FUTURE ISSUES FOR VISITOR MANAGEMENT
In the future, the impacts of tourism will continue to pose ethical dilemmas for planners and managers. On the one hand, governments are seeking to develop more socially inclusive societies, where principles such as ‘Tourism for All ’ are pursued to facilitate a greater inclusion of special needs by tourism businesses and agencies, argues against management measures to limit access to those with the purchasing power. Running counter to such ideological arguments on tourism is the recognition that visitor management needs to limit rather than expand the access to many tourist sites and resources. The introduction of charging to enter religious sites such as Canterbury Cathedral in the face of problems caused by unlimited access is one example that raised many moral issues. The dilemma pricing as a management tool introduces is that political arguments on allowing all members of society to engage in tourism and leisure trips became redundant. Instead a caveat has to be added – participation for all in a defined range of activities and events. Tourism only becomes accessible if one has the disposable income.
Globally, the application of sophisticated management tools used in niche markets such as ecotourism is beginning to permeate other destinations and sites. As Page and Dowling (2002) noted, soft measures in ecotourism management designed to influence visitor behaviour, in order to mitigate impacts, seek to change users’ attitudes and behaviour, and even out the distribution of visits between heavily and lightly used sites. An intermediate category of visitor management seeks to lower usage levels by balancing decisions on whether to concentrate or disperse visitors. Last, hard measures seek to ration use by controlling tourist numbers; this often requires advance reservations, different pricing strategies and queuing. Future issues for visitor management.
These tools and techniques will begin to gather momentum at many tourist sites and destinations, with taxing tourists as the most radical measure being seriously considered by destinations under extreme pressure. This tool is really a manager’s last resort to control tourism. The World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) does not want to see its industry members saddled with massive tourist taxation, since it is seen that this may stifle growth. It objected to unfair measures like tourism taxation, fees and levies in its 2002 report Taxing Intelligently. Yet the WTTC is not faced with managing tourism in Venice. Venice illustrates what happens in a free-market economy, where pricing and taxation may be the only tools left to radically manage the destination. In locations such as Venice debates on issues such as ‘Tourism for All ’ may be arcane, given the fact that tourism is not a basic human need, but a consumer good purchased in a free market. Reducing costs of access such as the low-cost airlines have done has actually placed additional stresses on locations such as Venice. Making them potentially more accessible to a larger range of people due to price will conversely add problems for visitor management.
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In an ideal world, Page and Dowling (2002) identify the value of environmental planning for ecotourism that destinations can extend and apply in other locations. Here the principles of identifying discrete planning zones (see Figure 12.11 ), with well-defined conservation values that also accommodate tourist activities and development, require a detailed classification of visitor activity in relation to the need for protection and compatibility with the resource base (see Figure 12.12 ). This involves identifying types of zones for tourism where ecotourism or environmental issues are critical, such as:
● sanctuary zones, with special preservation provisions
● nature conservation zones, where protection and conservation are balanced
● outdoor recreation zones – natural areas where a wide range of outdoor activities are accommodated
● tourism development zones, with clusters of tourist activities and attractions/infrastructure
● other land uses to accommodate social and economic activity.
This approach allows tourism management to combine the reduction of environmental impacts with enhancing the visitor experience.
These principles can be modified and refined for application in resorts and urban tourism destinations to achieve a more coordinated and rational approach to tourism. In sum, the activities and freedom of tourists will have to be curtailed in the future as resorts, destinations and sites realize the imperative of visitor management tools to implement a more rational and managed use of resources. This is to maintain a viable and dynamic tourism industry. To do this will require more innovative thinking and planning, partnerships between stakeholders and good communication to explain to visitors the rationale and need for such measures. The resolution of conflict, balancing tourism, non-tourism and other interests, will require planners and tourism managers to cooperate in the best interests of the locality in an increasingly competitive marketplace. With these issues in mind, attention now turns to the discussion of future management challenges for tourism.
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