Strategic Tourism Planning: A Case Study of Malaysia and London

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Strategic Planning for Tourism and Leisure
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Table of Contents
Introduction...............................................................................................................................3
PART 1.......................................................................................................................................4
PART 2.....................................................................................................................................11
Conclusion...............................................................................................................................12
Reference list..........................................................................................................................13
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Introduction
Tourism planning is the process of linking the available resources of a place with the
needs and demands of the tourist in order to provide them with the best travel
experience. It helps the tourist to make optimum utilization of their resources by
providing them with sufficient information regarding their destination. It also helps the
government and other agencies to frame effective strategies to meet the demands of the
travelers and thereby helps the economy to boost. It facilitates the development of the
economy by creating job opportunities among the local. This report briefly highlights the
pros and cons of involving the locals in devising the tourism plan for the growth of the
economy.
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PART 1
A. Examine the benefits of producing tourism strategic plans and give an example
of a destination that has benefited from it.
Tourism planning is the process of integrating the need of travellers with the resources of
the destination place in order to provide them with the extraordinary travel experience.
Tourism planning is undertaken to benefit the business of the destination, locals and the
tourist. Tourism planning enables the tourist to match their need with the resources of a
particular destination and thereby plan a trip according to a specified budget. It also
helps an economy to plan on their resources ensuring that they have enough resources to
meet the needs of their tourist base. It is the process of coordinating with the government
and other agencies to ensure that the economy has proper infrastructure to meet the
travel needs of the individuals thus it involves coordination with the private sector, travel
agencies, hotels etc thereby leading to the growth of the structures related to the tourism
industry. It is also essential for enhancing the exploration capacity of the tourist, as an
appropriate plan provides the tourist with sufficient information regarding a particular
destination. Tourism planning provides detail of various integrated activities related to
tourism and thus enhances the tourism sector (Edgell, 2016). It also helps an economy to
grow by driving a huge tourist base for that particular place. An appropriate tourism
planning not only ensures satisfaction and safety among the travelers but also benefits
the local residents and the business of a place. In addition to that, proper planning also
helps an economy to save on their natural resources, as many people prefer to visit
places offering a proper balance between fun activities and nature’s beauty (Tribe, 2016)
Through proper tourism plan, both the travelers and the tour planners could be
benefitted. It helps the tours planners draw a proper match between the resources of a
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particular place and the demands of the tourist thereby helping them make optimum
utilization of their money, time and resources by allowing them to understand what kind
of trip can be undertaken by them and at what price. Tourism planning plays a crucial
role in the growth of the tourism industry as it facilitates proper analyzation of the trends
in the tourism sector and thereby helps the government of the economy to frame strategic
plans to support the growth of the industry by meeting the demands of the travelers
(Edgell, 2013). Travel planning is an objective oriented approach undertaken to meet the
needs of all the aspects of planning. An appropriate planning facilitates the economy to
develop its cultural and natural resources in such a way that it could be conserved well
for future use. Proper planning helps in the establishment of a close relationship between
the tourism sector and another economic sector thereby helping them experience growth
with the development of the tourism sector. It also enables business enterprises to take
vital decisions related to the tourism sector. An appropriate tourism planning aims at,
minimizing the risk involved in travel plans by properly coordinating the different
aspects of the industry and ensuring optimum economic and social benefits to both the
travelers and the economy (Mason, 2015).
Malaysia is one of the major countries that lay great emphasis on the conservation of its
environmental and cultural heritage. The tourism strategy adopted by the nation is in
accordance with Agenda 21 in order to speed up the development process of the tourism
sector of the nation. The nation has adopted the policy of ecotourism in its master plan;
as a result, most of the tourist attraction of the nation has emerged as marine protected
regions or terrestrial parts such as wildlife sanctuary, marine parks, wetlands etc ( Bello
et al., 2018). The nation of Malaysia has drafted a well thought planned integrating
government activities of various levels with the services offered by the private sectors to
ensure maximum returns. At the local level, the nation attempts to encourage the local
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authority and community to participate in the local projects undertaken to promote
tourism. The tourism plan adopted by Malaysia aims at enhancing its cultural and natural
assets (Hasliza et al., 2015). By enhancing its natural resources and creating a nature
base along with a rich historical culture. Malaysia has emerged to be successful in
attracting a huge base of tourist. A tourist from around the world visits Malaysia to enjoy
its rich cultural heritage and natural serenity. Apart from offering natures beauty,
Malaysia is also rich in culture, having a good number of historical sites credited to its
name; it has a rich social culture promising a premium experience to its tourist ( Aminu et
al., 2015). The nation has also arranged for various fun activities for its travelers
promising an adrenaline rush to its visitors. Because of well-thought planning by the
nation, it has seen tremendous growth in its travel sector. It has managed to become one
of the most sorted tourist destinations due to its strategic tourism plan.
