RESORT

Any place or places with pleasant environment and atmosphere conducive to comfort, healthful
relaxation and rest, offering food, sleeping accommodation and recreational facilities to the
public for a fee (definition per DOT Rules on Accreditation).

Elements of a resort
1. Recreational facilities that draw guests to the facility
2. Housing and Food & Beverage services that cater
to people away from home
3. Activities to occupy guests during their stay

Classification of Resort According to Location

1. Inland Beach – Plantation Bay
2. Island – Club Noah Isabelle
3. Lakeside – Lake Caliraya
4. Farm – Villa Escudero
5. Orchard – Gap Farming Resort, Davao
6. Mountain – Mt. Data Lodge, Benguet
7. Springs – Ardent Hot Springs, Camiguin

Classification of Resort According to Activity Offered

1. Diving Resort
2. Fishing Resort
3. Health/Spa
4. Golf Resort
5. Ski Resort
6. Gaming Resort
7. Theme Park

Classification of Resort According to Ownership/Lodging Properties

Resort Hotel

1. Person “leases” the room/cottage for transient stay Second-Home Development

2. Person develops/buys another home in outdoor areas Timeshare Ownership
3. Person pays for the right to accommodations at a vacation development for a specified
period each year, for a specified number of years or for perpetuity. It is essentially
buying accommodations in advance & paying annual contributions for maintenance.

Concentration of tourist facilities and services in specified tourism zones allows for efficient
provision of infrastructure, offers a variety of easily accessible activities and facilities for tourists
encourages integrated planning and application of development controls, and contain any
negative impacts in certain areas. These tourism zones should be located to be protected and
areas more suitable for other types of development. The tourism zones needed to be integrated
with the transportation network that connects the zones with the gateway to the country or If
possible, attractions should be clustered with the secondary attractions developed near primary
ones in order to encourage tourists to stay longer in the area. Planning for tour routes should
apply the principle of not requiring back-tracking, that is, loop tour patterns wherever possible,
infrastructure should be multipurpose serving general community needs as well as tourism.
Resort Planning

The modern concept of a resort is that planned as an integrated development with consideration
given to its compatibility with the natural environment and possible benefits to local
communities.

Economic feasibility analysis:

It’s Analysis of the economic costs and benefits of a project to the entire area, region or country.
A project may generate overall positive economic benefits by attracting tourists to the area, but
not make a profit in itself.

Financial feasibility analysis:

It is financial rate of return and profitability of a project based only on its own costs and
revenues.

Resort Planning Process

First, market and product assessment (referring especially to tourist attractions) is conducted,
the resort development objectives, type and size determined in preliminary form, the site
selected, and conceptual planning and prefeasibility analysis carried out. This analysis feeds
into more specific determination of facility and land use requirements and infrastructure needs,
the regional relationships including access to the site and regional integration, and the
environmental and carrying capacity analysis and considerations of community relationships.
Then the resort and regional/community relationships plan is prepared, with phasing of
development and evaluated environmentally and economically as a basis for deciding on the
final plan.

A specific environmental and social impact analysis must be conducted of the plan to ensure
that the resort will not result in undue environmentally and economically as a basis for deciding
on the final plan.

Then a final-economic and financial feasibility analysis is carried out to make certain that the
resort will be economically viable and produce an acceptable financial rate of return. The results
of this analysis may also require modifications to the plan.

Finally, the implementation programme is prepared and construction of the first phase begins.
There is a tendency for successful resorts to eventually be overdeveloped because they have
been successful thus leading to environmental problems and decline of the resort’s popularity.
The best approach is to establish a maximum size for each resort based on environmental and
other relevant considerations and, when one resort in an area is fully developed, to then
develop new resorts elsewhere in the area or rehabilitate declining existing tourism areas.

If there are local communities existing near the resort, community residents or their spokesmen
should be involved in key stages of the resort planning process. Techniques should be devised
for nearby residents to receive direct benefits from the resort including employment, operation
of commercial facilities, and improved community infrastructure and facilities.

