( Visual Resource Assessment ( Tourism potential link

The British Columbia report, Visual Resource Assessment A User Guide, can be readily
adapted to discussions of tourism potential. Specifically, the report can be linked to and combined
with the scenic view aspects (tourism attractiveness) and environmental resiliency aspects of the
various tourism potential models. All the models have a subjective element and several focus on
scenic view opportunities. The nature tourism model developed by Dr. Colin Arrowsmith for use in
the Grampians National Park in Australia perhaps most closely reflects these visual elements
discussed throughout the visual resource assessment. The guide is a form of visual resource
management for provincial lands. Visual resource management can be defined as “the management of
the seen aspect of both land and the activities which occur on it...the administration of the land's
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scenic or aesthetic attributes.” The rational for incorporating landscape aesthetic classifications into
discussions of tourism potential modelling can be seen through this particular study of development
and sustainable management practices. Tourism is an industry reliant on the natural world, and the
continuing health of the land is dependent on observing principles of environmental sustainability and
minimizing the negative impacts of development.
To be continually effective, tourism must respect the land and incorporate this ideal into the
management practices that exist. Tourism potential is a concept that is highly resource-dependent and
its success is predicated on practices that are environmentally sustainable and that conserve natural
resources for the future. The ranking of landscape aesthetics and preferences are very subjective and,
as such, this process must incorporate a degree of uncertainty with some basic assumptions made with
regards to data. For tourism potential, it is assumed that the most natural conditions in the landscape
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are preferable. As well, high scenic areas have the highest level of protection. Development of
tourism is assumed to occur where it will have little impact on the concept of visual sensitivity. This
means that development should occur in areas where it will complement the existing natural landscape
and not cause an unsightly visual impact. In other words, excessive tourism development should not
happen in natural pristine regions.61
It can be said, “the ultimate goal of landscape analytical procedures and management
strategies is to maintain the integrity of the landscape.”62 From this statement it is clear that the key to
success for tourism potential is development that blends effectively into the existing environment and
can peacefully co-exist with existing resources and land uses. Two of the essential ideas that are
stressed throughout this particular study are the concepts of a landscape's visual quality and the visual
impact that development imposes on the land