Type of Tourism

Before any modelling venture of this large a scope can be undertaken there must be a clear
indication of the type of tourism that the client is advocating for potential development within the
study area. The two modelling approaches are 1) to either access what tourism products to model
beforehand or 2) assess the tourism resources such as coastline, and then decide what activities to
model as in the B.C. Tourism capability modelling example. The client has opted to assess activities
to model before assessing the required resources.5 According to pages two and three of the tender
proposal, the client is advocating tourism of a nature-based variety which focuses on the natural
attributes and benefits that can be offered by the crown land holdings within the study area. The
province possesses great tourism potential based on its natural beauty and the type of nature resources
the land offers for certain nature-based activities like hiking. The development of nature tourism is
recognized as an important segment of the industry because it is apparently the fastest growing sector
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of the world's fastest growing industry. For the lay-man “nature tourism can be described as travel to
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a specific area to experience and learn about the natural environment of the area.” As tourism is
acknowledged as being such a growth industry, the client recognizes the vast economic potential that
nature tourism could offer the province and hopes to capitalize on this. The client, the Department of
Tourism, is interested in developing nature tourism that is focused on the following tourist activities
and features: scenic viewplanes on land and sea, hiking corridors, canoe portages, cross country ski
routes, snowmobile trails, beaches, scenic waterfrontage, coastal access, and wildlife viewing
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opportunities.