INTEGRATED TOURISM PLANNING
The nature and scope of tourism planning continues to be contentious and somewhat nebulous,
because most government officials and tourism industry practitioners harbour their own definitions and
parameters of the task. By its very nature planning is multidimensional and is purposely i.ntegrative.
This being so, the narrow definitions and perspectives of special interest groups, particular disciplines
and professions, and each of the various contributory industries and activities are likely to miss the
opportunities which are inherent in planning.
In the special case of tourism, this is particularly evident as business leaders interpret tourismwithin
the scope of their industry, as government officials interpret tourism according to theirdepartmental
responsibilities, and as various interest groups pursue an interpretation which serves their
particular purposes. Seldom are the interests of tourism per se revealed, that is tourism in its most
expansive form incorporating social, cultural, environmental, economic, technological, trade, psycholo-gical,
political and many other dimensions. Clearly, it is extremely difficult for any consideration of
tourism to be encyclopaedic; however, that is not really the challenge -the challenge is for the relevant
dimensions in any case or circumstance to be considered in an integrated fashion.