Chapter 1. History and Overview
As we have seen in this chapter, tourism is a complex system that is built up of industry sectors including accommodation, recreation and entertainment, food and beverage services, transportation, and travel services. It encompasses domestic, inbound, and outbound travel for business, leisure, or other purposes. And because of this large scope, tourism development requires participation from all walks of life, including private business, governmental agencies, educational institutions, communities, and citizens.
Recognizing the diverse nature of the industry and the significant contributions tourism makes toward economic and social value for Canadians is important. There remains a great deal of work to better educate members of the tourism industry, other sectors, and the public about the ways tourism contributes to our country.
Given this opportunity for greater awareness, it is hoped that students like you will help share this information as you learn more about the sector.
Key Terms
- Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR): a national railway company widely regarded as establishing tourism in Canada and BC in the late 1800s and early 1900s
- Destination Canada: the national government Crown corporation responsible for marketing Canada abroad, formerly known as the Canadian Tourism Commission (CTC)
- Destination marketing organization (DMO): also known as a destination management organization; includes national tourism boards, state/provincial tourism offices, and community convention and visitor bureaus
- Diversity: a term used by some in the industry to describe the makeup of the industry in a positive way; acknowledging that tourism is a diverse compilation of a multitude of businesses, services, organizations, and communities
- Excursionist: same-day visitors in a destination. Their trip typically ends on the same day when they leave the destination.
- Fragmentation: a phenomenon observed by some industry insiders whereby the tourism industry is unable to work together toward common marketing and lobbying (policy-setting) objectives
- Hospitality: the accommodations and food and beverage industry groupings
- North American Industry Classification System (NAICS): a way to group tourism activities based on similarities in business practices, primarily used for statistical analysis
- Social Exchange Theory: describes how tourists and hosts’ behaviours change as a result of the perceived benefits and threats they create during interaction
- Travel: moving between different locations, often for leisure and recreation
- Tourism: the business of attracting and serving the needs of people travelling and staying outside their home communities for business and pleasure
- Tourism Industry Association of Canada (TIAC): the national industry advocacy group
- Tourism Supply Chain: The combination of sectors that supply and distribute the needed tourism products, services, and activities within the tourism system
- Tourist: someone who travels at least 80 kilometres from his or her home for at least 24 hours, for business or pleasure or other reasons; can be further classified as domestic, inbound, or outbound
- United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO): UN agency responsible for promoting responsible, sustainable, and universally accessible tourism worldwide
Exercises
- List the three types of tourist and provide an example of each.
- What is the UNWTO? Visit the UNWTO website, and name one recent project or study the organization has undertaken.
- List the five industry groups according to the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS). Using your understanding of tourism as an industry, create your own definition and classification of tourism. What did you add? What did you take out? Why?
- What is the difference between Tourism Services and Travel Trade?
- Describe how the phenomenon of tourism can still happen even when tourists have gone back to their origin.
- According to UNEP, what are the four types of negative environmental tourism impact? For each of these, list an example in your own community.
- What major transportation developments gave rise to the tourism industry in Canada?
- Historically, what percentage of international visitors to Canada are from the United States? Why is this an important issue today?
- Name three key events in the history of Canadian tourism that resonate with you. Why do you find these events of interest?
- Watch the Tourism Pays video feature on Richmond. Now think about the value of tourism in your community. How might this be communicated to local residents? List two ways you will contribute to communicating the value of tourism this semester.
- Choose one article or document from the reference list below and read it in detail. Report back to the class about what you’ve learned.
References
ACE Aviation. (2011). ACE History and Background. ACE Aviation.
Air Canada. (2007). Air Canada Increases Boeing 787 Order to 37 Aircraft; Becomes North America’s Largest Dreamliner Customer. Air Canada.
Air Canada. (2016). Air Canada to Purchase Bombardier C Series as Part of its Fleet Renewal Program. Air Canada.
Brewster Travel Canada. (2014). About Us – Brewster History. Retrieved from http://www.brewster.ca/corporate/about-brewster/brewster-history/
British Columbia Ministry of Jobs, Tourism and Skills Training. (2013a). BC Stats: Industry Classification. Retrieved from http://www.bcstats.gov.bc.ca/StatisticsBySubject/BusinessIndustry/IndustryClassification.aspx
British Columbia Ministry of Jobs, Tourism and Skills Training. (2013b). Bill 3 – 2013: Destination BC Corp Act. Retrieved from https://www.leg.bc.ca/39th5th/1st_read/gov03-1.htm
Canadian Geographic. (2000, September). Flying through time: Canadian aviation history. Retrieved from http://www.canadiangeographic.ca/magazine/so00/aviation_history.asp
Canadian Tourism Commission. (2014). About the CTC. Retrieved from http://en-corporate.canada.travel/about-ctc
CBC News. (2009). Flaherty Appoints Ex-Judge to Mediate Air Canada Pension Issues. CBC News.
