Tourism Policy Analysis and Impact

This assignment delves into the analysis of tourism policies and their multifaceted impacts on destinations. It requires students to critically examine case studies of various policy implementations, assess their effectiveness in addressing challenges such as environmental sustainability, economic development, and community well-being. Furthermore, students are expected to propose strategies for enhancing the positive impacts of tourism while mitigating potential negative consequences.

Running head: Tourism Planning Environment 1
TOURISM PLANNING ENVIRONMENT
Student Name
Institution

Tourism Planning Environment 2
Table of Contents
1. Position statement..............................................................................................................................2
2. Background context.............................................................................................................................3
3. A Statement of Need...........................................................................................................................5
4. Scope of the proposed plan.................................................................................................................8
5. Proposed process..............................................................................................................................11
6. Conclusion.........................................................................................................................................13
7. References.........................................................................................................................................14

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National tourism planning-addressing the effects of Going, going ... gone?
1. Position statement
I work for Australia Department of Tourism which is a government institution task with
the management of tourism in Australia. The Australia Department of Tourism works at the
national level as a branch of the government of Australia in charge of tourism. The Australia
Department of Tourism is a government agency task with tourism management. The department
plays a major role in attracting tourist to Australia. The role the agency is to provide information
and current data on tourism and advertise the Australian tourism within the country and globally.
The value of the organization or agency is to build resilience and competitiveness Australia’s
tourism industry and increase its economic contribution to the Australian economy (Luce 2003).
The organization has both external and internal influence that shapes the operation of the
organization. The organization has goals such to achieving more than $115 billion budget in
overnight spend and maximum economic contribution of the tour to Australia (Australian Bureau
of Statistics, 2014). My plan seeks to address the effects of the reduction of flora and fauna that
are the main tourist attraction in Australia especially in Tasmania East Coast. According to
CSIRO, one of the megatrends is what it calls “Going, going ... gone?” and concerns continuous
depletion of the flora and fauna which is the main tourist attraction (Hughes, Daily & Ehrlich
2000, Pages 71–83).
2. Background context
Most of tourists that come to Australia are attracted to unique beautiful flora and fauna
found in the Tasmania East Coast region. Tourism is faced by several issues that include the

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depletion of natural resources that are the tourist attraction and need to be considered deeply. For
instance, thylacine an animal that used to live within Tasmania was exterminated in the region in
1936 (Boyce 2006, pp 102-129). Tourism, more so at the national level, requires to reviews flora
and fauna’s depletion rate issue since it points to detrimental level. Only 42% of this region is
currently under protection and there is need for more of these resource to be protected especially
near East Coast region (Fernando 2014, pp. 34-50).
Most of the visitors coming to Australia are attracted due to the natural resources within
the Tasmania East Coast (Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, 2017). Visitors that visited
Australia within the financial year that ended in June 2017 are estimated to be 8.5 million. This
number is estimated to be 8.9% increase from the previous year. Per Wattanacharoensil &
Schuckert (2016), the income that is plowed into the Australian economy is approximate $40.6
billion. The figure also represents 7% increase from the previous year (Dredge & Jenkins 2007, p
336).
Natural resource conservation is one of the areas within the tourism sector that play an
important role with a reasonable number of employees. Generally Australian tourism industry
employs around 1 million employees of which 929000 are employed either directly or indirectly
in the tourism sector of the Australian economy. The number of employees in tourism sector
represents 8% of all employees in Australian labor market. Of this number, 7% are employed in
conservation of flora and fauna. More than 2000 employees for instance are employed directly in
national parks on permanent basis alone (Australian Bureau of Statistics 2014). Some other huge
numbers of employees are indirectly employed in conservation and conservation research related
areas. The employees number still deficit with nearly 38000 vacancies remaining unfilled in the

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tourism sector. Four key issues remain a challenge in the tourism sector in Australia and this is
improving employee recruitment to get the best employees, enhancing regional workforce,
education gap identification, increasing work mobility (Dianne & Tazim 2015, pp. 285-297).
There are many drivers for natural resource conservation that cut across economic, socio-
cultural, technological, demographic, environmental and political. Socio-cultural drivers of
resource conservation and tourism are resources. Demographic drivers focus on the increasing
population that poses challenges in the existence of natural resources. Increasing population
exact more pressure on the available land hence reduces the land available for natural forest and
animal living within. Policies are the main political drivers for natural resource conservation
which may reduce depletion of the natural resource. The Australian government has develops
policies aiming at the conservation of plant and animals though much need to be done.
Environmental drivers that increase depletion of natural plants and animals include climatic
changes and natural disasters that reduce plants and animals (Christof 2006, Pages 87-108).
Reduction of natural resources is important as it touches the entire economy of Australia
though have the equally high impact of natural resources if felt in the tourism sector. Firstly, the
depletion is not only a national disaster but also global issue (Airey & Chong 2011). The rate at
which natural resources are going away is worrying and more effort is needed in order to curb
the reduction rate. Secondly, natural resources being a major tourist attraction to the Tasmania
East Coast, its reduction become a major problem for the economy since there is much wealth
that is tied to natural resources. Loosing tourist attraction means losing visitors and therefore
more than $40.8 million that comes from tourism sector is most likely to be affected. Thirdly,

