Chapter XI

Tourism Planning and Development

The higher disposable incomes greatly enhanced personal mobility and increased leisure time
leads to an increase in people travelling away from their home and this creates a demand for
the facilities available for recreation. This demand in turn generates a pressure on the land and
the amenities, as well as the social structure of the communities. Therefore it becomes
important to plan and develop the leisure facilities for tourism. Fifty years back the tourism
growth in lots of countries was an unplanned activity and as a result, to meet the demands there
was a sudden and haphazard boost in the facilities like hotels, means of transportation, etc. at
some of the popular holiday resorts to satisfy the profit instincts of the promoters. For
example in Thailand, at a beach resort called Pattaya about 150 kilometres from Bangkok
over three decades from 1970 , the number of hotel rooms expanded from 400 to 24000 and
consequently the occupancy of hotels was not even 50 percent a year. Concentration of
development in one place and over a short period of time has
many serious negative impacts like loss of trees; loss of natural features like landscape,
environment; congestion, pollution, a large number of people are going to the same spot at the
same time and this kind of commercialization leads to overcrowding and the original ambience
of the place is lost. The place loses its charm for the people and this leads to a drop in the
tourism activities. To avoid such situations it becomes really important to properly plan for the
tourism development based on the scientific research of the requirements of the travel market
and the capacity of the area to take in the tourists.
Like any other form of development, tourism development is concerned with the economic
benefits for individual enterprises, related communities and the country. Tourism development
generates wealth, creates employment , leads to community development, development of arts
and crafts of a place , conservation of historical and natural sites, etc. but we cannot ignore
some of its negatives like extensive social and environmental damage. Thus it becomes
imperative to plan for tourism development so as to maximize the positive benefits while
minimizing negative impacts in a sustainable manner. In the past, tourism planning was viewed
in a very simplistic manner .It took into consideration:

a. Development of new hotels resorts

b. Bringing about an increase in the connecting means of transport, for example, allow more
airlines to operate
c. Launching promotional campaigns within the country and abroadEasing the border crossing
formalities

But now in light of the negative impact of haphazard development that came up just to meet
the demand, the government now realizes that the planning of tourism development should be
based on scientific research of the requirements of the travel market and the capacity of the
area to take in the tourists.
Tourism development requires an in-depth study of resources or the supply and the demand
patterns. Two main components that are the sources of demand for tourism in any country may
be identified as:
1. The residents (the home market)
2. The visitors from abroad (the export market)
This classification provides a basis for the assessment of demand and each group follows a
particular pattern of demand. For example in India the residents in summers like to go to places
like Shimla, Mussorie which are cooler but a visitor from abroad might still want to go and see
Taj Mahal or visit Goa for tanning, so there is a difference in the demand at a particular time
from the different sections of tourists. The demand helps us in planning for the areas of
interest.
The pattern of traffic has to be kept in mind while planning specially at the supply side because
it is not flexible, for example hotels cannot be built in a day even if you feel there is an
increase in demand. Similarly development of airports also takes time. For successful tourism
planning the current and the future supply has to be correlated to the current and the future
demand. Some of the important factors influencing Tourism Development in an area are
planning and development of resources.
Tourism can take several forms. A single trip may require one or more forms of transport on
the way, a stay might involve one or different types of accommodation in one or more
locations. A tourist engages in active and passive forms of recreation, sightseeing, meetings,
conferences and such other things, all this involves the use of a variety of facilities and
services, available more or less specifically for his use and enjoyment.
The inflow of tourists to any particular area makes use of the resources of different kinds. The
beaches, the islands, the hills, etc. together with the climate constitute the natural resources for
tourist experience, these resources exist irrespective of demands of tourism but their
availability and characteristics by a greater or a lesser extent get affected by tourism. The other
resources are the ones that have to be developed; it refers to various forms of physical
development, which will make any area accessible to tourists, as also to particular installations
or facilities required by the existing tourists in that area.
The Infrastructure
The Superstructure
The infrastructure includes all forms of construction on and below ground required by any
inhabited area in intensive communication with the outside world and as a basis of intensive
human activity within. It includes roads, railway lines, harbours, airport runways and also the
utility services like the water supply, drainage and sewage disposal, electricity and power
supply. The superstructure consists of passenger traffic terminals, hotels, restaurants,
entertainment, shopping facilities and so on.
The Infrastructure has to precede the superstructure and has to be adequate to serve the needs
of the residents as well as the tourists. If not well developed it will affect the tourism, as for
example if the access roads to a particular destination are not good or at a destination there is
no good source of water supply these factors will hamper the tourism growth for the particular
destination.
This calls for physical planning and development we can classify the areas that need to be
developed on the basis of demand, into the following two heads:
1. The new areas with potential, but little or no existing tourist activity and with most land and
other resources uncommitted to the existing uses.
2. Re-shaping of the areas with significant tourist flows already, with existing patterns of the
land use and facilities. For this the following considerations have to be kept in mind
1. The need to assess demand
a. Potential demand for new locations and the facilities
b. Actual demand for the existing locations and to assess how it will change if there is a
change in the existing facilities.
2. The need for assessment of the required resources of land, capital and labour for any
proposed development and of their alternative uses. The land can be alternatively used for
agriculture, industry or residential development or for tourism. Similarly the capital may
compete with its potential use in some other business (if provided from private source) or it
can be used for building a school or a hospital (if provided from
public funds). If alternative sources of employment are available in the area, the quantity and
quality of labour available for tourism has to be

