Thesis
Introduction
It is now recognized that tourism must be developed and managed in a controlled, integrated and sustainable manner, based on sound planning.
With this approach, tourism can generate substantial economic benefits to an area, without creating any serious environmental or social problems.
Tourism's resources will be conserved for continuous use in the future.
There are numerous examples in the world where tourism has not been well planned and managed. These uncontrolled developments may have brought some short-term economic benefits. Over the longer term, however, they have resulted in environmental and social problems and poor quality tourist destinations. This has been detrimental to the area's residents, and tourist markets have been lost to better planned destinations elsewhere.
Many of these places are now undergoing redevelopment. It is obviously better to plan for controlled development initially, and prevent problems from arising in the first place.
Tourism planning is carried out at all levels of development - international, national, regional and for specific areas and sites. This publication introduces concepts of national and regional planning, and the basic approaches; techniques and principles applied to this level. It is designed to be complementary to the recent WTO publication, Sustainable Tourism
Development Guide for Local Planners. That guide covers the issues, approaches, techniques and principles for tourism planning at the local level of planning.
This national and regional tourism planning publication also complements two other~ recent WTO publications - An Integrated Approach to Resort
Development Six Case Studies and Guidelines: Development of National Parks and
Protected Areas for Tourism (published in cooperation with UNEP). As is emphasized in those documents, resorts and parks must be planned and developed within their national and regional contexts.
Chapter 1
The importance of planning
It is now recognized that tourism must be developed and managed in a controlled, integrated and sustainable manner, based on sound planning.
With this approach, tourism can generate substantial economic benefits to an area, without creating any serious environmental or social problems.
Tourism's resources will be conserved for continuous use in the future.
There are numerous examples in the world where tourism has not been well planned and managed. These uncontrolled developments may have brought some short-term economic benefits. Over the longer term, however, they have resulted in environmental and social problems and poor quality tourist destinations. This has been detrimental to the area's residents, and tourist markets have been lost to better planned destinations elsewhere.
Many of these places are now undergoing redevelopment. It is obviously better to plan for controlled development initially, and prevent problems from arising in the first place.
Tourism planning is carried out at all levels of development - international, national, regional and for specific areas and sites. This publication introduces concepts of national and regional planning, and the basic approaches; techniques and principles applied to this level. It is designed to be complementary to the recent WTO publication, Sustainable Tourism
Development Guide for Local Planners. That guide covers the issues, approaches, techniques and principles for tourism planning at the local level of planning.
This national and regional tourism planning publication also complements two other~ recent WTO publications - An Integrated Approach to Resort
Development Six Case Studies and Guidelines: Development of National Parks and
Protected Areas for Tourism (published in cooperation with UNEP). As is emphasized in those documents, resorts and parks must be planned and developed within their national and regional contexts.
Chapter 1
The importance of planning