3 Questions Your Tourism Plan Should Answer

1. Where are we?

After you have identified an area prime for destination development, one of the next steps should be conducting a destination tourism assessment. This assessment will provide an analysis of the competition in your region as a tourist destination and help implement the steps you need to take for your tourism planning.

The market ultimately decides the boundaries of a destination as well as it’s physical and cultural limits, which is why you should keep in mind the following:

• Attractions: What draws people to this destination? The culture, the biodiversity, landscapes, architecture, history, agriculture, festivals etc.

• The Environment: The climate, safety, what are the cultures, religions, infrastructure, resources, facilities, services, etc.

• The Policies: Government type, laws, you need to know what you can and can’t do when developing a tourism plan.

• The Competitors: What is being implemented in your destination already? What are neighborhoring destinations offering?

• Key Stakeholders: Who will be involved in tourism activities in this destination? How should they be involved in the planning stage?

• Potential & Opportunities: In what areas can further development be useful? Is there untapped potential in the destination? 

You can learn more about destination assessments and read about assessments Solimar has completed here: http://bit.ly/1kMaQjM.

2. Where do we want to go?

After assessing the destination, you can move toward the planning stage. One of the most important aspects of planning is visioning. You need to have an ultimate vision for the destination. This vision will help you set goals and determine how your destination can acheive the desired outcomes. These goals should be attainable and feasible, some examples are:

• Increased visitation

• Higher sales

• Increase awareness of destination among target markets

• Increase awareness of vision (eg: ecotourism, community-based tourism, protect natural resources, improve water quality, help local economy) among target markets

• More tourism products offered

3. How do we get there?

After creating a vision for your destination, the real work begins. How do you get where you want to go? In order to reach your vision and meet your goals, you need to create strategies and tactics that will engage community members & key tourism stakeholders while raising awareness among your target markets to drive sales & visitation. Here are a few inititiaves you might need to reach your goals:

• Get community involvement from key tourism stakeholders

• Focus on the creation or improvement of tours, lodging, attractions, events, and visitor services that can enhance the visitor experience. This in turn can increase your opportunity to attract investments.

• Set up social media platforms & integrated marketing efforts

• Implement marketing contests and campaigns.

• Create partnerships with investors, government agencies, etc. 

If you follow these general guidelines, your tourism plan should be effective. Remember to monitor and evaluate your plan by collecting data and analyzing the success of the destination initiative. For more information on tourism plans, please contact us! Solimar offers strategic planning services which include destination assessments, tourism marketing strategies, and many more services which you can read about in this section: http://bit.ly/1n2q05t