The tourism industry is an important sector in many countries because it is a source of revenue. It also creates employment opportunities, increases income, and facilitates economic growth. Moreover, tourism plays an important to facilitate the emergence of other business activities (Jenkins, 2015). Since, the tourism industry provides many benefits to the economy, it is imperative that international organizations should be a role in policy and planning especially in developing countries in Asia. For instance, Malaysia is one of the countries in Asia that is growing a faster pace because of tourism. It has the natural advantage of attracting tourists, and providing leisure and recreational activities (Khan, 2014). In this case, international organizations should be actively involved to promote social and economic developments that will create more opportunities for tourism.
There is a rising significance of terms should motivate the international organizations to be key players to develop and plans for policies that relate to tourism especially in less developed countries. It is important to take active participation to draft tourism policies and action plans that will promote both domestic and international tourism (Khan, 2014). For instance, these organizations should provide funding to these countries to ensure that travel and tourism agents are formed. They should also cooperate with the local government to help the agents offer services that are necessary to promote growth in the tourism industry. In other words, they have a role to providing the infrastructure that will ensure that the number of tourism activities is increasing (Jenkins, 2015).
On a further note, the local tourism companies are facing issues related to lack of funds and qualified personnel. These are constraints that hinder the growth of tourist activities. This means that organizations from international level should come in and ensure that the government will direct appropriate revenues that will enhance the outlook for recreational facilities (Jenkins, 2015). They should also work collaboratively with the tourism boards to coordinate marketing and promotional activities that relate to tourism. For instance, they should work as a team to stimulate the growth of domestic and international tourism, and increase the number of foreign arrivals (Khan, 2014).
It is important that international organizations should help the governments in less developed countries to promote-related activities. They should work with the ministry through tourism websites, printed materials, and information to ensure that tourism policies are planned effectively. These are efforts that will include implementing programs that will attract local and foreign tourists (Gorina, 2015). Providing technical assistance and infrastructure is also crucial to promote cultural and tourism-related activities. On the other hand, international organizations should also become key players to publicizing, encouraging and extending commercial tourism. They should help the companies in the tourism industry to develop friendship and a common goal to promoting tourist activities (Khan, 2014). More importantly, the stakeholders in the tourism sector should understand that ethical standards should be maintained when conducting any business in this sector. Despite the need to promote tourism, the key players in this sector should discourage unfair competition because it can become a barrier (Jenkins, 2015).
Notably, to ensure that tourism in less developed countries will be beneficial, the international organizations have a role to play. They should help to disseminate information that can be used to promote tourism activities in this country (Gorina, 2015). They should be on the frontline to create awareness on the benefits created by the tourism industry. For instance, they should cooperate with the government to offer research and training that relates to tourism (Khan, 2014). In this way, it will be easier for less developed countries in Asia such as Malaysia to enjoy the benefits related to tourism.
- Gorina, G. O. (2015). Activities of international organizations and associations in the travel & tourism industry. Aktual’ni Problemy Ekonomiky= Actual Problems in Economics, (172), 13.
- Jenkins, C. L. (2015). Tourism policy and planning for developing countries: some critical issues. Tourism Recreation Research, 40(2), 144-156.
- Khan, M. M. A. (2014). Role of tourism organisations in the development of tourism industry of Malaysia. Abhinav-National Monthly Refereed Journal Of Research In Commerce & Management, 3(5), 57-63.
