Tourism planning is essential for the success of any tourism development as well as its management (Murphy, 2013). The experiences gained from the majority of tourism zones around the world suggest that successful tourism planning results in various benefits to the governments. Regions that have allowed tourism to expand without engaging in a participatory approach to build good planning procedures are frequently victims of social and environmental concerns. These obstacles generate an environment of unhappiness among tourists, resulting in market difficulties. The long-term result is a reduction in the nation's economic benefit. Some tourism planning should be done at the national and regional levels. Here, planning is primarily concerned with the facility standards and not limited to the policies responsible for tourism development, institutional factors as well as other elements that played a significant role in the development and management of tourism (Sharpley, 2000). Some of the benefits brought about as a result of conducting regional and national tourism planning are as follows
Planning helps in the establishment of the overall goal of tourism in the country (Mason, 2015). It helps answer the question of what the initiative is set to achieve in the long run. From this, an effective decision is made that would bolster tourism and its sustainability. The second importance is that it helps in the establishment of guidelines as well as standards that are essential in the preparation of details plans regarding particular tourist development regions (Therivel, 2012). It helps in the designing of the tourist’s facilities within those specific areas. Planning provides a foundation for the effective implementation of the tourist development policies (Mowforth & Munt, 2015). It, therefore, leads to a continuous management within the tourism sector through the provision of an outstanding organization as well as an institutional framework. Over and above, planning offers a baseline for effective monitoring of development and progress of tourism and ensuring that they are on track.
In the promotion of sustainable tourism planning and development global organizations such as the UNWTO, the EU has come up with various agendas to ensure competitive tourism gets achieved (Patterson, 2015). For example, the agenda for sustainable and competitive European tourism which was initiated by the European Union shows several strategies put in place to promote European tourism (Aall, Dodds, Sælensminde & Brendehaug, 2015). UNWTO has gotten engaged in the development of goals necessary to promote sustainable tourism. They include
Physical Integrity
UNWTO advocated for the enhancement of the landscape quality by ensuring that sound projects got undertaken unlike activities such as excessive mining (Abraham, Nagarajan & Thottunkel, 2016). In this way, the physical, as well as the visual environmental degradation, could not be witnessed (Hall & Page, 2014).
Biological Diversity
It supported the idea of conserving the natural areas the wildlife as well as their habitat by discouraging actions such as deforestation (Jepma, 2014). In this case, the indigenous wildlife got protected from getting extinct as a result of the destruction of their habitat. Such a move led to the development of tourism
Environmental Purity
UNWTO through its policies for sustainable development champions for the preservation of the environment by encouraging the use of services that reduce the level of air and not limited to land pollution (Jauhari, 2014).
The Development of Human Resource
HR represents a critical building block regarding tourism industry. Human Resource Development plays an integral role in the addition of tourism value among the UNWTO member nations (Nickson, 2013). It engages in the provision of education as well as training to the member countries. Through this efforts, member’s nations of UNWTO such as those from the Sub Saharan region for example Kenya, benefit by having additional experts who help develop the human resource in response to the field of tourism (Novelli, 2015). They provide regular studies on the tourism trends making it possible for the countries adopt competitive strategies that would see the tourism sector grow.
Engaging In the Planning of the Environment
UNWTO provides for the conservation as well as maintaining and preserving the environment. Participates in the preservation of the environment since its primary goals are to ensure sustainable tourism gets achieved among its member countries (Holden, 2016). It has come up with several global programs, for example, the maintaining the hygienic conditions of the beaches. It has directly involved itself in the publication policy with UNEP (United Nations Environmental Program)
Facilitation and Liberation
UNWTO directly concerns itself in the facilitation of better tourism in various ways such as removing barriers that restrict the free movement of tourist from one destination to another, helps simplify processes such as acquiring of passports, visas et al (Czaika & Neumayer, 2017). Through this, easy access of tourists to various destinations gets facilitated. UNWTO ensures that the safety of tourist is maintained in the areas they get to visit. It also rationalizes the tourist’s facilitation services (Edgell, 2016). By engaging in such activities, tourism is developed.
Marketing and Promotion
UNWTO continuously monitors and analyses all the tourism tends globally (Dwyer et al., 2016). It does a close analysis of not only the social but also economic factors which have a direct impact on tourism. The data obtained is invaluable for the development of proper strategic planning as well as marketing and understanding consumer behavior (Horner & Swarbrooke, 2016). The standards in the field of tourism among its member countries, therefore, get maintained.
Publication
UNWTO promotes the development of tourism by making publications that provide necessary information regarding tourism (Telfer & Sharpley, 2015). Through these publications, the member’s states get acquainted with the latest development in the tourism field. They serve as an instrument of education on tourism-related matters.
Research and Studies
UNWTO engages in the conduction of research most specific in the field of tourism for its development and promotion (Morrison, 2013). It provides members with support regarding the establishment of market plans, and not limited to enterprises and promotion to boost tourism in specific nations. From the research conducted, member countries get better positioned to identify the various tourism areas that require immediate attention. Research helps in the prioritization of needs. Through this, effective management of the tourism industry among the member countries gets achieved.
References
Aall, C., Dodds, R., Sælensminde, I., & Brendehaug, E. (2015). Introducing the concept of environmental policy integration into the discourse on sustainable tourism: a way to improve policy-making and implementation?. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 23(7), 977-989.
Abraham, B., Nagarajan, K., & Thottunkel, A. K. (2016). Ecotourism Economics and Environment. Educreation Publishing.
Czaika, M., & Neumayer, E. (2017). Visa restrictions and economic globalisation. Applied Geography, 84, 75-82.
Dwyer, L., Armenski, T., Cvelbar, L. K., Dragićević, V., & Mihalic, T. (2016). Modified Importance–Performance Analysis for Evaluating Tourism Businesses Strategies: Comparison of Slovenia and Serbia. International Journal of Tourism Research, 18(4), 327-340.
Edgell Sr, D. L. (2016). Managing sustainable tourism: A legacy for the future. Routledge.
Hall, C. M., & Page, S. J. (2014). The geography of tourism and recreation: Environment, place and space. Routledge.
Holden, A. (2016). Environment and tourism. Routledge.
Horner, S., & Swarbrooke, J. (2016). Consumer behaviour in tourism. Routledge.
Jauhari, V. (Ed.). (2014). Managing sustainability in the Hospitality and Tourism Industry: Paradigms and Directions for the Future. CRC Press.
Jepma, C. J. (2014). Tropical deforestation: a socio-economic approach. Routledge.
Mason, P. (2015). Tourism impacts, planning and management. Routledge.
Morrison, A. M. (2013). Marketing and managing tourism destinations. Routledge.
Mowforth, M., & Munt, I. (2015). Tourism and sustainability: Development, globalisation and new tourism in the third world. Routledge.
Murphy, P. E. (2013). Tourism: A community approach (RLE Tourism). Routledge.
Nickson, D. (2013). Human resource management for hospitality, tourism and events. Routledge.
Novelli, M. (2015). Tourism and development in Sub-Saharan Africa: Current issues and local realities. Routledge.
Patterson, C. (2015). Sustainable tourism: Business development, operations and management. Human Kinetics.
Sharpley, R. (2000). Tourism and sustainable development: Exploring the theoretical divide. Journal of Sustainable tourism, 8(1), 1-19.
Telfer, D. J., & Sharpley, R. (2015). Tourism and development in the developing world. Routledge.
Therivel, R. (2012). Strategic environmental assessment in action. Routledge.
