Strategic Planning for Tourism in Broadstairs: Benefits, Significance, and Strategies

This report discusses the benefits and significance of strategic planning for tourism in Broadstairs, a coastal town in England. It explores the importance of producing a tourism strategic plan for the coastal area and the significance of collaborative planning in tourism. The report also presents the vision, objectives, issues, and challenges faced by Broadstairs in its tourism operations, along with strategies to address these challenges and attract more tourists.

STRATEGIC PLANNING

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY..................................................................................................................................3
Part 1................................................................................................................................................3
Benefits of producing tourism strategic plan for the coastal area...............................................3
Significance of Collaborative planning in tourism......................................................................5
PART 2............................................................................................................................................8
Tourism Strategy.........................................................................................................................8
Methods to Achieve Vision and Objectives of Tourism Strategy and its Key Stakeholders....10
Benefits of the Tourism Strategy...............................................................................................12
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................13
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................15

INTRODUCTION
Strategic planning can be defined as the management activity that is applied to set vision
and mission of the company as result gets direction to promote business in the business market. it
is important for the organization because it gives a sense of direction and aligns all measurable
goals. It is effective tool that is crucial for directing day to day decision on allocating resources
to follow the strategy as result becomes easy to achieve goal. Strategic planning can also be
applied to tourism operations with the intention to increase the popularity and promote the
tourism destination amongst the numerous tourists of the world (Altman, 2018). Strategically
planned tourism strategies can help tourist destinations increase their overall productivity and
profitability in the tourism markets by attracting larger amounts of tourists towards the
destination.
This report studies the significance of strategic tourism plan for a coastal area known as
Broadstairs. Broadstairs is a coastal town that is located on the Isle of Thanet in East Kent,
England. The town is located 130kms away from London and has a population of about 25000
individuals. Broadstairs is also known as the “Jewel in Thanet’s Crown” owing to its coastal
premises and seaside resorts. Broadstairs’s coat of arms includes the Latin motto “Stella Maris”
which translated to English means Star of the Sea, which is a fitting name for such a beautiful
and scenic place that is Broadstairs. Broadstairs coastal town is located right between Margate
and Ramsgate with the town being situated in the Thanet district of Kent, England.
MAIN BODY
Part 1
Benefits of producing tourism strategic plan for the coastal area
Tourism planning can be defined as the process of identifying needs of people planning
in a trip and uses those factors as resources, programs and activities for the destination or trip.
While tourism strategic planning is the process of determining destination place and influences
people towards the place by providing good experience and resources. Strategic planning of

tourism makes destination successful long-term sustainable activity. It leads stakeholder
engagement in the tourism planning (Brown and et.al., 2018). The planning for the destination is
also known as Destination Management plans. There are various regions which is differentiated
to each other due to the tourism around the world. As know tourism is the major factor for
influencing economical scale as import and exports goods and services to the people in return
generates foreign exchange earnings and improves the economy of country. Apart from this,
tourism strategic planning is essential for the visitor satisfaction and protects basic cultural and
natural resources.
Benefits of tourism strategic planning
The main goal of the tourism strategic planning is to create plans of action for the future and
implement them successfully in the coastal area. Most of the tourism industries uses this strategy
to develop tourism plan for a coastal area so they can give advantage to the tourist by the
available resource. Tourism sector sets goals and objectives so they can meet individual
objectives more effectively and efficiently. To producing successful tourism strategic planning
needs good management who can measure all levels effectively and optimize benefits of tourism
and elevates risk that may occur or take place. In addition, good strategic planning supports to
decline negative impact and alleviates economic returns to the specified area. It provides
important guidelines for the development of destination place. There is an example of Sandbank
that is destination place which is famous as a coastal area that is established Dorset, England. It
is popular for its high property prices and for its beaches as well. It comes in 4th position in the
world due to highest land value. It has attributed with sea, sand and sun or 3S. This combination
makes sandbank an attractive destination for the customer (Cassidy, 2016).
Tourism strategic planning is applied for the sandbank that supports to gain sustainable
development of the areas. It supports to lead tourist satisfaction as well as protects resources.
Evaluation of position of coastal area
The tourism strategic planning for the coastal area supports to evaluate position of the
coastal area because it is essential for the tourist. They like to visit only that place which has
good adventurist place and peacefulness and others. while producing tourism strategic planning
can consider this factor as well which supports to understand tourist’s perspective for the place.