Figure 1: Malaysia Tourism
(Source: Travelnewsdigest.in, 2019)
B. Evaluate at least one planning approach (i.e Economic, Spatial/Physical,
Collaborative, Community based Approach, Co-operative approach etc.) for
tourism development and illustrate your evaluation with an example of where this
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planning approach has been implemented. Discuss the pros and cons of this
approach.
A new concept has emerged in the tourism sector, where a great emphasis is laid on the
local community of the destination, as the tour planners believe that they play a crucial
role in determining the travel experience of the tourist (Mowforth and Munt, 2015). It
has been argued by many scholars that the involvement of the community while devising
a tourism plan or strategy for a particular nation has become vital for the success of the
plan and sustainability of the tourism sector in the long-run. According to this approach,
the government must attempt to include the residents of the place while devising a
tourism strategy, as it would help them solve problems quickly and ensure the safety of
the (Coccossis, 2016). It is believed by the scholars, that the residents know a place best
thus in order to provide travellers with the best tour experience, it is essential to involve
the locals in the process. The community-based approach of planning facilitates an
economy to maintain a balance between its culture and natural environment by ensuring
optimum utilization of its time and resources (Dodds et al., 2018). It is believed that it is
not possible on the part of the government to execute all the activities on their own and
thus there is a need for contribution from the locals to ensure good travel experience for
the tourist. Various studies have shown that there is a tendency among the tourist that
they do not wish to travel to places, which are not stable enough. In order to avoid
instability, the tourism strategy adopted by the government must cater to the needs of the
local community. For a travel plan to be sustainable, it must cater to the need of the
travelers. It should offer something extraordinary to the tourist. When local members of
the community contribute to the tourism sectors, it helps the tourist get a better insight of
the culture and tradition of the destination thereby making their travel experience exotic
(Prebensen et al., 2018). The tourism plan adopted must aim at benefitting the
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community at large by creating employment opportunity for the locals and ensuring the
growth of the local region (Stone, 2015). When the local’s feels that the uprise in the
tourism sector will help to bring growth and prosperity in their personal life they will
feel more motivated and will be encouraged to contribute to the growth of the tourism
sector.
London has incorporated the community-based approach of planning in its system for
delivering extraordinary travel experience to its travelers. It aims at delivering leisure
experience to its travelers by involving its local community in its tourism strategy. It
provides the travelers with the opportunity of sharing houses with the native ensuring
accommodation at low cost during both on seasons and offseasons. It helps to attract
tourist to London even during the off-season as the local’s promises to deliver them with
vivid experience. The tourism strategy adopted by London facilitates the travelers to
experience the rich culture of London by providing them with an ample number of
opportunities to connect with the locals and have a taste of the superb delicacies offered
by them (Mowforth and Munt, 2015). The policies adopted by the government to
enhance the tourism sectors allows the local people of the region to play various roles in
the promotion of the sector, it facilitates them to offer various services in the form of
exotic spa for the tourist. In order to provide the travelers with home-like experience,
strategies have been formulated that allows them to take the houses of the locals on rent.
The government of London proposes to revamp the historical monuments having cultural
value so that the tourist can explore the culture of the London while their stay ( Dredge
and Jamal, 2015). For instance, The Victoria and Albert Museum is one of the greatest
museums of its kind and attracts a huge audience every year. It represents the rich culture
of London and thus the government of London takes major measures to restore the same.
The Great Buckingham Place is another major tourist attraction; it is a palace, where the
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royal still resides. However, some of the rooms of the palace are open for public visit.
