MODULE 1

I.TOPIC: BASIC CONCEPTS IN TOURISM PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT

➢ Tourism Policy, Tourism Planning, and Tourism Product Development
➢ Tourism Planning Dimensions

II.OBJECTIVES:
At the end of this learning module, the students are expected to:
• Understand the Tourism Policy, Tourism Planning, and Tourism Product
Development;
• Understand Tourism Planning Dimensions;
• Acquire knowledge of the benefits of Tourism Planning Dimensions;

III. CONTENT:
TOURISM POLICY, TOURISM PLANNING, AND TOURISM PRODUCT
DEVELOPMENT
Tourism is a dynamic industry and its trends and practices change time to time. It is a
global industry today. It includes the aspects of local, regional, national and international
level to be considered and planned.
Tourism policy defined as “a set of rules, regulations, guidelines, directives, and
development/promotion objectives and strategies that provide framework within which
the collective, as well as individual decisions directly affecting long – term tourism
development and daily activities within a destination are taken” (Goeldner & Ritchie
2003, p.413 in Scott, 2011).

“Tourism policy is whatever governments choose to do or not

to do” -Hall and Jenkins

‘Policy’ is defined as being a position, strategy, action or product adopted by

government and arising from contests between different ideas, values and interests.
Tourism policy making is inherently a political activity affected by formal structures of
government.
A tourism policy provides a set of guidelines for all those directly and indirectly involved
in tourism by specifying broad goals, objectives, priorities and actions for the
development of tourism.
To cite a few examples, tourism has become a major pillar of the Philippine economy
because it offers much greater latitude for creating employment and livelihood
opportunities, compared to other economic activities. As such, tourism enables the
attainment of inclusive growth and poverty alleviation, which is the main goal of national
development.
Tourism plans are also framed by land use plans. In the special case of Palawan,
nature – based tourism became the logical path for its development, because the whole
province is covered by the Strategic Environment Plan. Where there are protected
areas and places covered by ancestral domains, only controlled tourism may be
allowed. International tourism is also dictated by foreign policy. For instance, the two
Koreas have only limited cross – border tourism because the two countries remain
technically at war.
Finally, countries may promote tourism as a means to meet national needs. The recent
move by Japan to relax her visa regulations for countries in Southeast Asia may have
been motivated by her desire to generate more financial resources to support her
massive recovery efforts in the aftermath of the 2012 tsunami.
A tourism plan is an output of the tourism planning process. Tourism planning is the
process of (1) gathering and evaluating information to identify and prioritize current
tourism development issues, (2) imagining a desired future state of tourism in the
destination, and (3) choosing from a number of alternatives for achieving them.
This process is time consuming, laborious, and sometimes contentious because the
different stakeholder groups in a given area may not share the same dream or the
means to achieving that dream.
Tourism planners will usually carry out a mix of seminar
– workshop, ocular visits, and interviews with local people. The seminar – workshop
helps to define the desired future state of tourism in the destination in the form of vision
and mission statements from the perspective of the area’s stakeholders or interest
groups.

Finally, countries may promote tourism as a means to meet national needs. The recent
move by Japan to relax her visa regulations for countries in Southeast Asia may have
been motivated by her desire to generate more financial resources to support her
massive recovery efforts in the aftermath of the 2012 tsunami.
In technical terms, this process involves (1) situation analysis, (2) vision, goals, and
objectives, and (3) strategies.
New Zealand’s Tourism Recreation Research and Education Center (TRREC) provides
these definitions:

1. Vision – a desired future state of the destination.

– the future state and achievements required for tourism
2. Goals – broad – based targets for tourism; qualitatively stated (e.g., to modernize the
international
airport)
3. Objectives – SMART targets that are specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and
time bound (e.g., to increase passenger handling capacity of X airport to two million a
year, starting in 2016)
4. Strategies – the method by which objectives will be achieved (e.g., public –
private partnership arrangement) Action or implementation plan – details of how the
strategies will be implemented
TOURISM PLANNING DIMENSIONS:
1. Levels –
The geographic setting;
 International
 National
 Regional
 Provincial
 Municipal/City
 Site level
2. Time Frame – Amount of time for implementation
 Short-term
 Medium-term
 Long-term
3. Scope – Functional areas;

Master Plan

1) Physical plan (structure plan and the transportation infrastructure plan) –

It is the structure plan and the transportation infrastructure plan
2) Environmental management plan
3) Conservation Management Plan
4) Entrepreneurship development plan
5) Institutional framework plan
6) Human resource development plan
7) Marketing plan
8) Investment promotion plan

4. Spatial Units

The space covered in tourism planning is called a tourism development unit. The
Department of Tourism – Japan International Cooperation Agency (DOT-JICA)
and the
UNESCO provide the following spatial concepts.
• Tourist sites

• Tourist development area (TDA)

• Tourism cluster

• Tourism circuits

• Tourism corridor
Tourism Site

A tourist site is an area that contains one or more tourist attractions. 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 customer 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.” (Stange et al.n.d.)

