Tourism Planning Environment: A Critical Analysis of Discussion Papers

This article provides a critical analysis of two discussion papers on tourism planning environment. It discusses the policy planning cycle, stakeholders, and compares and contrasts the two papers. The article concludes that discussion papers play a crucial role in the consultation stage for policy formulations in the tourism industry.

Running Head: TOURISM PLANNING ENVIRONMENT
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Tourism planning environment
July 21
2018
Article review

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Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................2
Issues introduced in discussion papers.......................................................................................2
Transformation Planning of Ecotourism systems to Invigorate Responsible Tourism:........2
Sustainable Tourism for Development...................................................................................3
Policy planning cycle.................................................................................................................3
Critical analysis of discussion papers........................................................................................4
Stakeholders...........................................................................................................................5
Compare and contrast of two papers..........................................................................................6
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................7
References..................................................................................................................................8

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Introduction
The policy planning cycle can be defined as a series of activities like evaluation of
alternatives, identification of the solutions, design and management of the alternative opted,
budgeting; and other functions that need to be carried out in order to develop efficient
policies and plan for the new project (Bardach and Patashnik, 2015). In the tourism industry,
policy planning is critical so as to develop, operate and manage tourism in a way that meets
the long-term objectives of the concerned Government. The formulation of tourism policy
follows a consultative approach through the involvement of the various stakeholders (The
World Tourism Organization, 2018). Discussion papers are one such important consultation
tool that aid in the overall assessment of the current scenario of tourism in a country,
identification of the challenges and opportunities involved and setting up of the benchmarks
for future growth. The report presents a glimpse of the use of the discussion papers in
addressing of elements of a policy cycle. The two discussion papers that are considered are,
“Transformation Planning of Ecotourism systems to Invigorate Responsible Tourism” and
“Sustainable Tourism for Development”. The report comprises of evaluation and comparison
of each of the discussion paper, followed by the conclusion that discussion papers play a
crucial role in the consultation stage for policy formulations in the tourism industry.
Issues introduced in discussion papers
Transformation Planning of Ecotourism systems to Invigorate Responsible
Tourism:
The paper is formulated so as to critically analyse and develop the plans that would assist in
the revitalization of the existing ecotourism practises in Korea and thereby solving the related
problems (Choi, Doh, Park and Chon, 2017). The study has been conducted on the lines of

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the “systems thinking” approach that involved the study of the various variables, the methods
of their operation and the resulting impact on the overall system. The paper classified the
ecotourism systems into four types that are, low-infrastructure and resident-initiated, high-
infrastructure and resident-initiated, high-infrastructure and government-initiated and low-
infrastructure and government-initiated. In this paper, some key issues were identified that
must be considered while planning for such a system like saturated tourism facility
development, noise pollution due to tourism activities, lack of information, profit-centered
development, and conflicts between residents and landowners within the protected areas
defined as tourist places.
Sustainable Tourism for Development
This paper is designed to introduce tourism as a catalyst for a positive change in the
development process of a nation or economy. The main motive of this paper is to introduce
the contribution of tourism in all the three dimensions of sustainable development of a nation
that is, economic, social, and environmental along with all the objectives or goals of a
sustainable development (The World Tourism Organization, 2017). This paper also
introduces key issues while considering tourism as a catalyst for the sustainable development.
These key issues identified or introduced in this paper are tourism’s susceptibility to market
influences; over-dependence on tourism; issues of overcrowding; concerns over working
conditions; emissions and pollution; and potential adverse effects on biodiversity, heritage,
and communities.
Policy planning cycle
The policy planning cycle is defined as a structure that brings together all the aspects of
planning for a project into a unified and coherent process and is a well-known tool for
tourism planning in the industry. This cycle includes different aspects to be completed while

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planning such as analyzing the requirement by introducing issues, exploring alternatives or
options, evaluating each option, overall evaluation of the plan, implementation of the plan,
and closure of the plan with a feedback from the users. This cycle can be described with the
help of the below-given structure.
(Source: PolicyNL, 2018)
Critical analysis of discussion papers
As the former paper is about the transformation of the tourism industry as ecotourism, it must
be focused on the infrastructure evaluation of the local country to define the sustainability of
Analys isofopport unities
Identif yaimsorissues
Explor eoptions or
analyse
Planev aluationPlanim plement ation
Closur eofplan
Feedba ck

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tourism in its local country. In this process, the paper is well designed introducing the issue in
the beginning and then defining a different system that describes the types of ecotourism in
the industry. This shows providing options or alternative of ecotourism in the industry that
can be implemented in the planning process. This is the second step of policy planning cycle
to provide options or alternatives to mitigate the issue identified while planning for the
sustainability of tourism. These alternatives are discussed to establish an understanding of
individual alternative so that the planning expert can evaluate all the possible alternatives
effectively. After providing a brief of all the alternatives paper discusses the methods of areas
to implement the planning and research to understand the best requirement of the planning.
In a similar manner, the later paper also identifies the key issue of sustainable tourism
planning followed by a critical analysis of different aspects and impact of tourism on all the
three dimensions of sustainable development of a nation. Structure of the paper is following a
well-defined policy planning cycle to understand the process of planning. In this paper, a
well-designed planning of using tourism in the development of a nation is discussed.
Stakeholders
In the first paper, one of the major objectives is the concern for industry’s stakeholders that
are, managers, tourists, operators, and residents of the locality. All the stakeholders are
considered significantly playing their individual role in planning for the transformation of the
whole tourism industry into ecotourism system for the country. This paper defines the need of
stakeholders for the development of an ethical and moral behavior at the workplace of the
said industry. In addition to this, the paper defines the essentiality of stakeholders to protect
the natural resources along with the promotion of recovery need for any damage if occurs.
In the second paper, discussion of transformation relies on the role of stakeholders to help the
system in planning the contribution of tourism in developing the country in terms of all three

