1. Building the Southern Gulf Islands
Destination
Dr. Brian P. White
Royal Roads University

2. Why Tourism Destination Management and
Development?
•
•
•
•
Key ‘cold water island’ issues
Destination Management and Development
Destination organization : getting started
Competitive advantage and comparative
advantage
• Themed routes and competitive clusters
• Community Champions

3. Destination Management and
Development is---
---the envisioning, planning, and implementing of
changes to tourism-related infrastructure, services,
human resources, and visitor experiences that
enhance a destination’s competitive advantage.

4. Sense of Place
• What are the qualities of a real place, a
distinctive place, a place with its own history,
culture, and texture? What qualities give
certain places a feeling of character and
charisma that makes them worthy of a visitor’s
deep engagement and of a citizen’s love? Scott
Russell Sanders in Civic Tourism: The Poetry and Politics of Place, 2007

5. “Culture and heritage tourism occurs when
participation in a cultural or heritage activity is a
significant factor for traveling. … [Cultural tourism
includes] performing arts, (theatre, dance, music),
visual arts and crafts, festivals, museums and cultural
centres, and historic sites and interpretive centres.”
Canadian Tourism Commission
The Cultural Tourism Lens---

6. Cultural tourism is about telling and selling stories----

7. Setting the Stage
Some “Cold-water” island issues include:
-sustainability of island ecosystems , economies,
and societies,
• population displacement,
• tourism impacts,
• gentrification
• governance
(Warrington & Mill 2007, Gossling & Wall 2007, Connell 2007, Clark et al 2007)

8. Island Tourism & Environmental Change:
Some Key Issues
•
Competition for scarce water and other natural
resources
•
Land conversion for residential and commercial
development
•
Development of gated communities often driven
by retirees
•
Locals forced to emigrate by rising land and
gentrification
•
Unoccupied investment properties and second homes
impact community vitality. (Gossling & Wall 2007)

9. The Situation--• The Southern Gulf Island’s economy is small
business based, particularly focussed on
agritourism and arts and crafts, commuting
and tele-commuting
• The economic downturn impacts retirees, small
businesses, and developers focussed on
retirement properties
• Ferry Schedules and pricing critically impact
Island life

10. Some Issues--• Land development equated
with tourism by some
• Islands Trust seen by some as a brake on
development
• Emergent sustainable tourism economy not
supported as a fundamental economic reality by
some residents.

11. • Community economies in BC have largely shifted to
services - based employment
• Rapid changes in global economic conditions means
shifts in destination preference
• Travel modes and choice of destination experience
are changing
• The world wide web has redefined competitive
advantage and increased awareness of alternative
travel experiences

12. The Travel, Time and Space Continuum:
how people arrive in the Gulf Islands
Number of Trips
(interactions)
Time
Extended
working
holidays
Years
Migration
Commuting
Months
Shopping
Educational travel
Weeks
Visits
Vacation
Day tripping
Sojourning
Weekends
Days
Hours
Long distance commuting
Home
Space
Adapted from Hall in Theobald, 2006, p. 466

13. Competitive Advantage in Tourism-
Is (based on) specialized factors, which are not
inherent but are created by each destination, such
as educational systems, technological “know-how”,
specialized infrastructure, and other capabilities,
which respond to the specific needs of an industry.
(Richie and Crouch 2003)

14. Competitive Advantage in TourismKey specialized factors
• Focus on tourism product development,
• Destination management organization,
• infrastructure that allow access to natural and
cultural resources,
• availability of long-term capital,
• personal security and quality hospitality
services, and
• sufficient municipal services

15. • Tourism included in Official Community
Plans and Economic Development Plans
•Sustainable level of financial contribution
•Sustainable organizational structure that
manages the destination
•Focus on support for Travel Generators
Destination Competitive Advantage

16. The Cultural Tourism Clusters
Human
Heritage
Natural
History
The Arts
Ag/Fishery
& Industrial
Heritage
Cuisine

17. An example: Human Heritage PPM

18. The Destination Development Process in
Building Place--STEP 1
On-site Inventory
What are our assets?
Organize cultural experiences by:



Cultural cluster
Category of cultural experience
Lead, supporting, or sustaining PPM status

19. STEP 2
Product Positioning Matrix (PPM)
How do our assets relate to each other?
The PPM has 3 categories to which cultural
tourism experiences are assigned:
•
The lead category
•
The supporting category
•
The sustaining category

20. STEP 3
Destination Typology
How do we define our destination & our
product?
Consider distribution of cultural experiences by cluster

Consider distribution by category & PPM status

Read the destination’s social and cultural history

Confer with local historians, artists, curators, naturalists,
government, and tourism operators
1.6, 1.7

21. STEP 4
Themed Routes
How to organize our cultural experiences?
 Review destination typology and PPM
 Remember the four cultural cohorts
 Design each route to target at least one cohort

22. 1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Themed Routes---Route and/or place developed as an integrated
attraction
The route is marketable
Efficient promotion
Involvement from many stakeholders
Promotion material based on visitor needs
6. Route clearly signed
Hardy’s 10 Principles for developing themed routes---(Hardy, 2003, p. 326)

23. 7. Attractions reflect local culture, with quality service
8. Principles of interpretation applied resulting in
enjoyable thematic interpretation
9. Price of visitor’s route experience cost effective
10. Route sustainability ensured by protection of natural
and cultural assets.

24. The Competitive Cluster Approach
• A strategic set of activities and services organized as
an effective tourism supply chain.
• The core of the “cluster” is the comparative
advantage represented by a destination’s unique
characteristics and interpretive programming.
• The competitive cluster links all the complementary
visitor services and attractions in a destination area.
(after Hawkins, 2003)

25. Unique or
exceptional
scenic
values
Tourism
Corridorland, water
Agri-tourism
culinary,
wine, art, FN,
spa tourism
opportunities
Destination
Visitor
information
Services
Gateway
city/town
The travel experience and the
destination competitive cluster
Hotels
B&Bs
restaurants
Attractions
and events
Air/land
/water
access

26. Provincial and Federal
government policies and
strategies
Access
emerging
markets
Increase
market
share
Destination
Internet
portal/
information
services
Hotels
B&Bs
restaurants
Common
vision,
programs,
marketing
plan,
leadership
Attractions
and events
Agri-tourism ,
garden, culinary,
FN, wine, spa
tourism, etc.
Municipal and
regional
governments
Community Champions:
supporting individuals and
community agencies
Structure of a tourist
destination’s
competitive cluster

27. Do any of these twelve tourism responses for local government
apply here?
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
Municipal and Regional District Committees
Contract for services
Incorporate Tourism in the Strategic Plan
Official Community Plan
Economic Development Plan
Five Year Financial Plan and Capital plan
% of business tax to destination development
Hotel Tax (HST---?)
Business Improvement Areas
Revitalization Areas (modest tax exemption)
Municipal Facilities & Services
Grants, sponsorship, project funding

28. Getting Started: what would work best for the
Southern Gulf Islands?
Building community tourism capacity:
What partnerships?
What organizational structure is needed to start
tourism destination planning?

29. Success stories require:
– solid vision
– strong leadership
– effective partnerships
– adequate financing
– ability to provide what visitors want
– understanding of how the industry
functions

30. Identifying Champions
• Look for supportive, like-minded people who can help
• They may be…
– Business people, retired or not
– Spark plugs – forward thinking initiators who make
things happen
– People behind community accomplishments/events
– High-profile people associated with volunteer
sectors
– Artists/craftspeople
– Drivers of service and sports clubs
– New community members, e.g., immigrants

31. Tourism Champions come first---
• Providing inspiration, leadership and
initiative
• Encouraging strategic thinking
• Identifying resources
• Organizing meetings
• Connecting local leaders and politicians
• Promoting the value of tourism

32. Building Community Support
Champions help community members understand
tourism’s value by:
• helping to identify tourism needs and opportunities
• encouraging the community to support a tourism
planning committee/task force
• accessing and distributing information
• encouraging council or governance boards to look
at the value of tourism
• drawing upon outside resources and expertise

33. Thank You!
“A Great Place to Live is a Great Place to Visit”