Sandbank is highly famous coastal area around the world that is positive point for the economic
development. Tourism sector creates strategic plan based on the sandbank that leads success in
the success. the reason behind is that it is beautiful place and established in the Dorset which is
also known as beauty hub because it expands in large area.
Goal oriented
Tourism strategic planning supports to identify tourism’s role in accomplishing broad
national as well as community goals. When produce tourism strategic planning requires
involvement of the stakeholders i.e. employees, management and others so they can keep their
viewpoint regarding tourism decision (Elbanna, Andrews and Pollanen, 2016). Based on the
reviews easy to set goals for the coastal area. As same plan is organized for the sandbank where
enlist number of resources, guiders and others. The main goal of the tourism planning is to
improve tourism trip experience and in return generates high revenue from them. It helps to lead
economical benefits in the country.
Formulation of tourism policy leads natural protection
It helps to formulates policies for the visitors and ensures them they get everything
whatever written in the tourism policy as result builds good relationship between tourism
industry and tourist. Tourism strategic planning provides understanding about factors i.e. tourist,
resource, accommodation, economic and others. On the basis of factors produces tourism policy
so that tourism sector can meet each tourist objectives and helps to comply with governmental
policies as well. Sandbank is good coastal area but has some risk place as well so, tourism sector
formulates tourism policy i.e. health insurance policy, accommodation and others. These tourism
policies also support to protect nature from misuse (Nickols, 2016).
These are the major benefits of producing tourism strategic planning which has been benefited
by sandbank.
Significance of Collaborative planning in tourism
Collaborative planning is a type of communicative approach that is applied for urban planning
and helps to proactively achieve the development and growth-related tourist destination. The
planning supports stakeholder to develop an opportunity for enhancing profit margin as well as

influences the development of tourism. Tourism sector uses collaborative planning strategy in
the unique form of strategic alliance. It permits large number of stakeholders to keep their views
and implements innovative strategies to attract tourist and leads sustainable profit in the business
prolong time. It beneficial opportunities for the community who are highly interested in
combining tourism in the environment, economic and social endeavour (Papke-Shields and
Boyer-Wright, 2017). Broadstairs is established on east Kent Coast which is located between
Margate and Ramsgate. It is a coastal area that has seven beautiful sandy basses, pretty parts
along with characterful high street. This planning leads high advantage for the town such as it
helps to gain competitive advantage from the competitor. In addition, local people of the
Broadstairs are aware of the cultural issues, resources availability and engagement ideas etc.
information leads development of the tourism prospects. Collaborative planning for the
Broadstairs helps tourism to create networking and facilitating the tourist requirements i.e.
transportation, food, rented house, guide or information centre etc. overall it can be interpreted
that the planning for the Broadstairs needs an opportunity for integrating the local authorize i.e.
local people and others and tourism authorities i.e. government agencies or companies.
Pros of collaborative tourism planning
Collaborative tourism planning has numerous benefits that are described as follows:
Sustained development
The collaborative planning approach supports to reduce expenditure requirements for the
tourism development. It provides strategic designing for the resource utilization, clarify
objectives and implements market requirements so that easy to achieve all the objective of the
customer. In addition, it seeks for customary requirement’s that can lead sustainability in the
collaborative planning and gains competitive advantage from the competitor. It leads high
engagement of the stakeholder who can lead varieties of ideas as result can perceived
sustainability.
Democracy

The planning leads collaboration of stakeholders that supports business to determine
legitimacy factors which can reduce tourist experience in the destination visiting. So, community
members also get opportunity to give high contribution in the sustainability.
Effective solution
It is another benefit of the collaborating planning whereas few potential stakeholders give
involvement and gives cost-effective solution. Destination management uses the approach to
give value each tourist by improving their trip experience ad in return generate high revenue. In
the planning uses local resources i.e. local people and knowledge of cultural resource which
attracts customers towards destination. it includes three type approaches i.e. decision-making
approach, informed-decision approach and evidence-based approach etc. supports to lead
sustainable growth in the coastal area (Wolf and Floyd, 2017).
Cons of collaborative tourism planning
Determining legitimacy
It is crucial to determine legitimacy of the potential stakeholder i.e. destination
management and others who involve in the planning process. Its aware management about the
major issues i.e. serious conflicts, inefficient resources availability that can act as barriers. Due to
the barrier can be failed to comply with customary requirement. While planning for the coastal
area enlists all the factors so that it can overcome in minimum time.
Political issues
The opportunity of the collaborative planning can also get negative impact by political,
cultural and structural issues as result can get economical loss in the business. Government
promotes tourism industry so that can generate high revenue of the country. To keep tourist safe
is another responsibility of the government so they have imposed some tourism policy. The
tourism policy updates on tie by the government. so, it is essential for the tourism industry to
comply with all tourism policies which helps to sustain business in the tourism industry.
These are major pros and cons of the collaborative planning in the tourism sector so Broadstairs
can plan collaborative planning effectively and easy to decline negative impact of the planning.