Each resort area is unique but some basic principles apply to the planning of most resorts. The
concept of land use zoning is applicable to resorts. A basic principle is conservation of specific
environmental features such as beaches, marine areas, ponds, lakes, lagoons, archaeological
and historic sites, large trees and group of tree, unusual geological features and hill tops.
Related to this conservation is maintenance of view planes and corridors so that there are views
of important features form the building in the final development. It’s also important functional
grouping of resort facilities and activities, such as accommodation, commercial and cultural
facilities (often in an integrated and pedestrian oriented resort center), and recreation facilities,
in suitable areas. Accommodation should be well related to the main resort attractions such as
beaches but not impinging on them. Hotels, for example, should be sited well back from the
beach so that the natural shoreline appearance is maintained and erosion is avoided, but within
convenient walking distance from the beach.

Resorts should have controlled access and an efficient but not high-speed road network.
Emphasis should be on pedestrians in the resort and, in larger resorts, use of non-polluting
vehicles such as small battery operated buses to provide general transport within the resort
grounds. Public access to the resort should be allowed on a controlled basis including to the
main attraction features such as beaches and historic places.

Provision of adequate infrastructure for the resort is essential to prevent environmental

problems. Often this infrastructure can also be developed to serve nearby communities as one
of the local benefits from the resort development. Conservation-oriented infrastructure
techniques should be applied, such as treatment and recycling of sewage effluent for use in
landscape irrigation and use of solar energy for water heating and natural ventilation substituting
air conditioning air conditioning. Resorts are typically well landscaped to create an attractive
open environment. One of the regional considerations in resort planning is that, if sufficient
housing for the resort employees is not already available in nearby communities, and then
housing will need to be developed neat the resort. This housing should be planned as an
integrated community with the full range of community facilities and services, as well as the
housing provided.
SIMILARITIES OF HOTEL & RESORT MANAGEMENT
 Both sell meals and rooms
 Both are labor-intensive
 Both have buildings and grounds which require maintenance and upkeep
 Courtesy and Guest service are of prime importance to both
 Inn keeping laws apply to both

Different management of hotel and resort club

1. Visitor Market = Hotels cater primarily to both business travellers and leisure travellers
Resorts cater primarily to the vacation and leisure travellers.

2. Facilities = resort rooms are larger More closet space is needed for resorts Larger amount of
land is required for resorts for recreational facilities
3. Location= Hotels are located in urban areas Resorts are located in rural areas Remoteness
of the resort has an appeal to the traveller who seeks an environment different from the urban &
sub-urban environment of work and home Thus, resorts must be self-contained, that is, it should
have generous storage for food, domestic goods, support services.

4. Recreation=unlike hotels, resorts need to invest heavily on land and equipment for recreation
5. Seasonality= Hotels operate year-round Most resorts are seasonal due to location
6. Personnel Attitude= In a hotel, service is more “business-like.” Guests look at hotel as
temporary shelter In a resort, the guest expects to be pampered and service should convey
“Home & Family Hospitality”.
7. Managerial Knowhow= In addition to knowhow of hotel management concepts, resort
managers are expected to have knowledge in two areas:
* The natural resource on which the resort is based
* Guest activity programming
* Personalized guest relations
8. Labor Skills= Employees should be able to rotate in different jobs.
9. Corporate/Employer Responsibility= Local communities may highly depend on the resort for
its economic future. Hence, the resort should take on additional responsibility to the community
such as employment opportunities

10. Employee Housing= Resort needs to provide housing for its employees and in some
instances access to schools, churches, hospitals.
11. Sources of Revenue= Hotels get most of their income from rooms, and F & B In addition to
rooms and F&B, resorts earn a lot from recreational activities & retail sales.

12. Resorts & Traditions= Many resorts cater to repeat visitors so traditions are more important
Resorts should develop ways and means to develop traditions which are image-building and
memorable such as annual festivals, theme weekends, sports contests, and parties.

SPECIAL CONSIDERATIONS IN PLANNING & DEVELOPMENT

Factors to Consider in resort development

1. Resort development involves a difficult trade-off between benefits and unfavourable

impacts on the ff. aspects:
 Economic
 Social
 Environmental

A. Economic Considerations in Resort Development

Variables that Determine Profitability

2. Capacity the more facilities & guests, the higher the profit However, capacity is limited by
Physical limitations and Ecological limitations
3. Length of the Season Is the season long enough to earn profit?
4. Capital Investment Heavy costs in fixed assets for land, building and recreational facilities
Long payback period.
B. Social Considerations in Resort Development
It is imperative for a resort to develop & maintain good relations with the local community

 They are the main source of labor

 They are local customers
 They provide community services
 The community’s peace & order and general attitude towards tourism and tourists has
great impact on tourism movement to the resort development would have positive &
negative social changes.

