Evaluación

Fig. 1 7 : Chapter Four Objective and Methods

Chapter

Chapter 3 : Evolution of Tourism Policy

and Planning Structures in New Zealand

Chapter 5 :

Development and Application of a Planning Process Assessment Instrument

Research Objective

Describe the structural arrangements that have been established to guide tourism planning activities in New

Zealand.

Evaluate the extent to which sub-national tourism development strategies incorporate the principles of

stakeholder participation and strategic orientation.

Chapter 6 : Establish quantitative levels of local resident support for a

Local Resident Evaluation of cross-section sample of sub-national tourism development Tourism Strategies strategies.

Methods Secondary data review Design and application of quantitative scale Mail Surveys

Chapter 7 : Evaluate the implications of stakeholder participation and Statistical Analysis

Planning Process Quality and Local Resident Evaluations

strategic orientation in terms of subsequent levels of local resident support for sub-national tourism development

strategies.

Chapter Three has presented a summary of the extent to which New Zealand government policy and statutory legislation provide for the design and implementation of a co-ordinated planning regime for tourism development. It has also provided an identification of the specific agencies to which policy and planning responsibility have been allocated and, in this context, it can be viewed as an assessment of policy intention, an analysis of 'the way the world ought to be' . In Chapter Four, a variety of research methods are used to assess the degree to which institutional participants accept and discharge these responsibilities - the chapter is therefore intended to review New

Zealand tourism policy and planning in terms of 'the way the world actually is' . To this end, an inventory of specific key tasks for the chapter is presented below ..

4.1 * * * * * 4.2 Key Tasks

Describe the strategic planning activities of central government agencies Describe the strategic planning activities of regional/local goveriunent agencies Evaluate the extent to which planning responsibility is implemented

Evaluate the extent to which planning responsibility is deleg�ted or 'abrogated Obtain copies of all current regional and local tourism strategies

Methodology

The objective set for this part of the research design required an approach to each of the key figures in national level tourism policy and planning - the Minister of Tourism, the Office of Tourism and Sport, the New Zealand Tourism Board, and the Department of Conservation - with a view to extending and enriching the material already obtained through the secondary data search described in Chapter Three. Two further initiatives sought to collect data from both Regional and Territorial Councils, recognising that these agencies had earlier been identified as the nominated tourism planners at sub­ national level. In addition, local government responses had revealed the importance of an additional tourism planning cohort (the Regional Tourism Organisations - RTOs) and a final field work exercise addressed the collection of data from this constituency.

The total population of interest for this investigation comprised 1 1 6 individuals and organisations, and it was therefore both logical and feasible to approach each one of those entities for comment. The design of an appropriate sampling procedure was therefore unnecessary, and this aspect of research methodology is accordingly omitted from the discussion which follows.

Central Government Approach

Pizam ( 1 994) suggests that a need for qualitative and open-ended participant comment is best addressed by the selection of an unstructured interview technique, a type of free-

form conversation which allows a greater depth of exploration to probe the general nature of the problem under investigation. Unstructured interviews are flexible in terms of their content and sequence, permit the spontaneous generation of supplementary questions and, in view of the small number of interview targets in this instance, their principal disadvantages of high financial and time costs were thought to be manageable.

Each of the four major participants in the determination of central government tourism policy was therefore requested by letter to submit to a personal interview with the researcher, with the broad topics for discussion clearly identified in the initial mailed approach. An essentially identical version of the request letter was sent to each potential interviewee, and a sample copy is attached as Appendix C.

Senior staff at the Tourism Board and Department of Conservation readily agreed to an interview, and the conversations took place on 1 8 January, 2000 at the Wellington head office of each organisation. The specific objective for Chapter Four was used to pre­ define the interview topics, although the unstructured nature of conversations resulted in wide ranging discussion across an extremely broad spectrum of issues. Interviewees were generous with their time, each conversation lasting for approximately 75 minutes, and responses appeared to be candid with no apparent attempt to evade questions.

Response from the Minister of Tourism's office indicated considerable interest in the research topic, and professed a willingness to contribute. However, citing a major work overload associated with the transition from opposition to government, the Minister requested that interview questions be forwarded to him in writing - in this format, he felt he could offer a more certain commitment to participation in the research project. Though the researcher was sympathetic to this request, it was noted that a mail instrument eliminates the option of supplementary questioning - thus, the broad topics already signalled were initially expanded into an inventory of more detailed and specific questions, and subsequently into a set of subjective position statements for ministerial comment. A copy of the final paper sent to the Minister is also enclosed in Appendix C.

Despite the use of a reminder letter, sent two weeks after the original approach, the Office of Tourism and Sport did not respond to the interview request, and it was

therefore necessary to rely on secondary data to construct an assessment of that organisation' s tourism policy involvement. The potential bias resulting from incomplete information is therefore acknowledged, though this was minimised through secondary data on OTSp activities being obtained during the course of interviews with the Minister's Office, the New Zealand Tourism Board and the Department of Conservation. In this respect, much of the OTSp commentary is based on analysis of the Office' s briefing paper prepared for the new Minister on assuniing his current role (OTSp, 1 999).

