What is a Tourism Development Plan?

A Sustainable Tourism Development Plan is a blueprint that guides community leaders, investors and stakeholders in the creation of an industry. It focuses on activities that prepare the destination such as organizing, capacity-building , infrastructure development and product development. It likewise focuses on strategies to attract tourists, minimize negative impacts of development and maximize benefits. The Plan defines priority sites as well as secondary destinations, access routes, modes, and gateways. It indicates clustering and partnership opportunities. It describes how the community will manage the influx of visitors. It shows which areas of the community that will be shared with tourists and those which will not. It would identify which sectors will be affected positively and negatively. It considers the fundamental questions of the cost of tourism to the community and how the community will capture potential benefits.
A Sustainable Tourism Development Plan is a public document or presentation generally consisting of maps, drawings, definitions, vision & mission statements, goals, objectives, descriptions, policy statements and action programs. It is the result of research and public planning process. The Plan Document should include all the public choices made by residents about future tourism development of their community. Those choices should be based on information gathered through research and public discussion and consensus building.