1. Employment Communities welcome the social benefit of job creation in construction &
operations However, it has employment-related social problems:
 Established industries may be disrupted if they lose good employees who transfer to the
resort
 Communities may resent hiring of outsiders for better paying positions
 For local community members working in the resort, exposure to the “high” lifestyle of
resorts may cause dissatisfaction w/ his lifestyle & develop a false sense of values
anchored on material acquisitions & creature comforts.

2. Recreational development Residents may resent and resist resort dev’t. If it they don’t
have access & are hindered from leisure activities they used to enjoy.

3. Infrastructure requirements & demands The resort would compete with local
community for use of water, energy, transportation & communication resources.
disrupting traditional social norms Residents exposed to tourists’ lifestyles become
inclined to spend more specially on imported goods Possible increases in prostitution,
drug addiction & other crimes as a result of interaction with tourists.

4. Congestion Human traffic Vehicular traffic

C. Environmental Considerations in Resort Development

1. Pollution From fertilizers, pesticides, exhaust fumes, solid wastes & sewage
2. Conservation Resort dev’t. may damage the flora & fauna
3. Aesthetic impact Resort development may alter the view & beauty of the natural
Landscape

STEPS TO MINIMIZE ADVERSE SOCIAL & ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS

1. Conduct a study on the social & environmental impacts

2. Develop action plan to maximize positive impacts & lessen negative impacts
3. Involve the local community in the community- based sustainable planning and
development processes
4. Pursue continuing resort-community programs Educational interchanges & lectures
Social programs for the community such as medical & dental missions Joint
environmental programs such as beach and reef clean-up drives.
 STAGES IN RESORT DEVELOPMENT

1. Feasibility Analysis & Planning Involves forecasting of demand, market analysis,

Examination of site characteristics and determination of financial feasibility.
2. Construction
3. Operations/Management

RESORT PLANNING PRINCIPLES

Fundamental Concepts
 Resort Environment Give the resort a distinctive image and character that provides a
contrast to the tourist’s home environment
 Environmental Orientation Allow tourist appreciation of nature at environmentally
sustainable manner
 Community Orientation Allow tourist interaction with local residents and encourage
learning of local culture.

RESORT PLANNING PRINCIPLES

Multi-disciplinary team approach

 Resort marketing analysts
 Land use and site planners
 Economic & Financial feasibility analysts
 Transportation & other infrastructure engineers
 Hotel architects & resort landscapers
 Environmental specialists
 Sociologists
 Specialists on the activity offered (such as dive instructors for a dive resort).

WATER-BASED RESORTS

ELEMENTS IN SELECTING BEACH SITES

1. Access to permanent or transient seasonal population

2. Access to major roads
3. Climate
4. Water quality
Monitor bacterial count resulting from swimmers, sewage overflows, and runoffs from city
streets to the waters.

ASPECTS OF BEACH DEVELOPMENT

1. Sea
a) Air temperature,
b) Water temperature,
c) Intensity of the wind & sun,
d) Currents, tides and waves,
e) Clarity of water
f) Pollution,
g) ecology/marine life,
h) Attractions
2. Seashore consists of the surface under the water extending up to a depth of six feet A
Gentle, uniform slope until 6 ft. depth is ideal Coarse sand at the bottom is ideal.

3. Beach Consider quality of sand, slope and distance from the shore

4. Back Beach Offers views to both the sea and inland

5. Coastal stretch where service facilities, access roads, parking facilities & bathhouses are
Located

6. Surrounding Country provides the setting for the attraction.

BEACH RESORT PRODUCT LIFE CYLCLE

1. Exploration – few adventurous tourists visit; no facilities

2. Involvement - first resorts are developed
3. Development - More resorts developed, residents sell land and move to other areas due
to increased taxes.
4. Consolidation – growth levels off; resort season extended
5. Stagnation – capacity is reached
6. Decline –over-commercialization, congestion, less visitors
7. Rejuvenation – measures to arrest decline