Self-regulation as a technique in tourism planning and management

In Chapter 9 there was a general discussion of regulation as a technique in visitor management. This chapter discusses regulation, self-regulation, guidelines and codes of conduct as techniques in tourism planning and management. Although often linked, there are important differences between these terms. As Stonehouse indicated, regulations usually have some form of legal status while codes of conduct, codes of practice and guidelines, although attempting to regulate tourism, do not have this status. Codes of conduct are usually voluntary, tend to be self-imposed and are designed to act as a form of self-regulation. There are few examples of legally backed regulations pertaining specifically to tourism, but a variety of tourism codes of conduct have been in existence for at least 30 years. This chapter therefore focuses on codes of conduct in tourism and the guidelines that often accompany them.