OECD report calls for "Whole of Government" approach" to tourism policy with first emphasis on "investment in quality and skills"

March 12 2010
Posted by: smmresas

(Adapted excerpt from article by Imtiaz Muqbil in Travl Impact Newswire - Edition 16 (2010) - 12 March 2010)

With the focus of the travel & tourism industry now shifting to strategies designed to capitalise on the nascent global economic recovery, the Organisation of Economic Cooperation & Development (OECD) has issued a report calling for a “whole of government” approach to be initiated and institutionalised as tourism policy.

This, the report says, means moving beyond policies that are tourism-specific toward “multi-faceted policies (which) incorporate all the horizontal and vertical linkages in national and regional economies.

“Governments need to regard tourism as a cross-cutting sector that concerns a wide range of activities across economies,” the report says. “Addressing the major challenges faced by the tourism industry and maximising tourism’s full economic potential require an integrated approach to policy development across many government departments.”

This requirement would also include “the development, implementation and evaluation of tourism strategies” as well as “the full range of ministerial responsibilities influencing tourism and tourism destinations.”

It adds, “The difficulties of cross government policy co- ordination, in an environment where the tourism portfolio may be relatively less influential than others, mean that this area remains a major challenge for tourism planning and policy makers.”

Although released for use mainly within the OECD in mid-February, the report was made available to the Bangkok Post last week. It notes that tourism is of great significance in the economies of OECD member countries, as it is in those of many non-member economies.

With OECD countries experiencing a slow-down in the rate of growth in tourism to the potential detriment of national economic growth and especially of the growth in employment opportunities, “remedial action is required to reinforce the tourism sector’s strength.”

“In order to achieve this, governments must take the lead in setting a suitable policy environment. For policy initiatives to be effective, countries must ensure that initiatives are designed and implemented on the basis of a ‘whole of government’ approach, given that tourism is a cross-cutting sector with implications for many different areas of government policy.

The report notes that “tourism is both a significant player in the globalisation process (through the rapid expansion of new destinations, new demand, and new markets) and is strongly influenced by globalisation.”

“For tourists, it has brought easier access across borders with reduced barriers to trade and travel from the liberalisation of transport. The impact of strong economic growth in many developing countries, liberal economic policies, dramatic changes in the efficiency and cost of transport, and a growing global middle class (now estimated at more than 2 billion people) with rising living standards, have created a new dynamic in international tourism flows.”

Hence, the report identifies key “common themes” across which this “whole of government” approach could be applied. These are, in order of importance:

<> Investment in quality and skills

<> Marketing and branding.

<> Environmental sustainability for green growth.

<> Product development and innovation.

<> Long-term strategic industry planning.

<> Reducing barriers to tourism development.

<> A culture of evaluation and capacity building.

<> A culture of co-operation and partnerships at various levels – internationally, with neighbouring states, across government departments and between the public and private sectors.

Says the report, “Governments are increasingly recognising that tourism requires a complex set of mutually supporting infrastructure, policy and planning decisions if the broad-ranging nature of tourism’s benefits are to be realised and potential costs managed.

“While tourism remains an essentially private sector activity, some governments accept that they have a substantial role in addressing market failures which emerge from tourism’s fragmented SME-based structure. It also becomes clear that tourism can bring wider economic and social benefits to destinations, and, especially, can help to sustain local and regional communities.

“A ‘whole of government’ framework for tourism policy making is therefore to be encouraged in order to extract maximum economic and social benefit from the tourism sector. This has been highlighted by the impact that globalisation has had on tourism demand, transport, information, and vulnerability to external shocks.

“In turn this has introduced a new imperative for the promotion of dialogue, co-operation and partnerships among the multiplicity of stakeholders, within government, the private sector and local communities.”

However, the report is frank enough to acknowledge that “in many member countries, the process for maintaining consistent and mutually supportive policy frameworks vertically between different levels of government presents particular problems.”

It says that this is highlighted where central government authority over state or provincial governments is limited or opposing political parties are in power in each.

“The situation is further complicated by significant differences in the nature of responsibilities and policy focus. A national government may have very little responsibility for land use planning issues which may be critically important at the level of local government. Regional and local tourism bodies may seelittle relevance for them in high level cross-government policy issues.

“This issue of co-operation and consistency between the levels of government in tourism strategic policy making and implementation of specific programmes and measures would appear to be one of the next significant challenges for governments at all levels in improving the effectiveness of tourism strategies and planning

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