APPROACHES TO TOURISM DEVELOPMENT

1. The Economic Approach
This approach is concerned with seeing the effects of tourism on the economy of the country.
From the beginning of the study of tourism development, the effects of tourism were analysed
based on the economic aspects. The majority opinion is that tourism can make a positive
contribution to the economic development of a region but the economic effect is variable as it
depends on the stage of development and the
structure of the respective national economy, as well as the growth rate and the type and form
of tourism.
The important economic effects are:

a) Foreign Currency Effect

Tourism is one of the main sources for earning foreign currency but from the point of view of
seeing its effect on the economy it is important to see what the net foreign currency receipt is.
For this, the imports of investment and consumer goods required by tourists have to be
deducted from the countrys gross receipts from foreign
tourism.
b) Income Effect
This refers to the direct income earned resulting from the expenditure made by the tourists and
also the indirect income which results from the multiplier effect. That is, when the first
recipient spends a part of his income again, for example the holiday
resort owner spends part of his earnings on buying grocery for his self consumption; here
income earned by one is generating income for some other also.
c) Employment Effect
Tourism is a very labour intensive industry, it creates jobs both direct and indirect like jobs in
the airline industry or tbeverages are the sources of indirect employment.
Studies show that the employment effect is much higher in the developing countries
d) Regional Equalization Effect
Tourism can make a positive contribution to the development of economically poor regions
which do not have any significant source of income generation and thus contribute to the
economic development. Tourism thus brings in more income and
employment in these regions and hence it has an equalization effect.
There are different opinions regarding all these effects but the important risk of tourism is the
fact that it is seasonal, and also the social inferiority of tourism occupation.
What is really important is that the positive economic effects
should outweigh the negative ones.
2. The Environmental Approach
This approach suggests that for the development of tourism it is important to study what role
environment plays and what aspects of environment are to be taken into consideration while
developing tourism of any country. One of the major draws for a tourist to a place is its scenic
attraction, the landscape, the beauty, the structure. These are also the most important factors
for tourist motivation. When a tourist goes for a holiday he is looking for a change of
environment or a contrast experience.
But the landscape loses its tourist value through its overuse by the tourists .The natural beauty
can be preserved better if there is no tourism and unplanned tourism can have serious negative
impacts on the environment, for example building up of hotels or resorts with no planning will
lead to destruction of the landscape. The landscape is the real raw material of tourism. In any
other branch of the economy if capital put in is lost it can be multiplied again. However, once
the basic raw material of tourism the land is lost it can never be reclaimed. So while planning
for the development it becomes very important to understand the impact of tourism growth on
the environment and to ensure that it doesnt get adversely affected.
3. The Socio-Cultural Approach
This approach studies the social effects of tourism on the population, which receives the
tourists. Tourists behaviour and attitude at times can create mistrust, resignation and
aggressive dissatisfaction in the native population. While planning for the development of
tourism the local populations interest should be considered and they should be allowed a
representation in the task of decision-making.
4. The Cost-Benefit Approachhe hotels areThis approach suggests that when we are planning
for the development of tourism we have to take into account the Costs (disadvantages) and the
Benefits (advantages) accruing out of the various tasks undertaken for the tourism
development.
The idea here is to provide the different bodies like public authorities at local, regional and
national levels, and also the transport organisations mainly in the private sector involved in the
decision making with a method that they can use to rationalize their decisions and tourist
policy measures such as investments, legislative enactments, and publicity campaigns and so
on.
Two Fundamental Rules of Cost-Benefit approach a) The need for clearly defined , feasible
goals It is important to clearly lay out the goals that are desired to be achieved through tourism
development to be able to calculate costs and benefits. The goals provide the criteria for
evaluating the costs and benefits of a particular action .The goals have to contain clear
instructions on the actions required to achieve them.
b) The need to consider alternative courses of action This implies that the decision-maker just
does not adopt the first measure that appeals to him without considering other possibilities that
may offer greater chances of success. To take a rational decision
there should exist a choice between alternative courses of action. The costs and benefits of
various alternatives have to be compared and the best should be selected.