CHAPTER 9 SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 274
1.9 DEFINITION OF TERMS
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particular time. The concern regarding tourism planning in KwaZulu-Natal is whether these institutions and structures pursue a common planning and development agenda to achieve a comparative and competitive tourism destination. This study seeks to establish whether these structures contribute to tourism development.
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providing a somewhat comprehensive definition that encompasses issues of tourism policy, planning and development. Some definitions are provided below.
The United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO, 2000) defines tourism as the activities of persons travelling to and staying in places outside their usual environments for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes not related to the exercise of any activity, remunerated from within the place visited (Page, 2005). This is a narrow statistical definition of tourism and does not cover all the aspects that need to be investigated and integrated into tourism planning, development, coordination and management of the tourism industry.
Perhaps more importantly to policy and planning terms, in response to the deficiencies of a statistical or technical approach to tourism in policy terms, tourism is increasingly being interpreted as but one, albeit highly significant, dimension of temporary mobility and circulation (Coles et al. 2004; Hall, 2005). The definition by the World Tourism Organisation as such is limited to technical and statistical approach without planning and functionality connotations, limited to travelling and related activities, and is confined to supranational interactions among governments.
It does not zoom into national, provincial (regional) and local government long-term planning imperatives and does not reflect the complex nature of tourism. This definition is however popular among the authors for travel and tourism books in South Africa and limits the broader understanding of tourism among learners and educators which in turn affect the broader understanding of tourism among communities in South Africa as a whole and KwaZulu-Natal in particular.
On the other hand “Tourism may be defined as the sum of the phenomena and relationships arising from the interaction of tourists, business suppliers, host governments, and host communities in the process of attracting and hosting these tourists and other visitors (McIntosh, Goeldner & Ritchie, 1999). This is a comprehensive definition of tourism as it takes into consideration the tourist, the businesses providing tourist goods and services, the government of the host community or area, and the host community which are the important components of tourism planning, development, coordination and management. This is a holistic
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approach to tourism and dissects the industry into its functional and planning aspects which encompasses a wide array of stakeholders that need to be involved from the international to local level, and also considers the private sector as a key planning partner in driving provision of tourism products.
However, the most appropriate conceptual definition of tourism encompassing aspects of planning, development, coordination and management is that “tourism is the sum total of the processes, activities, and outcomes arising from the interactions among tourists, tourism suppliers, host governments, host communities, origin governments, universities, community colleges and non-governmental organisations, in the process of attracting, transporting, hosting and managing tourists and other visitors (Weaver & Lawton, 2006). This definition is an expansion of the comprehensive definition (McIntosh, Goeldner & Ritchie, 1999, 2003) which was the first attempt to put tourism in a broader stakeholder context. The definition by Weaver & Lawton (2006) goes further to include origin governments, tertiary education institutions and non-governmental organisations, all of which play an increasingly significant role in tourism. This definition is therefore adopted in this study as it incorporates a wide range of stakeholders, who often form coordinating structures in tourism, that need to play a considerable role in planning, coordination and management of the tourism industry in KwaZulu-Natal.
1.9.2 Planning
Hall (2008) defines planning as a process of human thought and action based upon that thought – in point of fact, forethought, thought for the future – nothing more or less than this is planning which is a very general human activity. Planning is considered to be a strategic function that is usually performed at a strategic level in any situation, organisation or event, for the purpose of ensuring the smooth operation and coordination of efforts. Generally, Planning can be defined as, “the fundamental element of management that predetermines what an organisation proposes to accomplish in the changing environment in which it exists.” (Bennett, 2002: 35).
Planning involves arranging, charting a course, and designing, preparing and
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plotting, all with an eye to the future (Fennell, 2002). On the other hand, planning can be defined as the dynamic process of determining goals, systematically selecting alternative courses of actions to achieve those goals, implementing the chosen alternatives and evaluating the choice to determine if it is successful (Cruz, 2005).
The planning process regards the environment which includes political, physical, social and economic elements as interrelated and interdependent components which should be taken into account in considering the future of a destination area. For the purpose of this study, a definition of planning by Talwar (2006: 74), which states that
“Planning is the process of identifying objectives and defining and evaluating methods of achieving them” is adopted as it captures the essence of what the tourism coordinating structures in KwaZulu-Natal needs to achieve.
1.9.3 Tourism Policy
Tourism policy in a simplistic sense means the identification of a series of goals and objectives which help an agency, usually a government one, in the process of planning the tourism industry (Fennel 1999). On the other hand, Akerhurst (1992) in Fennel (1999) defines tourism policy development as a strategy for the development of the tourism industry sector that establishes objectives and guidelines as a basis for what needs to be done. The essence is on identifying and agreeing on objectives;
establishing priorities; placing in a community context the roles of national governments, national tourist organisations, local governments and private sector businesses; establishing possible coordination and implementation of agreed programmes, with monitoring and evaluation of these programmes.
The issue of tourism policy and / or tourism development is central in this study as all the tourism institutional frameworks, planning and coordinating structures in KwaZulu-Natal need to be activated for integrated tourism development in the province. Tourism policy is a set of regulations, rules, guidelines, directives and development/ promotion objectives and strategies that provide the framework, within which the collective and individual decisions directly affecting tourism development and the daily activities within a destination are taken (Ritchie & Crouch, 2000;
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Goeldner & Ritchie, 2009). The latter definition is more appropriate and more comprehensive and is therefore adopted in the context of this study. The latter definitions is adopted because it encompasses a number of issues that riddle coordination of tourism activities in KwaZulu-Natal and details all the aspects that need to be considered when dealing with tourism policy issues.
