Michigan State University Extension
Tourism Educational Materials - 33000005
06/06/02
Tourism Planning
By: Daniel J. Stynes and Cynthia O'Halloran
Cooperative Extension Service
Michigan State University
Extension Bulletin E-2004
October 1987
INTRODUCTION
Tourism is one of many activities in a community or
region that requires planning and coordination. This
bulletin provides a simple structure and basic guidelines
for comprehensive tourism planning at a community or
regional level. Planning is the process of identifying
objectives and defining and evaluating methods of
achieving them. By comprehensive planning we mean
planning which considers all of the tourism resources,
organizations, markets, and programs within a region.
Comprehensive planning also considers economic,
environmental, social, and institutional aspects of
tourism development.
TWO SIDES OF TOURISM PLANNING
Tourism planning has evolved from two related but
distinct sets of planning philosophies and methods. On
the one hand, tourism is one of many activities in an
area that must be considered as part of physical,
environmental, social, and economic planning. Therefore,
it is common to find tourism addressed, at least
partially, in a regional land use, transportation,
recreation, economic development, or comprehensive plan.
The degree to which tourism is addressed in such plans
depends upon the relative importance of tourism to the
community or region and how sensitive the planning
authority is to tourism activities.
Tourism may also be viewed as a business in which a
community or region chooses to engage. Individual tourism
businesses conduct a variety of planning activities
including feasibility, marketing, product development,
promotion, forecasting, and strategic planning. If
tourism is a significant component of an area's economy
or development plans, regional or community-wide
marketing plans are needed to coordinate the development
and marketing activities of different tourism interests
in the community.
A comprehensive approach integrates a strategic marketing
plan with more traditional public planning activities.
This ensures a balance between serving the needs and
wants of the tourists versus the needs and wants of local
residents. A formal tourism plan provides a vehicle for
the various interests within a community to coordinate
their activities and work toward common goals. It also is
a means of coordinating tourism with other community
activities.
STEPS IN THE PLANNING PROCESS
Like any planning, tourism planning is goal-oriented,
striving to achieve certain objectives by matching
available resources and programs with the needs and wants
of people. Comprehensive planning requires a systematic
approach, usually involving a series of steps. The
process is best viewed as an iterative and on-going one,
with each step subject to modification and refinement at
any stage of the planning process.
There are six steps in the planning process:
1. Define goals and objectives.
2. Identify the tourism system.
a) Resources
b) Organizations
c) Markets
3. Generate alternatives.
4. Evaluate alternatives.
5. Select and implement.
6. Monitor and evaluate.
STEP ONE: Defining Goals and objectives. Obtaining clear
statements of goals and objectives is difficult, but
important. Ideally, tourism development goals should flow
from more general community goals and objectives. It is
important to understand how a tourism plan serves these
broader purposes. Is the community seeking a broader tax
base, increased employment opportunities, expanded
recreation facilities, better educational programs, a
higher quality of life? How can tourism contribute to
these objectives?
If tourism is identified as a means of serving broader
community goals, it makes sense to develop plans with
more specific tourism development objectives. These are
generally defined through a continuing process in which
various groups and organizations in a community work
together toward common goals. A local planning authority,
chamber of commerce, visitors bureau, or similar group
should assume a leadership role to develop an initial
plan and obtain broad involvement of tourism interests in
the community. Public support for the planning process
and plan is also important.
Having a good understanding of tourism and the tourism
system in your community is the first step toward
defining goals and objectives for tourism development.
The types of goals that are appropriate and the precision
with which you are able to define them will depend upon
how long your community has been involved in tourism and
tourism planning.
In the early stages of tourism development, goals may
involve establishing organizational structures and
collecting information to better identify the tourism
system in the community. Later, more precise objectives
can be formulated and more specific development and
marketing strategies evaluated.
STEP TWO: Identifying Your Tourism System
When planning for any type of activity, it is important
to first define its scope and characteristics. Be clear
about exactly what your plan encompasses. A good initial
question is, "What do you mean by tourism?" Tourism is
defined in many ways. Generally, tourism involves people
traveling outside of their community for pleasure.
Definitions differ on the specifics of how far people
must travel, whether or not they must stay overnight, for
how long, and what exactly is included under traveling
for "pleasure". Do you want your tourism plan to include
day visitors, conventioneers, business travelers, people
visiting friends and relatives, people passing through,
or seasonal residents?