There are four categories of attractions (World Heritage Center in Stange et al.n.d.;
Swarbrooke 1995) – geophysical – landscape – aesthetic, ecological – biological,
cultural – historical and recreational.

1. Geophysical – landscape – aesthetic

This category includes:

• Mountains; scenic views;

• Gorges; unusual cloud formations;

• Big rocks; unusual meteorological conditions (e.g., high

• Rock formations velocity wind behavior);

• Caves; thermal waters;

• Rivers; volcanic activity; and

• Water bodies; unusual celestial events (e.g., Northern lights,

Perseid meteor shower, or exceptionally
Clear night views for stargazing)

2. Ecological – biological

These include the following:

• Organisms (their parts, behaviors, aggregations, or associations in

Communities with other organisms); and

• Ecological events or processes (decomposition, reproduction,

predation, migration, and fossil remain).

3. Cultural – historical

Include in this category are:

• Human constructions, practices, and remains (archeological);

• Manifestations of human evolution and cultural expression;

• Ideas of particular individuals or events that are interpreted through

objects and places like a house or a person’s possession (e.g., the
house of a national hero); and
• Buildings which may be tourism – specific and / or not tourism –
specific attractions *(Swarbrooke 1995).
Buildings include:

➢ Churches; marinas;

➢ Historic houses; exhibitions centers;

➢ Archeological sites; craft centers;

➢ Ancient monuments; casinos;

➢ Amusement parks; health complexes;

➢ Theme parks; picnic sites; and

➢ Open air museums; retail complex.

4. Recreational

These are attractions that are built or created by humans for the purpose
of entertainment or education. Examples are:

• Theme parks; botanical gardens;

• Sport fields; motion-based attractions (such as roller Coaster);

• Zoos; museums;

• Theaters; shopping malls; and

• Events (e.g., sports events, festivals, sales and exhibitions)

Attractions can vary is scale of popularity – local, regional, national or

international. An attraction, which is generally found in single site or a
small delimited geographical area based on a single key feature form
part of a tourist site. In turn, tourist sites make up a tourism development
area. A number of TDAs comprise a tourism cluster.

Tourism Development Area

A tourism development area is an area designated for processing an important site or

groups of tourist sites. Any town or city that has one or more tourist sites can be
considered as a TDA. For instance, Baguio City, which has several important tourists
sites are an example of a TDA. There is Session Road for shopping, dining and
entertainment, the Mines View Park, Philippine Military Academy, Wright Park and
several others. A TDA may also cover more than one town or city, such as Vigan-Laoag
TDA.

Various types of facilities and services are required for tourism development of tourism
can be grouped under following sections-
 Attraction
 Transportation
 Accommodation
 Supporting Facilities
 infrastructure

Tourism Cluster

A tourism cluster is composed of two or more TDAs. The Central Visayas Tourism
Cluster in the NTDP consists of five TDAs, namely (1) Norther Cebu – Bantayan –
Malapascua, (2) Metro Cebu – Mactan – Olango Island, (3) Southern Cebu, (4) Negros
Oriental – Dumaguete – Siquijor, and (5) Tagbilaran – Panglao Island. In this example,
a city, towns, or province in whole or in part may be combined with other cities, towns or
provinces to form a cluster. However, a single province may also be a cluster on its
own, such as Palawan.

Note that a tourism cluster may consist of towns located in different provinces. An
example of this is the Northern Leyte and Southern Samar Iland tourism cluster. These
two areas are linked by the San Juanico Bridge and have complementary attractions.
For, example, Northern Leyte, where the Capital, Tacloban City is located, functions as
the staging point because of its proximity to the airport and more available tourist –
grade accommodation. It also has a vibrant night scene. Southern Samar Island, on the
other hand, has the historically significant Balangiga Church, and several natures
attractions like the Sohoton Caves in Basey, the sea outcrops in Marabut, and the world
– class surf sites in Calicoan, Guiuan, and Eastern Samar.

