Merab Khokhobaia, Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University, Georgia. ABSTRACT. The issues of sustainable development of tourism are duly researched and ...
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT Volume 17, Issue 1, p89-94, June 2017
TOURISM AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES: A CASE OF GEORGIA
2017
TOURISM AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES: A CASE OF GEORGIA Merab Khokhobaia, Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University, Georgia
ABSTRACT The issues of sustainable development of tourism are duly researched and studied from theoretical, as well as practical perspective in scientific literature. Publications of various authors in international scientific literature are dedicated to this issue. In addition, the researches carried out by international organizations, recommendationinstructions documents offered by scientific centres, consulting groups are also available. Furthermore, vast experience has been collected in the world from the perspective of tourism development which allows us to form respective conclusions and recommendations based on analysis of practical cases. The issues of research of theoretical and practical aspects of sustainable development of tourism and their implementation in practice represent the distinguished topics in contemporary circumstances. These matters are especially relevant in the developing countries. Naturally, elaboration of the policy in this direction at the national and regional levels requires conduct of specific researches. As the concept of sustainable development contains several key directions, it is obvious that this process is very complex and depends on multiple factors. In the process of seeking for vector of sustainable development it is essential to take into consideration economic, environmental, cultural and mental factors.
Keywords: Tourism industry, Sustainable Development, Tourism policy, Employment, Cooperation
1. INTRODUCTION Development of tourism industry creates opportunities for economic development of the countries. Tourism is one of the fastest growing industries in the world which is confirmed by the industry development indicators. Tourism and hospitality are important economic activities for separate countries, as well as for the regions. Elaboration of correct, pragmatic policy of tourism development stimulates positive effects of tourism industry, increases the revenues of the residents, creates workplaces, generates taxes, inflow of foreign currency, production of goods and services in other adjacent sectors, develops economy of the region, of the country. Furthermore, correct policy ensures limitation of the possible negative effects, such as negative sociocultural impact, environmental pollution, decrease of economic benefit of local residents, pollution of the sea coasts, overcrowding of tourist destinations and so forth. Tourism policy, as the progressive course focused on the society, is a union of actions, directions, directives, principles and processes within the ethical framework, which creates the ground for development of the industry by planning, supporting development, stimulating production of goods and services, using the principles of sustainable development. Tourism, just like any other economic sector, needs elaboration of the respective policy for stable development, from the perspective of national, as well as local and regional development. Development of policy in tourism is necessary to effectively accomplish the goals which were outlined in short-term and long-term dynamics throughout a specific country or region. Different definitions of tourism policy are found in scientific literature. According to Goeldner & Ritchie (Charles R. Goeldner, J. R. Brent Ritchie, 2012) it is a set of specific rules, regulations, directives, strategies, activities which are required for destination development and gaining of competitive advantage. Edgell and Swanson focus on marketing, planning, sustainable development. In their opinion the tourism policy is a progressive course which includes actions, directions, directives, principles and processes within the ethical framework, focused on the society, where
the destination development must take place by planning of the actions, development, production of goods and services, use of principles of sustainable development (David L.Edgell, Jason R. Swanson, 2013). Formulation of tourism policy is necessary in order to precisely assess the existing situation and develop the objectives in the long-term dynamics which will bring the maximum benefit to all participants of the industry. Competitive advantage of tourist destinations depends on their ability to effectively operate in unpredictable, changing environment, and also to sustainably develop in long-term dynamics which represents one of the fundamental principles. According to United Nations World Tourism Organization, the principles of sustainable development are related to optimal use of the environment and resources, maintenance of sociocultural authenticity, distinctive features, economic influence which is reflected in increased revenues, employment of local residents and etc. Maximum possible involvement of all interested parties, reaching consensus on important issues and so forth, is required for sustainable development of tourism (Scott Noel, 2011).
