The strategic context for local government tourism planning

The Local Government Act 2002 (LGA) provides for local authorities to:

• play a broad role in promoting the social, economic, environmental and cultural well-being of their communities; and
• undertake or fund associated activities, including tourism planning, through their Long Term Council Community Plan (LTCCP) if there is broad community support.

On the basis of the key outcomes identified by a local community the LTCCP integrates all the relevant council strategies, policies and activities in a way that promotes public accountability and integrated decision-making. Consequently, the LTCCP is the principal driver for all planning that a local authority undertakes. This includes district, regional and asset management plans as well as other non-mandatory initiatives such as a tourism strategies.

Any council involvement in tourism planning should be set out in the LTCCP and justified in terms of either furthering community outcomes or promoting one of the four wellbeings. The LTCCP could, for example, provide the catalyst for a local authority to develop a Tourism Strategy, or be informed by an existing strategy.

For more information, see Tourism and the Resource Management Act: A good practice guide (1.2 MB PDF), page 25, figure 4.2 for a diagram which illustrates the relationship between Long Term Council Community Plans (LTCCPs) prepared under the LGA and district plans to address tourism related issues in a city or district. In particular it shows how an LTCCP or supplementary tourism strategy can be used as a basis to inform a RMA response to managing tourism impacts through objectives, policies and rules in plans.