Tourism Circuit

A tourism circuit is defined as a route involving at least three major tourist destinations
which are located in different towns, villages or cities (tourism.gov.in,2013); and the
destinations share common characteristics or themes. Examples are gastronomic
(Pampanga, Bicol, and IloIlo), and surfing circuit (La Union, Baler, and Calicoan in
Eastern Samar).

Tourism Corridor

A tourism corridor refers to a route defined by a theme (e.g., silk heritage corridor, a
civilization) spanning several countries or even continents
(https://en.unesco.org/silkroad). The Silk Road for example, winds through several
countries in Asia, Europe and Africa. The Inca corridor in South America covers Chile,
Bolivia, Peru and Ecuador, Argentina, and Colombia.

The National Tourism Development Plan identified 20 clusters composed of existing

and emerging tourist development areas (TDA). The tourism clusters are:

Northern Philippines

1. Batanes, Cagayan Coast, Babuyan Islands

2. Laoag – Vigan (Laoag – Pagudpud, Vigan )

3. Sierra Madre (Tuguegarao – Tabuk, Ilagan and Isabela Coast; Quirino)

4. Cordillera (Central Cordillera; Benguet – Baguio – Mt. Province, Nueva Vizcaya)

5. Lingayen Gulf (La Union Coast; Western Pangasinan Loop; East Pangasinan
Circuit, Lingayen Coast and Islands.)

6. Central Luzon (Subic – Clark – Tralac Corridor; Nueva Ecija; Pmapanga;

Bulacan; Zambales Coast; Bataan Coast and Inland; Aurora)

7. Metro Manila and CLABARZON (Metro Manila and Environs; Nasugbo – Looc –
Ternate – Cavite Coast; Laguna de Bay; Batangas Peninsula; Quezon Coast and
Islands)

Central Philippines

1. Bicol (Camarines and Catanduanes; Albay – Sorsogon – Masbate)

2. Marinduque – Mindoro – Romblon (Marinduque Island; Romblon Island; Puerto

Galera; Southwest Mindoro Coast)

3. Palawan (San Vicente – El Nido – Taytay; Puerto Prinsesa; Southern Palawan;

Busuanga – Coron – Culion Islands)

4. Western Visayas (Metro Iloilo – Guimaras; Bacolod – Silay; Boracay Island –

Northern Antique – Kalibo; Capiz)

5. Central Visayas (Northern Cebu – Bantayan – Malapascua; Metro Cebu –

Mactan – Olango Island; Southern Cebu; Negros Oriental – Dumaguete –
Siquijor; Tagbilaran – Panglao)

6. Eastern Visayas Northern Leyte – Basey – Marabut; Northeastern Leyte –

Biliran: Southern Leyte; West Samar; Eastern Samar; Northern Samar)

Southern Philippines

1. Surigao – Dinagat Island (Dinagat – Siargao Islands; Surigao City – Lake Mainit)

2. Agusan River Basin (Butuan City – Cabadbaran; Agusan Marsh; Agusan Sur –
Hinatuan; Agusan Sur – Bislig)

3. Cagayan de Oro Coast and Hinterland (Camiguin Island; Cagayan de Oro –

Misamis Oriental Coast; Iligan City/Lanao del Norte; Misamis Occidental Coast
and Tangub Bay/Ozamis – Oroquieta; Bukidnon)

4. Zamboanga Peninsula (Zamboanga Sibugay; Zamboanga City – Sta. Cruz –

Isabela; Pagadian City – Zamboanga del Sur; Dapitan; Dipolog)

5. Davao Gulf and Coast ( Davao City – Samal Island – Davao del Norte; Davao del
Sur; Compostela Valley – Davao Oriental)

6. Cotabto – Sarangani (Cotabato Province – Mt. Apo; South Cotabato – Lake

Sebu; Sultan Kudarat; General Santos – Sarangani; Cotabato City)

7. ARMM (Basilan – Tawi-Tawi – Jolo; Lanao del Sur – Maguindanao)

Tourism Destination

Regardless of the area, number and levels of political units involved, any tourism
development unit may comprise a tourism destination. Put simply, a tourism
development unit is a destination. The UNWTO (2004) defines a tourism destination as
“a physical space in which a visitor spends at least one overnight”. It includes tourism
products such as support services and attractions, and tourism resources within one
day’s return travel time. It has a physical and administrative boundary defining its
management, and images and perceptions defining its market competitiveness. Local
destinations incorporate various stakeholders often including a host community, and
can nest and network to form larger destinations (WTO 2004)