Best Practices for Canada: A tourism-based comparative analysis of UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Canada, the U.S. and Australia

Tourism makes an important contribution to the Canadian economy, with businesses large and small employing hundreds of thousands of workers in rural and urban communities across the country. In 2013, tourism activities represented almost 2 percent of gross domestic product ($33 billion). Tourism is Canada’s number one service export, with revenues of domestic and international travelers exceeding $84 billion. Travel and tourism are not only important economic drivers in and of themselves, but also encourage links and understanding between countries, enabling visitors to Canada to gain access to educational, investment and trade opportunities.

Attractions and destinations are key components of this versatile sector: an international survey found that 31% of travellers consider the availability of unique attractions at their next destination before finalizing travel plans. . A literature review performed by InterVISTAS also confirmed that the availability and relevancy (that is, unique and up to date) of attractions influence travel plans and destination choice .    
The number and quality of attractions contribute to the competitiveness of destinations. The World Economic Forum’s Travel and Tourism (T&T) Competitiveness Index   “aims to measure the factors and policies that make it attractive to develop the T&T sector in different countries.” The Index is based on 14 distinct pillars of T&T competitiveness: two of those pillars assess the country endowment in natural and cultural resources, which demonstrates the importance of attractions for enhancing a country’s competitiveness in a world of growing market offerings and destinations. The score obtained by a country in relation to each pillar is a composite of several factors. In the case of Natural Resources (Pillar 13) and Cultural Resources (Pillar 14), the number of WHS in the country is seen as contributing to, though is not the sole determining factor of, the overall score. In 2013, the rankings for Canada, the U.S. and Australia were the following: Natural Resources: Australia 2nd, U.S. 3rd and Canada 10th. Cultural Resources: U.S. 5th, Canada 16th and Australia 20th.  The report mentions that Australia is the country with the highest number of World Heritage natural sites in the world.

Industry Canada is the lead department under the Federal Tourism Strategy (FTS). One of the priorities of the FTS is the promotion of product development and investments in Canadian tourism assets and products. In this context, it is important to strengthen our understanding of "strategically important tourism destinations and attractions" and their role in stimulating economic growth.

To further this goal, InterVISTAS Consulting Inc. was commissioned in 2011 to conduct a literature review on strategically important tourism destinations and attractions   in an attempt to answer the following questions: How are strategically important tourism destinations and attractions being defined or identified, and what role do they play as tourism assets within communities and regions? Is there evidence of the economic impact of incremental investments made by government and the private sector on the economy and the tourism supply chain? 

The report that was prepared mentioned that “economic growth can be further enhanced when destinations and attractions are developed through a disciplined and integrated plan, and are located where there is an established cluster of activities and experiences that encourage longer stays and incremental spending, with sufficient space for expansion and to accommodate additional infrastructure development.”   The report also underlined the importance for destinations of offering a variety of experiences and high quality interpretation.

The publication of the literature review was followed by a Forum on the same theme in February 2013.   This proposed research project is a follow-up initiative to this initial work and will bring a new focus on WHS.

The Contractor will be asked to examine measures of success (e.g. economic performance indicators, increase in tourist numbers, business expansion) and in turn identify and analyze the potential factors of success (i.e. access to financing, community support, and ease of access) as they relate to the performance indicators. Determining such factors may necessitate looking at how Canada, the U.S. and Australia are making the most from the inscription of their respective sites on the World Heritage List, given the type of site, nature of the ownership and management arrangements, their location and accessibility, their proximity to other attractions, how the sites are interpreted and marketed, the amount of investment and financing received, what type of support and involvement they receive from the surrounding communities, the trend in number of visitors, both domestic and international (including country of origin), etc. 
 
The proposed line of inquiry may lend itself to examining such things as the role of both public and private investments in the management and interpretation of the WHS; the impact of indirect tourism investment, such as  supporting infrastructure; the economic impact (at the community, regional, and national levels if possible) of the WHS as tourist attractions. The research may then highlight, when appropriate, the integrated efforts of the private sector, communities and all orders of government to promote, support and enhance the attractiveness, accessibility and sustainability of these sites (e.g., partnerships between government departments and other organizations such as local and Aboriginal communities).

The desired outcome of the research is to have, through the gathering and analysis of relevant information, a better understanding of the significant features that contribute to the success of the Canadian WHS as a tourism draw, areas that could be improved when compared to similar sites in the U.S. and Australia and how to better leverage the international recognition provided by UNESCO to support tourism goals and economic development. The final report will describe why some sites are more successful as tourist destinations than others, including what characteristics or services contribute to attracting tourists to particular sites.