Abstract
Rural tourism planners have called for more consideration to be given to potential social and environmental costs associated with tourism development. This paper demonstrates a process of developing a tourism strategic plan with goals consistent with the limitations imposed by the social and environmental conditions of the destination area. It outlines the seven sequential steps of a rural tourism planning approach. A strategic planning process of inventorying attractions, competitive analysis, assimilating resident, business leader and natural resource advocate input, using a Delphi approach to work toward consensus, testing ideas with potential or existing tourists and monitoring quality of life and visitor satisfaction is summarized. Although most of· the individual steps of this approach have been applied in different tourism planning settings, the full strategic planning approach where this information is integrated into an applied development plan has yet to be implemented.
Recommended Citation
Holland, Stephen M. and Crotts, John C.
(1992)
"A Strategic Planning Approach to Tourism Development in Rural Communities,"
Visions in Leisure and Business: Vol. 11:
No.
1, Article 3.
Available at:
https://scholarworks.bgsu.edu/visions/vol11/iss1/3