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dimension of the sustainability development. The paper discusses the role of stakeholders in
providing evidence for the research and their involvement in providing a feedback for the
enhancement of system to fulfill all the objectives for which whole planning is made. Also
includes their role in the tourism industry to describe the characteristics of industry useful in
helping the sustainable development of the country. This paper also aware the stakeholders to
understand the benefits of tourism in the overall development of the country in all the
dimensions of sustainable development.
Both papers use stakeholder’s involvement in the sustainable development regardless of the
objective of paper that for which development is considered. In the context of the first paper,
it has been analyzed that the involvement of stakeholder in the ecotourism is necessary for
the invigoration of responsible tourism, as they cooperate roles of supply and demand in
ecotourism. They put efforts in decreasing the negative impact of tourism. The second paper
elaborates that the involvement of stakeholder in sustainable tourism for development can
enhance the interactions between host and guests. Stakeholders facilitate developing
employment and promoting community pride.
Compare and contrast of the two papers
As per the discussion in the previous parts, for me both the papers encompass an effective
structure that is able to insight the role of tourism in the development of the country.
I think the structure of the first paper refers to a functional structure encompassing supply and
demand factors that influence one another. On the other hand, the structure of the second
paper is made for the purpose of developing building insulation and replacing equipment. For
me the quality of the first paper is valuable as it entails ecosystem conservation areas, wildlife
sanctuaries, national parks, wetlands conversational areas, migratory birds’ sanctuaries. I
think an ecotourism system is considered as a sort of tourism system that develops complex

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mutual relationships among the aspects that influence wildlife environment and the
reinstatement of local areas within an ecotourism purpose.
When I compare the effectiveness of both papers, first paper expresses that people should
increase the awareness regarding the transformation planning of ecotourism systems to
invigorate responsible tourism and second paper shows its effectiveness by elaborating the
investment in human capital and skills development, training and capacity creating for youth
as well as women, developing accessible infrastructure and offering tax incentives for green
practices.
From the contrast of both papers, I think aims and objectives of both the papers are different.
The aim of the first paper is to encourage the manager to willingly preserve the natural
environment by education and understanding regardless of the tourism infrastructure growth.
On the other hand, the second paper aims to utilize the latest technologies, off-setting
schemes, and operation competences to decrease the emission of pollutants. It has been found
that the strategic approach could engage declining the standard reserve and occurrence of
trips, despite the fact that growing the length of stays and move in modes of transport.
Learning reflection
According to me both the article are different in terms of their structure as well as presenting
the issues these are defining. I think while analysing an article its structure is key element to
describe the content effectively. While reading the articles I get to know that structure of an
article plays an important role. Key issues defined in both the article made met to understand
that while presenting an issue it must be according to the article structure and most
importantly it must be clear in an effective way for which structure if an article can help a lot.

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Conclusion
As per the analysis carried out in the above parts, it can be concluded that tourism plays a
remarkable role in the overall development and growth of a country. Hence, formulation of
the tourism policies and plans are vital for a nation. Discussion papers play a critical role as
part of the planning policy cycle and are helpful in identification and addressing various
issues in the development stage itself. The report considered two different papers on tourism
development concerning different issues. While the first paper aims to revamp the ecotourism
practices in Korea through the systems study, the second paper studies the role of the tourism
in the development of the economic, social and environmental facets of a nation. One of the
major similarities found in both the papers was the involvement of the stakeholders. As
depicted in the first paper, various stakeholders play essential roles in the development of the
significant tourism policies. The fact has been asserted by the second paper, as it states that
the individual roles and responsibilities of various stakeholders lead to overall growth of a
nation. A brief contrast has also been conducted among the two papers, so as to highlight the
fact that discussion papers differ from each other depending upon the aims and objectives of
the each. Thus, it can be said that discussion papers serve as an important tool for the purpose
of consultation in order to form the policies in the tourism industry.

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References
Bardach, E., and Patashnik, E. M. (2015). A practical guide for policy analysis: The eightfold
path to more effective problem solving. US: CQ press.
Choi, Y. E., Doh, M., Park, S., and Chon, J. (2017) Transformation Planning of Ecotourism
Systems to Invigorate Responsible Tourism. Sustainability, 9, pp. 1-24.
Policy NL (2018) The Policy Cycle. [Online] Available from:
http://www.policynl.ca/policydevelopment/policycycle.html [Accessed on 19/07/18].
The World Tourism Organization. (2017). Discussion paper on Sustainability Tourism for
Development. [Online] Available from:
http://cf.cdn.unwto.org/sites/all/files/pdf/iy2017_discussion_paper_executive_summary_en.p
df [Accessed on 19/07/18].
The World Tourism Organization. (2018). Policy Planning and Economic Development.
[Online] Available from: http://cooperation.unwto.org/technical-product/tourism-policy
[Accessed on 24/07/18].