Growth strategies in mature destinations: Linking spatial planning with product development

To rejuvenate a destination means to develop growth strategies whilst in a phase of maturation or stagnation. Stagnation tendencies have been prevalent in Alpine tourism since the 1980’s. In recent years, mature destinations in the Alps have attempted to maintain their appeal by defining and inventing new products and promotions rather than by further market penetration. The rapid (spatial) growth of tourism enterprises in the 1960’s and 1970’s in the Alpine destination South Tyrol led to restrictive spatial legislation and as a result, greatly limited the quantitative and qualitative development capacities of hotel businesses in these mature destinations. Consequently, the entrepreneurs in South Tyrol and the surrounding region often perceive spatial planning as a restrictive instrument limiting the growth and strategic planning and development of their enterprises. In 2007, after a period of stagnation, the South Tyrolean legislature opened up possibilities of quantitative growth for tourism enterprises, but connected it with an obligatory spatial planning and strategy concept for the entire municipality. Consequently, the municipality has to justify the declaration of new tourism zones by demonstrating the potential for growth in tourism. The aim of this paper is to demonstrate, by way of the three South Tyrolean municipalities, that spatial planning and strategic tourism development are not necessarily conflictive but that spatial planning, in combination with tourism planning and product development, can be a pro-active and creative tool with an important role in developing and implementing growth in mature destinations. As such, the scope of both spatial planning and product development have been jointly defined and tested in a case study.