PART 2
Tourism Strategy
Vision: The vision of the tourism strategy for Broadstairs is to see Broadstairs become one of the
most popular tourist destinations in all of Europe in the future and significantly increase the town
productivity and profitability through tourism.
Objectives: The objective of the tourism strategy of Broadstairs is to attract as many tourists as
possible to the coastal tourist destination of Broadstairs by marketing the tourism destination
effectively amongst both local and global tourists, while addressing the current issues that are
related to tourism in Broadstairs that hamper the attractiveness of Broadstairs amongst the top
tourist destinations of Europe.
Issues and Challenges: There are several issues and challenges in relation to tourism in
Broadstairs, that end up decreasing its popularity amongst tourists, resulting in decreased
productivity and profitability of Broadstairs’s tourism operations (Liu and Chou, 2016). As
Broadstairs is a small but immensely scenic and beautiful coastal town, much of its income
comes directly off of its tourism operations, but there are also some major issues that hamper its
tourism operations. One of the biggest issues and challenges that hinders the tourism operations
of Broadstairs is that of the low investment into the general infrastructure of the town by its
governing authorities. This is a major issue for tourism in Broadstairs, as tourists are essentially
required to make use of the infrastructure available in the coastal town, and when they judge the
infrastructural capabilities of Broadstairs to be below industry standards when compared to other
tourism destination, they end up having a negative tourism experience as tourists have to heavily
rely on the town’s infrastructure for their operations. Lack of public funds available to be
invested into the town’s infrastructural development also adds to and exacerbates the tourism
challenge.
Another challenge that tourism in Broadstairs faces is the intense competition it faces
from other European destinations, many of which offer similar kinds of scenic and beautiful
tourism places to the tourists for visiting, but with the addition of greater infrastructure and more
capable tourism strengthening businesses such as various choices of hotels, restaurants,
travelling options etc., the likes of which Broadstairs does not possess yet.

Another issue that plagues the tourism operation of tourists in Broadstairs is that of the
pollution in its beaches and water bodies which has occurred due to the ignorance and negligence
of the governing authorities of Broadstairs (Albrecht, 2017). This is also a major issue as tourists
who actually are attracted to the beautiful coastal town of Broadstairs and come to tour the
destination end up having a negative tourism experience when they see first-hand the water and
plastic pollution that has become rampant in the coastal town and its scenic beaches.
Strategies: There are several strategies that can be undertaken to address these issues and
challenges that plague and hinder the tourism operations of Broadstairs so that tourism
businesses and industry of Broadstairs can flourish attracting greater number of tourists from
both local areas and all around the world for increased productivity and profitability of the
tourism industry of Broadstairs. The infrastructure of Broadstairs can only be developed with the
help and investment from its governing authorities who need to be made to understand the
immense benefits a flourishing tourism industry can have on the income, productivity and
employment generation capabilities of Broadstairs (Croft, 2018). Investment into infrastructure
of Broadstairs will definitely result in increased popularity of Broadstairs amongst the top tourist
destinations of Europe.
Broadstairs can address the issue faced due to intense competition from other tourism
destinations of Europe by focusing on its own strengths which include its own history and
heritage which are not present in any of its tourism competitors. Broadstairs has a vibrant history
and heritage which has also been visited by various popular and powerful figures over the years
such as Charles Dickens, Queen Victoria, Oliver Postgate etc., which should also add to its
charm and should be showcased to the tourists to increase their interests in Broadstairs as a
tourist destination unlike any other.
The issue of pollution in Broadstairs also can only be solved with the help of its
governing authorities and local population. The governing authorities of Broadstairs should
create stringent laws to punish locals and tourists that encourage practices which result in
pollution in Broadstairs (Schnitzer, Schlemmer and Kristiansen, 2017). The local people in
addition to the governing authorities can start to curb the damage caused by pollution and clean
the scenic environments of Broadstairs which would also result in increased popularity of

