Successful tourism development for regions

Tourism is often seen as a promising solution to the various social and economic challenges faced by rural regions. Unfortunately the reality of tourism doesn't always live up to its promise. This paper will report on the findings of a research project that has analysed several hundred Australian and international cases of tourism development in rural and peripheral regions. This research has identified a number of factors associated with success and failure in regional tourism development and these have been classified into three categories - the existing conditions in the region, the state of key tourism development pre-requisites, and the tools to support tourism development activities. In particular this paper will focus on the factors in the category of key tourism development pre-requisites which include community understanding of tourism, tourism leadership, and mechanisms for coordinating tourism stakeholders. Each of these pre-requisites will be described using research findings from the cases and the broader tourism planning literature. The paper will then describe strategies for enhancing these factors to support more beneficial outcomes of tourism in regional areas