Tourism Planning and Policy: The Roles of Government, Public and Private Sectors and of International, National, State and Local Organisations, Thrust Areas and Special Tourism Areas, Sustainable, Pro-Poor and Responsible Tourism and Community Participation, Tourism Policy and the National Tourism Policy, Levels and Approaches of Planning and the PASOLP Method, the Five Year Plans, the Elements, Agents, Processes and Typologies of Development, State Policies, WTO Guidelines, Civic Bodies and Rural Tourism Planning

Government plays several roles in tourism: coordinator of the many ministries and levels involved; planner; legislator and regulator (visas, safety, standards, land use, environmental clearance); provider of infrastructure and of public attractions such as monuments and parks; stimulator, through incentives and promotion; entrepreneur, through public-sector hotels and corporations; and protector of the public interest, of residents, heritage and the environment. The private sector invests in and runs most of the product, and it contributes to policy through its associations, consultation and partnership. International organisations such as UN Tourism set standards, statistics and guidelines and advise governments; the Ministry of Tourism sets national policy, promotes India abroad, funds infrastructure schemes and approves the trade; state departments and corporations develop and market their states, since land, law and order and most infrastructure are state subjects; and local bodies, municipalities and panchayats, provide the civic services, planning control and community link on which every destination depends.

Planning for thrust areas means concentrating scarce resources where they will do most good. The National Tourism Policy 2002 named seven key areas, the "seven S": Swagat (welcome), Soochana (information), Suvidha (facilitation), Suraksha (safety and security), Sahyog (cooperation), Samrachana (infrastructure) and Safai (cleanliness). It proposed special tourism areas, destinations to be developed in an integrated way under a dedicated authority, and the development of circuits, which the Ministry has carried forward through schemes. Swadesh Darshan, launched in 2014–15, funded the integrated development of theme-based circuits (Buddhist, heritage, coastal, desert, eco, Himalayan, Ramayana, Krishna, spiritual, tribal, wildlife, rural, North-East, Sufi and Tirthankar), and was revamped as Swadesh Darshan 2.0 in 2022 around sustainable and responsible destinations rather than circuits. PRASHAD, the National Mission on Pilgrimage Rejuvenation and Spiritual, Heritage Augmentation Drive, launched in 2014–15, develops pilgrimage and heritage sites. Dekho Apna Desh, launched in January 2020 and continued as a webinar series during the pandemic, encourages Indians to travel within India.

The practical tests of sustainability are limits (carrying capacity, zoning, visitor management), local benefit (local employment, local purchasing and local ownership that reduce leakage), community control over key decisions, conservation of the resources the product depends on, and monitoring with indicators. Kerala's model linked hotels and resorts with local farmers, fishers and artisans through village-level units, so that vegetables, fish and crafts were bought locally and village life became an experience sold to guests, which is responsible tourism and pro-poor tourism in one.

Tourism policy is the set of goals, principles and guidelines by which a government shapes tourism. It is influenced by economic factors (the need for foreign exchange, jobs and regional development), political factors (ideology, federal relations, international relations and image), social and cultural factors (the protection of heritage and communities), environmental factors, security, technology and the pressure of the industry. India's first National Tourism Policy was announced in 1982; tourism was accorded the status of an industry the same year; the National Committee on Tourism reported in 1988; a National Action Plan for Tourism followed in 1992; and the National Tourism Policy 2002, the one still most cited, made tourism an engine of economic growth and employment, adopted the seven S and the special tourism areas, and gave the private sector the lead role in investment with the government as facilitator. The Ministry of Tourism later circulated a draft of a new national tourism policy (2022); whether and when a new policy is adopted should be checked.

In the Five Year Plans tourism entered as a separate sector with a small outlay in the Second Plan (1956–61), mostly for tourist facilities; later plans added accommodation through the ITDC, the promotion of foreign tourism for foreign exchange, and from the Seventh Plan (1985–90) onwards a view of tourism as an industry and an employer. The Eighth Plan (1992–97) coincided with liberalisation and the National Action Plan; the Tenth (2002–07) with the 2002 policy and the Incredible India campaign; and the Eleventh (2007–12) and Twelfth (2012–17) emphasised rural, pro-poor, inclusive and sustainable tourism, circuits and skill development. The Twelfth was the last: the Planning Commission was replaced by NITI Aayog on 1 January 2015, and plans gave way to other forms of strategy.

Tourism is planned at several levels: international (cross-border circuits, regional cooperation and the guidelines of international bodies), national (policy, the national brand, infrastructure schemes and priorities), regional (a group of states or a sub-region such as a coast or a mountain range), state (state policies and master plans), local (a town or district plan) and site (the detailed design of a resort, park or monument). Donald Getz (1987) identified the traditions of tourism planning: boosterism, the traditional approach that treats tourism as good in itself and plans only to promote it; the economic, industry-oriented approach; the physical or spatial approach, concerned with land use and carrying capacity; and the community-oriented approach, to which Michael Hall and others added sustainable planning. The traditional approach was the supply-led master plan drawn up by experts; the modern approach is integrated, continuous, participatory and sustainable.

PASOLP, the Product Analysis Sequence for Outdoor Leisure Planning (the syllabus's "PASLOP"), developed by Manuel Baud-Bovy and set out with Fred Lawson in their handbook of tourism and recreation planning, is a market- and product-led planning method. Instead of starting from a physical master plan, it proceeds in sequence: surveys and analyses of the markets, the resources and the existing supply, the competition and national and regional policy; the product analysis sequence itself, which identifies priority markets and the tourism products that match them; the physical and development plan for those products; and the assessment of economic, social and environmental impacts, with the results fed back to revise the plan. Its strength is that development is justified by demand for specific products.

Because land, law and order and most infrastructure are state subjects, the states make their own tourism policies, commonly offering capital subsidies and tax concessions for tourism units, land banks and single-window clearance, rules for homestays and heritage properties, and branding and events; Kerala, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Goa are among those whose policies are frequently studied. National planning for destination development combines central funding (Swadesh Darshan, PRASHAD, and assistance for infrastructure) with the states' master plans and with sector policies on aviation, rail, roads and heritage. The World Tourism Organization has published planning guidance for governments, including National and Regional Tourism Planning (1994) and a guide for local authorities on developing sustainable tourism (1998), which recommend an integrated, market-based, participatory and sustainable approach: set goals with stakeholders, survey and analyse, formulate a policy and a structure plan, identify priority projects, and monitor.

Urban civic bodies shape the tourism experience of every city. Under the 74th Constitutional Amendment (1992) municipalities were given functions listed in the Twelfth Schedule, among them urban planning and town planning, the regulation of land use and buildings, roads, water supply, sanitation and solid waste management, public amenities such as parking and conveniences, and the promotion of cultural and aesthetic aspects. Through master plans, zoning, building bye-laws, heritage precinct regulations, traffic management, street vending, signage and cleanliness, they decide whether a historic city is pleasant or chaotic to visit. Rural tourism planning has its own characteristics: it must be community-based and small in scale, keep ownership and income local (homestays, local guides, crafts), link tourism with agriculture and village crafts rather than replace them, build the capacity of villagers to host, provide basic infrastructure (access roads, sanitation, water, connectivity) without destroying rural character, work through the panchayats given their role by the 73rd Amendment (1992), respect carrying capacity and authenticity, and find access to markets through operators and online platforms.