Broadstairs as a tourist destination and attract a greater number of tourists to Broadstairs,
resulting in flourishment of its tourism businesses and industry.
Methods to Achieve Vision and Objectives of Tourism Strategy and its Key Stakeholders
In order to achieve the vision and objectives of the tourism strategy of Broadstairs, it
must make efficient and effective use of traditional and digital channels of marketing to promote
and attract the various tourist places and attractions that Broadstairs possesses to the local and
global tourists. This would allow for the local and global tourists to become aware of the
immensely beautiful sceneries that Broadstairs possesses and make them interested to visit
Broadstairs, resulting in the bloom and growth of the tourism businesses and industry of
Broadstairs. The tourism marketing efforts of Broadstairs must include its beautiful sceneries,
historical and heritage places and celebratory festivals such as:
Bleak House Broadstairs: Bleak House previously known as Fort House is a prominent and
popular tourist and heritage site in Broadstairs that is situated on a cliff and overlooks the Viking
Bay and North Foreland of Broadstairs, Kent. The house was built in 1801, and has housed many
historically significant celebrities such as Mr. Charles Dickens who wrote his famous novel
David Copperfield at Bleak House Broadstairs in 1850-1860. This tourist attraction is also a
heritage site of Broadstairs, which is listen on the National Heritage list for England.
Crampton Tower Museum: This popular tourist place showcases to the public various works of
Broadstairs history, its heritage, transport and works of Victorian engineers, all of which are
immensely interesting and satisfying for tourists visiting Broadstairs (Oulton, 2017). The main
features of the museum include engineering and historical artefacts of Thomas Crampton and
other Victorian engineers, Broadstairs gallery housing historical and heritage paintings and
miniature railways for children to ride and enjoy.
Dumpton Gap: This is a popular tourist destination that was awarded the Seaside Award 2019,
for the most beautiful seaside beach. The beach and its sandy bay stretches for close to 150
meters and provides to tourists a wide promenade, which ends up winding around the coast line
of Dumpton Gap all the way to Louisa Bay. This is one of the world’s best low tide beaches to
walk and enjoy but gets completely submerged in high tide, adding to its allure and popularity

amongst tourists. It is an immensely popular tourist destination based on the pristine and
beautiful sights it provides, nearby restaurants and cafes in addition to beach huts etc.
Botany Bay: This is an immensely famous and popular bay which has been recorded and
photographed in various movies and documentaries of nature. The bay provides beautiful,
stunning and pristine views of white cliffs in addition to chalk stacks (Kocurek, 2019). The bay
is amongst the northernmost of the seven bays housed by Broadstairs and is an extremely
popular tourist destination as it features swimming, kayaking, surfing options for the tourists,
with lifeguards always on duty to ensure the safety of tourists at all times.
Dickens House Museum: This museum is also another popular tourist site frequently visited by
numerous tourists and fans of Mr. Charles Dickens. This house become the inspiration for Mr.
Dickens when creating the home of Betsey Trotwood in his immensely popular novel Dacid
Copperfield. The museum now various artefacts of Dickens and his novel’s memorabilia that
appeal to both his fans and tourists alike.
Broadstairs Food Festival: This is a celebratory festival that occurs for 3 entire days in
Broadstairs during the period of October. This festival also attracts thousands of tourists to visit
Broadstairs as it provides them with huge variety of food cuisines, delicacies and products in
addition to music played by various bands that add to the festive atmosphere during the 3 days of
the festival.
Folk Week: The Folk week is a celebratory festival that has been going on in Broadstairs since
1965. The festival lasts for an entire week and ends up attracting over thousands of local and
global tourists from around the globe for its 7 day operations. The folk week places huge
emphasis on the history and heritage of Broadstairs and the Thanet region in addition to
entertainment of tourists through skits, dance, music and food (Wales, 2017). Several known
music and dance performers across the Europe come to this festival to perform which adds to the
attraction of tourists coming to the Folk Festival of Broadstairs. In addition, artists that specialise
in folk songs and dace also visit the festival. Tourists staying for more than one day of the 7 day
festival have the chance to experience outdoor camping which provide great services to the
tourists, which they might not have experienced anywhere prior to visiting the Folk Festival.

