SWOT Analysis as a Strategic Tool for Local Tourism Development Planning: A Destination Review of a Municipality in the Philippines

This study is a preparation phase under the Tourism Assessment Process (TAP) in the Local Government Unit (LGU) of San Jose, Philippines, which gathered data on the destination’s internal and external environments using SWOT analysis. The collection of data was done through rapid rural appraisal where all concerned stakeholders were involved in the process of decision-making from analyzing problems and conditions, setting-up objectives, and identifying strategies to plan implementation. It was analyzed that San Jose’s tourism advantages were revealed by the significant presence of six tourism components such as tourist attractions and activities, accommodation, transportation, institutional elements, other tourist facilities and services, and other infrastructure. The development opportunities for tourism were also identified on different levels from global, national, and regional down to local perspectives. On the downside of the analysis, several issues were determined and considered as disadvantageous that may hamper potential development if not properly addressed. These are the weaknesses of the internal environment which are mainly observed in the human and institutional incapacity for tourism product development and service provision; also, threats posed by external environments which highlighted the safety and security issues, economic recession, social conflicts, natural disasters, and unstable new normal. The novelty of this research is the incorporation of the global aspect in determining the external environments for tourism development and the integration of actions in the existing SWOT models such as strengths require utilization (S → U), weaknesses require solution (W → S), opportunities provide direction (O → D), and threats requires prevention (T → P) which are deemed all relevant towards local destination’s tourism planning and development.