CBC News. (2019). Transat Shareholders Approve Air Canada Takeover, Deal Now in Regulators’ Hands. CBC News.
Chaney, Edward. (2000). The evolution of the grand tour: Anglo-Italian cultural relations since the Renaissance. Portland OR: Routledge.
Cox & Kings. (2014). About us – History. Retrieved from http://www.coxandkings.co.uk/aboutus-history
Destination BC. (2018). 2018 Value of Tourism: A Snapshot of Tourism in BC. Destination BC. Retrieved from https://www.destinationbc.ca/content/uploads/2020/03/2018-Value-of-Tourism_Feb-2020_Final.pdf
Destination Canada. (2019). Tourism Snapshot. Destination Canada.
Dawson, Michael. (2004). Selling British Columbia: Tourism and consumer culture, 1890-1970. Vancouver, BC: UBC Press.
Discover Hospitality. (2015). What is hospitality? Retrieved from http://discoverhospitality.com.au/what-is-hospitality/
e-Know. (2011, November). Ogilvie’s past in lock step with last 50 years of Kimberley’s history. Retrieved from www.e-know.ca/news/ogilvie’s-past-in-lock-step-with-last-50-years-of-kimberley’s-history/
Expedia, Inc. (2013). Expedia: Annual report 2013. [PDF] Retrieved from http://files.shareholder.com/downloads/EXPE/3546131959x0x750253/48AF365A-F894-4E9C-8F4A-8AB11FEE8D2A/EXPE_2013_Annual_Report.PDF
Flightglobal. (2002). Sixty years of the jet age. Retrieved from http://www.flightglobal.com/features/jet-age/
Globe and Mail, The. (2014, March 28). Ten things you don’t know about Air Canada. Retrieved from http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/travel/travel-news/10-things-you-likely-dont-know-about-air-canada/article17725796/?page=all
Go2HR. (2020). Industry Development & Resources. Retrieved from https://www.go2hr.ca/getting-know-bcs-tourism-industry/industry-overview/industry-development-resources
Government of Canada. (2006). Building a national tourism strategy. [PDF] Retrieved from https://www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/034.nsf/vwapj/tourism_e.pdf/$FILE/tourism_e.pdf
Government of Canada. (2013, July 5). Appendix E: Tourism industries in the human resource module. Retrieved from http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/13-604-m/2013072/appe-anne-eng.htm
Griffiths, Ralph, Griffiths, G. E. (1772). Pennant’s tour in Scotland in 1769. The Monthly Review; or, Literary Journal XLVI: 150. Retrieved from Google Books.
Gyr, Ueli. (2010, December 3). The history of tourism: Structures on the path to modernity. European History Online (EHO). Retrieved from http://ieg-ego.eu/en/threads/europe-on-the-road/the-history-of-tourism
Hall, C. M., & Page, S. (2006). The Geography of Tourism and Recreation: Environment, Place and Space. Routledge. http://public.ebookcentral.proquest.com/choice/publicfullrecord.aspx?p=256901.
Latin definition for hospes, hospitis. (2014).In Latdict – Latin Dictionary and Grammar Resources. Retrieved from http://www.latin-dictionary.net/definition/22344/hospes-hospitis
Library and Archives Canada. (n.d.). Ties that bind: Essay. A brief history of railways in Canada. Retrieved from http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/trains/021006-1000-e.html
LinkBC. (2008). Transforming communities through tourism: A handbook for community tourism champions. [PDF] Retrieved from http://linkbc.ca/siteFiles/85/files/TCTT.pdf
MacEachern, A. (2012, August 17). Goin’ down the road: The story of the first cross-Canada car trip. The Globe and Mail. Retrieved from http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/goin-down-the-road-the-story-of-the-first-cross-canada-car-trip/article4487425/
McLeish. (2014, July 23). History of heliskiing in Canada. Retrieved from www.lastfrontierheli.com/news/1607/history-of-heliskiing-in-canada/
Magnes, W. (2010, May 26). The evolution of British Columbia’s tourism regions: 1970-2010 [PDF]. Retrieved from http://linkbc.ca/siteFiles/85/files/LinkBCMagnesPaper2011.pdf
Nunkoo, R. (2016). Toward a More Comprehensive Use of Social Exchange Theory to Study Residents’ Attitudes to Tourism. Procedia Economics And Finance, 39, 588-596. doi: 10.1016/s2212-5671(16)30303-3
Porges, R. (2014, September). Tell me something I don’t know: Promoting the value of tourism. Tourism Drives the Provincial Economy. Presentation hosted by the Tourism Industry Association of BC, Vancouver, BC.