Which community resources and organizations serve
tourists or could serve tourists? Generally, tourists
share community resources with local residents and
businesses. Many organizations serve both tourists and
locals. This complicates tourism planning and argues for
a clear idea of what your tourism plan entails.
You can begin to clarify the tourism system by breaking
it down into three subsystems:
(1) tourism resources,
(2) tourism organizations, and
(3) tourism markets.
An initial task in developing a tourism plan is to
identify, inventory, and classify the objects within each
of these subsystems.
TOURISM RESOURCES are any (1) natural, (2) cultural, (3)
human, or (4) capital resources that either are used or
can be used to attract or serve tourists. A tourism
resource inventory identifies and classifies the
resources available that provide opportunities for
tourism development. Conduct an objective and realistic
assessment of the quality and quantity of resources you
have to work with. Table I provides a suggested
classification to help obtain a broad and organized
picture of your tourism resources.
TOURISM ORGANIZATIONS combine resources in various
proportions to provide products and services for the
tourist. Table 2 is a partial list and classification of
organizations that manage or coordinate tourism-related
activities. It is important to recognize the diverse
array of public and private organizations involved with
tourism. The most difficult part of tourism planning is
to get these groups to work toward common goals. You
should develop a list of these organizations within your
own community and obtain their input and cooperation in
your tourism planning efforts. Setting up appropriate
communication systems and institutional arrangements is a
key part of community tourism planning. (See Extension
bulletin E-1958 in this series)
TABLE 1. TOURISM RESOURCES
Natural Resources
* Climate-seasons
* Water resources-lakes, streams, waterfalls
* Flora-forests, flowers, shrubs, wild edibles
* Fauna-fish & wildlife
* Geological resources-topography, soils, sand dunes,
beaches, caves, rocks & minerals, fossils
* Scenery-combinations of all of the above
Cultural Resources
* Historic buildings, sites
* Monuments, shrines
* Cuisine
* Ethnic cultures
* Industry, government, religion, etc.
* Anthropological resources
* Local celebrities
Human Resources
* Hospitality skills
* Management skills
* Seasonal labor force
* Performing artists-music, drama, art, storytellers,
etc.
* Craftsman and artisans
* Other labor skills from chefs to lawyers to researchers
* Local populations
Capital
* Availability of capital, financing
* Infrastructure-transportation roads, airports,
railroads, harbors & marinas, trails & walkways
* Infrastructure: utilities water, power, waste
treatment, communications
TABLE 2. TOURISM MANAGEMENT ORGANIZATIONS AND SERVICES
Off-Site: Coordination, planning, technical assistance,
research, regulation:
* Federal & state departments of commerce,
transportation, & natural resources
* Federal, state, regional, & local tourism associations
* Educational organizations & consultants, e.g., Travel &
Tourism Research Association; U.S.
Travel Data Center; Travel Reference Center, Univ. of
Colorado, Boulder; Travel, Tourism, & Recreation Resource
Center, Michigan State University.
* Travel information & reservation services
On-Site: development, promotion and management, of
tourism resources:
* Federal agencies, NB. departments of commerce,
transportation, & land management agencies
* State agencies, NB. departments of commerce,
transportation, & land/facility management
agencies
* Local government organizations, e.g., visitor
information, chamber of commerce, convention
& visitor's bureaus, parks
* Businesses:
-Accommodations: Hotels, motels, Lodges, resorts, bed &
breakfast cabins & cottages, Condominiums, second homes,
Campgrounds
-Food & Beverage: Restaurants, Grocery, Bars, nightclubs,
Fast food, Catering services
-Transportation: Air, rail, bus; Local transportation:
taxi, limo, Auto, bicycle, boat rental; Local tour
services
-Information: Travel agencies, Information and
reservation services, Automobile clubs
-Recreation Facilities & Services: Winter sports: ski,
skating, snowmobile areas; Golf courses, miniature golf;
Swimming pools, water slides, beaches; tennis, handball,
racquetball courts, bowling alleys; Athletic clubs,
health spas; Marinas, boat rentals and charters; hunting
& fishing guides; Horseback enterprises; Sporting goods
sales & rentals
-Entertainment: Nightclubs, amusement parks, spectator
sport facilities; Gambling facilities: casinos, horse
racing, bingo; video arcades; art galleries and studios,
craft shops, studios, demonstrations; performing arts:
theater, dance, music, film; historic & prehistoric
sites; museums: art, history, science, technology;
arboreta, zoos, nature centers,
-Special festivals and events
-Support services: Auto repair, gasoline service
stations; boat & recreation vehicle dealers and service;
retail shops: sporting goods, specialties, souvenirs,
clothing; health services: hospitals, clinics,
pharmacies; laundry and dry cleaning; beauty & barber
shops; babysitting services; pet care; communications:
newspaper, telephone; banking and financial services
TOURISM MARKETS: Tourists makeup the third, and perhaps
most important subsystem. Successful tourism programs
require a strong market orientation. The needs and wants
of the tourists you choose to attract and serve must be
the focus of much of your marketing and development
activity. Therefore, it is important to clearly
understand which tourism market segments you wish to
attract and serve. Tourists fall into a very diverse set
of categories with quite distinct needs and wants. You
should identify the different types of tourists, or
market segments that you presently serve or would like to
serve. This may involve one or more tourism market
surveys.
