Tourism Industry Inventory Toolbox
Last updated:
September 2008
Introduction and Scope
The Visitor Demand Toolbox considered the demand side, and this Toolbox looks at the supply side of tourism – the accommodation, transport, attractions and activities available to visitors to your region. It will help you to identify the tourism product which exists in your area, and any gaps and opportunities for development.
Local authorities are inextricably linked with the tourism industry. Local authorities relate to tourism businesses through the services they provide as regulator, planner, funder, facility owner, manager and infrastructure and service provider.
Tourism businesses can be difficult to categorise, since many also operate across other sectors. It is nonetheless important that local authorities are aware of both the demand and supply side of tourism.
Why use this Toolbox?
To maximise a region’s potential for tourism, the local authority needs to be proactive about ensuring it has the products to attract and retain visitors. The local authority is best-placed to perform this function, by using its statutory and non-statutory roles to facilitate the development of appropriate tourism products through the public and private sectors. RTOs’ focus is marketing, and their ability to influence the supply, range and quality of tourism product is often limited. So the responsibility rests with the local authority as the enabler, and the private sector as the major supplier of tourism product.
What can a local authority do to meet this responsibility? Essentially, it needs to be aware of levels of demand for all the key elements of the tourism product, like accommodation and transport (see diagram below, in 3.3.3), and be proactive in ensuring that supply can match demand. There are a number of advantages for a local authority in taking a proactive approach:
- Where a TLA plans in advance of peak tourism demand, there is an opportunity to shape tourism development in the area. This improves the likelihood of meeting community expectations, rather than simply responding to development pressures.
- In the accommodation sector, the time lag between identifying a need for more facilities and opening new ones can act as a significant brake on tourism’s development and potential. This disadvantage is reduced when gaps have been identified in advance and appropriate action taken.
- A similar approach applies for visitor attractions. Where gaps are identified in advance, local authorities can work with the tourism industry, developers and investors to identify market needs, development opportunities and potential sites.
This Toolbox contains checklists for you to review the number, range and quality of tourism products in your area, and identify any gaps.
The checklists which follow enable you to complete a tourism product inventory for your region.
Download the Attractions Checklist
Download the Activities Checklist
Download the Accommodation Checklist
Download the Transport Checklist
From the inventory it will be possible to identify any obvious gaps in the provision of tourism product. These may need to be addressed in the Strategic Planning Section. From the attractions inventory it should be possible to identify the attributes (physical and man-made) that emphasise the local distinctiveness of the area. This will be particularly important in determining competitive advantage and marketing strategies.
Download Inventory Planning Checklist
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