MKT01760: Reflection on Tourism Planning Environments Assignment

This assignment presents a student's reflection on the Tourism Planning Environments unit. The student addresses five key questions, starting with their initial understanding of tourism planning and how it evolved throughout the course. The reflection covers the student's grasp of essential skills, including interpersonal skills, political sensibility, and creativity, and how these were developed. The student also identifies the most important skill acquired and explains its relevance to the tourism sector. Finally, the assignment discusses the student's increased interest in a career in tourism planning and policy development, emphasizing the importance of sustainable development and ethical approaches. The student also references key literature from the course.

Running head: TOURISM PLANNING ENVIRONMENT
Tourism Panning Environment
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author’s Note:

2TOURISM PLANNING ENVIRONMENT
Question 1: What did you understand tourism planning environments to be before you enrolled
in this course?
I was always attracted towards the tourism and planning course. I thought that this would
help me to understand about the different places that are present in different parts of the world
along with the beautiful scenic beauty. I wanted to work as a successful tourism planning
manager and make a way for all the people or the tourists to visit all the wonderful places and
make sure that they are being able to cherish some of the very good and beautiful memories
along with them after their arrival. However at the same time, I realized that tourism must be
used as platform of not only benefitting the hotels but also the farmers or the other local people
who are living in the backward or the rural regions of those places (Papageorgiou 2016).
However, I did not know about the different new concepts of tourism that are arising in the
modern day scenario (Lew 2017).
However I knew that the customers must be given all the necessary equipments that
would help them to get a proper experience when they are on the tour. I also had a very faded
idea regarding the different ways in which I can contact with the different other people or the
stakeholders which are involved in the activities like medical facilities for some emergencies
food facilities, old age people and the child care services and others that will be helping in
making a tour successful.
Question 2: How has your understanding of tourism planning environments changed over the
course of studying this unit?
Enrolling into the course of tourism management planning has been one of the most
beneficial decisions for me as it helped me in understanding the basic aspects of a plan. A plan is

3TOURISM PLANNING ENVIRONMENT
actually a mixture of different steps and approaches that are to be taken for the purpose of
carrying on the tour in a proper way. I have learned that a plan cannot be successfully
implemented in a very successful manner; I will have to make sure that there is a proper
cooperation and involvement of the community and the local people. This will help me to ensure
that the tour planning is being carried on in a proper way. The other transformation that has taken
in my thinking patterns is about the sustainability factor in the planning of any tours. However it
must be made sure that there is no harm being done to the natural resources or the environment
of the places where the tour is being conducted. I have also been able to develop my idea about
the concept of eco tourism that is helpful in generating a good amount of employment for the
stakeholders who are involved in the tourism planning procedure. This is a new concept that is
being incorporated into the tourism planning system so that they can generate maximum
economic returns to the inhabitant to that area. Apart from this the rural or the common people
who are living in the rural or the local areas will also be able to get a platform to display their
hand-made products and also
Question 3: Read section 13.4.2 'Skills and Knowledge' of the text. Identify and explain three
key skills or knowledge sets you have learned by completing this unit and that will be useful in
your current/future professional career. Explain what you learned and how you practiced these in
the preparation of assessment items.
I have learned that in order to be successful as a manager or a tourism planner I will have
to make sure that there are certain skill sets that must be present within me (Mason 2015). This

4TOURISM PLANNING ENVIRONMENT
course has helped me to understand the importance of all those skills and the benefits that they
can bring
Interpersonal skills-This set of skill will help in understanding the queries of people and also in
being attentive towards them.
Political sensibility-This is one of the most useful skill that must be used in order to
develop a tour in a proper way. This will be helping me to understand about the ongoing political
condition in the different tourist places and thus help me to manage the tour accordingly. If the
political setup of he tourist spots is not taken into consideration then this can turn out to be one
of the most dangerous things for the tourism company (Mason 2015).
Creativity-This is one of the most useful skills that are needed in the tourism sector. This
will enable a tourism planner to design his tour in a very new and innovative way. A good
example can be the agro tourism or the eco tourism concept (Vogt et al. 2016). In order to
conduct the tour in a proper way the tour planners must be understand the political rules and the
political regulations that is being imposed on the places. A tour planning must always be
conducted in a way so that there is a proper cooperation and help from the Governing bodies
(Lew 2017).
I have learned that these skills will be useful for me currently in understanding the
tourists and their needs and demands. This will also be useful in understanding the different new
innovations that the tourists are asking for in the plan.
In future, I will be able to talk to the tourists and take their feedback regarding their
experiences and also the different ideas in that they want to be incorporated in the tourism
activity.

5TOURISM PLANNING ENVIRONMENT
Question 4: Explain what is the single most important skill you have developed or refined by
completing this unit?
The single most skill is the interpersonal skill. This is because tourism is the part of
hospitality sector and the major aspect of working well in this field is customer satisfaction. In
order to make sure that customers are getting proper satisfaction there has to be a proper
feedback session taken. This will be helping the tourists to understand that their opinions are
valuable in the organization and proper actions will be taken in order to work over their
complaints (Nunkoo and Gursoy 2016).
This skill will be helping me to understand the connections between the historical
monuments and also how they can attract the attention of the customers from the local and the
domestic level as well.
I have learned that it is through interpersonal skills that I will be able to understand about
the problems that the tourists are suffering and how can I solve the same. This will also enable
me to carry on with an ethical approach so that I am being able to understand about the different
issues that are usually faced and the new approaches in which they can be solved.
Question 5: Having completed this unit, are you more or less likely to seek employment in the
area of tourism planning and policy development? Explain why.
I feel that after completing this assignment, I will have a better and even stronger
inclination towards seeking employment in this field. This is because of the fact that I have
learned about the concept of sustainability development and the different ways in which the same
can be incorporated into the planning of the tourism.

6TOURISM PLANNING ENVIRONMENT
I have also learned that a proper ethical approach must be used so that this will help in planning
the tour in a proper way and also in making sure that no harm is being caused to the flora and
fauna of the tourist spot and also of the associated regions (Job, Becken and Lane 2017). The
concept of sustainable tourism has also helped me in understanding that a good amount of
revenue can be generated by using the local goods and services as a main component of tourism.

7TOURISM PLANNING ENVIRONMENT
References
Job, H., Becken, S. and Lane, B., 2017. Protected Areas in a neoliberal world and the role of
tourism in supporting conservation and sustainable development: an assessment of strategic
planning, zoning, impact monitoring, and tourism management at natural World Heritage Sites.
Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 25(12), pp.1697-1718.
Lew, A.A., 2017. Tourism planning and place making: place-making or placemaking?. Tourism
Geographies, 19(3), pp.448-466.
Lew, A.A., 2017. Tourism planning and place making: place-making or placemaking?. Tourism
Geographies, 19(3), pp.448-466.
Mason, P., 2015. Tourism impacts, planning and management. Routledge.
Mason, P., 2015. Tourism impacts, planning and management. Routledge.
Nunkoo, R. and Gursoy, D., 2016. Rethinking the role of power and trust in tourism planning.
Journal of Hospitality Marketing & Management, 25(4), pp.512-522.
Papageorgiou, M., 2016. Coastal and marine tourism: A challenging factor in Marine Spatial
Planning. Ocean & coastal management, 129, pp.44-48.
Vogt, C., Jordan, E., Grewe, N. and Kruger, L., 2016. Collaborative tourism planning and
subjective well-being in a small island destination. Journal of destination marketing &
management, 5(1), pp.36-43.