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reduction of natural resources especially natural plant causes climatic changes that are also
dangerous for tourism sector (Beschta 2003, pp 1295–1309).
CSIRO has cited reduction of natural plants and animals as one of its megatrends with the
title of “Going, going ... gone?”(CSIRO, 2017) the rate at which plants and animals are depleted
is worrying that point to the development of policies with a clear plan on how to address this
megatrend. National parks are some of the major tourist attractions that harvest a huge amount of
money from tourist throughout the year. These parks purely bank on flora and fauna as a tourist
attraction and therefore reduction of these resources mean the destruction of tourist attraction.
There is the need for urgent development of policies and plan to safeguard the depletion of these
plants and animals. The flora and fauna form some of the basic features of country's resources
with the capability to attract many visitors. Yet per CSIRO, these resources are going away with
some areas already gone (Pløger 2001, pp 219–241).
3. A Statement of Need
Plant to protect and safeguard flora and fauna in Tasmania East Coast is needed to help
preserve resources for future and continuous anesthetic purpose. Natural resource protection plan
is needed to reduce the rate at which plants are going away due to depletion. Though there are
parks such as Freycinet under conservation, there are needs to increase more Tasmania
wilderness under conservation (Konar & Estes 2003, pp 174–185).
The government plays a critical role in the plan since the government should develop a
plan and implement the plan. Firstly, natural plant and animals’ protection plan need the
government funding and this forms the crucial aspect of plan implementation. The major source

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of funding for the plan is expected to come from the government through Tourism Australia
department. Tourism Australia pay reasonable amount of money to ensure that conservation is
maintained in all restricted areas (Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, 2017). Secondly,
political goodwill from the government in adoption and implementation of the plan sets the
ground for protection of these tourist attraction resources. It is worth noting that natural
resources that include natural plants and animals are under government protection and any plan
need approval from the government. The business community also plays an equally important
role in the protection of plants and animals since they form part of tourism value chain (Gajdošík
et al 2017, Vol.24).
Major stakeholders in this plan are tourism industries, the government, tourists,
community, and scientists. Most of the visitors who are attracted to these flora or fauna resources
come from hospitality industries. These industries include hotel industry, transport industries,
and tourism marketing industries that are directly or indirectly involved in the utilization of
natural resources (Newsome 2001, P.20–33). Secondly, the government is another stakeholder
that offers funding and all the resources that are needed to protect and conserve natural
resources. Moreover, the government helps in implementation of plans that aim at conserving
plants and animals including their environments. Thirdly, tourists are attracted by these plants
and animals and are therefore also stakeholders that play role in implementation of the plan.
Fourthly, the community is another stakeholder with the capability to help the government
protect plant and animals resource from destruction. Finally, conservationist or scientists form a
battery of experts that study and develop ways to conserve natural resource (Honnold et al, 2005,
pp 168-176).

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Key trends that influence depletion of plants and animals are climatic change, human
activities that put more pressure, natural disasters and political issues. Firstly, climatic change is
the number one threat to flora or fauna as the change in climatic condition is currently
characterized by drought. This is dangerous to the life of plants and animals as plants dry up
leaving bare grounds with limited animal’s habitat (Sainaghi & Baggio 2017, Vol.63). Secondly,
human activities such as industrialization and human encroachment are currently reducing the
forest to either residential or industrial area. Thirdly, natural disasters such as bushfires and
earthquakes are major devastating causes of plant and animal’s destruction that need to be
factored in the plan. Fourthly, political factors such as government policies have much influence
in the reduction of natural plants and animals (Albrecht 2015).
The challenges that remain paramount to development and adoption of natural resource
protection are finance, political will, lack of corporation form major stakeholders. Firstly,
financial resources form the basis of conservation and are needed more so at the implementation.
The tourism Australia being a government agency can source financial resources from the
government for the implementation of this policy or plan (Sanderson et al, 2007, pp. 810-813).
Secondly, in a government agency, one of the challenges is lack of political goodwill for the
implementation of the plan. For the agency to respond to this challenge the agency should look
for ways to pressure the government to accept the plan. Stakeholder’s cooperation is another
challenge as many stakeholders sometimes don’t cooperate with the project management
jeopardizing the whole problem. The Tourism department as an agency needs to bring together
all the stakeholders on board to understand the necessity and importance of protecting the
environment, plants and animals as the basic tourist attraction resources (Gillian 2011, p. 29).

