Chapter-V Resource Analysis to Contribute to SWOT Analysis for the Destination (стр. 1 )

Chapter-V

Resource Analysis to Contribute to SWOT Analysis for the Destination

5.1. Concept of Resources in Tourism

5.1.1 Origin of Resources and Tourism

5.1.2 Changing Concept of Tourism Resources

5.2. Features of Tourism Resources

5.3. Categorization of Tourism Resources Available in Sikkim

5.4. Management of Tourism Resources through SWOT Analysis

5.5 Conclusion

5.1.1 Origin of Resources and Tourism

Broadly our biosphere comprises atmosphere, lithosphere and hydrosphere. This biosphere or earth is considered to be the best resource to all habitat in the form of the Almighty’s benignancy. All the natural resources and the nature itself has remarkable impact on human existence, habitation and socio-cultural activities. Experts defined resource as anything we get from the environment to meet our needs and wants. Practically, the scope for defining and maintaining resource and environment as a whole has been widening rapidly. Following the same trend, the concept of tourism resource has come to light. The purpose for visiting a place has most often been nature. So natural resources ( for tourism) can be defined as those parts of nature that can provide goods and services for humans including opportunities for recreation, the appreciation of scenic beauty, and the disposal of waste. One of the most commonly discussed areas in resource analysis is the interaction of people with the environment and ecology. As a growing phenomenon, tourism resource analysis tends to categorize environment and assess impacts of human interaction as a part of achieving sustainability.

Industrial resources for tourism are symbiotic in nature. As derived demand and support system, tourism needs large man-made resources in the form of infrastructure. Therefore, destination development essentially deals with destination resources viz. natural, man made and symbiotic. Again, interaction through inter-linkages among all destination resources contributes to the planning and policy issues for tourism for an area.

5.1.2 Changing Concept of Tourism Resources

Zimmermann (1972) broadly defined resource as something which at a given point in time fulfils a function for people. A function generally has a purpose, e. g. satisfying need. So resource is developed in a dynamic interplay between nature and culture and as such implies a mean of achieving certain goals that reflects certain values. Resource must have demand before its utilization for production. Zimmermann contradicted the unlimited utilization of natural resources and drew a new basic conclusion on limited acceptability, better utilization and need for sustainability. Resources are attributes of the natural world that are no more than ‘neutral stuff’ until a combination of increased knowledge, expanding technology, and changing individual and societal objectives results in their presence being perceived, their capacity to satisfy human wants and needs being recognized, and the means to utilize them being devised ( Wilkinson, 1997).

