Tourism Resources

Tourism Resources: A Summary

• Tourism resources include natural and man-made attractions, infrastructure, services, and conditions that attract tourists to an area and contribute to the formulation of a tourism destination.
• Tangible resources refer to facilities, attractions, and infrastructure, while intangible resources include image, reputation, and culture.
• Human resources refer to skills, motivations, and service levels, and financial resources include investment capital, public capital for services and infrastructures, and finances to develop and market tourism.
• Key tangible resources that attract tourists to a destination include accommodation stock and transportation.
• The reputation of a destination, concerning value for money, service quality, hospitality, safety, security, uniqueness of experiences, and readiness to receive tourists, is a critical intangible resource.
• The culture of a destination, including welcoming of tourists, hospitality, and lifestyles, is another intangible resource.
• Human resources are essential, including skills, qualifications, experience, work ethics, and training systems and schemes.
• Tourism policy refers to a set of rules, regulations, guidelines, directives, and development or promotion objectives and strategies that provide a framework for tourism development and daily activities within a destination.
• Tourism planning involves making decisions for the future, implementing decisions, and monitoring outcomes.
• The components of tourism include tourism attractions and activities, accommodation, other tourist facilities and services, transportation facilities and services, other infrastructure, and institutional elements.
• The levels of tourism planning include national, international, and regional planning, each considering different factors.
• Indicators are gauges of the presence or seriousness of current issues, warning signs of impending circumstances or problems, and a future need for intervention, with benefits including better decision-making, identification of emerging issues, impacts, performance measurement, reduced risk of planning mistakes, greater accountability, and continuous improvement through constant monitoring.