Broadstairs Tourism: Collaboration and Sustainability

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URBAN TOURISM

Contents
INTRODUCTION.....................................................................................................................................2
PART 1...................................................................................................................................................3
DEFINITION OF TOURISM PLANNING................................................................................................3
BENEFITS OF STRATEGIC TOURISM PLANNING..................................................................................3
EXAMPLE OF COASTAL DESTINATION THAT HAS BEEN BENEFITED FROM A STRATEGIC PLAN.........5
IMPORTANCE OF COLLABORATIVE PLANNING IN TOURISM AND JUSTIFY WHY THIS APPROACH
WOULD BE USEFUL FOR BROADSTAIRS COASTAL AREA. DISCUSS THE PROS AND CONS OF THIS
APPROACH.........................................................................................................................................7
HOW COLLABORATION AND PARTNERSHIP HELPED THE DEVELOPMENT OF TOURISM IN
BROADSTAIRS....................................................................................................................................9
PART 2.................................................................................................................................................10
A BRIEF TOURISM STRATEGY WITH VISION AND OBJECTIVES THAT ADDRESSES THE PRESENT
CHALLENGES FACED BY BROADSTAIRS............................................................................................10
DESCRIPTION OF THE VISION AND OBJECTIVES THAT ARE IMPLEMENTED ALONG WITH THE
IDENTIFICATION OF THE STAKEHOLDERS HELPING IN DELIVER THE OBJECTIVES............................14
EVALUATION OF THE STRATEGY FOR SUCCESS................................................................................16
CONCLUSION.......................................................................................................................................17
REFERENCES........................................................................................................................................18
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INTRODUCTION
Seaside tourism areas have always attracted tourists. Since the 1700's there has been a
cultural shift in appreciation of seaside attractions. The countryside has developed in popular
tourists destinations all over the world. Seaside tourism has remained only a passive activity.
The development of tourist activity only gets started after the 1960s. Now in England, almost
three-quarter of population visit country-side for tourism activities. Overall the scope and
demand of seaside tourism have increased. Until the last two decades, seaside tourism was
only concerned with seaside character and settings and hence most of the activities were
passive, relaxing and traditional. However new demand and expectation in seaside tourism
require a new way of tourism development. Better management and planning is required for
the development of seaside tourism. The tourism activity is very complicated as it involves
various sectors of society and economy. Without planning it can generate various unwanted
and unexpected results. Therefore tourism activity must be developed and managed in a
controlled and sustainable way. In the first part of the assignment, the importance of tourism
planning will be presented in the report. The report will present tourism planning and its
implementation. It will include the planning process, benefits and key elements that must be
included in tourism planning, moreover, the report will include the implication for
implementation of adopting a tourism plan for a specific destination.
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PART 1
DEFINITION OF TOURISM PLANNING
Tourism planning consists of the basic concept of general planning. However, tourism
planning is adapted to tourism concepts. In simple terms, a plan can be defined as a set of
activities which will be undertaken in future. According to various authors, the most
important feature of any planning process is its inclination towards the future (Gössling and
Scott, 2012). The main goals of tourism planning should include following four main goals:
sustainable use of resources, increased visitors satisfaction, getting support from local
communities, improved economy and increased business success (Mason, 2015).
BENEFITS OF STRATEGIC TOURISM PLANNING
The tourism destination selected for this assignment is Broadstairs, due to tough competition
for other tourist destinations. Broadstairs must implement an effective tourism plan.
Broadstairs is a town full of old-world seaside charm (Spirou, 2011). Broadstairs have seven
sand-filled beaches and bay. Joss bay offer surfing activities. The main beach of Broadstairs
is Viking bay. There is a facility for children ride, beach huts surfing, harbour and cliff-top
promenade. The town offers a lot of restaurants and bars, two ice-cream parlours, Morelli's
and Chiappini's.
Various authors have explained the purpose of planning. The main objective of planning is to
create plans for the future and implement the developed plan. Therefore, most authors have
suggested that effective and efficient planning should be integrated into the nation’s overall
development plan. Careful planning and effective management are necessary to optimize the
benefits and mitigate any problem that may occur. The strategic plan is very important as it is
very helpful in foreseeing the future and preparing accordingly. Strategic planning helps
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companies in avoiding any negative impact by taking the necessary steps to avoid them. In
this competitive business environment, tourism destinations must keep up with the market
and must try to be always one step ahead of the competition. Through strategic planning
helps in providing direction to the organization as it can easily establish the goals and
objectives for the organization.
The strategic plan provides the necessary foundation from where the tourism destination can
grow and evaluate success. The development of tourism planning can help in removing the
potential negative impact and maximize the economic return of the area. It increases
operational efficiency as it provides a guideline for making the important decision about the
budget to accomplish set objectives. Through a well-developed strategic plan, it becomes
very easy to turn all the sales and marketing efforts to increase profitability and market share.
