tourism and the seventh development plan; Dos and don’ts

The observation of the 6th development plan of the country shows that the tourism industry is not the priority of the country’s planners, therefore, in order to achieve the goals of tourism development, the position of this industry should be highlighted in the 7th plan.

The 7th economic, cultural and social development program of the country is being compiled and will soon be sent to the final government and parliament. Considering the upcoming program, the review of the related materials of the previous 6 programs can help to enrich the content of the 7th program in the fields of tourism. slow For this reason, in a report, the Majlis Research Center has tried to monitor, evaluate and criticize the materials related to the field of tourism in the laws of development programs.

The first issue is, to what extent have the programs followed the correct regulatory criteria? In simple words, basically, the materials that are included in the development plans for the topic of tourism have the form of the program law or not? The answer is interesting; According to this evaluation, up to 60% of the programs did not meet the correct legal criteria, and this can be considered the first basic reason for the non-implementation of its articles and provisions.

Regarding the rulings related to the fields of cultural heritage, tourism and handicrafts, only about 46% of the selected criteria have been observed in writing the text of the rules of the development program. Meanwhile, the law of the third program with 59% compliance with the standards and then the law of the sixth development program with 52% compliance with the standards show the highest level of compliance with the standards. The laws of the first and second development programs have complied with the laws of development programs, less than other programs, with about 14% compliance.

Although it is always said that the cure for the country’s non-dependence on oil is the development of tourism, but actually monitoring the development plans shows that this industry has not been prioritized by the country’s planners. Therefore, if we are really looking for the development of tourism, the position of this industry should be emphasized in the seventh development plan.

The changes that are made in the tourism decrees during the approval process is another criticism that was noticed in the recent report of the Majlis Research Center. That is, the government prepares an initial text, but in the process of approving the text, it is changed so much that the approved text is completely different from the original text. Therefore, it is a wise solution for the government and the parliament to sit down at the negotiating table before the court rulings are presented to the parliament. In this way, commonalities will certainly increase and the interference of taste will be eliminated.

Another issue that caused the goals of the legislator in the field of tourism and in the five-year development plans to not be realized is the weakness in supervision. Supervision is the key to the implementation of a law. We should not expect the implementation of the law until there is a proper monitoring of the laws, where the law has reached, and no demands are made from the responsible authorities. This monitoring should be done during the program as well as at the end of each program.

In the programming system, prioritizing subjects is also important. It is not possible to address all concerns and problems at once and in the form of a development plan. This is where the policy maker should prioritize and choose those issues that are both the priority of the tourism sector and in accordance with the nature of the program’s rules.

Of course, the issue of financing is important in macro-planning such as the development plan; If a task is defined for the devices, but it is not clear from where it will be funded, it means that we have ruled that the law will not be enforced. So, if we oblige a device to do something in the 7th plan, or if we have predicted the executive plan, we must specify exactly where the money will come from.

Apart from these issues, we must specify exactly what the expectations of the supervisory body like the parliament are from the mandated body in the tourism industry, specifically the Ministry of Cultural Heritage, Tourism and Handicrafts; or what is the role of other collaborating institutions in common issues; For example, when we say that pilgrimage tourism should be developed, then what is the role of the Hajj and pilgrimage organization? Where is the position of the endowment organization? And what can be expected from the Ministry of Cultural Heritage, Tourism and Handicrafts? which should be clearly separated in the seventh plan.

But the key point in the development programs that should be taken into consideration is the flexibility of the program law, for example, the program has the ability to help the tourism sector even in times of crisis. For example, the outbreak of a critical disease was unpredictable and the sixth development plan was not written in such a way that it could respond to the needs of the tourism industry in this global crisis. As a result, the materials of the aid program could not help the field of tourism, even caused the intended goals of the program to be delayed.