Regional Government Approach

The specific agencies which together comprise New Zealand' s local government sector, at both regional and territorial level, have been identified in an earlier section of this thesis (see Appendix B). Given the nation-wide distribution of all possible respondents, the choice of a mail survey method was strongly indicated due to its potential for an administratively simple and low cost collection of quantitative data. In addition, although the survey was intended to gather respondents' self-evaluation of their own tourism planning processes, the physical collection of individual tourism strategy documents was also a key task. The adoption of a mail survey approach allowed the provision of reply paid postage for the return of these documents, a feature which was thought to be important in securing an acceptable response rate from what is an extremely small population.

According to Bush (1 995), the principal functions of New Zealand' s four unitary councils are territorial rather than regional, and these institutions were classified accordingly (as TLAs) for the purposes of this research. As such, the regional sector of local government was held to comprise the twelve regional councils shown in the first column of Figure 1 5. Reference to the New Zealand Government Internet Website (http://www.govt.nz. accessed 20 November, 1 999) allowed the identification, by name and e-mail address, of the Chief Executive Officer or General Manager in each regional council. A self-completion questionnaire was designed for presentation to these managers, with the specific chapter objective being addressed through a battery of ten fixed response questions as briefly summarised below :

Q 1 : Q2 : Q3 : Q4 : Q5 : Q6 : Q7 : Q8 : Q9 : Q 1 0 :

What are opening/closing dates of council's Regional Policy Statement (RPS) ? Are tourism issues included in the RPS ?

Has council produced a separate regional tourism strategy ?

Does council contribute financially to regional tourism development ?

What do council perceive as their responsibilities related to regional tourism ? Does council believe a regional tourism strategy is (a) desirable, (b) feasible ? Which agencies are responsible for regional tourism planning ? Which agencies are responsible for regional tourism planning ? Which agencies are responsible for regional tourism planning ? What print material is available on council's involvement with tourism ?

The questionnaire additionally requested the respondent's name and job title, and whether they wished to be sent research project progress reports, whilst a free format question invited any comment that respondents felt was relevant to regional tourism planning. The senior manager at each council was requested to either complete the questionnaire himlherself, or to delegate to the council staff member best equipped to answer the questions. Questionnaires were e-mailed on 26th November, 1 999 and a copy of both instrument and covering message is included at Appendix D.

Five out of the twelve councils (42%) responded to the questionnaire within two weeks of its despatch, at which time a planned follow-up procedure was implemented. Reverting to more traditional communication methods, a hard copy questionnaire was mailed to the seven non-responding addressees, with a covering letter attached stressing the importance of survey completion. A stamped addressed return envelope was also enclosed and the follow up letters were despatched on 14 December, 1 999, with a second reminder being sent on 7 January, 2000.

These supplementary approaches clearly indicated that the council's senior manager had.

already been asked to participate in the research project, and that no reply had been forthcoming, before repeating the original e-mail questionnaire in hard copy format. A further five completed questionnaires were received in response to the first reminder, and two additional replies were generated by the second reminder - as such, a 1 00%

response rate was eventually achieved. Each of the twelve questionnaires. had been completed in full, and none were omitted from the subsequent data analysis�

Territorial Government Approach

The Territorial Local Authorities of New Zealand were identified through an identical process to that used for the regional survey, and the target population was therefore the 74 city, district and county councils shown in Appendix B.

As part of the methodology adopted for regional councils, a parall,el mailing list of senior managers in each of the 74 territorial authorities had been .compiled . through reference to the New Zealand Government Website (http://www.govt.nz. accessed 20 November, 1 999). A traditional mail survey, with accompanying reply�paid envelopes, was used to approach a cohort of senior managers identified both by name and job title, the survey instrument being virtually identical in form and content to that used for . regional councils. The sole amendments were the replacement of references to Regional Policy Statements by allusions to District Plans, and the rewording of question 1 0 to request that a hard copy of any local tourism strategy be sent to the researcher.

Each questionnaire was sent with a covering letter on 30 November, 1 999. In a similar app�oach to that used with regional councils, addressees were asked to complete the questionnaire personally, or alternatively to forward it to the TLA staff member best qualified to answer the questions. A reminder letter was prepared for use with non­ responding councils, and this was sent with a duplicate questionnaire on 1 5 December

1 999, and a triplicate on 7 January 2000 - a copy of all correspondence is included at Appendix E to this thesis.

Responses were received from 39 of the 74 councils (53%) within two weeks of the initial mailout, and the 1 5 December follow-up resulted in a further 26 responses being received by the end of the year. The "7 January reminder generated a further five responses, and the final result was therefore 70 responses from 74 requests, a success rate of apprbximately 94%. Each of the questionnaires was fully completed, and it was not necessary to discard any responses from the subsequent data analysis.

Regional Tourism Organisation Approach

An effective research design will be flexible enough to allow consideration of fresh aspects of the research problem as they arise (Pizam, 1 994), and this proved to be an important consideration in this instance. Initial perusal of TLA responses revealed that a substantial proportion of councils had elected to conduct their tourism planning activities through the medium of a Regional Tourism Organisation (RTO). Given this level of involvement with the RTO network, it was therefore considered necessary to incorporate a direct approach to R TOs in the research design. According to an Internet Web site maintained by Destination Lake Taupo (http://www.laketaupo.tourism.co.nz. accessed 1 2 December, 1 999), there are 26 active RTOs in New Zealand.

