Cultural Heritage Tourism Handbook - LinkBC

AcknowledgementsThis resource was commissioned by,and received financial support from, theFederal-Provincial Territorial Ministers’ Table onCulture and Heritage (FPT). Its development wasa collaborative effort, and includes up-to-dateknowledge and practical ideas contributed byspecialists from across Canada.Editorial Advisors/Contributors• Dr. Cyril Simard, Société du réseau ÉCONOMUSÉE®, Quebec, QC• Steven Thorne, specialist in place-based cultural tourism, Waterloo, ON• Dr. Brian White, Royal Roads University, Colwood, BC• Bruce Whyte (project managing editor), Ministry of Community, Sportand Cultural Development, Victoria, BCContributors• Kevin Desjardins, Director, Communications and Public Relations for the TourismIndustry Association of Canada• Cheryl Chapman and Keith Henry, Aboriginal Tourism Association of BC• Erin Hodgins, Senior Researcher, BC Ministry of Jobs, Tourism and Innovation• Showcase Contributors: Nancy Arsenault, Ian McGilp, Ella HenaghanFPT Working Group Contributors• Brian Groves, Manager, Yukon Beringia Interpretive Centre, Yukon• Mireille Fiset, Tourism Development Officer, Department of Economic and RuralDevelopment and Tourism, Nova Scotia• Juanita Keel-Ryan, Director, Strategic Tourism Product Development, Ministryof Tourism, Culture and Recreation, Newfoundland and Labrador• Donna Poon, Tourism Development Officer, Ministry of Tourism, Parks andRecreation, AlbertaProduction Team• Terry Hood (production manager), LinkBC: the tourism & hospitality education network• Morgan Westcott (copy editor), LinkBC• Jason Brawn (graphic designer), Freelance ImaginationSpecial thanks to trailblazing proponent and practitioner of culturaltourism, Steven Thorne (www.team-tourism.com/associates/stevent.asp), whose place-based planning approach is spotlightedin Chapter 9. Steven’s research and insights have helped shape theunderstanding of cultural tourism in Canada. We are particularlythankful for his permission to include throughout the manualexcerpts from these copyrighted resources: Building Place: Planningand Developing a Creative Cultural Destination; “Place as Product”: APlace-Based Approach to Cultural Tourism; and A Tapestry of Place:Whistler’s Cultural Tourism Development Strategy. We are also gratefulto the Museum Association of Arizona for permission to adapt anumber of practical tools from Cultural Heritage Tourism: PracticalApplications, and to Tourism British Columbia for permission toabstract from Tourism Business Essentials: Cultural Heritage Tourism.Thanks also to the CTC and all other photo contributors. Enjoy!How to Use This HandbookDeveloped for Community “Champions”This handbook was produced to inspire and assist communityleaders across Canada to realize greater benefits in this sector of theindustry. We hope it will be shared widely and used to encouragediscussion, workshops, and cultural/heritage tourism initiatives.Community cultural tourism “champions” are passionate individualswho appear in many guises. They may be government officials,front-line staff, or volunteers with a local event or festival. Thesepeople believe in the potential of cultural/heritage tourism for theircommunity, and can make the commitment to take action.Handbook OrganizationThis volume isn’t the final word on cultural/heritage tourism—perhapsa “Coles Notes version” would be a better description. Our aimis to provide you with enough information to get started with aneffective planning process. Aligned with the concept of communitybasedtourism, the guide encourages building experiences based onthe unique culture of your community. We won’t give you a preciseset of recipes to do this, but we will give you a set of approachesand issues to consider, so you can develop new items that showcaseyour community’s cultural flavour.2 3