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The government of Australia need to be involved in the plan since the agency involved is
a government agency. The plan or policy will form part of government policies that aim at
reducing natural resource depletion. Government is the main fund source that will help in the
implementation of the plan. In addition, the government through the tourism department should
raise the conservation policies as core strategy or development strategy (Yu, Li & He 2017).
The desirable effects, benefits, and outcomes of the plan have both long-term and short-
term effects. Short-term benefits of conserving natural plants and animals are based on the value
of natural plants and animals (Shone, Simmons & Dalziel 2016). Natural plants and animals are
the major tourist attraction that attracts visitors coming to Australia. On the long-term benefits of
the conservation include environmental benefits. Trees that form the better part of flora modifies
climates are the major water catchment. Natural plants are the source of manure that fertilizes the
soil hence maintaining the structure and health. Reducing depletion of natural plants and animals
has the effects of improving both the environment and climate. Therefore, the plan seeks to
address the continuous depletion of natural plants and animals that is one of the megatrends
listed by CSIRO (Howell et al, 2017, pp 662-670).
4. Scope of the proposed plan
The two major possible plan approaches are community involvement and massive conservation
of flora and fauna especially along Tasmania East Coast. Firstly, the first major approach community
involvement in resource conservation that aims at reducing any destruction of plants and animal habitat.
Communities are the critical stakeholders in plants conservation and need to be involved at every level
including at national level. Secondly, sustainability approach is another strategy that can assist the
government to initiate the sustainability in natural resource management and conservation. The

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sustainability approach makes use of proper utilization these natural resources without depletion. Thirdly,
areas restriction approach restricts areas still under natural forests or animal so as to protect these
resources from destruction and depletion. Areas that are still under natural resources especially within
Bichero and St Helens that have not been conserved or protected need to be the restriction (Lynn,
Scarles, & Tribe 2016, pp. 97-110).
There are some instruments that need to put in place to ensure that the plan is successful. Some of
these instruments that need to be used and these include legislation and manpower. Firstly, the
government needs to put in place laws that restrict certain areas for conservation of within East Coast.
Various areas that are restricted need to be covered in-laws so that it allows the conservationists enforce
the restriction. Secondly, manpower is other instruments that are put in place to spearhead the campaigns
for conservation of these plants and animals. There are several human resources that are used in drive the
campaign for both community and conservationists (Fernando 2014, pp. 34-50).
Several instruments could be used more effectively in driving the conservation plan. Firstly,
financial or money resources are used to drive conservation and conservation campaigns. Advocacy is
another instrument that plays an important role in conservation to reduce depletion of plants and animals.
Government action can be used effectively in enforcing restriction in natural resources. The government
actions also are important in the mobilization of resources that are used in conservation. Laws are some
other instrument that if it used effectively, laws are used to enforce conservation (Dredge & Jenkins
2007, p 336).
Advantages of the conservation plan are sustainability, environmental benefits, and monetary
values. Firstly, sustainability advantages ensure that while using natural resources there is continuous uses
and reduced depletion. Sustainability ensures there is reduced depletion of natural resources to ensure that
natural resources remain to continue giving service. Secondly, another advantage of the natural resources

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is environmental benefits that include climatic modification and soil protection. Thirdly, the plan works to
safeguard tourist attraction resource that attracted to Tasmania East Coast. Monetary value is another
advantage of conserving the environment. Some natural resources are exploited for monetary value since
natural resources are used for various industrial uses (Soul&eacute, Estes, Berger & Martinez 2003,
pp 1238–1250).
Disadvantages of the policy include changes of ownership of lands that are under natural
resources. Adopting conservation policy will ensure natural resources areas that are under conservation or
restricted areas has enforced ownership as the government assumed ownership of those areas. Secondly,
being a national level policy, there is several resources that are used in the implementation of the policy.
Various instruments are needed to implement the policy and this considers many different resources
(Hristov & Ramkissoon 2016, Vol.61).
The plan or policy can provide the direction that is needed for reducing the loss of natural
resources. Firstly, the policy sets the ground for various conservation strategies that were not in
place. Though there are various areas that are under conservation and this includes Freycinet
National Parks and are used protect plants and animals. The policy sets the ground for more
areas that are yet to be identified since CSIRO gives details of different challenges that still
remain without restriction. In addition, the policy gives the direction that is needed mobilize
resources that are used in the conservation of these areas (Shone, Simmons & Dalziel 2016).
5. Proposed process
The planning process is a complex stage of the policy development that takes into
considerations many this in place. The policy planning process takes three different stages and
these are development, implementation, and evaluation process. Firstly, the plan begins with the

