Chapter One Introduction

458 Pages·2006·3.34 MB·English

Chapter One
Introduction

1.0 Introduction

The concept of sustainable development has had a considerable impact on the study of
tourism development, planning and management. As a subset of sustainable
development theory, sustainable tourism planning has been seen by many as a means of
maximising the positive and minimising the negative impacts of tourism activity on
destination communities. Although the concept has received in-principle support from
academia, government and industry, more critical viewpoints have emerged questioning
the extent to which sustainability doctrine is actually put into tourism planning practice.
Therefore this study investigated the transference of sustainable tourism theory to
practice by examining the extent to which the sustainable tourism planning philosophy is
utilised in the planning practices of local tourism destinations in Queensland.
Additionally the study sought to develop a theoretical framework to facilitate the
application of sustainability principles to local tourism destination planning.

To provide a background to the research issue and objectives, this chapter begins with an
overview of the recognised need for tourism destination planning, the subsequent
emergence of sustainable tourism planning and the more recent arguments for utilising
the strategic visioning approach to tourism destination planning. The research issue and
gaps in the body of knowledge are addressed before the three research objectives of the
study are articulated. Also provided is a brief overview of the research methodology and
the key methods employed to address the research issue. The study context is then
outlined detailing the significance of tourism to Australia and Queensland. Also
examined is tourism within the Australian governmental system and more specifically
local government planning for tourism in Queensland. The final section of the chapter
outlines the structure of the thesis, providing a brief overview of the purpose and contents
of each of the chapters.

1
1.1 Background

Tourism has had a profound impact upon destinations worldwide, and the 808 million
international arrivals in 2005 indicate the magnitude and economic significance of global
tourist activity (World Tourism Organization [WTO], 2006). Tourism can undoubtedly
create positive economic returns for destination countries; foreign exchange earnings,
employment growth, tax revenues, and can substantially stimulate the economy overall
(Inskeep, 1991). In the years following World War II, with the recognised beginning of
mass tourism, nations, states, cities and regional areas began actively promoting
themselves as tourism destinations, committing considerable funds towards tourism
development (Ritchie & Crouch, 2000). However by the mid 1960s other, more
cautionary and critical viewpoints about tourism were being aired (Jafari, 1990). It had
become evident that along with its positive returns, tourism activity also brought many
negative influences to a destination, often adversely impacting upon the natural
environment and social fabric of the destination community. Concerns over ecological
impacts and a wish to preserve cultural identities arose as the somewhat uncontrolled
growth of tourist facilities and movements threatened natural environments, burdened the
limited resources of some destinations and the economic benefits were realised to be
seasonal and somewhat uncertain. As Coccossis (1996, p.1) states,
“The expansion of tourism has had a profound impact on many
destinations. In some areas it has revitalised local economies whilst in
others it has destroyed them; in some areas it has reinforced local identity
whilst in others it has destroyed customs, traditions and social relations; in
some areas it has helped protect environmentally sensitive areas whilst in
others it has wrought havoc with local ecosystems and local resources”.

The negative impacts of tourism have primarily been attributed to inadequate or non-
existent planning frameworks for tourism development. As Murphy (1985) noted,
tourism was seized upon with little forethought concerning a viable tourism product, the
social and environmental consequences of development, or the spill over effects into
surrounding areas. The failure to proactively plan for tourism development has left many
2
destinations with a legacy of social and environmental consequences. The experience of
such destinations has shown that it is often too late to reverse or redirect unwanted
development once it has become established in a destination and these destinations will
always suffer from environmental and social problems that are both detrimental to
tourists and residents (Gunn, 1994; Hall, 1998). Therefore it has been widely advocated
that tourism development should not be permitted to progress in an ad hoc manner
without an overall guiding framework and predetermined strategies toward development
objectives (Hall, 2000; WTO, 1994).

Various tourism planning approaches have evolved over the years including the
economic, physical, environmental and community approaches, and as their names
indicate, have tended to focus on specific aspects of destination planning and
management. However the sustainable tourism planning approach has emerged as one of
the most comprehensive and accepted approaches, and can generally be viewed as
encompassing the key ideals of each of the previously mentioned planning methods. The
sustainable concept arose in response to broader international concerns over ecological
issues. It has been advocated for the tourism sector as a possible solution to the
environmental and social degradation of the industry’s resources and due to the fact that
tourism is a resource dependent industry (Cooper, 1995; Murphy, 1998).

