TOWARD DEVELOPMENT OF 1:20,000-SCALE TOURISM RESOURCE INVENTORY STANDARDS

When the Government of British Columbia handed down its Clayoquot Sound Land Use Decision in 1993, the Ministry of Small Business, Tourism and Culture (SBTC) was co-tasked with the Ministry of Forests (MoF) to conduct a process to develop a management plan for areas designated as Scenic Corridors. The Government had determined scenic qualities would be given management priority in the Scenic Corridors, and in order to develop a plan, the two ministries led a two-year process which included extensive public/industry consultation and the involvement of numerous government agencies. In support of that planning process an extensive GIS (geographical information system) database was compiled, including both existing datasets and newly-collected data.

With the Clayoquot project, an opportunity to explore methods and standards for a detailed scale of tourism resource inventory (TRI) arose. This report presents an account of what methods were explored and outlines the process recommended to develop 1:20,000-scale TRI standards for publication.

1.2 Resources Inventory Committee (RIC) and Data Standards

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The Resources Inventory Committee (RIC) is an inter-agency committee established by the Government of British Columbia to guide the setting of data standards for information held by provincial agencies. SBTC is a member of RIC, and participates in its efforts to facilitate information exchange and manage data quality issues. Since the completion of the project described in this report, the 1:250,000 TRI standards for regional or strategic-level inventories have matured and have been published by RIC (1996).

1.3 Tourism Resource Inventory Background

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TRI data considers the supply side of the tourism industry’s economic equation, and as such is a significant departure from past practices, reflecting an acknowledgement that tourism is a signficant economic sector with a legitimate role to play in land use and resource planning.

The approaches to data collection, analysis and presentation used by the TRI have been developed through extensive consultation with industry groups, with expert consultants, and with individual tourism operators. Throughout the development process, information has been compiled and returned to its sources for ‘reality checking.’ In their final form, the standards adopted for 1:250,000 TRI have a broad level of support from within the tourism industry.

SBTC initiated regional, 1:250,000-scale TRI work in 1991. The first of these projects were complete at the time of the Clayoquot project—the Coastal TRI (1991), the Cariboo-Chilcotin TRI (1992) and the Vancouver Island TRI (1992)—and were the first such inventories known to have been undertaken. These ground-breaking studies were conducted in the absence of any data standards, and have inconsistencies which reflect both the evolution of the methodology and intentional recognition of regional variation. Since the Clayoquot project, all regions of the province have been inventoried, funded by the Corporate Resources Inventory Initiative (CRII). With TRI 1:250,000 RIC standards now in place, work has begun to bring the earlier datasets in line with the standards.

TRI data reflect the natural, cultural and infrastructural resources of importance to tourism. A TRI’s main components are datasets on:

·existing tourism facilities and operators;

·areas, routes and features used by tourism;

·modelled capability for defined tourism products; and

·resources of importance to tourism

A key aspect of the TRI is its reliance on data provided by external agencies. It is neither feasible nor desirable to duplicate the work of agencies whose mandates already include the development of expert data. The added value TRI contributes to these external datasets lies in the interpretation of those resource data from the perspective of their applicability to tourism products. The TRI provides new information on the status of the tourism industry, seeking to answer such questions as: who is in business out there, what are they doing, where are they doing it, and what resources are they using.

The TRI is a structured Geographic Information System set of map and attribute files in Unix Arc/Info format. Using a relational database structure, information on tourism facilities and operators is linked to maps of points, lines and shapes representing facilities, features, travel routes and activity areas. For full details on the TRI 1:250,000 structure, see RIC’s 1:250,000 Scale Tourism Resource Inventory Standards and Procedures (1996).

1.4 The Need for 1:20,000 TRI

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The need for detailed tourism inventories has been amply described in a number of recent documents. Land-use planning needs are a topical example. One report estimates that over 400 tourism developments are “on hold” pending resolution of land use and resource issues in British Columbia.1 page 2-5 Tourism Industry Development: Future Directions, ARA Consulting Group Inc., for Inventory and Resource Planning Unit, Corporate Policy and Planning Branch, Ministry of Small Business, Tourism and Culture, BC June 1994.

1 While some progress has been made at the regional level, through the work coordinated by the Commission on Resources and Environment, much planning work remains to be done at the sub-regional and landscape level. Assuming that better information would both expedite land use planning and also ensure that resources and values important to tourism are given appropriate consideration, it has been argued that detailed inventories could facilitate investments which would generate between $45 to 60 million in tourism receipts annually.1. page 2-5 Tourism Industry Development: Future Directions, ARA Consulting Group Inc., for Inventory and Resource Planning Unit, Corporate Policy and Planning Branch, Ministry of Small Business, Tourism and Culture, BC June 1994.(1)

The Council of Tourism Associations [COTA] have asked for “stronger information support, particularly for socioeconomic data which can be used by the industry for their participation in resource planning processes”2 Council of Tourism Associations of British Columbia, A New Legislated Mandate for Tourism, Jan. 12, 1994.(2)

A survey of 55 resource managers and inventory users found that: “they need detailed information at the local level. For some uses, such as heritage site planning or planning for a tourism development, site specific information is required. The requirements for local detail cross the boundaries of culture, recreation and tourism.”3 Resources Inventory Committee’s Culture, Recreation and Tourism Task Force, Analysis and Conclusions Regarding Culture, Recreation and Tourism Resource Inventories in British Columbia, Victoria, May 1992.(3)

As the approved standard detail-scale digital base for British Columbia is the 1:20,000 Terrain Resource Information Management (TRIM) series produced by the Inventory and Resource Mapping Branch, Ministry of Environment, Lands and Parks (MELP), the 1:20,000 scale is the only one considered in this report.

1.5 The Objectives of a 1:20,000 TRI

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An effective method and data standard for 1:20,000 TRI will be important steps toward comprehensive tourism development planning. Developed effectively, a 1:20,000 TRI could contribute to:

·by defining tourism’s resource needs at an operational level, provide guidance and certainty to other resource uses

·operational-level definition of tourism’s resource management needs, specifically in areas where tourism is defined as a management priority by a higher-level land-use planning process;

·the identification of specific tourism product development opportunities, in support of such initiatives as the Commercial Backcountry Recreation policy of the B.C. Lands Division of Ministry of Environment, Lands and Parks, and other economic development policies of Government;

·definition of measures to determine use capacity, permitting management to avoid resource degradation or loss of product quality/profitability; and

·definition of objectives against which to measure progress of planning and development efforts.

1.6 Comprehensive Tourism Development Planning

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A detailed TRI is expected be one component in comprehensive tourism development planning. Comprehensive tourism development planning will seek to integrate information on resource supply, economic issues, labour availability/training, market research and marketing in the context of the objectives of the broader community.

Published by the Resources Inventory Committee