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development of framework putting in place are the necessary resources and instruments. At the
development of the plan, various policy aspects are put in place (Airey & Chong 2010, pp295-
314). Secondly, implementation of the policy considers instruments that are needed such as
financial resources, human resource, and laws. For instance, at the implementation stage, laws
will be enforced in restricted areas and conservation campaigns will also be launched. Thirdly,
the evaluation requires all players and stakeholders to give the necessary feedback on the success
or challenges that are encountered in implementing the policy (Schmitz, Post, Burns & Johnston
2003, PP 1199–1205).
The policy will be done in three phases that can follow each other in a consecutive
manner and these are research, analysis, and consultations. Firstly, the project team conducts
research to identify areas that need conservation and the urgency that need to consider while
implementing the development plan. Secondly, after analysis of the areas that need to be
conserved, data are analyzed with the aim of identification of gaps, resources needed and all the
instruments that are needed to implement the policy. Consultation stage considers all the experts
and all the stakeholders that will play role in implementation of the policy. This also gives the
necessary measures that will be taken into consideration while implementing the plan (Oksanen
& Oksanen 2000, pp 240–261).
There are many different stakeholders that will be consulted when implementing the
policy. Some of these stakeholders are experts, government offices and the community in
general. Firstly, conservation experts and various scientists will give enough information on the
applicability of the plan. The strategic expert also will assist in evaluating the feasibility of the
plan and the financial implications of implementing the project (Sanderson et al, 2007, pp. 810-

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813). Secondly, the government officers and offices that are from tourism, conservation, and
treasury will be consulted on the implementation and financial resources required. Finally, the
community will be involved in the implementation of the plan are part of the policy since some
lands that are used by the community will be under restriction to ensure there is more land under
protection as compared to the current conserved areas. Moreover, when launching sustainability
conservation of the resource, the community will be the immediate environment to implement
the project (Laliberte & Ripple 2004, pp 123–138).
The implementation of the policy takes three different phases and these are an
advertisement of areas, launching of policy campaigns, enforcement of policy and evaluating the
policy. The government officially advertises restricted areas that will be covered under the new
conservation policy and this is meant to make citizens that are living in these areas to move away
from these areas. After giving residents of the restricted areas time to evacuate the areas there is
actual launch of the conservation campaigns to ensure that community is involved in
conservation as part of the strategy. The law enforcement, therefore, commences protecting the
areas so as to protect the area against any destruction. Finally, the evaluation process takes into
accounts those visitors that come to these places and the size of the area under conservation also
will be evaluated (Hristov & Ramkissoon 2016, Vol.61).
The policy will be reviewed based on the financial resource used, areas under
conservation and challenges faced in implementation. Financial resources audit will assist the
policy team to review a number of resources used in the policy. The financial records that are
used in the implementation of the policy give direct data on the success or failure of the plan.
The area under conservation is another way to review the policy as the policy has to meet the

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maximum set target for implementers. Another way to review the policy includes evaluating the
challenges that affected the implantation and this will include hostility encountered while
enforcing the policy in restricted areas. Lastly, the number of visitors that come to the area to
view the conserved plants and animals is another way to review the whole system (Dela &
Saporsantos 2016).
The success of the policy is determined by the output realized from the project and input
resources used in the policy development and implantation (Edgell 2008). The positive feedback
from both conserved area and tourism industry are some of the ways to determine the success of
the policy. In addition, the number of visitors coming to the areas and the amount of land that is
under restriction gives the success of the policy. Finally, the comparison between the resources
used in development and implementation of the policy including maintaining the area compared
alongside the amount of money received from visitors determines the success of the policy
(Soul&eacute, Estes, Berger & Martinez 2003, pp 1238–1250).
6. Conclusion
In conclusion, Tourism Australia gives six megatrends that are related tourism in
Australia and globally. These megatrends affect the tourism at the national level that needs
policy development to address this megatrend. Going, going ... gone? Is a major trend that is
concerned with continuous depletion of natural plants and animals. There is the need for policy
or plan that will increase the number of areas under conservation to protect most natural plants
and animals. As per statistics there is need to increase natural resources within Tasmania East
Coast under conservation since these are a tourist attraction.

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