外文翻译原文--目的地竞争力：可持续发展目标的战略规划和愿景

外文翻译原文--目的地竞争力：可持续发展目标的战略

规划和愿景

Destination Competitiveness Meeting

Sustainability Objectives Through Strategic

Planning and Visioning

Lisa Ruhanen

The University of Queensland The School of Tourism and Leisure Management

11 Salisbury Road Ipswich QLD 4305 Australia

lruhanencom

1 Introduction

Destinations whether national state or local are

increasingly taking

their role as tourist destinations very seriously as evidenced by the al-

location of considerable funds towards tourism promotion and market-

ing Much of this funding is being directed towards the enhancement

and development of their touristic image and attractiveness Ritchie

Crouch 2000 With so many destinations competing for the tourist

dollar both on an international and domestic level competition is erce

and destinations are looking to capitalize on all of their assets to dier-

entiate themselves from their competitors This increasing level of com-

petition has highlighted the need for destination planners and managers

to adopt a more strategic focus to ensure this share is sustained in the

future Faulkner 2003 Ritchie Crouch 2000 As Ritchie 1999273

notes the growing level of international competition in the tourism

marketplace and the length of lead times for developing the major fa-

cilities necessary to meet this competition have made strategic level

planning increasingly imperative

A destinations competitiveness has traditionally been viewed in eco-

nomic terms However the advent of triple–bottom line accounting in

both the public and private sectors has placed increasing pressure on

destination planners and managers to give due consideration to the

sustainable management of the environmental and social resources of

the destination This has further highlighted the need for tourism des-

tinations to proactively and strategically plan for future developments

in order to secure both the long–term sustainability of the destination

134 Lisa Ruhanen

and continuing market competitiveness as the cumulative eects of to-

days development decisions will have impacts well beyond the lifetimes

of those making the decisions Ritchie 1999

While the notion of destination strategic planning itself is not new

incorporating the requirements of sustainability into the planning pro-

cess has proven to be more of a challenge Ruhanen 2004 To address this cases are emerging where the strategic planning methodology has

been revised to incorporate a strategic visioning phase with the objec-

tive of developing a vision for the future of the destination A recognized

contributor to successful organizations in the private sector the formu-

lation of a destination vision aims to develop consensual guidelines on

appropriate forms of development which are consistent with the values

and goals of the destination community while taking into account the

opportunities and constraints of the market Ritchie Crouch 2000

This paper will examine the notion of destination competitiveness

and the more recent incorporation of sustainability objectives into this

eld of research To meet these objectives the strategic planning and

visioning approaches to tourism destination planning will be discussed

The appropriateness of these approaches will be conceptually critiqued

in light of their contribution towards sustainable development goals

and destination competitiveness

2 Destination Competitiveness

Increasing globalization and the shift from commodity–based economies

towards economies driven by knowledge development innovation and

commercialization have seen the issue of competitiveness rise in im-

portance Competitive advantage is considered imperative to the suc-

cess of organizations whether private or public and for regions states

and countries Porter 1980 It is an issue that is receiving increasing

attention from industry government and academia and is an interna-

tional phenomenon not restricted to any particular countries Kim

Dwyer 2003 As with other elds competitiveness has become a key

area of focus in the tourism destination literature with research focus-

ing on such factors as destination attributes image price consumer

preferences and perspectives of experience quality and

performance

see Ahmed 1991 Dwyer Forsyth Rao 2000 Goodrich 1977 Haahti

Yavas 1983 Kim Dwyer 2003 Kozak Rimmington 1999

Laws 1995 Pearce 1997 Similarly much emphasis has been placed

Destination Competitiveness 135

on the development of models and tools for enhancing and measuring

a tourism destinations competitiveness see Bordas 1994 Evans Fox

Johnson 1995 Faulkner Opperman Fredline 1999 Hassan 2000

Kim Dwyer 2003 Ritchie Crouch 2003

Tourism destination competitiveness can be dened as

a general

concept that encompasses price dierentials coupled with exchange rate

movements productivity levels of various components of the tourist in-

dustry and qualitative factors aecting the attractiveness or otherwise

of a destination Dwyer Forsyth Rao 2000 9 It can also be said

that destination competitiveness is the ability of a destination to de-

liver goods and services that perform better than other destinations

on those aspects of the tourism experience considered to be impor-

tant by tourists Dwyer Kim 2003 The destinations resources are

undoubtedly an important source of comparative and competitive ad-

vantage in tourism Comparative advantage would relate to climate

scenery ora fauna etc while competitive advantage would relate to

such items as the tourism infrastructure hotels events attractions

transport networks the quality of management skills of workers gov- ernment policy etc Kim Dwyer 2003 58

