Policy Planning Cycle Framework
Policy planning cycle refers to a framework of activities that are adopted while developing a new project. The activities involved to develop a new project are formulation of the objectives, identification of the opportunities and the issues, evaluation of the options, selection and implementation of the selected option and follow up of the same. The report is a critical evaluation of the role of policy planning cycle, while designing the policies of the tourism industry. According to the World Tourism Organization, the discussion papers are an important tool that aids in the various stages of the policy planning cycle and are mainly used at the consultation stage in the tourism industry. The report comprises of the critical evaluation and comparison of the two discussion papers to depict the role of the same in the policy planning cycle. The two discussion papers that have been selected for the evaluation are National Heritage Tourism Summit Discussion Paper and the Sustainable Food and Wine Project Discussion Paper.
Tourism Industry plays a noteworthy role in the economic and social welfare of a nation (United Nations, 2017). The formulation of the efficient tourism policy is therefore critical, because such policies are an aid to develop, operate and manage the tourism of a particular region, state or a nation. These policies guide towards achievement of the long term and short term goals of the Government, Therefore, the planning is essential for their formulation. Policy planning cycle is a systematic approach to efficient and effective policy formulation.
In order to formulate an effective tourism planning policy, the six steps are followed.
(Source: UNWTO, 2018)
The discussion paper was prepared by the National Trusts of Australia so as to conduct a consultation on the unexploited opportunities in the heritage tourism of Australia (National Trust, 2018). According to the records on the international visitors to Australia in the year 2017, number of participations in the cultural and heritage activity was 43 percent and 33.9 percent respectively. Thus, there lies an enormous potential growth in the said areas. The paper stated that as of now, there exist a very little direction and the guidance on both the state and the national levels about the various facets of the heritage tourism. The paper explores the opportunities for growth and the challenges along with the direction to be followed for the growth and development of the heritage tourism in Australia.
Significance of Efficient Tourism Policy
The discussion paper has been prepared with the aim of increasing sustainability practices in the tourism industry, specifically the Food and Wine Industry across the Adelaide Hills, Fleurieu and Kangaroo Island regions (RDAHC, 2014). The paper reported on the current relevant issues and the opportunities on the work of the producers, processors and the Food SA as on the lines of the Australian Food Plan and the State Food Plan. The paper related the concept of value add with the food industry. In addition to this, the paper explored the various facets such as Regional Branding, Employment and Skills, Hospitality, Food Trails and Visitor Guides, Farmer’s markets and Restaurant Australia Campaign.
As it is evident from the name, the National Heritage Tourism Summit Discussion Paper is focussed on the heritage tourism in Australia. The paper is very well designed with the use of the pictures and the diagrams for the clarity. The question answer format of the paper depicts that the paper is aimed at answering the questions of the stakeholders at any point. The paper begins with the description of the current scenario of the heritage tourism in Australia, which is the first stage of the policy planning cycle. It describes the significance of the tourism and the heritage in terms of contribution towards the economic and the social well-being of the nation. The key authorities responsible for the management of the heritage sites are identified. The paper comprises of the surveys conducted by the National Visitor Survey and the sourcing of data from the Tourism Research Australia. The inclusion of the authentic facts proves to be an aid in approaching the stakeholders and obtaining their feedback. This is followed by the analysis of the visitor market motivations and the information needs. The latter part of the paper identifies the various challenges of the heritage tourism such as misunderstandings about the trends, distrust of tourism and heritage manners and more. The paper ends with the year wise action plan to be followed, that includes the overall vision and the guiding principles, to abide by and the invitation of the feedback.
The second discussion paper is based on introducing the sustainable practice in the food and wine industry. The paper begins with description of the value addition in the food sector and the background of the regions concerned i.e. Adelaide Hills, Fleurieu and Kangaroo Islands, as in the identification of the issues in the policy planning cycle. The discussion paper further identifies the key areas to achieve the significant contribution of the tourism towards the wine and food industry. Some of the key areas identified are encouragement of the cellar doors specialisation, development of the clusters of wine, food and agriculture tourism in the regional destinations, introduction of the accreditation schemes and more. The discussion paper explores the number of visitors, occupancy rates through comparative charts. It further evaluates the already existing destination action plans for the said regions, to find the deviations, the key insights and the areas of the strategic focus. In addition to the above the various options to achieve the goal of refining the food and wine industry are examines such as Restaurant Australia Campaign, regional branding, local market development, role of employment and skills, investment funding and the World Heritage Listing Bid. The findings of the discussion are finally summarised in the form of the SWOT matrix for better understanding. The paper is finally concluded with the invitation of the feedback in the form of the questions laid down as discussion points.
National Heritage Tourism Summit Discussion Paper Review
Each of the discussion paper is concerned with a specific issue set in Australian Tourism Industry. While the first paper is aimed at revamping the heritage tourism in the state, while the second is focussed towards refining the food and wine industry with relation to the tourism practices in the regions of Adelaide Hills, Fleurieu and Kangaroo Island. Both the papers follow the concept of the policy planning cycle. Both the papers at first take into consideration of the respective existing scenarios and the background, and then evaluate the existing opportunities and the challenges. Each of the papers further identified and evaluated the key areas of consideration through which the respective objectives can be attained. In addition to this, the actions plans are developed and the guidelines are laid down for the future course of actions to be taken. The papers are similar on the point that both recognise the value of the stakeholders by conducting researches on the existing choices of the visitors, spending capacities and lastly the feedback is invited from the stakeholders on the significant issues.
While the former paper is based on national issue that the heritage tourism in the country of Australia, the latter is region oriented, i.e.it concentrates only on the three specific regions of the Adelaide Hills, Fleurieu and Kangaroo Island. The former paper involves a comprehensive use of the diagrams and tables. The latter lays down the SWOT matrix and summarised the result in a single SWOT framework. However, both the papers were understandable and easily readable.
Thus, from the discussions carried out in the previous parts I have come to the conclusion that formulation of the policies has a significant role to play in the tourism industry and hence the policy planning cycle. Since the tourism industry of a country, state or region essentially contributes to the gross domestic product and the social well-being of the region, hence these policies must be designed taking into consideration the needs and the interests of all the stakeholders. Hence, I have realised that consultative approach is the suitable approach for the formation of such policies. I further realised that the discussion papers are an important medium of conducting the above mentioned consultation from the stakeholders. As I analysed and evaluated the two different papers on the Australian Tourism Industry, I realised that each paper is different from each other. While some papers are issue oriented, some are region oriented. In addition to this, I understood that how each stage of the policy planning cycle is critical, as both the papers covered each and every stage in their own way. Hence, I have understood the value of the policy planning cycle and the discussion papers.
References:
The World Tourism Organisation. (2018) Policy Planning and Economic Development. [Online] Available from: https://cooperation.unwto.org/technical-product/tourism-policy [Accessed on 08/08/18].
National Trust. (2018) National Heritage Tourism Summit Discussion Paper. [Online] Available from: https://www.nationaltrust.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/National-Heritage-Tourism-Discussion-Paper-for-Summit-3.pdf [Accessed on 08/08/18].
Regional Development Australia Adelaide Hills, Fleurieu & Kangaroo Island. (2014) Discussion Paper 7 – Tourism & Hospitality Value Add. Online] Available from: https://www.rdahc.com.au/fileadmin/user_upload/docs/DiscussionPaper_ValueAdd.pdf [Accessed on 08/08/18].
United Nations. (2017) World Economic Situation Prospects. United Nations Publications.
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