further most of the destinations are not considered safe.
Aggressive Marketing: The government will have to ensure that the tourist places of the country are known in each and every country of the world that has potential customers. On the high level most of the countries are aware about the natural beauty in Zimbabwe. This is attributed to the success of South Africa tourism in the world. But little awareness is there about the specific locations. Effective and aggressive marketing will enable less known destinations gaining tourist attraction (Ndlovu& Heath, 2013).
Target High Value market: England and Ireland have traditionally been the major international tourists for Zimbabwe. Such high value markets need to be targeted that can provide greater returns.
On the whole the major issue for the country is lack of infrastructure. The economic and government policies need to be corrected in order to ensure that the tourism sectors boosts. Tourism needs investment in the form of infrastructure. Lack of availability of roads, hotels, transport hinders tourism growth. For this the government policies need to be corrected.

Conclusion

The report has been prepared analysing various aspects of tourism development. The discussion on planning arrangements for major sporting events showing the responsibilities of the various parties andstudy of various aspects of tourism development in developing countries shows that there is huge involvement and effort require in order to harness the advantage of tourism potential. Further the importance of identifying the weaknesses, development process and the benefits can be seen as it is very useful in sustainable tourism development in both developing nations and developed nations for emerging tourist destinations.

References

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