Differentiate between provincial/regional tourism planning and local tourism planning, giving one example of each.

Mzansi Attractions is

Grace’s project at Tourism South Africa. While working on the project, she

spends time in the field identifying points and places of interest, categorising

them and recording their GPS coordinates in tables. Grace is conducting step 1

of the tourism database project.

The Western Cape attracts millions of tourists annually to sites such as Table Mountain, Robben Island and the Garden Route. While high visitor numbers can put pressure on communities and the environment, they also bring benefits such as job creation, support for entrepreneurship, foreign exchange earnings and the growth of small businesses.

Which type of benefits is highlighted here?

Conducting a social impact assessment (SIA) entails four phases and results in the development of a social impact management plan (SIMP).

Which of the following is an advantage of conducting an SIA?

An environmental officer claims that integrated environmental management (IEM) applies only to the planning stage of projects and is irrelevant during implementation or monitoring.

When applying the limits of acceptable change (LAC) model in tourism planning, stakeholder involvement is important.

What approach is recommended in this model?

A beachfront resort displays a Blue Flag certificate at its entrance. Blue Flag certification verifies compliance with environmental standards that apply specifically to beaches and marinas.

Integrated Environmental Management (IEM) emerged in the late 1980s and early 1990s as a key framework promoting sustainable environmental management (Unisa, 2012). Tourism developers must continually consider how to manage tourism resources to maximise benefits while minimising negative environmental impacts. With tourists increasingly demanding high-quality, environmentally responsible destinations, IEM offers practical tools and approaches for sustainable tourism management (Department of Tourism, 2021:20).

The Mpumalanga Tourism Authority has requested that you prepare a presentation proposing IEM as an approach for their environmental management initiatives.

In your presentation:

1. Explain the core elements of IEM (6 Marks)
2. Discuss the philosophy of IEM (5 Marks)
3. Describe the applications of IEM (5 Marks)
4. Explain the purpose of IEM (4 Marks)
5. Explain the benefits of IEM (5 Marks)