The strategic planning helps in encouraging local community towards tourism activities. The
development of a tourism plan can provide a guideline for its development. Planning is very
important for areas that have not been developed. Furthermore, the areas that have already
developed as a tourism activity, planning can help the tourism destination in revitalizing the
tourism sector and maintain its sustainability. The development of tourism strategic plan for
the coastal area can have a lot of benefits to sustain tourism in coastal areas (Papageorgiou,
2016). Minimize the negative social, economic and environmental impact on the tourist
destination. For coastal areas, it becomes very important to save the natural environment such
as sea and beaches. Help in generating greater economic benefits for the local community.
The generation of tourism activity in Broadstairs will help the local community. It will result
in enhanced well-being of Broadstairs community. The involvement of local people in the
management of the tourism destination especially the coastal destinations can change the
lives local community. It creates a very positive contribution to the conservation of nature,
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cultural heritage and embraces diversity. Effective planning will provide an enjoyable
experience for tourists (Liley, 2016).
EXAMPLE OF COASTAL DESTINATION THAT HAS BEEN BENEFITED FROM A
STRATEGIC PLAN
The development of south coastline of Caspian Sea:
AGGRESSIVE STRATEGIC PLAN:
 The development of the southern coastline of the Caspian Sea will be done through
the following strategies (Mola et al., 2012).
 The greater emphasis on international tourism will help in attracting a sufficient
number of tourists.
 Use available financial resources to increase investment on tourism site.
 Development of tourism activity by using new business models, the use of technology
can help in the development of e-tourism, diversification of tourism activity and
services will help in attracting tourists throughout an entire year.
COMPETITIVE STRATEGIC PLAN:
 The development of the tourism destination should be based on the relative and
competitive advantages of the tourism sector, greater emphasis on domestic tourism,
implementation of feedback system to take a survey of tourists.
 Providing training and development opportunity for staff, using a performance review
system for evaluation of the performance of staff and organizing a specialized
workshop for improving skill and ability of managers
CONSERVATIVE STRATEGIC PLAN:
 Development of ecotourism using the natural potentials
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 Development of improved tourist facilities and services
 Taking guidance and support in the development of coastal tourism
 Planning the recruitment and selection of skill working forces
 Promoting the use of information and technology services by tourists
 Improve the overall productivity of the marketing department to implement marketing
policies
DEFENSIVE STRATEGIC PLAN:
 Establishing a proper commination channel with adjacent tourist destinations to
establish a strategic agreement
 By using focus strategy in the field of coastal tourism development (Papageorgiou,
2016)
 Applying professional services specializing in the field of coastal tourism
management
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IMPORTANCE OF COLLABORATIVE PLANNING IN TOURISM AND JUSTIFY
WHY THIS APPROACH WOULD BE USEFUL FOR BROADSTAIRS COASTAL
AREA. DISCUSS THE PROS AND CONS OF THIS APPROACH
Tourism like many organizations is an assembly process. Many components must work
together to provide a better experience to tourists. There are different stages and process that
involve in the creation and development of tourism product and service. For example, a
tourist destination can depend on the other services such as transportation, accommodation
etc. the diffused and fragmented nature of tourism have been recognized. To overcome the
problem faced due to diffused and fragmented nature of tourism activity many local
companies are promoting inter-industry cooperation, various country-specific organizations
are promoting cooperation. International organizations such as Pacific Asia Travel Agency
(PATA) and the World Travel and Tourism Council are involved in the promotion of
collaboration and partnership. The importance of the involvement of various stakeholders in
the process of tourism planning and management is gaining recognition. The development of
tourism destination based on collaboration and partnership (Gursoy et al., 2015). The
collaborative approach of tourism management and development involve direct face to face
interaction with various stakeholders. To understand the collaboration and partnership it is
very crucial to clearly understand the definition of collaboration and partnership.
The collaboration can be defined as the establishment of the relationship on a common issue
when various stakeholders interact with each other. The collaboration and partnership are
very important because each stakeholder has access and control of various resources such as
knowledge, expertise and capital. All the stakeholders do not have access to all the resources
that are required to achieve the goals and objectives. This problem has arrived because of
fragmented nature and involvement of a large number of stakeholders in of tourism industry.
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Different stakeholders can work in a collaborative and partnership nature if they can create
new opportunity. The dependency on resource and stakeholder interdependency means that
there is a mutual and collaborative benefit associated with stakeholders collaborating. The
potential benefits associated with collaborative working where the stakeholder can learn from
each other’s, learn from the process and develop innovative policies (Graci, 2013).
