Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
within which regional development objectives are being sought through the development
of tourism, there are a range of policy measures available (Table 9.4). Five different
measures were identified:
•
regulatory instruments:
regulations, permits and licences that have a legal basis and
which require monitoring and enforcement
•
voluntary instruments:
actions or mechanisms that do not require expenditure
•
expenditure:
direct government expenditure to achieve policy outcomes
•
financial incentives:
including taxes, subsidies, grants and loans, which are incentives to
undertake certain activities or behaviours and which tend to require minimal
enforcement
•
non-intervention:
where government deliberately avoids intervention in order to achieve
its policy objectives.
The selection of the most appropriate measure or, more likely, a range of measures, is
dependent on the particular circumstances of each region. There is no universal 'best
way'; each region or locale needs to select the appropriate policy mix for its own
development requirements (Sharpley and Telfer 2002). However, this does not mean that
the policy and planning process occurs in a vacuum. Rather the attention to policy and
planning processes has the intent of making such processes as overt as possible, so that
the values, influence and interests of various stakeholders are relatively transparent.
There is no perfect planning or policy process, yet we can, through the geographer's
contribution, help make it more relevant to the people who are affected by tourism
development and continually strive for improvement.
Table 9.4:
Rural tourism development policy
instruments
Categories
Instruments
Examples
Regulatory
instruments
• Laws
Planning laws can give considerable power to government to
encourage particular types of rural tourism development
through, for example, land use zoning
• Licences, permits
and standards
Regulatory instruments can be used for a wide variety of
purposes at local government level, e.g. they may set materials
standards for tourism developments, or they can be used to set
architectural standards for heritage streetscapes or properties
• Tradeable permits
Permits are often used in the United States to limit resource use
or pollution; however, the instrument requires effective
monitoring for it to work
• Quid pro quos
Government may require businesses to do something in
exchange for certain rights, e.g. land may be given to a
developer below market rates, or a development is of a
particular type or design
Voluntary
instruments
• Information
Expenditure on educating the local public, businesses or
tourists to achieve specific goals, e.g. appropriate recreational
behaviour
• Volunteer
associations and
non-governmental
Government support of community tourism organisations is
very common in tourism. Support may come from direct grants
and/or by provision of office facilities. Examples of this type of