All 26 RTOs were consulted via an amended version of the territorial government questionnaire referred to earlier. Whilst much of the survey format was identical to that used in previously discussed material, questions related to Regional Policy Statements .

or District Plans were replaced by those seeking to establish the nature of relationship between an RTO and its associated local government agencies, and the extent to which local stakeholders were represented in RTO governance. In addition, the questionnaire sought to establish the sources from which RTOs obtained the finance necessary to operate their organisations, and the extent to which current funding levels permitted the discharge of functions seen as necessary for optimal tourism development in their regions. A copy of the RTO questionnaire, and related correspondence, is included as Appendix F to this thesis.

The Destination Lake Taupo Website identified the chief executive of each RTO by name and, in fourteen out of 26 instances, supplied an individual e-mail address for that person. An initial e-mail approach to all RTOs was made on 1 7 December 1 999, using the fourteen available personal addresses, plus twelve "General Enquiries" addresses. In all cases, the covering message clearly identified the target addressee by name and job title, requesting himlher to complete the questionnaire personally, or alternatively to forward to the RTO staff member best qualified to answer the questions.

Fourteen replies from 26 approaches, a response rate of 54%, were received by 7 January 2000, at which time a follow-up process was instigated in similar fashion to that

used for regional and territorial councils. A duplicate questionnaire was mailed to the twelve non-respondents, with a covering letter stressing the value of the re'search to the RTO sector, and a stamped addressed return envelope to encourage survey completion. This approach, and the use of a second reminder mailed on 3 1 January, resulted in a further eleven responses being received by 20 February, a final success rate of 25 responses from 26 approaches (96%).

4.3 Results

This section presents the results of investigations outlined in the inu:p.ediiltely· previous paragraphs. As such, tourism policy and planning activities are described at all three levels of governance in New Zealand, though the section related to national level activities is presented to a lesser level of detail than those sections which describe sub­ national policy and planning(3). This approach reflects the general emphasis of the thesis investigations, and the nature of the specific research objectives addressed.

Central Government Policy and Planning

A General Election was held on 26 November 1 999, part way through the field research described in this section of the thesis, as a result of which the incumbent N ationall ACT Party government was ousted by a Labour-led coalition. The comments contained in this section are based on the environment which existed at election date, though moderated by the identification and discussion of the new government's tourism policy as an

indicator of potential changes for the future.

Current national level policy advice is furnished by the Office of Tourism and Sport, established in 1 998 according to a supposedly successful model of co-operation between tourism and sport in the Australian state of Victoria. By August of the same year, it was able to lend its name - alongside the Tourism Industry Association of New Zealand, New Zealand Tourism Board, Air New Zealand and the Department of Conservation - to a national tourism research and development strategy document (OTSp et aI, 1 998).

(3) An expanded account of the DoC role in national level tourism operations has been submitted for inclusion as a chapter in Fennell, D. and Dowling, R. (eds.). Ecotourism Policy. Wallingford, UK : CAB! Publishing. The submission is currently (20 September 200 1 ) undergoing the editorial review process. See Appendix A for full biographical reference.

Whilst not claiming to be an overall national tourism plan, this strategy represents a clear move towards a co-ordinated future for tourism development.' It. canvasses the views of goverrunent agencies, industry operators, regional tourism organisations, research providers and Australian contributors - a total of 73 individual entities are credited with input - and it can therefore be seen as an attempt to generate a reasonably representative view of what the tourism industry itself thinks is important for the future. In this context, the research strategy partners envisaged that their ,recommendations would eventually form part of "a national tourism strategy to be prepared by the New Zealand Tourism Industry Association" (OTSp et aI, 1 998:2).

Important insights into the OTSp's interpretation of its policy advice role can be discerned from the presentation made by Executive Director Scott Morrison to the 1 999 TIANZ Annual Conference. Identifying OTSp's obligation to assist with achievement of central goverrunent's strategic objectives, and noting the strong influence of market failure principles on its activities, Morrison commented that industry stakeholders were excessively fragmented in their approach to the development of a national tourism product. As a result, structural gaps and overlaps had resulted in a sub-optimal synergy in industry operations, and the industry could thus expect to encounter increasing difficulties in securing acceptable levels of central government funding in the future.

This evaluation had presented the OTSp as a champion of further tourism development, rather than a neutral and objective adviser, and had noted its commitment to facilitation of greatly expanded development responsibilities for major industry players, asset owners and regional goverrunent. Thus, whilst it would willingly participate in aspects of tourism which properly lay outside of the industry'S sphere of influence - some examples are the nature of tourism relationships with other countries, a review of New Zealand visa regulations, and Resource Management Act reforms - its involvement with tourism operations per se would be restricted to advice, guidance, and monitoring.

The essence of the Office's approach to tourism is neatly encapsulated in its briefing to the new Minister, the key aspects of which are shown in Figure 1 8. In this respect, there