Environmental Scanning

Environmental scanning is a qualitative process of capturing shocks, surprises, trends and drivers that influence and shape tourism in a systematic manner that makes sense.

Organizations scan the environment in order to understand the external forces of change so that they may develop effective responses which secure or improve their position in the future. They scan in order to avoid surprises, identify threats and opportunities, gain competitive advantage, and improve long-term and short-term planning. To the extent that an organization's ability to adapt to its outside environment is dependent on knowing and interpreting the external changes that are taking place, environmental scanning constitutes a primary mode of organizational learning. Environmental scanning includes both looking at information (viewing) and looking for information (searching). It could range from a casual conversation at the lunch table or a chance observation of an angry customer, to a formal market research programme or a scenario planning exercise.

We all do informal environmental scanning. However, continuous scanning is required if decisionmakers are to understand, anticipate, and respond to the threats and opportunities posed by changes in the external environment.

To gain and indepth knowledge into the subject, I think the following links would be of great help:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_scanning

http://horizon.unc.edu/courses/papers/enviroscan/

http://informationr.net/ir/7-1/paper112.html