Regulation, research and development in tourism.

The roles of government are very important for tourism. They set the policy of their country towards tourism. To regulate the different components of the tourist industry is one of their tasks.

Travel is made easier when there are no visa requirements and when the entry formalities are simple. Visa is a travel document that gives permission for a foreigner to enter, or in some cases to leave another country. It is important for tourist promotion to relax the kind of regulation that is usually called "red tape".

National policy can also discourage tourism. Any country cannot provide accommodations and catering services or is able to restrict the length of time a traveller can stay in that country. To restrict entry some countries have set visa and entrance requirements.

Governments are also involved in day-to-day regulation of tourism including various kinds of licensing.

A license to be taken is a document giving permission to carry on a particular kind of activity after paying a fee.

Governments perform the research and analysis that result in statistics on the tourist industry. Research generally means collecting data that can be put into statistical form and the analysis means interpreting trends from the statistical figures. Research involves travel statistics, tourist expenditures, the purpose of the trip or the tourist's reactions to his holiday. Deeper research makes it possible to find out why tourists visited a particular resort and what their reactions were. The main aim of another kind of research is to determine the social impact of tourism on an area. It is necessary for governments to be engaged in promoting a flow of tourism. In many countries, tourism is so important that its interests are represented at the ministerial level of government. To promote tourism counties or regions, relax some regulations. The location and density of new developments to be regulated affects spreading the economic benefits more widely.

Where government investment in tourism is not direct, there must be an indirect investment in the form of building or improving the infrastructure. The infrastructure consists of those things that are necessary before development can take place — roads, electricity, telephone service, airports, and water supply. The facilities to be based on the infrastructure are often called the superstructure.

Before a government undertakes tourist development, it usually attempts to determine the market potential — the number or percentage of travellers it can hope to attract. This is followed by studies of the social impact and very often of the environmental impact.

The research is followed by the actual planning and development that include improvement of the infrastructure, financial arrangements, and construction of the superstructure. The tendency at the present time is in favour of careful research and planning instead of unrestricted growth and expansion.

Tourist promotion

Three aims of tourist promotion are reported to have been gained in the last few years. The first purpose is to retain the established market of people for whom travel is a normal form of recreation. The second goal is to increase the size of the market. The third aim of tourist promotion is to overcome its seasonal bias.

We know many different organizations to be involved in tourist promotion. They include tourist bureaus, the transportation companies, tour operators and individual hotels or hotel chains.

Through their tourist offices, governments do a great deal of travel promotion, both in the form of advertising and publicity. Publicity and advertising are known to be two main kinds of promotion. Publicity might be termed free advertising. Publicity consists of stories placed in newspapers and magazines about travels, accommodations, restaurants, and other parts of the whole tourist industry. Professional writers journey from resort area to resort area to report on the facilities that are available.

Another kind of tourist-connected public relations comes under the heading of familiarization. The familiarization trip or "fam trip", as it is commonly known, means different things to different people. People in the industry, especially those involved in sales-travel agents- are provided with free trips to tourist destinations. It is an opportunity for people to get to know some hotels better. They will be able to answer questions from their own experience.

Tourist advertising appears to be a large business in itself. Media is a term used for different means of spreading information in the form of news and advertising. Newspapers, magazines, radio and television are usually included in this term.

Television reaches the largest market. TV time is also very expensive, so it is used principally by transportation companies and government tourist agencies.

Radio serves a more limited audience since it cannot transmit the beautiful pictures and colours of television. But it is unique because it can reach people driving their cars.

Another form of advertising is the brochure. Brochures demonstrate the benefits, which an organization has to offer. Many tourism products are not tangible. By describing them in print, brochures are sure to become the only "evidence" of the product. Destinations and tours are particular difficult to promote without print material which explains what is on offer. Tour operators distribute brochures in large numbers to travel agents in the market area they are trying to reach. In addition many of them are sent out by direct mailing. Direct mailing is considered to be a form of promotion that involves mailing brochures to a selected list of customers by tour operators and travel agents. The mailing list often includes previous customers, members of clubs or organizations, and so on.

We believe the most effective kind of tourist promotion to be "word of mouth", what one person says to another about his or her holidays. Like news stories, the results of "word of mouth" can be good or bad. A recommendation of a resort or a hotel by one family to another can significantly influence the choice people are likely t make. On the other hand, a bad report spread around by dissatisfied tourists may sharply cut tourism.