Understanding tourism policy development: a documentary analysis

Abstract

Successful destinations develop tourism policies, plans and strategies that ideally should ensure a harmonious symbiosis with the destination’s environment and social life. The island of Cyprus that has a long tourism history today is considered one of the most popular destinations in the Mediterranean basin. The aim of this research is to provide an analysis of Cyprus’s tourism communication strategies including tourism policies and of various official documents that explain tourism development and the way the strategy was formed throughout the years. The article will present both the evolution of tourism development in accordance with the ‘policyscape’ of the island, by reviewing official documents related to tourism. The analysis was facilitated with documentary analysis as part of critical discourse analysis. The results of documentary analysis reveal that tourism was a dominant issue with the government’s main concern to be the problems and forthcoming opportunities for the industry.