Value-focused thinking in a difficult context: Planning tourism for Guimaras, Philippines

We used value-focused thinking as a framework for planning tourism in Guimaras, Philippines. Our objective was to help government officials and stakeholders devise new strategies for developing rural tourism. The developing-world setting and a pre-existing commitment to a planning alternative that faced severe obstacles made our work difficult. We clarified the planning context, assessed the tourism market potential, and structured objectives with a series of interviews. In a multi-stakeholder workshop, the objectives were ranked and weighted, and new alternatives were developed. Tourism planning in Guimaras has been substantially changed as a result of these activities, with two new approaches being pursued. This case study, and our past experience, suggest value-focused thinking is useful ‘decision therapy’.