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

3.0 TOWARD STANDARDS FOR 1:20,000 TOURISM RESOURCE INVENTORY MAPPING

This section will discuss a recommended method for conducting a 1:20,000 TRI. It will include a discussion of a proposed process for determining when a 1:20,000 TRI might be conducted, how to carry out the inventory, how to integrate the TRI data into an effective planning process, and what data might be required in such an inventory. The section concludes with a brief discussion of matters relating to data accuracy and data standards.

3.1 A Process for Initiating and Conducting a 1:20,000 TRI

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The intent is for 1:20,000 TRI work to be conducted as the result of a specific request from a community, or planning process. For instance, some Land and Resource Management Planning processes have identified areas which have a management priority for tourism. Such areas would be appropriate subjects for detailed TRI work, in cooperation with other agencies. Detailed-scale TRI work is not anticipated to become a blanket inventory scale applied across the Province. Rather, it will be conducted on an ‘as-needed’ basis, in response to a stated or identified need.

A partnership approach to detailed tourism resource planning

“Planning is an integrative process that tries to identify a desired future and a way to get there.”

The Inventory and Resource Planning Unit of the Ministry of Small Business, Tourism and Culture is responsible for the generation of tourism information useful for land use and-resource management planning processes around the province. The Unit’s tourism resource inventory, at a scale of 1:250,000, is used extensively for strategic planning initiatives, including the CORE regional land use plans in the Kootenays, Cariboo and on Vancouver Island, and in sub-regional Land and Resource Management Plans including Kamloops and Kispiox. This information provides planners with broad scale analysis and map products identifying areas of existing tourism use and areas capable of supporting future tourism expansion and growth.

As strategic level plans are finalized, government begins to seek methods and information that will support the implementation of these plans as mandated through the Forest Practices Code Act of British Columbia. The Code provides a process by which strategic plans, such as an LRMP, guide operational plans thereby ensuring that strategic management objectives are met.

In order to participate in the operational-level of resource planning, the tourism sector must generate information on tourism resource values that provide more details than the information contained in the 1:250,000 tourism resource inventory. This larger scale work needs specific tourism data, and methods need to be developed that will generate this for use by government and industry.

Following is a first draft of an approach to this level of planning. The elements of the framework described in the proceeding pages can be undertaken by government, the tourism industry, or can be the result of a coordinated effort between both. The method does not have to be rigidly followed, but should act as a guide for those who require more detailed information on tourism resource interests and areas of operation. It is a measure against which a planning table, an industry organization, or an individual operator can assess where, why and how the tourism sector utilizes the province’s natural resources.

PURPOSE

Provides specific information to other resource interests and resource managers as to which lands and resources need prescribed management to maintain their value to tourism.

Provides appropriate information to allow for integrated operational planning that reflects tourism interests as well as other resource needs.

Identifies new tourism opportunities.

GOALS

1.To integrate tourism’s present and future resource needs with those of other resource interests at an operational level

2.To preserve and protect natural and cultural resources.

3.To enhance the quality of the visitor experience.

4.To diversify the range of tourism activities within an area and across regions to provide year-round benefits from tourism.

PRINCIPLES

The following principles should guide detailed tourism resource planning in British Columbia:

Detailed tourism resource plan recommendations must be within the environmental capacity of the land to sustain the use described.

Detailed tourism resource planning should highlight product strengths and features unique to an area, thereby reinforcing the tourism sector’s contribution to regional economic development.

All parties with a key interest or stake in the detailed tourism resource plan will be encouraged to participate and share information.

Detailed tourism resource plans are to be prepared within the constraints of available information, funding and participants’ time.

An implementation and monitoring process will be in place to report on plan progress and goal achievements.

“If tourism is to become the successful and self-perpetuating industry many have advocated, it needs to be planned and managed as a renewable resource industry, based on local capacities and community decision making.”4 Murphy, Peter E. “Tourism: A Community Approach”. University Press, Cambridge, UK 1985.(4)

PLANNING SEQUENCEPRODUCTS

1. PROCESS CONTEXT

· Determine needs of participating Operational needs assessment
agencies

· Delineate the planning area—get Agreement on boundaries
agreement onboundaries

· Identify planning issues and
objectives5 These can range from a general acknowledgment of issues and opportunities that effect tourism development from provincial, national or global forces, to specific environmental, social and economic impacts and influences on tourism that relate to nearby communities, integration with other resource uses, land use and resource management objectives for a given area, etc. This activity requires industry and community consultation.(5)

· Detail the planning context for Planning context is established
the area:- direction provided by existing land
use plans;
- why the current planning is taking
place and why now;
- what the end results of the planning
process will be
- identify implementation mechanisms
available for plan