2. RESULTS OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT World Tourism Organization has determined the following positive effects of sustainable development of tourism: (UNWTO) Employment of local residents – important benefit of tourism is new workplaces. Tourism industry has greatest potential from this perspective, which is confirmed by statistical data available worldwide, as well as region-wide. The tourism industry creates workplaces in other connected sectors, which results in positive outcomes from the perspective of economic development and activities. Development of entrepreneurship – new opportunities are created for local entrepreneurs to establish and develop tourist enterprises. This creates new opportunities from the perspective of stimulation of investments. Tourism sector is characterized by many small enterprises which is an important precondition for creation of new workplaces; Increase of revenues – new workplaces and tourist activities cause increased revenues for the population. This, in return, improves the living standards of the locals. Revenues from tourism are quickly distributed among different groups of society; Tourism stimulates creation of new products – improves retail sales, supports establishment of specialized shops, trade districts, as well as parks, cultural centres, which may be used by the local residents, as well as the tourists; Development of adjacent sectors – tourism can stimulate other economic activities and sectors, such as agriculture, fishery, industry and artisanship, construction, transportation; Improvement of infrastructure – development of tourism is adequately reflected on the development of infrastructure, such as roads, water supply, electric capacities, waste management. Infrastructure develops to provide services to the local society, so they receive more benefits from improved infrastructure; Conservation of archaeological, historical sites, artisanship, cultural traditions – improvement of ecology is an accompanying positive effect of tourism because all of these represent tourist attractions; Tourism, as a factor of regional development – development of especially problematic regions; taxes paid to the local budget from the tourism sector may be used to improve communal conditions, services and infrastructure, such as schools, medical clinics, parks, libraries and so forth; Degree of ecology in tourist sites – may improve as a result of tourism because the tourists prefer to visit attractive, clean places. Development of tourism supports better understanding of necessity of environmental protection by the local residents, as well as by the tourists;
Understating of importance of own cultural identity by the residents – when it becomes obvious for the locals that the tourist expresses positive emotions, properly values natural environment, cultural and historic heritage, they fill proud of their heritage and have additional stimulus to maintain authenticity. Very often the residents develop and, respectively, tourism stimulates awakening of some aspects of cultural heritage, which would otherwise be lost along the contemporary development (UNWTO). Together with positive effects, tourism sector has specific negative impacts on the nature, as well as on the society. Negative effects are somewhat the result of deficient legislation, lack of development strategy and visions. Negative effects are: 1. Environmental pollution and environmental problems – uncontrollable use of the environment and historic sites causes their deterioration. In addition, excessive commercialization of cultural traditions may result in degradation of cultural heritage in long-term perspective. 2. Air pollution, which is due to numerous tourists and vehicles of the tour operators responsible for transporting these tourists; 3. Uncontrollable use of the national parks, archaeological, historic sites may cause loss of their authenticity, for instance, frequent visits to the wild life prevent natural development of the plants and animals. Furthermore, condition of historic and architectural monuments may also worsen. From the perspective of sustainable development, we must also separate natural resources and the issues of cultural heritage together with the economic factors. Natural resources are an important attraction for the countries. In the contemporary conditions there are more and more needs for environmental activities. For instance, one of the popular trends of tourism together with others is ecotourism which is directly related to the interaction of the human with natural environment, development of awareness and ethical norms of a person in relation to the environment. For sustainable development of the tourism industry it is necessary to develop a policy from the perspective of intellectual and effective utilization of natural resources of the country. As we have mentioned above, the policy must be based on the principles of sustainable development, which means use of the resources to overcome poverty, achieve economic growth and improve welfare, but its basic principle must be maintenance of these resources and their transfer to the future generations. According to World Bank, sustainable development must be based on economic growth, protection of environment and social inclusion. These issues are relevant for all economic sectors (World Bank). Protection and conservation of monuments of cultural heritage have critical importance for development of tourism. One of the main motivations for the tourists is visiting the monuments of cultural heritage, therefore the monuments of cultural heritage have a great potential from the perspective of social, as well as economic development. Active discussions have started about management of cultural heritage, and its economic effects from the 70-80s of the previous century. It is interesting that the economic aspects of heritage protection are often based on specific arguments and indicators, which are reflected in creation of workplaces, development of local economy. It must be mentioned that there are many successful examples in the world, which will confirm the role of cultural heritage in stimulation of tourism, improvement of welfare of local residents, poverty reduction and so forth. In our opinion, the role of cultural heritage is exceptional for the highly mountainous regions. Cultural heritage is an important resource for the regions which must support development of tourism, settlement-employment of local residents, growth of the revenues of the population. It must be mentioned that Georgia is unique with plenty of cultural monuments, among them world cultural heritage which is included in the world heritage sites list of UNESCO. Correspondingly, sensible policy is necessary with respect to the natural, as well as cultural heritage and their use to increase the welfare of the country and the region (UNESCO).
4. SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT POLICY IN GEORGIA The institute responsible for elaboration and development of tourism policy in Georgia is the National Tourism Administration, structural unit of the system of Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development of Georgia. The obligation of the National Tourism Administration is to elaborate the policy which will support increased tourist activities in the country. This means, on the one hand, promotion of international
and internal tourism, and on the other hand, development of competitive tourist destinations, improvement of the infrastructure, development of human resources and so forth (GNTA). The National Tourism Administration exercises its rights-obligations through the central office and territorial bodies. The territorial bodies of the Administration are Tourism Regional Management Services and Tourism Information Centres. It is direct obligation of the Tourism Regional Management Services to ensure establishment of effective cooperation system at the local level. The Regional Management Services also have important responsibility from the perspective of implementation of the strategies and priorities outlined and developed by the state and their introduction into practice. Effectiveness of the activities of this Service has a special role in elaboration of the action plans and development of priorities at the local level, which must be agreed with the National Administration. As for the Tourism Information Centres, they must offer respective services within their competence to the foreign, as well as local tourists. Especially we should mention the information about the services in the tourist sights and tourist destinations. In the contemporary world, considering the current challenges, it is necessary to develop governance institutional system which will elaborate effective policy from the perspective of strengthening competitive advantage of the country and its sustainable development. In this direction, Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has outlined the elements required for effective management as follows: Accountability – the government must show readiness that the adopted decisions and actions are in compliance with the determined objectives and goals. Transparency – governmental actions, decisions and decision-making process must be open and transparent for other governmental structures, as well as for the public and other interested groups. Responsibility – the government must have the skills and capabilities to respond to the social challenges, and to consider the expectations and interests of the society. What is more important, the government must critically assess its role and actions. Future visions – the government must be able to develop forecasts, future visions, which will be based on the current tendencies and data, which may be demographical, economic, environmental, and so forth (OECD, 2012). In addition to the issues mentioned above, from the perspective of elaboration of sustainable development policy it is important for Georgia to share international experience. In this case, we think that important platform is the Association Agreement concluded between the European Union and Georgia. In the Agreement it is underlined that the cooperation and relationships must be deepened in the direction of tourism; development of tourism industry must be supported, competitive and sustainable industry must be strengthened, as the activity promoting economic growth. Bilateral agreement ensures maximum protection of the interests of the locals, and special attention is focused on the people living in villages. Importance of cultural heritage and the need for positive interaction between tourism and environmental protection is separated from other parts of the document. Cooperation also includes the following main topics: 1. Exchange of information, sharing experience which is vital for stable development of the industry in the country. 2. Strengthening partnership between governmental, private, public sectors in order to create a precondition for sustainable development of the industry. Cooperation will be especially beneficial for Georgia from the perspective of development of human resources, products and markets, elaboration and implementation of effective policy, development of infrastructure. Training of human resources, arrangement of proper trainings will allow us to eradicate the defects in the service industries and to bring them closer to the European standards (Khokhobaia, 2015).
4. CONCLUSION Considering all of the above said we may conclude that development of state policy at the national, as well as regional level is critical for sustainable development of tourism industry. Development of tourism is
impossible without nature, attractive landscapes; in this direction it is required to set a priority of harmonic development between the nature and human. Furthermore, it is necessary to strengthen the links between the state, private sector and educational institutions, which will allow us to develop respective policy, based on the principles of sustainable development. We believe that it is appropriate for the country to share foreign experience and use the opportunities created by the Association Agreement concluded between the European Union and Georgia in this direction.
REFERENCES: Association Agreement EU-Georgia, European Commission 2014. Edgell David, Swanson Jason R, Tourism Policy and Planning, Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow, 2nd edition, Routledge 2013, Pages 9-11, Goeldner Charles R, J.R Ritchie Brent, Tourism, Principles, Practices, Philosophies, John Wiley Inc 2012, Pages 326-330 Khokhobaia Merab, Tourism Policy Challenges in Post-Soviet Georgia, International Journal of Social, Behavioral, Educational, Economic, Business and Industrial Engineering Vol:9, No. 3, 2015, p.988 OECD Tourism Trends and Policies, OECD Publishing 2012, Pages 14-15 Order by the Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development of Georgia N131, Tbilisi, 2012. Scott Noel, Tourism Policy: A Strategic Review, Published by Goodfellow Publishers Limited, Woodeaton, Oxford 2011, Pages 14-19 UNESCO www.en.unesco.org World Bank www.worldbank.org World Tourism Organization www.unwto.org
Brief biography of the author Merab Khokhobaia, Assistant Professor of Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University, Faculty of Economics and Business, Tourism and Hospitality Management Department.
