Attracting tourists is sometimes considered as an option for boosting a destination’s economy and ‘developing’ a place. Whilst this can be true, there are many other facets to tourism development that need to be considered if it is to contribute to sustainable economic, social, cultural and environmental outcomes. Sustainable tourism development plans (STDPs) are used to strategically assess the true value of tourism to a destination’s development. This assessment task is designed to encourage you to think critically about key aspects of tourism as a strategy for sustainable development in specific, applied contexts.

You are required to develop a sustainable tourism development plan for a location of your choice. The STDP should consider how tourism, as an industry, can address the social, environmental and economic aspirations of the community, by identifying and analysing key issues to be aware of and demonstrating why these elements are important. You should focus on those elements you think are important based on the destination the plan is for. For example, you might consider: what makes the place special; why sustainability is important in the destination; and how tourism will contribute to the development of the community.

This is an individual assessment with a maximum length of 2000 words (excluding references).

Any assessment with a ‘Turnitin’ similarity score of more than 25% will be checked by the marker for plagiarism although it may not necessarily mean that you have plagiarised. If there is a substantial similarity score in the ‘Turnitin’ report, your assessment could be forwarded to an appropriate office/authority for review.

Your assignment needs to address the following points:

Introduction: The introduction section should provide background information of the chosen destination. It should also outline what the STDP should aim to achieve.

Discussion of key points of advantage over competitors: This section outlines the key points of attraction and advantage over competitors.

Discussion of key elements the STDP: Discuss the key elements the STDP should focus on. Key elements could include:

• Could be principle based. Eg: Natural, Cultural, Economic & Social sustainable tourism development,
• Could be based on the UNWTO's pillars of sustainable tourism,
• Could be outcomes based. Eg: Poverty alleviation, heritage preservation, ecological health,
• Could be economically based. Eg. Principles of economic development, and how these produce sustainable outcomes,
• There are many ways to approach this. Think about what would be best for the destination you are looking at.

Explain why you are focusing on these elements based on the specific characteristics of the destination. Use of additional sources of information to help support the discussion is expected, i.e. existing tourism strategic plans and academic literature.

Set three realistic STDP goals: Provide three realistic sustainability goals that the STDP attempts to achieve including their timeframes.

Formulation of a detailed action plan: Outline what needs to be done to complete the sustainable tourism development plan. Consider what strategies need to be put in place to make the plan work, i.e. increasing tourists’ awareness of environmentally friendly tourism operators; upgrading of existing facilities; communication processes with community stakeholder; etc. Focus your discussion on desired outcomes, key actions and measures of success.

Conclusion: Include a summary of the key points. In your opinion, why do you think it will be possible to achieve each of your sustainability goals?

Evidence of research and references: Provide a list of at least 10 citations and references of some published academic and research papers, textbooks and authentic internet sources. Referencing should follow the APA style. The quality and integration of research in the write-up to support key points. This should include theoretical and empirical research findings from a combination of academic journals, textbooks and websites. 

Presentation: Use of appropriate headings, sub-headings, cohesion of paragraphs is expected. Grammar, spelling and punctuation are expected to be of exceptional standard. Diagrams/figures/tables can be used where relevant. 

Penalties apply for late submission (5% mark will be deducted from the total mark for the assessment per day unless an approved extension has been granted).

• Introduction (3 marks)
• Discussion of key points of advantage over competitors (4 marks)
• Discussion of key elements the STDP should focus on (4 marks)
• Set three realistic STDP goals (6 marks)
• Formulation of a detailed action plan (4 marks)
• Conclusion (3 marks)
• Evidence of research and references (4 marks)
• Presentation (2 marks)

• Introduction (3 marks)
• Three key dilemmas (9 marks)
• Recommendations (8 marks)
• Conclusion (3 marks)
• References (4 marks)
• Presentation quality (3 marks)

The process of planning for tourism as a strategy for sustainable development is usually highly political and fraught with trade-offs between key stakeholders in the community, government authorities, investors, politicians and other industries. You are required to write a reflective, critical academic essay on the process of planning for tourism as a strategy for sustainable development. Key perspectives that could be considered are:

• The impact assessment process – environmental, social, economic, cultural
• Funding and investment strategies
• Community consultation in planning tourism as a strategy for development
• Statutory/legislative processes and influences

The essay should not exceed 2500 words (excluding references).

Your essay should include the following sections:

Introduction: state what the essay is about, explain any key definitions, and outline what perspective you are considering the process from and why this is important. In addition, the structure of the essay should be presented.

Review of literature: include any key literature the essay is drawing from, i.e. what the literature says and how this relates to the perspective you are considering. 

Critical reflection: explain your opinion (first person is ok) of the processes of planning for tourism as a strategy for sustainable development. Reflect on how it relates to the literature you have read. Do these align with your opinions or not? Why do you think this is the case?

Conclusion: outline what the essay was about by covering the main points from the literature and what your reflection is about. 

Evidence of research and references: Provide a list of at least 10 citations and references of some published academic and research papers, textbooks and authentic internet sources. Referencing should follow the APA style. The quality and integration of research in the write-up to support key points. This should include theoretical and empirical research findings from a combination of academic journals, textbooks, and websites.  

Presentation: Use of appropriate headings, sub-headings, cohesion of paragraphs is expected. Grammar, spelling and punctuation are expected to be of exceptional standard. Diagrams/figures/tables can be used where relevant. 

All assignments should be submitted online through the TOUR20023 Moodle site. All reports will be checked by ‘Turnitin’ to compare the report to other sources and will provide students and lecturers with a similarity score for the report. Reports with a similarity score index of more than 25% will be checked for plagiarism by the marker (although it may not necessarily mean that the student has plagiarised).

A brief marking criteria is provided below. A more detailed marking criteria sheet is provided on Moodle.

• Introduction (5 marks)
• Review of literature (12 marks)
• Critical reflection (10 marks)
• Conclusion (4 marks)
• Evidence of research and references (5 marks)
• Presentation (4 marks)