PricewaterhouseCooopers, LLC. (2009). Opportunity BC 2020: Tourism sector. [PDF] Prepared for the BC Business Council. Retrieved from http://www.bcbc.com/content/558/2020_200910_Mansfield_Tourism.pdf
Reynolds, C. (2020). At Least Three Years Until ‘Cataclysmic’ Virus Fallout Recedes: Air Canada. CTV News.
Shoalts, A. (2011, April). How our national parks evolved: From Grey Owl to Chrétien and beyond, 100 years of Parks Canada. Canadian Geographic. Retrieved from http://www.canadiangeographic.ca/magazine/apr11/national_parks_evolution.asp
Statistics Canada. (2019). Travel Between Canada and Other Countries, December 2018. Statistics Canada. Retrieved from https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/190221/dq190221c-eng.htm
Theobald, William F. (1998). Global Tourism (2nd ed.). Oxford, England: Butterworth–Heinemann, pp. 6-7.
Thomas Cook Group of Companies. (2014). Thomas Cook history. Retrieved from http://www.thomascook.com/thomas-cook-history/
Tourism Industry Association of BC. (2014). Value of tourism toolkit: Why focus on the value of tourism? Retrieved from http://www.tiabc.ca/value-of-tourism-toolkit
Tourism Industry Association of Canada. (2014, October 14). Travel industry poised to boost Canadian exports: US market and border efficiencies central to growth potential. Retrieved from http://tiac.travel/cgi/page.cgi/_zine.html/TopStories/Travel_Industry_Poised_to_Boost_Canadian_Exports_US_Market_and_Border_Efficiencies_Central_to_Growth_Potential
Tourism Industry Association of Canada. (2018a). Travel & Tourism: The Economic Importance of Travel in Canada. TIAC.
Tourism Industry Association of Canada. (2018b). America: Travel Economy Series. TIAC.
Tourism Industry Association of Canada. (2018c). International Travelers vs. Domestic Travelers – Exploring Differences. TIAC.
Tourism Industry Association of Canada. (2020). Canadian Tourism Reaches New Milestone in 2019 with 22.1 Million Inbound Visitors. Retrieved from https://tiac-aitc.ca/cgi/page.cgi/_zine.html/TopStories/Canadian_tourism_reaches_new_milestone_in_2019_with_22.1_million_inbound_visitors
Tourism Industry Association of Canada, HLT Advisory. (2012). The Canadian tourism industry: A special report [PDF]. Retrieved from http://www.hlta.ca/reports/The_Canadian_Tourism_Industry_-_A_Special_Report_Web_Optimized_.pdf
United Nations Environment Programme. (2003a). Negatives Socio-cultural impacts from tourism. Retrieved from http://www.unep.org/resourceefficiency/Business/SectoralActivities/Tourism/FactsandFiguresaboutTourism/ImpactsofTourism/Socio-CulturalImpacts/NegativeSocio-CulturalImpactsFromTourism/tabid/78781/Default.aspx
United Nations Environment Programme. (2003b). Tourism’s three main impact areas. Retrieved from http://www.unep.org/resourceefficiency/Business/SectoralActivities/Tourism/TheTourismandEnvironmentProgramme/FactsandFiguresaboutTourism/ImpactsofTourism/EnvironmentalImpacts/TourismsThreeMainImpactAreas/tabid/78776/Default.aspx
United Nations World Tourism Organization. (1995). Recommendations on tourism statistics. [PDF] Retrieved from http://unstats.un.org/unsd/newsletter/unsd_workshops/tourism/st_esa_stat_ser_M_83.pdf
United Nations World Tourism Organization. (2008). Understanding tourism: Basic glossary. Retrieved from http://media.unwto.org/en/content/understanding-tourism-basic-glossary
United Nations World Tourism Organization. (2012, May 7). International tourism receipts surpass US$ 1 trillion in 2011. Retrieved from http://media.unwto.org/en/press-release/2012-05-07/international-tourism-receipts-surpass-us-1-trillion-2011
United Nations World Tourism Organization. (2014a). UNWTO world tourism barometer, 12 [PDF] (1). Retrieved from http://dtxtq4w60xqpw.cloudfront.net/sites/all/files/pdf/unwto_barom14_04_august_excerpt_0.pdf
United Nations World Tourism Organization. (2014b). Who we are. Retrieved from http://www2.unwto.org/content/who-we-are-0
United Nations World Tourism Organization. (2019). International Tourism Highlights, 2019 Edition. UNWTO.
United Nations World Tourism Organization. (2020a). Glossary of Tourism Terms. Retrieved from https://www.unwto.org/glossary-tourism-terms
United Nations World Tourism Organization. (2020b). International Tourist Numbers Could Fall 60-80% in 2020, UNWTO Reports. Retrieved from https://www.unwto.org/news/covid-19-international-tourist-numbers-could-fall-60-80-in-2020
Vancouver Airport Authority. (2020). Facts and Stats. Retrieved from https://www.yvr.ca/en/about-yvr/facts-and-stats