The Task

Prepare a discussion paper proposing the preparation of a new tourism plan or policy to address an emerging tourism issue. For example, this issue might be an emerging crisis such as the global financial crisis or the Brexit; or an outbreak of a transmittable disease such as avian flu; or a long-term issue such as climate change, coral bleaching or even a planned deviation of a major highway to bypass a tourist town.

You will have to make a number of decisions in order to narrow your focus. Remember the more focused the tourism issue you are addressing in your discussion paper, the more targeted your research will be and the easier it will be to write your assignment!

We highly recommend that you identify a topic of your own interest, experience or knowledge and encourage you to discuss it with your tutor. Alternatively, you may choose one of the following:

- National tourism planning - e.g. propose a plan/policy to address issues arising for Australia from Brexit; or to address the effects of one of the six megatrends identified by CSIRO on Australian tourism.

- Regional/local destination tourism planning - e.g. propose plan to manage visitation to a cross-border region (e.g. Australia's Green Cauldron National Landscape in Northern New South Wales and Southern Queensland - australiasgreencauldron.com.au); or propose a response plan to manage the effects of climate change on tourism in a local government area.

- Protected marine environments - e.g. propose a policy to manage the effects of a major coral bleaching event in a marine protected area.

- Protected lands - e.g. propose a plan to manage commercial tourism operator access to national parks.

- New Technologies - e.g. propose the development of a plan/policy to facilitate readiness for and optimisation of applying new technologies in the tourism industry

- Indigenous tourism - e.g. propose the development of a plan/policy to address identified gaps in supply and demand issues of Indigenous tourism in Australia (See Ruhanen, L, Whitford, M and McLennan, C 2013. Demand and Supply Issues in Indigenous Tourism: A Gap Analysis. Synopsis

Report Content
The report will contain the following information:

1. position statement (approx. 300 words) - this statement clearly indicates all the assumptions you have made about who you work for, the agency's goals and the particular goals and objectives of the policy issue or problem that your paper is addressing. This serves as the introduction

2. background context (approx. 1000 words) - a discussion of issues that have influenced the emergence of this particular issue, ensuring that you have research and properly referenced your discussion

3. a statement of need (approx. 1000 words) - a background statement on why the tourism plan is needed (consider the role of government, business and other stakeholders, and its possible reasons for government intervention)

4. scope of the proposed plan (approx. 500 words) - identification of possible policy approaches and instruments that the plan or policy will consider (this helps scope or provide direction to those who might be preparing the plan/policy)

5. proposed process (approx. 200 words) - an outline of a proposed planning process including details of consultation, implementation and review

6. a bibliography, including at least 20 references that you have cited in the discussion paper. No more than 7 references are to be web sources and at least 10 references must be academic references.

In preparing this discussion paper you are to demonstrate your understanding of the tourism planning environment. You are also required to demonstrate a high level of professional report writing and communication skills, and critical thinking and analytical skills. As a way of demonstrating this, in your paper you are to include the following:

- clear headings and well-structured paragraphs
- no spelling, grammatical or typographical errors
- in-text referencing and a reference list in Harvard Style as per the library style guide
- all data, information and sources are to be clearly acknowledged
- all quotes are to be properly referenced including author, date and page number.

Remember the quality of your paper will help to determine whether the proposed tourism plan or policy will receive government support!