A Critical Analysis of how events contribute to destination community development.
Barriers to Using Tourism for Sustainable Development
Dr. Gianna Moscardo
School of Business
James Cook University
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Overview
- Introduction to case study analysis
- Barriers to sustainable development of tourism
- Strategies for overcoming these barriers
Case Study Analysis
- The information being presented here is based on case study analysis
- Database of >300 case studies of tourism development
- Important tool in policy and planning both practice and theory
Tourism – keeping its promises
- Tourism is often seen as a promising solution to the social and economic challenges of peripheral regions
- But it doesn’t always live up to this promise – especially in rural and more peripheral regions
- Significant negative impacts were reported in the more than 80% of the case studies analysed
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General barriers to tourism and sustainability
- Dominance of external agents
- Conflict within communities
- Limited or no formal tourism planning
- Poor or no market analysis
- Limited awareness of negative impacts
- Limited control and involvement by locals
- Lack of coordination mechanisms
- Lack of tourism leadership
- Limited connections to tourism distribution systems
- Lack of promised benefits
Types of Barriers
- Features of the region
- Tourism development pre-requisites
- Tools to support tourism development
Features of the region
- You get better tourism outcomes if you already have
- Political stability
- Strong social cohesion
- Culture/history that has a positive role for visitors/guests/outsiders
Tourism Development Pre-Requisites
- You get better tourism outcomes if you have
- A community that has some understanding of tourism and its effects
- Tourism leader/ schampions
- Mechanisms for coordinating tourism interests
Tourism Development – the Dream
- Community participation in tourism planning results in sustainable development alternatives and community support for, and benefits from tourism
- But this all assumes that everyone has a good understanding of tourism systems and the opportunities and costs it can bring
Tourism Development – the Vague Possibility
- Evidence is that many residents have little experience of tourism or tourists
- Evidence is that many community leaders have limited appreciation of the complexity of tourism
- Tend to be
- unprepared for the costs
- unable to make the most of the opportunities
- overly optimistic about the benefits
- poorly prepared to meet visitor expectations
What do people need to know about tourism
- Systems models of tourism
- Details about positive and negative impacts of tourism
- Opportunities for local businesses and residents to participate
- Feasibility assessments of different types of development
Features of good tourism leaders
- Knowledgeable about tourism
- Enthusiastic about the region and its tourism potential
- Able to motivate others
- Access to an extensive network both within and outside the community
- Supportive of the values of the community
- Social entrepreneurs
So you have an informed community and strong tourism leaders- what next?
- You need a tourism coordination group
- This group should be organised and supported by local governments but funded by state/national governments
What should the group do?
- Identify & evaluate development options
- Establish tourism action plans
- Coordinate tourism with other developments
- Identify and respond to conflicts
- Establish and monitor quality standards
- Respond to crises
Tools to support tourism development
- You get better tourism outcomes if you have
- A formal tourism action plan
- Mechanisms for community involvement & ownership
- Local government support & state/national government funding
- Community capacity building
- Effective marketing
- Soft infrastructure development
References/readings
- Moscardo, G. (2005) Peripheral tourism development; Challenges, Issues and success factors. Tourism Recreation Research, 30(1): 27-44.
- Blackman, A., Foster, F., Hyvonen, T., Jewell, B., Kuilboer, A., & Moscardo, G. (2004) Factors contributing to successful tourism development in peripheral regions. Journal of Tourism Studies, 15(1), 59-70.
- Moscardo, Gianna (2011). The role of knowledge in good governance for tourism. In: Tourist Destination Governance: practice, theory and issues. CAB International, Wallingford, UK, pp. 67-80.
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