Tourism planning activities can be organized in pre-defined steps. This article explains the five most important steps you should take as part of your tourism planning activities.
Define the tourism product
The tourism product is the combination of all elements that are offered to visitors. It includes everything from accommodation and transport to entertainment, food and drink. The product can be defined in terms of its components or its target market. To define your product, you must first determine which components it comprises (e.g., hotels vs restaurants). Then, you’ll need to decide what type of customer will be buying each component (e.g., families vs business travellers).
Understand and analyze the competitive landscape
The first step to being successful in any business is understanding the competition. You should always know who they are, what they’re doing and how they’re doing it.
The best way to do this is by analyzing the competitive landscape. This can include:
- Researching your competitors’ websites, social media channels and other digital platforms (e.g., blogs)
- Analyzing their marketing strategies (e.g., where they advertise, how often)
- Understanding their pricing strategies (e.g., what rates are charged for products/services offered)
Identify tourism infrastructure needs
- Identify tourism infrastructure needs
- Tourism infrastructure is the physical elements that are needed to support tourism. These include roads, railroads, airports and ports, energy supply facilities (such as power plants), water supply systems and wastewater treatment plants. Tourism infrastructure may be public or private; it may also be new or existing. For example:
- The government builds a road connecting two cities so tourists can drive between them;
- Private companies build hotels along this new highway.
Develop a marketing strategy
- Market your tourism product. Your marketing strategy should be based on the tourism product you are offering and how it compares to what other destinations are offering. For example, if your destination has a unique geological feature like Hawaii’s volcanoes or Colorado’s mountains, then this should be emphasized in any marketing materials for tourists who visit there.
- Analyze the competitive landscape in which you operate and identify potential partners who can help promote your destination (e.g., airlines, tour operators). A good place to start is by contacting trade associations that represent similar businesses within your industry; they may already have connections with companies that could become partners or sponsors of future events at which they’re present, and vice versa!
Develop a transportation plan
- Develop a transportation plan. A good transportation plan helps you to make sure that you and your team have the right equipment and vehicles for the job, which can be especially important when it comes to large-scale events like festivals and conventions.
- Consider these factors:
- The number of people who will be attending the event (including volunteers)
- How far they’ll be traveling from home; this will determine if there are any restrictions on what type of vehicle should be used for each part of their journey (i.e., if they’re coming from out of state)
- Whether or not there are special needs among attendees (i.e., elderly people who need handicap accessibility)
Organized in pre-defined steps
Tourism planning activities can be organized in pre-defined steps. Tourism planning activities are typically organized into four phases: the assessment of tourism potential, the identification of market opportunities and tourism products, the formulation of a marketing strategy and finally the implementation plan.
Conclusion
Tourism planning activities can be organized in pre-defined steps. This allows tourism planners to focus on one activity at a time and ensures that all stakeholders are involved in the process. Planning activities also help tourism organizations develop strategies for promoting their destination as well as developing new facilities needed to support tourism growth.