Planning for the Economic Impacts of Tourism in Ireland: A Local Authority Perspective

Abstract

In this study, the authors investigate the level of local authority economic planning in Ireland. Every Irish local authority county development plan (CDP) was investigated, utilizing a content analysis approach to differentiate the levels of sustainable economic planning for tourism in 2014. Analysis has found that some local authorities seem to acknowledge tourism's potential for economic development and are developing plans based on this. In spite of this, further analysis reveals a lack of strong effective policies, strategies, economic indicators, and guidelines to sustainably manage the economic impacts of tourism. The findings from this article suggest that local authorities in Ireland still have a lot of work to do if they are to proactively plan to mitigate tourism's negative economic impacts and maximize the positive potential for all tourism stakeholders within the county parameters.