In bringing together the information collected to date, two questions must be answered: Where are we? And Where do we want to be?
Where are we?
Position statements should be developed in the areas of development, marketing, industry organization, tourism awareness, and support services and activities. These statements should not be long and involved. An evaluation of "Where are we?” might indicate, for example, that: "Our destination area has traditionally relied upon the summer market; facilities and support infrastructure to attract and service tourists at other times of the year have not been developed; the market has evolved to where more people have the time and money to take off-season vacations; a number of potential sites are available that could attract such tourists; yet there is a lack of appreciation among community leaders for the role that tourism can play in the economic and social development of the community; this lack of appreciation manifests itself in legislation that often discourages tourism development."
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Where are we? |
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Relative importance of objectives Relative stage of tourism |
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Where do we want to be? |
Where do we want to be?
A similar position statement would then be developed on: “Where do we want to be?” Such a statement would cover the areas mentioned above and would be related to working to solve the problems of the community while being realistic about the existing role of tourism. A region with chronic unemployment might stress the type of tourism that would produce large amounts of jobs while another with unbalanced regional growth would seek to develop tourism in those areas where the economy is weak. The point is that the answer to the question: “Where do we want to be?” should be related to solving the problems unique to that region.
Those in the region will have to determine to what extent they want tourism to:• maximize the opportunity for tourism development to raise the level of the national and regional economy;
- maximize the opportunities for harmonious integration of tourism development with the local life style culture, and environment;
- maximize the opportunities for the creation of more jobs;
- maximize the opportunities for essential tourism infrastructure to improve the level of services for local people. 1
The position statement should realistically reflect where the region presently is in terms of tourism. It is pointless to develop a goal that has no chance of being met.
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