1.9.4 Strategic Tourism Planning
An established definition for strategic tourism planning is that it is the process of examining both the present and the future environments, formulating the organisation’s objectives, and making implementation and control decisions focused on achieving these objectives in the present and future environment (Bennett 2002:139). Bennett (2009) goes further to clarify that strategic tourism planning includes any activities or issues that involve defining the organisation’s mission setting its objectives, and developing strategies to enable it to operate successfully in its environment. Strategic planning is imperative in tourism planning in KwaZulu- Natal as tourism is a dynamic industry that is constantly changing and involves a number of stakeholders that need to work together towards a common vision to ensure sustainable development of the tourism industry.
1.9.5 Coordination
Coordination refers to formal institutionalised relationships among existing networks of organisations, interests and/ or individuals, (Mulford & Rogers, 1982, in Hall &
Page, 2006). Similarly, George (2007) defines coordination as the formal institutionalized relations between existing networks of organizations. Coordination is central and constitutes the core of this study and forms a gist of studying the relationships among different tourism coordinating organisations and structures in KwaZulu-Natal. The definition of coordination is thus pivotal in this study in analysing the challenges faced by KwaZulu-Natal in developing a co-ordinated approach towards tourism planning and policy that will culminate to the creation of a sustainable tourism industry in the province.
21 1.10 ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS
Ethical principles, rules and conventions distinguish socially acceptable behaviour from that which is considered socially acceptable (Burns, 2000). These ethical issues can relate to both the subject matter of the research as well as to its methods and procedures, and can go well beyond courtesy or etiquette regarding appropriate treatment of persons in a free society (Burns, 2000). Certain ethical considerations, concerned with such matters as plagiarism and honesty in reporting of results, arise in all research, but additional issues arise when the research involves human subjects, in both biological and social sciences (Veal, 1992). However, Burns (2000) feels that ethical rules or guidelines that attempt to define limits may be too rigid, limiting the effectiveness of research and denying research into aspects of human behaviour where knowledge would be valuable. Veal (1992) provides some of the following codes of research ethics and highlights that some of them might be considered obvious to the moral person, but are nevertheless included for completeness of research ethics:
1.10.1 Competence
A researcher should not embark on research involving the use of skills in which they have not been adequately trained; to do so may risk causing harm to subjects, may be an abuse of subjects’ goodwill, may risk damaging the reputation of the research organisation, and may involve waste of time and other resources.
1.10.2 Literature Review
Any research should be preceded by a thorough review of the literature to ensure, as far as possible, that the proposed research has not been done elsewhere. The study is based on tourism policy and planning and a series of literature was reviewed to give context and direction to the research inquiry, particularly on tourism policy, planning, development and management. Literature on research methodology in
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tourism studies in particular, and social sciences in general, was also used in the study. All the literature used was duly acknowledged and referenced.
1.10.3 Plagiarism
The use of other’s data or ideas without due acknowledgement and, where appropriate, permission, is unethical. The study based its theoretical backing on a number of ideas generated by different authors and agencies. The study also used a number of diagrammatic representations of tourism policy and planning models, approaches and systems. The ideas gathered from various documents used in the study provided insights into the research enquiry of the study but were not used carelessly in shaping the findings as the study revealed its own findings which are provided as primary information. The many documents used in study for providing varying scholastic ideas and perspectives on tourism policy and planning were duly acknowledged and referenced appropriately to avoid plagiarism.
1.10.4 Falsification of results
The falsification of research results or the misleading reporting of results is unethical.
The study revealed a number of findings that were based on acceptable research methodology as outlined in chapter five. There findings were based on objectives and hypotheses generated during research design and tested accordingly in chapter seven. The results of the study were based on research hypotheses that shaped the research enquiry and statistical hypotheses that tested whether the results of the study were authentic and did not occur by chance. The findings of the study are therefore authentic results of rigorous applied research as designed and adopted for this study (Veal, 1992; Burns, 2000).
In the context of this study, all the research ethics were observed and it was ensured that none of them was breached. There were number of institutions and individuals who were targeted as respondents in the study. The respondents were dealt with in a professional manner and given all the respect they deserve. The research
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assistants were trained on research ethics and how to deal with respondents and to respect their opinions when questionnaires were administered. All the information acquired from individual respondents was dealt with as a matter of utmost confidentiality to protect the identity of respondents as this is an applied research that deals with hard realities from various organisations. It is likely that such factual outcomes may not be acceptable for other people in authority if the daily issues of their organisations and relationship with other authorities is investigated and recorded in the research study. A due consideration was given to all research ethics and all the work and findings presented in the study are genuine results and information emanating from concerted efforts to produce and contribute new information and knowledge in the field of tourism planning. All the sources of primary and secondary information used throughout the study have been duly referenced in the text and included in the reference list at the end of the study. The study also acknowledged and duly referenced all websites that were accessed and used as sources of information (Veal, 1992; Burns, 2000).