The sustainable approach to tourism planning is based on the achievement of two
prerequisites: a strategic and long-term orientation in tourism planning and multiple
stakeholder participation in the planning process (Simpson, 2001). The first of these
prerequisites requires strategic planning to supersede conventional planning approaches
(Dutton & Hall, 1989). Strategy as it applies to sustainable tourism planning and
development seeks to achieve three basic strategic objectives: conservation of tourism
resource values; enhanced experiences of the visitors who interact with tourism
resources; and the maximization of the economic, social and environmental returns to
stakeholders in the host community (Hall, 2000). The second identified prerequisite is
the engagement and participation of multiple stakeholder groups in the planning and
decision-making process. This is considered a pivotal issue in a sustainable approach as
3
in typical planning processes stakeholders are consulted minimally near the end of the
process, which leaves little chance for meaningful input into the process. Therefore
authors such as Faulkner (2003) have claimed that the achievement of sustainable
development objectives hinges on the adoption of a participatory model, involving the
meaningful engagement of the community, along with industry stakeholders and relevant
government agencies, with the objective of generating agreement on planning directions
and goals. Based on these two identified prerequisites, under the sustainable approach
tourism planning is strategic, that is it is proactive and adopts a long-term planning
horizon, while also seeking out and being responsive to stakeholder needs (Hall, 2000;
Ritchie, 1999).

While the theoretical concepts of sustainable tourism development have been well
addressed in the academic literature, authors have recently begun to investigate practical
processes, models and frameworks so that the sustainable tourism philosophy,
encompassing the previously mentioned caveats, can be implemented at the destination
level. One model which is beginning to receive attention for its underpinning
sustainability philosophy is the concept of strategic visioning (Faulkner, 2003; Ritchie,
1999). Strategic visioning for tourism destinations has been described as a new but
important extension of the more common process of strategic planning in tourism
(Ritchie, 1999). Even though the direction for tourism development is implicit in a
traditional strategic planning process, strategic visioning has a stronger emphasis on
bringing together the views of the many and varied stakeholders of the destination
community through collaborative and participative processes with the objective of
establishing directions for tourism development in the longer term so the principles of
sustainable tourism development are adopted as a fundamental philosophical foundation
for the planning process (Ritchie, 1999). The process is founded on destination
stakeholders being actively involved in decision making and planning for future
development, through a publicly driven process based on stakeholder values and
consensus. This consensus is expressed through the ‘sharing of a common vision’ which
provides an agreed benchmark towards which both the general community and the
tourism sector can more effectively direct their efforts (Faulkner, 2003; Ritchie, 1999).
4
While the ideal vision may not always be realized, the process does provide a means for
ensuring that a longer-term perspective informs day-to-day decision-making, as opposed
to ad hoc and centralised decision-making, which is an often-cited problem in tourism
planning.

Although the concept of strategic visioning as a tourism destination planning process is
relatively new, its theoretical underpinnings and empirical evidence from several
practical applications, suggest that it may be a useful process for achieving the
sustainable approach, while incorporating the caveats of strategic planning and multiple
stakeholder participation. For example Faulkner (2003) reports that the development and
articulation of a shared vision among Gold Coast stakeholders was the initial and most
critical step in the consultative process that lead to the development of the destination’s
tourism strategy. The objective was to develop a vision that ensured consensus among
primary stakeholders and in turn provided a focus for the strategic planning process and a
vehicle for mobilising cooperative action (Faulkner, 2003).

1.2 Research Issue

While the theory of sustainable tourism planning has been discussed at length in the
literature, with numerous case studies attesting to the fact that tourism destinations have
realised the error of their ways and are now embracing planning practices based on the
philosophies of sustainability, some authors disagree. There have been suggestions that
the tourism industry has been slow to adopt sustainability principles and actually put
them into practice due to the fact that economic motivations are always given priority
over social and ecological issues. The result being that the economic approach is still the
dominant tradition towards tourism development and planning practiced in many
countries and destinations (Getz, 1986; Hall, 1998).

A further issue that the literature has overlooked is how the sustainable paradigm is
actually applied in practice. It has been suggested that a preoccupation with defining the
concept of sustainable tourism has seen the practical aspects ignored, with Garrod and
5
Fyall (1998) claiming that tourism researchers have spent so much time ‘squabbling’
over definitions that they have not considered how the concept might actually be
implemented in practice. Similarly Faulkner (2003) finds that although participation and
collaboration in tourism planning has been widely discussed in the literature, this has
been at the expense of developing clear and concise formulas for how this can occur in
practice. Where models have been proposed, such as strategic visioning, aside from
some descriptive accounts they have not been examined in detail. Simpson (2001, p.4)
also noted such discrepancies,
“Whilst the concepts of stakeholder participation and strategic orientation are
widely endorsed as valuable contributors to sustainable development, there have
been no previous attempts to gauge the extent to which such considerations play
their part in real world tourism planning processes”.

1.3 Research Objectives

The deviations between sustainable tourism planning theory and practice represent a
significant gap in the body of knowledge. Therefore, the aim of this study was to firstly
examine the extent to which sustainable development principles, including the identified
prerequisites of strategic planning and stakeholder participation, are integrated into the
planning practices of local tourism destinations in Queensland. The second aim was to
examine the applicability of strategic visioning as a practical planning model for
integrating sustainability theory into tourism destination planning. The aims of the study
were expressed through three research objectives:

1. To investigate the current planning practices of local tourism destinations in
Queensland to determine the extent to which the principles of sustainable
development, strategic planning and stakeholder participation are integrated into
the tourism planning process.
2. To examine destination stakeholders perceptions of the local tourism planning
process and the extent to which the principles of sustainable development,
strategic planning and stakeholder participation underpin the process.
6
3. To consider the applicability of strategic visioning as a practical planning
approach for implementing sustainable development principles, strategic planning
and stakeholder participation into local tourism destination planning.