The cooperation and partnership of various stakeholders have the potential to improve
dialogue, negotiation and build mutually acceptable proposals about how tourism can be
developed in the destination. The coordination and partnership in tourism can bring interest in
the same destination but in different sectors. The coordination and partnership can bring
competitive advantage by bringing together skill, expertise, capital and resources of various
stakeholders. The development of tourism activity mustn't be left to a few stakeholders such
as government agencies, politicians or tourism entrepreneurs. Involvement of various
stakeholders must be involved in the decision-making process.
The involvement of various stakeholders in development off tourism policy can result in
bringing democratic empowerment, operational advantages and improved products. The
partnership approach to tourism development has been adopted by the government of various
countries (Roberts and Jones, 2013). The UK government tourism policy document also gives
much importance to the development of partnership among local authorities, tourism
operators and the local communities. While it can be said that the tourism organizations have
always embraced collaboration and partnership, but the recent changes in economic, social
and political forces in various countries have resulted in making the collaboration and
partnership an explicit priority for the tourism industry. The involvement of a large number
of stakeholders, many of whom are affected by various issues regarding tourism development
may work together to mitigate the negative effect of fragmented and diverse tourism
activities. The involvement of different stakeholders in the decision-making process is very
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important for democracy. Active participation from several stakeholders is helpful as it may
result in acceptance of policies by and the implementation of the policy may become easier.
Finally, it can be concluded that collaboration and partnership plays an important role in
tourism development.
HOW COLLABORATION AND PARTNERSHIP HELPED THE DEVELOPMENT OF
TOURISM IN BROADSTAIRS
The development of Broadstairs tourism depends on collaboration and partnership. The local
community understand that Broadstairs has a lot of potential for development into an
attractive tourist place. Most of the tourists arriving here love the natural beauty of
Broadstairs town especially the seaside attraction. The support from the local community and
volunteers group is very important, as they are the people that will be affected by the
improvement in tourism activity. The partnership approach adopted by the local community
and government agencies has improved the opportunity for the local community (Roberts and
Jones, 2013). The government plans to invest £5m and support from local volunteers have
resulted in the creation of jobs, supporting businesses and improving skills. Special emphases
from the government for driving economic development and housing quality have resulted in
attracting a large number of tourists. The collaboration and partnership have improved the
way local bodies, stakeholders such as government work together to deliver the best customer
satisfaction for tourist coming to Broadstairs.
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PART 2
A BRIEF TOURISM STRATEGY WITH VISION AND OBJECTIVES THAT
ADDRESSES THE PRESENT CHALLENGES FACED BY BROADSTAIRS
The seaside tourism is a unique place in history, heritage and culture of UK. The seaside
tourism remains an integral part of family life of people of UK. But in recent time rise of
package holidays have increased foreign travel due to which the seaside tourism has
decreased significantly (Middleton et al., 2016).The decline in the tourism activity has
resulted in low wages, unemployment and low level of skill. To overcome this challenge it
becomes very crucial for reinventing and making themselves attractive places not only for
tourists but also to live and work. Recently there has been a growing trend where local people
like to spend their holidays close to home which saves money and environment. To
implement the strategy support from the government is required in the form of funds that
would help in overcoming the issue (Pearce, 2015).But along with the government the people
of the town must assist them so as to carry out the strategy effectively.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The strategy that is laid down mainly aims at focusing upon making sure that Broadstairs is
supported enough to construct their heritages and grab opportunities for establishing robust
economies and communities for the upcoming future (Edwards et al., 2018).Here, the
interests can be renewed by combining with new options like to build and make use of
decreased carbon economies and online assistance that would lay an amazing opportunity for
the town to again become a superb place to visit, live and work. Also, councils have been
given certain powers to exercise to solve their problems locally only. In addition with the
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seaside can be transformed like others have done by revolving around the three main issues,
which are:
 Every seaside town that has been created are different from each other having
unique identity, places and needs. Therefore, one single cannot work for all.
 But there are few attributes in common that needs government interference to look
upon the unique needs under various circumstances (Khoshkhoo et al., 2016).
 The public sector authority is most efficient in carrying out work when they are
working together.
The support strategy for these principles can be:
 To develop Broadstairs a fund of £5m as an initiative is provided so that the most
impoverished seaside authorities can be helped and supported.
 The seaside authorities should aim at focusing upon not harming the nature and
shifting towards the low carbon economy that involves training and development,
green skill-set, etc. (Vellas, 2016).
 A seaside campaign is to be launched wherein for its support various festivals are
celebrated to grab the attention of the cultural investors to build robust non-seasonal
economy and supporting them the whole year for a perfect destination for the visitors.
Vision
This has been critically identified that the seaside towns and other places have an exclusive
and distinguishing part that is to be played in the different economies. Therefore, there is a
need to allow all the places for developing and sharing the prosperity so that a high quality of
life can be enjoyed, along with the directly attracting the attention of the local people
(Bolisani and Bratianu, 2018).By this it is to be made sure that the seaside towns grab these
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