A visitor survey identifies the size and nature of the
existing market and asks the following questions:
* What are the primary market segments you presently
attract?
* Where do they come from?
* What local businesses and facilities do they use?
* What attracted them to the community?
* How did they find out about your community?
* How satisfied are they with your offerings?
A market survey (usually a telephone survey) also can be
conducted among households in regions from which you wish
to attract tourists. This type of study helps identify
potential markets, and means of attracting tourists to
your area.
Tourism market segments
In a general tourism plan, some clear target tourism
market segments should be identified (See Table 3). You
might begin by defining the market area from which you
will draw most of your visitors. The size of your market
area depends upon the uniqueness and quality of your
"product", transportation systems, tastes and preferences
of surrounding populations, and your competition.
Identifying the market area will help target information
and promotion and define transportation routes and modes,
competition, and characteristics of your market.
Next, divide your travel market into the following trip
length categories:
* day trips from a 50 mile radius,
* day trips from 50 to 200 miles away,
* pass-through travelers,
* overnight trips of 1 or 2 nights (most likely
weekends), and
* extended overnight vacation trips.
After you have an idea of your market area and kinds of
trips you will be serving, begin defining more specific
market segments like vehicle campers, downhill skiers,
sightseers, family vacationers, single weekenders, and
the like. These segments can be more clearly tied to
particular resources, businesses, and facilities in your
community.
What kinds of products and services are likely to attract
each of these groups? Tourist needs as well as their
impact on the local community are quite different for day
tourists versus overnight tourists. Areas catering
primarily to weekend traffic will experience large
fluctuations in use. In deciding the relative importance
of these different segments, communities need to assess
both their ability to provide required services (do you
have enough rooms?), as well as the demand for different
types of trips relative to the supply and your
competition.
THE ENVIRONMENT: A tourism plan is significantly affected
by many factors in the broader environment. Indeed, one
of the complexities of tourism planning is the number of
variables that are outside of the control of an
individual tourism business or community. These include
such things as tourism offerings and prices at competing
destinations, federal and state policy and legislation,
currency exchange rates, the state of the economy, and
weather. These factors are discussed more fully in
Extension bulletin E-1959 as part of the market
environment analysis.
Local populations also must be considered in tourism
planning. As they compete with tourists for resources,
they can be significantly affected by tourism activity,
and they are an important source of support in getting
tourism plans implemented. A survey of local residents
can be conducted to assess community attitudes toward
tourism development, identify impacts of tourism on the
community, and obtain local input into tourism plans.
Public hearings, workshops, and advisory boards are other
ways to obtain public involvement in tourism planning.
Local support and cooperation is important to the success
of tourism programs and should not be overlooked.
TABLE 3. TOURISM MARKET SEGMENTS
I. Geographic market areas
II. Trip categories
Day Trips:
* short-within 50 miles
* long-up to 200 miles
Pass through traffic:
* day visitors
* overnight stays
Overnight Trips:
* weekend
* vacation
III. Activity or trip purpose
Outdoor Recreation:
* Water-based Activity:
-Boating: sail, power, cruise, row, canoe, water ski
-Swimming: pool, beach, sunbathing, scuba
-Fishing: charter, sport, from pier, boat, shore, ice
* Land-based Activity:
-Camping: backpacking, primitive, developed
-Hiking: climbing, beachcombing, spelunking
-Hunting
-Skiing: downhill, cross country
-Snowmobiling
-Bicycling
-Horseback riding
-Picnicking
* Air-based Activity:
-Airplane rides, hang gliding, ballooning, parachuting
* General:
-Nature study
-Photography or landscape painting
-Viewing natural scenery
Sightseeing & Entertainment:
* Visiting particular sites or areas:
-historic or pre-historic
-cultural
-amusements
-scenic
* Attending particular events, shows, or demonstrations:
-ethnic festivals
-sporting events
-performances
-agricultural fair or festival
-boat show
-shopping
Other Primary Purpose for Trip:
* Visiting Friends & Relatives
* Convention & Business/Pleasure
STEP THREE: Generating Alternatives.