The identification and evaluation of tourism attractions/resources is a foremost requirement in tourism planning (Gunn, 1994; Pearce, 1995; Inkeep, 1997). Furthermore, understanding the interrelationships and interactions of the different elements and components of the tourism supply side is an inevitable step in creating more valuable destination products (Pearce, 1997). This has an active role in identifying the Unique Selling Proportion (USP) of the destination with its changing aspects. Pearce (1995) also emphasized that an analysis and evaluation of two major components, including destinations’ resources (attractions, accommodations, transportation, infrastructures, etc), and the existing and potential markets (visitor statistics, tourist satisfaction, resources mapping and evaluation) are common procedures in tourism planning. Thus, a thorough consideration and inventory of knowledge of how the resources are actively contributing to and supplementing in tourism planning including its market orientation is essential to enhancing tourism destination competitiveness. Broadly tourism resources are divided into two parts viz. renewable and non-renewable resources. Renewable resources in Sikkim are landscape, wildlife, forests etc, though the quality features of these attractions can not be easily recovered if start dwindling. Non-renewable resources are original work of art, archeological remains, traditional lifestyle etc. Without developed attractions tourism as we know it could not exist; there would be little need for transportation, facilities, services, and information system (Gunn, 1988; p.37). Tourism product is typically a mixture of other tangible and intangible products. A tour product may represent whole state or a set of destinations therein or both. Tourism is different from the most of the other industries in that it essentially incorporates renewable resources or free resources such as air, climate, snow-clad mountain ranges etc. are a vital part of the product. There is no ‘allocative mechanism’ ( or a market) to allocate those free resources but a typical tendency of the suppliers is to offer tour product (or a vital component therein) with the help of these free resources often known as core product or controlling to it. Bull (1995) argued that the basis for tourism lies in building upon free resources or renewable resources, with a mixture of public sector and private sector resources. Bull also pointed out that in today’s world there are few truly free resources since any human activity makes demand on the world’s resources and, as a consequence, ultimately someone will have to pay a price. This is from where the concept of sustainable development, ‘polluter pays principles’ can be added. On the other hand, tourism resources can be divided into a number of categories such as natural conditions, e. g. climate or topographical conditions; cultural conditions, e. g. prehistoric remains, cultural landscape or cultural heritage; and resources which can be manipulated, e. g. the creation of synthetic attractions (Svalastog 1994; p. 63). Synthetic tourism products are those whose purpose is to stimulate socially created commercial needs e. g. theme park. Provision of knowledge and skills and capital are important elements for producing and implementing tourism products. Tourism resources are raw ingredients of a place that adds to the gaiety with an identity. Perception about tourism resources in a place exhibits how casually/ seriously these are taken by the different stakeholders and how the related consequences need to be assessed, analyzed and planned for the future. The ever changing perceptions, offerings of new alternative destinations, maintenance of the quality features of the sites, adoption of conservation measures all are the managerial issues of tourism development. According to the environmentalists, as long as the global population continues to grow, the problems of resource degradation, pollution and environmental degradation would not be solved. Resource problems are not really environmental problems: they are human problems (Ludwig et al, 1993) and, so long as human exploitation of resources increases, so to do the environmental consequences of that activity. Environmental and resource problems have been characterized by terms such as ‘wicked’, ‘messes’ or ‘metaproblems’ (Mitchell, 2006). As the tourism product base continues to evolve worldwide, more and more varied resources (social, cultural and environment) are being drawn into the tourism domain, both in developed and developing destinations and the view on tourism impacts has changed over time. A focus on the negative environmental impacts of tourism has given way to examining a way forward in terms of how resources can be managed for future generations. Ritchie and Crouch (2003) categorize core resources and attractors that motivate travel as well as enhance destination appeal as physiography of the destination and, in particular, the landscape, scenery and climate, culture and history, range and mix of activities available, special events, components of the destination superstructure, types of entertainment and strength of market ties. These are supported by infrastructure, accessibility, financial capital, resident attitudes, enterprise and political will. A destination’s tourism resource base is the essence of that location’s imagery and appeal. It represents the supply side of the basic demand –and –supply equation on which an industry is based. A proper destination development strategy in any setting requires up-to-date and accurate information on tourism supply, and without this no amount of promotion will ever make up for a basic tourism resources ( Godfrey and Clarke, 2000).

5.2. Features of Tourism Resources:

The term resource with respect to a destination varies as there are ten types of destinations all around. These are natural resources, cultural resources, human resources, goodwill resources, developed resources, financial resources, legal resources, organization resources, relationship resources and implementation resources. Each type is distinct and having distinctive characteristics. For convenience, important features of tourism resources in Sikkim are -

(i) Immobility - Many resources can not be moved such as mountain ranges, glaciers etc. , nor the seasonal features of those resources from the summer to winter as we find in any other Himalayan hill stations in India.

(ii) Intangibility and fictitious - Attraction features and services in any destination are intangible and contribute largely to destination imagery. Goodwill in terms of hospitality, sustainability, service quality etc. is fictitious assets and Sikkim has an edge over other north-eastern states in India.

(iii) Substitution - Capacity level of the production and the quality of service can be changed or improved, may be with the help of updated machine or technology but the substitution of human resources with operational resources is tough though the number and quality of human resources dominate the service quality in any destination.