Ebook: TOURISM PLANNING THROUGH THE SYSTEM OF NATIONAL DESTINATION MANAGEMENT ORGANIZATION

With the help of employment and income generating characteristics of the destinations,
tourism has become the focus of interest in the World. However, we are not the owners
of destinations, but we are the depositories of them for the future generations. It is a
well-known fact that we have failed to preserve our natural, historical and cultural
heritages, which play a significant role in the production of tourism products, and
together with human resources, they all form the environment for businesses to
operate in.
At the heart of the failure to plan the tourism sector is the fact that local, regional and
national destination management organizations, as decision making mechanisms,
have not been established to represent the tourism sector. Due to failure in planning,
carrying capacities of destinations are exceeded by new enterprises and new
structures, and thus tourism monster (or spiral) is created in destinations. As in the
case of Kusadasi, the monster continues to develop and grow until the enterprises and
the destination itself in which businesses operate go bankrupt.
This study focuses on how a proposed law of local, regional and national destination
management organization, as a mechanism, will be based on tourism education
institutions, the Ministry of tourism ( the General Directorate of Tourism in some
countries) and tourism enterprises to be able to plan tourism sector representing all
components equally. Taking into account the fact that “every successful social system
gets its strength from its own professions and degrees”, this study reveals how to base
tourism on tourism professions and tourism degrees, which are proofs of these
professions, in the sector in order to establish a strong social system in tourism.
This study provides recommendations, through a proposed law of Destination
Management Organization System, about how decision-making processes of state
could include representatives from local, regional and national destination
management organisations ensuring them to work in a cooperative manner and about
how the tourism sector could be planned through this proposed system to solve the
problems.
Human kind has always been curious about its history and roots. However, we consider
the fact that the history of humanity could be written and constantly reviewed in a true
way on earth, through correct tourism planning and financing. For this purpose,
dynamic tourism planning and its implementation covering natural, historical, cultural
assets (heritages) as well as human assets which are the sources of all tourism
products is dependent on destination management organization systems based on
tourism professions, and this is considered to be a prerequisite for the achievement of
such planning.
Using the National Destination Management System, with six hierarchical decisionmaking mechanisms as a tool, tourism academics should make continuous
contribution to tourism planning regarding natural, historical and cultural tourism
heritages that will increase the popularity of destinations through participation of
research and development units of the destination management organisations. The
excavations of ancient communities should be carried out in the destinations by
national and foreign scientists best in their fields. With the help of the historical and
cultural heritages uncovered with such excavations, the life styles of ancient
civilisations should be explored and the findings regarding these civilisations should
be presented in concrete examples to tourism consumers.