The study focused specifically on the planning practices of local tourism destinations in
Queensland, Australia (Figure 1.1). Although the integration of sustainable development
principles into tourism planning for all types of destinations is vital; local tourism
destinations were investigated for this study as it is at the local or community level where
tourism’s negative influences are generally felt most acutely (Aronsson, 2000; Ashworth,
1995; Nijkamp & Verdonkschot, 1995; Tosun, 1998). A further factor is that the local
level is often characterised by inadequate tourism planning frameworks and coordination
between stakeholders, compounded by the fact that the local government authority has
considerable influence over tourism development in the area. The literature also
indicates that a strategic visioning process may be of considerable benefit to local level
planning processes. Due to the researcher’s location local tourism destinations (equated
with Shire Council areas) in Queensland, Australia were examined (Figure 1.2).

Figure 1.1: The Location of Queensland

Northern
Territory
Queensland
Western
Australia
South
Australia
New South
Wales
Australian
Capital
Victoria
Territory
Tasmania
Source: Wikipedia, 2005
7
Figure 1.2: Local Tourism Destinations (Local Government Areas), Queensland
Douglas
Thuringowa
Sarina
Redland
Gold Coast
S
Source: Queensland State Government, Department of Local Government and Planning, 2004
8
To examine the research issues and address the stated objectives, a two-fold qualitative
research process was developed (Chapter Five). Firstly, the planning practices of local
tourism destinations in Queensland were investigated utilising the most recent, publicly
available tourism specific planning documents of each of the 125 local tourism
destinations in Queensland (excluding the 32 Aboriginal Land Councils) (Figure 1.2).
This stage of the research aimed to examine the extent to which sustainable development
principles, including strategic planning and stakeholder participation, are incorporated
into local tourism destination planning practices. To assess this a tourism planning
process evaluation instrument developed by Simpson (2001) was used. Due to the focus
of this particular study additional evaluative criteria were added to the instrument from
the literature on sustainable development, strategic planning and stakeholder
collaboration. This stage of the research also provided the sampling framework for the
second phase of the study.

Building on the secondary data analysed in stage one, the second phase of the qualitative
research process investigated the perceptions of destination stakeholders who had
participated in the planning process for their destination. From the review of tourism
planning documents conducted in stage one five case study tourism destinations were
selected to sample respondents for the stakeholder interviews. These destinations were:
Douglas Shire, Gold Coast City; Redland Shire; Sarina Shire and Thuringowa City
(Figure 1.2). This stage of the research examined destination stakeholder’s perceptions
of the tourism planning process and their views on the incorporation of sustainable
development principles, strategic planning and stakeholder participation into the planning
process. This was considered an important aspect of the research as Faulkner (2003) has
noted that the establishment of a more strategically focused and sustainability oriented
model ultimately hinges on the degree to which leading players among the stakeholder
groups embrace it and champion the cause. This phase of the research also examined
destination stakeholder’s perceptions of strategic visioning and its applicability for local
tourism destination planning.
9
1.4 Study Context

Tourism in Australia, although not large by world standards still makes a significant
contribution to the nation’s export receipts. There were 5.2 million visitor arrivals to
Australia during the year ended 30 September 2004, an increase of 11% relative to the
previous year (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2004). In the same period international
visitors consumed $16.7 billion worth of goods and services, representing 11% of total
exports, with forecasts predicting tourism export earnings for Australia to reach $27.9
billion by 2013 (Tourism Forecasting Council, 2004). While international tourism is a
major source of tourism revenue for the country, domestic tourism generates A$38 262
million and in 2001 Australians took 74 585 000 trips and spent 289 644 000 nights away
from home (Cooper & Ruhanen, 2005). Further the tourism industry employed 540, 700
people in Australia in 2002-03. Similarly tourism is a significant economic sector for the
state of Queensland. Queensland is more dependent on tourism for employment and
income generation than any other state in Australia, and tourism is Queensland’s largest
and fastest growing export (Hall, 2003). In Queensland more people are employed in
tourism than in agriculture, forestry, fishing and mining combined, with an estimated
10% of the workforce, or 135,000 people, working in tourism (Tourism Council of
Australia & Tourism Queensland, nd). These tourism growth projections highlight the
need for properly planned tourism growth and development and management of the
industry’s future, particularly given the fact that much of Australia and certainly
Queensland’s tourism product is based on environmental and cultural attractions, both of
which are highly susceptible to tourism’s negative impacts.

Sustainable tourism has emerged as a significant concept in tourism policy statements in
Australia (Hall, Jenkins & Kearsely, 1997). Hall (1998, p.21) notes that, “the principles
of sustainable development have become a highly contentious issue in Australian
politics…and controversy over tourism development indicate that the concept of
sustainable development may have direct application to the Australian tourism industry”.
In Australia, as with many other countries, the 1987 Brundtland report of the World
Commission of Environment and Development, and the United Nations Agenda 21,
10