Tourism Policy and Strategy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

tourism Policy and Strategy - Essay ExampleThe theory-based framework can be found useful in evaluating the efficiency of the collaborative stakeholder based processes such as framing the tourism policy and planning.Tourism policy and planning is one of the central topics in the academic tourism research as well in the functional directions of national, regional and local tourism organizations. It is considered as an important part of tourism destination strategy and planning. (Heath & Wall, 1992 Prideaux & Cooper, 2002) From the perspective of tourism planning, tourism can be identified as a difficult system. This system is considered central to the analysis of power relationships among the various stakeholder groups which are involved in the process of decision making. The tourism system can be draw as one which is structured arounda core that generally consists of an assemblage of structures, goods, services, and resources directly contributing to the sector, the comprehensive tourism system includes significant social, economic, geological, and ecological components, along with processes and functions that complement its totality and are essential to its sustainability. (Farrell & Twining-Ward, 2004)Tourism has been considered as a context for research rather than a discipline in its proclaim tenets (Cooper, Fletcher, Fyall, Gilbert & Wanhill, 2005 Jafari & Ritchie, 1981) On this basis sociology offers a theoretical perspective to the study on tourism. This theoretical perspective is discussed in this paper in the context of the practical application of stakeholder and collaboration theory on tourism policy and planning. Complexity of the Tourism SystemThe linking of so many diverse kinds of products and services has made the tourism fabrication and the system as a complicated one (Edgell 1990). The tourism system is so fragmented (Shaw & Williams, 2002) in that there exist a number of divergent players involved in a problem domain who have differen t interests and attribute different values (Trist, 1983). It is but critical to have a methodological analysis that studies the stakeholder power structure precisely. Further the tourism decision making process is usually characterized in terms of the collaborative power that the stakeholders possess (de Araujo & Bramwell, 2000 Keogh, 1990 Ladkin & Bertramini, 2002 Murphy, 988)However reed instrument (1997) point out that the authors on the community tourism do not mention any issue of power being involved in the process. collaborative processes, like destination branding, are therefore at risk of power imbalances that can inhibit both their initiation and success (Jamal & Getz, 1995).Tourism as a ProductTourism when considered as a product can be construed as an finger of a place with its location and people visited at a particular time (Wheeler 1995) Tourism as a product has been conceptualized in a number of ways. Medlik and Middleton (1973) considered the tourism product as a b undle of activities, services, and benefits that pull in the entire tourism experience. Tourism was looked at from two view points by Middleton (1989). In one angle he looked at tourism as a discrete product resulting from the offer of a single business. In another way tourism was looked as a total product describing the relative experience of the tourist. Smith (1994) had