Broadstairs Water Gala: This is also another annual celebratory festival that has been taking
place since 1930s in Broadstairs, attracting thousands of tourists locally and globally. In addition
to the numerous water sports, musical performances and food cuisines available during the
festival to tourists, they can also look forward to traditional skits such as the King Neptune rising
from the seas of Atlantis in a dramatic and symbolic manner. Another major entertainment
during this festival is the battle between the Sweeps and Millers where they both hark back to the
days of halcyon period and chuck soot and flour at each other on rowboats. The gala finishes
with a beautiful fireworks show at the evening, putting an end to an immensely fun day for the
tourists.
The stakeholders that are in charge of delivering the objectives of the tourism strategy of
Broadstairs. These include the local municipal authorities of Broadstairs, state government,
Broadstairs’s Town Council, local people of Broadstairs, Broadstairs Tourism and Legislation
Association, various businesses that operate within the functions of tourism industry in
Broadstairs and the tourists who come to visit Broadstairs (Cooke, 2016).
Benefits of the Tourism Strategy
When the tourism strategy is implemented into action in Broadstairs, it will provide
several benefits to the tourists and residents of Broadstairs both economically and socially. As
the objective of the tourism strategy is to attract large number of tourists to Broadstairs, it would
result in flourishing and growth of the tourism industry and businesses associated with it, which
would add immensely to the town’s overall income. The increased number of tourists would
have to rely heavily upon the associating businesses, transportation and infrastructure of
Broadstairs, for which they would have to pay the relevant authorities to make use of, further
adding to the income of the coastal town. Having a flourishing tourism industry in Broadstairs
would also make other businesses choose to open their operations in Broadstairs to service these
tourists more effectively, which would add to the development and growth of the town, which is
immensely beneficial to both residents of Broadstairs and its tourists towards economic and
social growth.
As different business organisations choose to open their business operations in
Broadstairs to service the increased number of Broadstairs’s tourists, it would also lead to an
effective increase in the employment generation and employment opportunities for the residents

of Broadstairs, to make a living while working within the tourism industry of Broadstairs. This
would also have an immensely positive impact on the economic and social growth of the
residents of Broadstairs, as they would effectively have increased choices for their employment
prospects, decreasing the unemployment rate of Broadstairs (Shinohara, 2018). Increased
number of tourists in Broadstairs would also result in increased productivity and profitability of
both the Broadstairs town and the business operating within, as they would now be able to
service both local and international tourists who would be in possession of foreign exchange,
further adding to the economic profitability of residents of Broadstairs and the businesses
operating within its tourism industries.
Further having an increased number of tourists consistently come to visit the tourist
destination of Broadstairs, would result in the social development of its residents and population,
as they will interact on a regular basis with people from all walks of life, from different nations,
cultures, religions, races and backgrounds, making them more tolerant and inclusive of people
different than them.
Increased number of tourists visiting the location of Broadstairs would result in increased
profitability of the coastal town. These profits can then be used to invest into the average
infrastructure of Broadstairs, with the intention to develop the coastal town of Broadstairs’s
existing infrastructure to modern standards (Tribe, 2016). Not only would this further increase
the popularity of Broadstairs amongst local and global tourists, it would also immensely benefit
the operations of both tourists of Broadstairs and its local residents, both of which can make
effective use of the infrastructure for their respective operations.
CONCLUSION
Based on the findings of the report, it can be concluded that a strategic tourism plan for
the tourism operations of destination Broadstairs is of immense importance with regards to
increasing Broadstairs’s popularity amongst local and global tourists so that its tourism
productivity and profitability can increase. This report evaluates the benefits of creating a
tourism strategic plan for a coastal area and illustrates this with an example. The report also
assesses the importance of collaborative planning in tourism and its importance to tourism in
Broadstairs along with pros and cons. Further the report creates a tourism strategy for

Broadstairs laying out its vision, objectives, issues and challenges. Then the report analyses
strategies that can help Broadstairs’s tourism strategy achieve its objectives and vision while
identifying its key stakeholders. Finally, the report assesses the benefits of the tourism strategy
on residents and tourists economically and socially.

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