At present there is no national tourism policy, or strategy, to guide the overall direction oftourism in New Zealand, and thereby provide a framework within which marketing andconservation programs can co-ordinate. Even if there were a tourism policy there is noevidence of adequate systems for communication and co-ordination between central, regional,and local government. My enquiries at the Ministry of Tourism and Local GovernmentAssociation revealed that there are no formal systems for tourism information flow betweencentral and local government. A Local Government Forum on Tourism in May 1993 atwhich central, regional, and local government participated, along with the New ZealandTourism Industry Federation, was the only example of any attempt at information sharing.A review of the proceedings suggests the emphasis of the forum was ontourism growth. According to Roger Smith of the NZTB a national policystatement is unlikely because of the difficulty of coordinating tourism interests However,the lack of co-ordination is not an insurmountable problem, and on its own does not precludethe development of a national policy statement, as shown by the Australian National TourismStrategy
Australia was in a similar position to New Zealand in terms of poor tourism policy coordinationbetween central and regional government. In June 1992 a National TourismStrategy was released to guide the balanced development of tourism. The strategy set outfour goals: economic, environmental, social and support (promotion, planning, research etc).A key component of the strategy was the co-ordination of public agencies and private industryin tourism planning and development In addition to the NationalTourism Strategy, Australia also has a National Ecotourism Strategy which aims to integrateapproaches across government boundaries and between agency jurisdictions.
A tourism strategy could also be considered counter to the political/economic philosophy oflimiting government involvement in the market. However, some form of government policy(rather than business policy) for tourism is needed to provide a publicly accountable forumin which the future direction of tourism can be planned, and in order to obtain the positiveexternalities5 that tourism can produce. For example, improving the economic, and therebycommunity, viability of rural communities through the establishment of tourism businesses.