Tourism development planning as a community industry

Abstract

Tourism has been one of the fastest growing sectors of economic activity before the pandemic; its sustained growth over the years has been due, among other things, to its relationship with the promotion of local economies in less developed regions. But one of the biggest challenges facing development is to improve people's living conditions in a balanced and equitable manner, and this challenge is transferred to the starting point of tourism development: its planning. Tourism development planning has evolved through different approaches, in which interest was focused on certain aspects of development that over time proved not to be sufficient to guarantee a balanced and sustainable improvement of the destination, directly affecting the well-being of local residents and their compliance with the activity. The most current approach to planning is the one that focuses on involving local actors to decide on the tourism development they want in their community. This article reviews the theoretical foundations of this thought, which has a strong base in English literature, but has also been greatly reinforced from the Latin American perspective. It is concluded that tourism planning based on interests and community dynamic, which increases the perception of collective benefits, is key to the sustainability and competitiveness of the tourist destination.