Author(s)

C. Cook, F. DeCaro & N. DeCaro

Abstract

Modelling for tourism must start with a strong foundation of strategic planning and understanding of the specific areas of tourism life cycles, which will result in an increase of local revenues, tax income, employment, and conservation of local ecosystems. This is a descriptive research design with the objective to develop a tourism flow model that takes information from tourism data-sets, business surveys, and state and local projects and builds a picture of current and future tourism flows in Brevard County (the Space Coast), Florida. This tourism model will serve as a tool for gauging tourism on the Space Coast. The question that must be addressed is that the model must answer the problems of how strategic planning initiatives will fill the void between anticipated workplace downsizing and the subsequent reduction of tourist activity, with the approaching retirement of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) shuttle fleet. It is forecasted that more than a quarter of a million workers may suffer job losses in hospitality, manufacturing, business services, and aerospace along the Space Coast. This tourism flow model would be an analysis tool for Space Coast tourism stakeholders to understand the impact of tourism growth and the development of sustainable and unsustainable industries for the area. Next, the model will attempt to identify areas from both private and public investments necessary for high impact revenue results for the Space Coast, while preserving the historic local environment and culture. Lastly, the model will be used to facilitate decisionmaking and planning for government planning boards, and the various tourism committees and councils as to where to invest and adopt pro-active polices for resource allocation in the county. The conclusion of the study will be a practical tourism flow model, which can be used to provide for rigorous discussion. Keywords: tourism, strategic planning, tourism life cycles, ecosystems, sustainable and unsustainable industries, brevard county, space coast, NASA, tourism flow model.

Keywords

tourism, strategic planning, tourism life cycles, ecosystems,sustainable and unsustainable industries, brevard county, space coast, NASA,tourism flow model