Raising awareness in expert circles and the general public about the heterogeneity of effects caused by tourism (economic, social, cultural, ecological), imposed the need for organized guidance of development of this activity and its placement under the framework of public (government) policy. Accordingly, today in almost all developed tourist countries are being used different instruments to control the development of this complex phenomenon of the modern age. In this paper, special attention is paid to the analysis of the role, importance, models, processes of development and implementation of tourism policy, in the context of the general policy and other sectoral policies brought by governments in developed tourist countries and countries trying to become such. Tourism policy today is the starting point of the thinking process in the tourism industry. It is focused on directing the development of tourism at all levels (international, national, regional, local), that is, it must create a long-term and integral development perspective.