· Develop Terms of Reference to Terms of Reference
guide the process, signed byAgreement by all parties on the
members of the regional (IAMC) andneed to do the plan
Interagency Management Committee
agreed to by all planning participants:
- ensure those who will implement
it participate

2. INFORMATION GATHERING6 If this planning is taking place within the framework of a landscape unit plan or any planning area delineated through a higher strategic level plan, this activity will become part of the overall data gathering efforts of the planning team. However, the Ministry of Small Business, Tourism and Culture and local recreation and tourism organizations should be contacted to ensure that tourism data is included in this process. This data should be collected according to emerging provincial standards for detailed tourism resource inventories.(6)

· Define a tourism context for the area,
including:
- relevant tourism trends7 In general, trends are given on a national or provincial basis. However, this information is useful to predict the general direction of the sector in terms of growth, markets, etc. for the region or planning area.(7)
- summary of existing use8 Existing use information is available in the ministry’s tourism resource inventory.(8)
- market demand
- relative capability of area to
support various tourism
products/activities9 Tourism capability information for individual products or by combining a number of variables is available in the ministry’s tourism resource inventory at the broad 1:250 000 scale. This will give a general idea of the capability of the land base to support tourism.(9)

· Define the resources upon which
existing use depends, e.g. trails, views,
beaches, lakes, fish and wildlife, etc.

· Identify the natural and cultural
resources, and infrastructure, which
are valuable for potential ourism use
at a detailed (1:20,000) level.

· Gather relevant data and identify Information that ranges from
data gaps and address data gapstechnical maps to expert opinion.
An information paper should
document all sources.

· Verify existing tourism use and identify
expansion opportunities and interests
with tourism operators

3. ANALYSIS

· Consider the capacity for expanded Carrying capacity assumptions.
or new operations10 Determining carrying capacity for tourism use is a difficult and not well-defined task. Identifying capacity for existing facilities is relatively straightforward and can be accomplished through contact with facility managers. However, carrying capacity for land use is subject to many more variables and as such, expectations for accomplishing this activity should be realistic. In general, known locations where environmental degradation have occurred from over use, visitor observations as told to tourism operators, and community responses with respect to local assessment of overcrowding should all be taken into consideration as part of the analysis.(10)

· Analyse which resources need to Directions on resource
be managed at what level of qualitymanagement which will guide
to maintain their tourism valueoperational planning.

· Address issues such as product
compatibility, integration with other
resource needs/users, access, visual
quality objectives, etc.11 It might be beneficial in some cases to consider the planning area as a series of conjoined planning cells. These cells would allow for the grouping of similar “bundles” of resources together so that the analyses can be applied within units that are uniform in tourism characteristics.(11)

4. PLAN APPROVAL

· Submit a report for approvals from Separate report or a section on
agencies, operators, and the IAMCtourism within a planning document.

5. IMPLEMENTATION

· Relevant agencies incorporate plan
results into management operations12 For instance, if this tourism planning sequence takes place within the context of a landscape unit plan (LUP), then the lead agencies will ensure the operational conclusions reached become part of the implementation plan of the LUP.(12)

· Plan directions and opportunities for Measurable indicators identified.
tourism will be addressed by the
tourism industry to the extent
possible.13 Where an opportunity is defined but no planned expansion or investment interests have been indicated, the information will be housed with the ministries of Small Business, Tourism and Culture, and the regional offices of Environment, Lands and Parks for the purposes of commercial backcountry recreation analyses.(13)

· Monitor plan implementation toMonitoring results provided to
ensure objectives are met. Monitoring IAMC, agencies, COTA.
should take place to:
- assess the extent that planning
objectives are met (are resources
being managed so that tourism
value is maintained?); and
- assess the extent that potential
tourism opportunities are
encouraged and/or marketed.

3.2 Data Requirements for 1:20,000 TRI

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The issue of what data might be required for an effective 1:20,000 contribution to a detailed planning process is actively under investigation by SBTC. Further studies into this topic will follow, as this Ministry works to incorporate not only information on natural resources, cultural resources and infrastructure, but to add economic data, labor market information and other types of ‘non-map’ data to the inventory/planning process.

In the interim, SBTC recommends application of the current RIC 1:250,000 data standards for data collected on tourism resources, features, facilities, operators and use areas.

In order to be effective in modelling capability, the TRI is reliant on the availability of certain datasets from external agencies. This list suggests the datasets SBTC would seek, although in many instances past studies have had to use substitutes for the desired data sets.

