Tourism Development in Canadian Travel Corridors

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Abstract
As tourism grows, its potential benefits are drawing more communities into the industry. This process has been hastened by the recent global recession, which has exposed the frailty of local economies dependent on stagnating or declining industries and revealed the growth industry of tourism as a possible attractive development option. Such an option looks particularly appealing to those communities that have been on the fringe of past tourism development, either as neighbors to major tourist destinations or as service areas on major tourist routes between destinations. Before committing themselves to a larger role in the tourism market, many of these aspiring entrants are undertaking feasibility studies of the regional tourism market and their potential place within it. Past experience has shown that a commitment to tourism may have widespread community impacts, so such feasibility studies are beginning to include consideration of tourism’s social and environmental impacts as well as the more traditional economic analyses. (Mathieson and Wall, 1982) Furthermore, since it is the whole community which will be placed on show and expected to host the visitors, there is increased interest in considering community objectives and resident input in local decision-making. (D’Amore, 1983; Murphy, 1985) This paper reports on the findings of two independent surveys, undertaken to determine resident reaction to future tourism development in their community. The surveys involved small rural communities that presently play a service role for tourists enroute to nearby destinations, and which are planning to take a more active role in tourism as their traditional resource industries have either disappeared or faltered. Since both areas have the potential to expand their tourism role the surveys were undertaken to obtain resident input as an aid to ongoing tourism planning. The objective of this paper is to compare the results of these two surveys to see if any general trends emerge in resident attitudes to tourism development. It is hypothesized that the residents of the two communities will have a similar reaction to the industry and its potential for their area given their similar spatial setting, tourism role, and stage of development.

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