| Summary: | This thesis examines and evaluates the British Columbia
Community Tourism Action Program (CTAP), a provincial program
that aims to help communities broaden their economic bases by
developing tourism. Specifically, it questions how isolated
single-industry towns implement the British Columbia CTAP, and
how they evaluate it, using the examples of Golden and Ucluelet,
both of which have been using the program since 1991.
The thesis does not base its conclusions on financial data,
but on the communities' responses to a questionnaire about the
CTAP, on meetings with each community's tourism action committee,
and on a comparison of theories of tourism planning with the
actual workings of the British Columbia CTAP.
After establishing why single-industry towns may have a
special need to diversify their economies, the thesis traces the
evolution of the British Columbia CTAP from two other programs:
its predecessor—British Columbia Tourism Development Strategy—
and the Alberta Community Tourism Action Program. Following this
history is a brief description of why tourism planning is
necessary, including some of the environmental, economic and
social effects of tourism, and then a review of the literature
concerning tourism planning. A detailed study of the Golden and
Ucluelet plans, several evaluations of the program, and
recommendations for future research complete the thesis. Since the town representatives responses to the British
Columbia CTAP have been favourable and since the program matches
several of the most important theoretical requirements of tourism
planning, the thesis concludes with qualified approval of the
program. Reservations about the program's effectiveness include
concerns about how well all the residents of a town are
represented, how the program is evaluated, and how the program
deals with sustainability issues. The final recommendations
section sketches in how these problems might be addressed and
also suggests some supplements to the CTAP. === Applied Science, Faculty of === Community and Regional Planning (SCARP), School of === Graduate
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