In general, a TRI requires a good set of base map information, including planimetry, hyrdrography and topography. Well-designed cadastral data is also essential, and is especially useful when tied to the base map and provided in a structured data format which permits querying. The Province’s TRIM project, with the associated cadastre, fits this requirement admirably.

Beyond base data, the TRI requires all available resource data, so as to compile the most accurate possible image of the potential of the subject area. Of particular importance are data layers providing information on forest cover (with a specific need for a single, integrated dataset covering all lands in the subject area, regardless of tenure, to approved Government datum and file formats). Other key resources layers are wildlife, heritage/culture and weather. Together with the biophysical resources identified in the base mapping, these key resources permit effective modelling for most important tourism products.

Desired datasets for each study area should include:

1:20,000 TRIM base mapping (MoELP SRM Branch)

1:20,000 TRIM-based cadastre (MoELP SG Branch)

1:250,000 TRI (SBTC)

1:20,000 Landscape (scenic) Inventory (MoF or preferably MoF/SBTC)

1:20,000 Recreation Inventory (MoF Recreation Branch)

1:50,000 Stream Atlas (MoELP Fisheries Branch)

1:20,000 Forest Cover Inventory, complete for study area (MoF Inventory Branch)

1:250,000 wildlife capability/habitat mapping (MoELP Wildlife Branch)

1:20,000 Archaeological sites and potential (SBTC Archaeology Branch)

1:20,000 Heritage/Cultural Features, derived by interpreting cultural heritage data through filters for tourism applicability. (contracted derived data, sourced from SBTC Cultural Heritage Branch).

Several layers of resource map and attribute data are required which contribute to tourism product modelling and the identification of resource features. To date each regional project has been a singular exercise in compiling unique or non-standard data from a range of sources, with standards of data quality varying. Until such time as standardized data on a full suite of land and resource management subjects is universally available, it is anticipated at least some of this ad-hoc-style data will be required. Layers which would be collected, should the data exist in useful form, include:

1:250,000 Baseline Thematic Mapping classified satellite image product (MoELP SRM Branch)

Fisheries catch and fish return statistics (scale varies; Fisheries and Oceans Canada)

Weather and Climate data, including snow depth, sun days and snow-free days (highly variable; Environment Canada)

BC Lands commercial recreation tenures (variable scale, format undetermined; MELP BC Lands)

detailed-scale data on wildlife

detailed-scale data on weather/climate

detailed-scale data on any special regional features

In addition, layers of mapping and data would be collected as part of a 1:20,000 TRI process. These include:

1:20,000 TRI tourism facilities/operators (SBTC)

1:20,000 TRI tourism resource features (SBTC)

1:20,000 TRI tourism use areas (SBTC)

Finally, a 1:20,000 TRI would generate map layers representing the analysed capability of the resource base to support various tourism products, as defined with the assistance of local tourism operators. These coverages would produced according to regional variation, reflecting the specific products of importance in the study area.

3.3 Data Accuracy Issues

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How accurate is accurate enough? This question is behind the thrust to establish data standards, and it’s one which must be addressed if standards are to be effective.

Tourism is a multi-faceted industry, with activities ranging from big-league sports events to quiet weekend getaways; from products for the active adventure-seeker such as mountaineering or windsurfing to gentler pastimes like bird watching and city-centre shopping. More than perhaps any other discipline, tourism faces challenges in both defining itself, and in defining its resource needs. Several classification schemes have been proposed to provide a taxonomy of tourism, with probably the most common being the distinction between front-country and back-country tourism products. Front-country tourism products are concerned with the urban, developed portions of our Province. Back-country tourism products take place away from the developed areas, and it is chiefly with back-country products that the TRI has to date been concerned.

Spatial data accuracy on the order of 100 m has been informally considered more than sufficient for the purposes of the 1:250,000 TRI, where feature notation is more akin to TRIM’s ‘Representational’ file than its ‘Positional’ one. Simply put, for the purposes of these strategic-level inventories, spatial accuracy is not an issue. The simple nominal presence of the feature is adequate. Carried over to 1:20,000 mapping, one would suspect (in the absence of any empirical evaluation) that spatial accuracy on the order of 10 m would be completely acceptable.

The issue of accuracy of attribute information, however, is quite serious. It is important that attributes be corrected or changed as required with each iteration of the inventory process. New businesses form almost daily, while others close, and these changes need to be captured in a reasonably timely manner. SBTC’s principal method of ensuring the accuracy of tourism facility, operator and feature data is to return to the source with plotted versions of the data for verification.

If, at some future point, time and resources become available, it may prove desirable to conduct rigorous measurements of the accuracy of the TRI data. However for the foreseeable future, it seems probable that any such study will have to wait.