Buhalis 2000106 adopts a slightly broader perspective and denes

destination competitiveness as including the sustainability of local re-

sources for ensuring the maintenance of long–term success

as well as

the achievement of equitable returns–on–resources utilized to satisfy all

stakeholders Ritchie and Crouch 2000 support this view and note

that competitiveness is illusory without sustainability and that to be

truly competitive a destinations tourism development must be eco-

nomically ecologically socially culturally and politically sustainable

A destinations competitiveness and success in the tourism marketplace

has traditionally been measured in economic terms and while this is

likely to continue to be the most eective and prominent indicator

triple bottom line accounting is increasingly forcing attention towards

the environmental and social aspects of the destination

Entering the sustainability concept into the discussion on destina-

tion competitiveness reects the recognition that economic issues can-

not be given undue precedence over environmental and social issues As

Mihaliˇc 2000 reects tourism planners an d managers have generally

only been willing to incorporate environmental measures into manage-

ment strategies if they resulted in lower costs andor higher prots

However consumers increasing environmental consciousness and de-

mands for better quality products coupled with increased competition

136 Lisa Ruhanen

have seen environmental and social issues become an important man-

agement consideration Mihaliˇc 2000 Further reason for the addi-

tion of sustainable development concepts to destination competitive-

ness considerations is that sustainability is at the forefront of the po-

litical agendas of many countries Berke 2002

To ensure both the long–term sustainability of the destination

and

continuing market competitiveness tourism destinations must proac-

tively and strategically plan for future developments Ritchie 1999

As Chon and Olsen 1990213 state todays tourism environment is

increasingly competitive and complex and tourism organizations at

national state and local levels must make estimates about the what

is likely to happen in the future and decide how to adjust to future

events In the 21st century the world tourism environment is not only

competitive and complex it is also politically unstable and continu-

ously changing and in order to make better estimates of future events

and sound management decisions the strategic planning process should

be formally incorporated into the structure of operations Chon

Olsen 1990 Similarly Faulkner 1994231 notes that in any coun-

try the emergence and continuation of tourism as a dynamic and vi-

able industry is dependent upon the adoption of a strategic approach to

planning and marketing Hudson Ritchie and Timur 2004 comment

that attractive well functioning and highly competitive destinations do

not exist by chance but are the result of a well–planned environment

where appropriate forms of development are encouraged and facilitated

Therefore when planning for the current and future development of the

destination the principles of sustainable tourism must be adopted so

that only those options which satisfy the needs of all destination stake-

holders including residents and visitors as well as preserve the natural

and cultural assets of the region and are economically viable should be

considered Faulkner 2003 Hall 1998 Inskeep 1991 Ritchie 1999

3 Sustainable Tourism Planning

The sustainable approach to tourism planning stemmed from broader

international concerns over ecological issues The concept of sustainabil-

ity was formally recognized by the 1987 World Commission on Environ-

ment and Development WCED which dened sustainable practices

as those which meet the goals of the present without compromising the

ability of future generations to meet their own needs WCED 198743

Destination Competitiveness 137

Sustainable development has been advocated for the tourism sector as

a possible solution to the environmental and social degradation of the

industrys resources and due to the fact that tourism is a resource indus-

try which is dependent on natures endowment and societys heritage

Cooper 1995 Murphy 1994 Simpson 2001 identies two key pre-

cursors in achieving sustainable tourism destination planning which are

pertinent to this discussion the need for a more strategic and long–term

orientation in tourism planning and multiple stakeholder participation

in the planning process

4 Strategic Planning

The concept of strategic planning is a cornerstone of conventional

management theory and has proven to be an essential prerequisite in

successful and competitive organizations since the 1950s The impe-

tus for strategic planning in the business environment arose as cul-

tural economic and political events began to change the dynamics

and demands of the marketplace forcing organizations to reconsider

their practices and products Anso 1979 Joyce Woods