Generating alternative development and marketing options
to meet your goals requires some creative thinking and
brainstorming. The errors made at this stage are usually
thinking too narrowly or screening out alternatives
prematurely. It is wise to solicit a wide range of
options from a diverse group of people. If tourism
expertise is lacking in your community, seek help and
advice outside the community.
Tourism planning involves a wide range of interrelated
development and marketing decisions. The following
development questions will get you started:
* How much importance should be assigned to tourism
within a community or region?
* Which general community goals is tourism development
designed to serve?
* Which organization(s) will provide the leadership and
coordination necessary for community tourism planning?
What are the relative roles of public and private
sectors?
Tourism marketing decision questions include (Extension
bulletin E-1959):
* Segments: Which market segments should be pursued;
geographic markets, trip types, activity or demographic
subgroups?
* Product: What kinds of tourism products and services
should be provided? Who should provide what?
* Place: Where should tourism facilities be located?
* Promotion: What kinds of promotion should be used, by
whom, in which media, how much, when? What community
tourism theme or image should be established? (See
Extension bulletins E-1939, E-1957, E-1940, E-1938,
E-2005)
* Price: What prices should be charged for which products
and services. Who should capture the revenue? (See
Extension bulletin E-1999)
STEP FOUR: Evaluating Alternatives.
Tourism development and marketing options are evaluated
by assessing the degree to which each option will be able
to meet the stated goals and objectives. There are
usually two parts to a systematic evaluation of tourism
development and marketing alternatives: (1) Feasibility
analysis, and (2) Impact assessment. These two tasks are
interrelated, but think of them as trying to answer two
basic questions: (1) Can it be done?, and (2) What are
the consequences? A decision to take a specific action
must be based both on feasibility and desirability.
FEASIBILITY ANALYSIS: First, screen alternatives and
eliminate those that are not feasible due to economic,
environmental, political, legal, or other factors.
Evaluate the remaining set of alternatives in more
detail, paying particular attention to the market
potential and financial plan.
Make a realistic assessment of your community's ability
to attract and serve a market segment or segments. This
requires a clear understanding of the tourism market in
your area and how this market is changing. Also carefully
identify your competition and evaluate your advantages
and disadvantages compared to the competition.
Plan toward the future because it takes time to implement
decisions and for your actions to take effect. Therefore,
look at the likely market and competition for several
years to come. Review forecasts for the travel market in
your area, if available. Careful tracking of tourism
trends in your own community can help identify changes in
the market that you will have to adapt to. (See Extension
bulletins E-1959 and E-1992 for more details on
feasibility and marketing.)
IMPACT ASSESSMENT: When evaluating alternative
development and marketing strategies it is important to
understand the impacts, both positive and negative, of
proposed actions. Table 4 presents a classification of
economic, environmental, and social impacts associated
with tourism development. The types of impacts and their
importance vary across different communities and proposed
actions. Generally, the size, extent, and nature of
tourism impacts depend upon:
* volume of tourist activity relative to local activity
* length and nature of tourist contacts with the
community
* degree of concentration/dispersal of tourist activity
in the area
* similarities or differences between local populations
and tourists
* stability/sensitivity of local economy, environment,
and social structure
* how well tourism is planned, controlled, and managed.
Look at both the benefits and costs of any proposed
actions (See Extension bulletin E-1937). While tourism
development can increase income, revenues, and
employment, it also involves costs. Evaluate benefits and
costs of tourism development from the perspectives of
local government, businesses, and residents.
TABLE 4. IMPACTS OF TOURISM
Economic Impacts:
* Sales, revenue, and income
* Employment
* Fiscal impact-taxes, infrastructure costs
* Prices
* Economic base & structure
Environmental Impacts:
* Lands
* Waters
* Air
* Infrastructure
* Flora & fauna
Social Impacts:
* Population structure & distribution
* Values & attitudes
* Education
* Occupations
* Safety & security
* Congestion & crowding
* Community spirit & cohesion
* Quality of life
Impacts on Local Government
Local government provides most of the infrastructure and
many of the services essential to tourism development,
including highways, public parks, law enforcement, water
and sewer, garbage collection and disposal. Evaluate
tourism decisions with a clear understanding of the
capacity of the local infrastructure and services
relative to anticipated needs, and take into account both
the needs of local populations and tourists.