Common people take great pride in creating awareness about these places to the tourist
as it makes them feel proud to have such rich monuments and culture credited to their
name. In order to contribute to that local strives to educate them about their culture and
historical significance. The number of people serving as tour guides in London has
experienced a significant growth showing that the local community is actively
participating in the development of the tourism industry. The business in London has
also experienced significant growth due to the increase in the number of tourists visiting
the place, bringing capital to the city. The local community of London is actively taking
part in the process of helping the tourist have a pleasant travel experience by helping
them explore all the corners of the London by providing them with various informations
like famous places to visit, food that must be tasted, various services that can be availed
by them etc. However, this approach has its certain limitations too. The strategy of
offering one's house for rent to travelers may sound cool but is also very dangerous. The
crime rate in London has experienced significant growth as the number of tourists opting
for rented houses is more since there is no proper procedure for the same and they can
easily consume drugs and other prohibited items in the rented houses without coming
into anyone’s notice. It has also caused a massive loss to the hotel industries. This
approach of tourism though aims at promoting the welfare of the society while helping
the tourism sector boost may end up damaging the natural resources of a nation, as it
would focus on building more business opportunities for the locals leading to the
destruction of the natural habitats or ecosystem.
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Figure 2: The Buckingham Palace
(Source: Rct.uk, 2019)
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PART 2
A. Assess how the reuse of historic buildings contributes to strategic tourism
development. Give one example of a historic building in London that is used for
tourism, leisure, and events functions and how it benefits its local area socially and
economically.
Strategic tourism development is defined as a plan for promotion of innovative
techniques of tourism based on expansion and renewal of tourism supply of the planned
destinations and increasing the latest destinations and fresh products ( Benur and
Bramwell, 2015). It can help in generation of economic, social and sustainable benefits.
Travel and tourism industry is considered as one of the most important industries in the
economy of the United Kingdom (Sharpley and Telfer, 2015). The travel and tourism
industry has created large pool of employment opportunities to the people with attractive
remuneration, which has increased the working age population of the country. Increase
income level leads to increase in the lifestyle of the citizens living in the United
Kingdom. Therefore it can be said, the industry has provided a major contribution to the
economic growth and development of the UK economy. There are large number of
historic buildings such as the Kensington Palace, Wellington Arch, Marble Hill house,
county hall and other related historical monuments in London, UK. The historical
monuments play major role in the development of the tourism sector in UK, as it serves
as the significant visitor’s attractions in the place (Mason, 2015). People from different
countries come to visit London in order to gain specific knowledge related to the culture
and heritage of the country. The various historical buildings in London provide them
with quality tourism facilities and relevant knowledge regarding the history of the
country in order to develop and maintain the heritage of the country. This has increased
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the annual turnover and profitability of the travel and tourism country contributing
towards the development of the gross domestic products of the country. The historical
buildings provide significant information regarding heritage and culture about the
country which attracts different types of visitors such as respective students, the
archaeologists and others in large number every year. This increases the demand
activities related for hotels accommodation services, restaurant services, travel and
services and others activities related to travel and tourism. Therefore, it can be said that
historical buildings and monuments raise the demand of tourists, which results in the
increases of overall business performance of travel and tourism sector. As the historic
buildings are providing their significant contribution to improve the business activities of
travel and tourism, it also supporting towards effective tourism planning.
For instance, The County Hall was earlier a British parliament building, however, now it
is regarded as a site of attractions and business at that place, certain hotels has been
constructed such as Marriott hotels and others, and one theatre has also been built by the
Witness prosecution. This is done to increase the demands of the visitors towards the
place, attract them towards the hall so that they can be aware of the history, of the
attraction. The aim of the hotel is to attract the customers towards their services and help
them to gain relevant knowledge regarding the tourists’ attraction and avail the facilities
provided there. The theatre introduces plays, dramas to attract the customers towards
their facilities and improve tourism planning. This magnetises the customers to go to the
place and gain sufficient knowledge about the attraction.
There are certain challenges, which occur in the path of strategic tourism planning such
as environment and culture. Therefore, in order to face the challenges for ensuring
sustainable tourism development, UK Government has reduced emissions of carbon in
the area where the tourists’ attractions is located (Yung and Chan, 2012). The visitors
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