Tourism Resources and Planning

Tourism Resources: A Summary

• Tourism resources include natural and man-made attractions, infrastructure, services, and conditions that attract tourists to an area.
• Tangible resources include facilities, attractions, and infrastructure, while intangible resources include image, reputation, and culture.
• Human resources such as skills, motivations, and service levels, and financial resources such as investment capital are also part of tourism resources.
• Accommodation, transport, and the reputation and image of the destination are key attractors in a tourism destination.
• The culture of the destination, including welcoming of tourists and hospitality, is also an important intangible resource.
• Human resources include skills, qualifications, experience, work ethics, training systems, and schemes.
• Tourism policy provides a framework for collective and individual decisions affecting long-term tourism development and daily activities in a destination.
• Tourism planning involves making decisions for the future and implementing them, including monitoring outcomes.
• Components of tourism include attractions and activities, accommodation, other tourist facilities and services, transportation facilities and services, other infrastructure, and institutional elements.
• Levels of tourism planning include national, international, and regional.
• Indicators are gauges of current issues, warning signs of impending problems, and can lead to better decision-making, identification of emerging issues, impacts, and performance measurement, reduced risk of planning mistakes, greater accountability, and continuous improvement.
• Good indicators can foster accountability for the wise use of tourism in decision-making.