A fiscal impact analysis evaluates the impact of tourism
on the community's tax base and local government costs.
It entails predicting the additional infrastructure and
service requirements of tourism development, estimating
their costs, deciding who will pay for/provide them, and
how. Will tourism generate increased local government
revenue through fees and charges, local sales or use
taxes, increased property values or property tax rates,
or larger local shares of federal and state tax revenues?
Impacts on Business and Industry
Businesses that are directly serving tourists benefit
from sales to tourists. Through secondary impacts,
tourism activity also benefits a wide range of businesses
in a community. For example, a local textile industry may
sell to a linen supply firm that serves hotels and motels
catering primarily to tourists. A local forest products
industry sells to a lumberyard where local woodcarvers or
furniture makers buy their supplies. They in turn sell to
tourists through various retail outlets. All of these
businesses benefit from tourism.
If most products and services for tourists are bought
outside of the local area, much of the tourist spending
"leaks" out of the local economy. The more a community is
"self-sufficient" in serving tourists, the larger the
local impact.
Impacts on Residents
Local residents may experience a broad range of both
positive and negative impacts from tourism development.
Tourism development may provide increased employment and
income for the community. Although tourism jobs are
primarily in the service sectors and are often seasonal,
part time, and low-paying, these characteristics, are
neither universal nor always undesirable. Residents may
value opportunities for part time and seasonal work. In
particular, employment opportunities and work experiences
for students or retirees may be desired.
Residents may also benefit from local services that
otherwise would not be available. Tourism development may
mean a wider variety of retailers and restaurants, or a
better community library. It may also mean more traffic,
higher prices, and increases in property values and local
taxes. The general quality of the environment and life in
the community may go up or down due to tourism
development. This depends on the nature of tourism
development, the preferences and desires of local
residents, and how well tourism is planned and managed.
STEPS FIVE AND SIX:
Implementation, and Monitoring and Evaluation.
We will not attempt a complete discussion of
decisionmaking, plan implementation, and monitoring, but
these are critical steps in the success of a tourism
plan. A set of specific actions should be prescribed with
clearly defined responsibilities and timetables. Monitor
progress in implementing the plan and evaluate the
success of the plan in meeting its goals and objectives
on a regular basis. Plans generally need to be adjusted
over time due to changing goals, changing market
conditions, and unanticipated impacts. It is a good idea
to build monitoring and evaluation systems into your
planning efforts.
CONCLUDING REMARKS
Successful tourism planning and development means serving
both tourists and local residents. The bulletins in this
series stress the importance of a market orientation for
attracting and serving tourists. This market orientation
must be balanced with a clear view of how tourism serves
the broader community interest and an understanding of
the positive and negative impacts of tourism development.
Remember, tourism should serve the community first and
the tourist second. Tourism development must be
compatible with other activities in the area and be
supported by the local population. Therefore, the tourism
plan should be closely coordinated with other local and
regional planning efforts, if not an integral part of
them.
SELECTED REFERENCES
* Tourism Planning. Clare A. Gunn. Crane Russak & Co. New
York. 1979.
* The Tourist Business (4th ed). Donald E. Lundberg. CBI
Publishing. Boston, Mass. 1980.
* Tourism Planning and Development. Charles Kaiser Jr.
Larry E. Helber. CBI Publishing. Distributed by Wm.
Heinemann Ltd. London. 1978.
* Tourism: Principles, Practices, Philosophies (4th ed).
Robert W. McIntosh and Charles R.Goeldner. Grid Publ.
Columbus, Ohio. 1984.
* The Tourism System. Robert C. Mill and Alistair
Morrison. Prentice Hall. Englewood Cliffs, NJ. 1985.
* Tourist Development. Douglas G. Pearce. Longman Group
Ltd. London. 1981.
* Travel, Tourism and Hospitality Research: A Handbook
for Managers and Researchers. J. R. Brent Ritchie and
Charles R. Goeldner (Eds). John Wiley and Sons; New York.
1987.
This information is for educational purposes only. References
to commercial products or trade names does not imply
endorsement by MSU Extension or bias against those not
mentioned. This information becomes public property upon
publication and may be printed verbatim with credit to MSU
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