Strategic tourism planning

Strategic tourism planning is an essential tool for the development and management of sustainable and competitive tourism destinations, since it allows a territory to achieve tourism objectives based on a vision; manage and value its resources and attractions; identify challenges and propose solutions; and ultimately, define where the destination should be oriented based on a desired future scenario.

In addition, the strategic planning and management of tourism allows making the right decisions within the framework of tourism sustainability and moving towards common objectives, fostering cohesion and joint work among all the actors involved, working for a tourist activity that is beneficial for all, minimizing the negative impacts and enhancing the positive impacts generated by this activity.

It is important that tourism destinations always keep in mind a roadmap as a strategy, and keep updating this tool to adapt to a constantly changing market and sector, such as tourism.

The strategic planning of tourism destinations is usually structured in 4 main phases:

1. Analytical stage: In this stage, an exhaustive analysis is carried out from all sources, background information and documentation where the different territorial and social variables of the destination are considered, which will feed the knowledge of the initial situation of the tourism activity in the destination. For this purpose, both primary and secondary research methodologies are used, where the consulting team acquires different suggestions, opinions, trends, concerns and, in short, elements that condition the tourism baseline.

2. Diagnostic stage: This stage focuses on obtaining a diagnosis of the current tourism situation of the destination, incorporating the principles of transparency, participation and consensus from all stakeholders. In other words, it is a matter of defining the main strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of the tourism destination, for which one of the best-known methodologies used is the SWOT analysis. This stage is fed by the information and results acquired in the previous stage and, in Pax#, it is complemented with participatory dynamics that value the collaborative work of the tourism stakeholders in the territory.

3. Strategic stage: Once the tourism baseline of the destination has been defined, the first step is to formulate the long-term vision of what the tourism destination wants to become. Secondly, and based on the results of the diagnosis, a reflection is made on the main obstacles that prevent the territory from approaching this tourism vision and which, therefore, become the main objectives to be achieved in the short term. It is important to be clear and well defined what these objectives are, as the operational strategy and action plan for the coming years will be based on them.

4. Operational stage: The whole reflection process in the previous stages culminates in this last stage, where the action plan to be implemented in the coming years at the destination is defined, based on the defined strategy. These actions must be clear and concise, and be accompanied by a timeline of actions, and indicators for monitoring or compliance with them. At Pax#, we believe that it is important to encourage co-responsibility of actions for a better system of governance and collaboration.

In Pax#, we believe in strategic and sustainable tourism planning, from an environmental, social and economic perspective, in all stages of our work with destinations. We consider the participation of all stakeholders involved in tourism as a key element to ensure the greatest benefit and sustainability of tourism, and we materialize this commitment through various participatory processes that involve both public administrations and the private sector, as well as the local population.

Are you a public management entity seeking sustainable tourism development and thinking about developing a Strategic Tourism Plan for your destination, aligned with a specific purpose and objectives? Contact us and we will give you more information about what we do to help tourism destinations to implement this planning tool and, in particular, how we do it.