Planning tourism employment: a developing country perspective

It is argued that tourism planning should be about planning for residents as well as for visitors. If tourism is to be a positive force in the lives of local residents, it is contingent upon local response, involvement and support. Many tourism plans for developing area destinations give inadequate attention to human resources development. Furthermore, many tourism plans espouse forms of tourism that do not fit well with existing human resources capabilities so that local people find it difficult to participate in tourism and, in consequence, benefit less than might otherwise be the case. Human resources development often focuses on the employment needs of large international companies, especially in hospitality, to the neglect of the employment requirements and opportunities in tourism more broadly conceived. In an attempt to expand perspectives on human resources development in tourism planning, a policy–industry–locality framework is proposed together with associated research questions and data requirements.