Nicole Vaugeois

Fostering Innovation in Sustainable Tourism

Sustainable tourism development has been a topic of considerable research and policy reflection across Canada for the past two decades. Sustainability is especially important to people in rural areas, since tourism products often rely on sensitive natural and cultural resources. In order to encourage the adoption of sustainable tourism practices among operators, research was conducted by a collaboration of four tertiary institutions in the Fostering Innovation in Sustainable Tourism Project. The team conducted a study in the spring of 2009 to (a) determine attitudes of tourism operators toward sustainability; (b) assess the extent and type of sustainable tourism practices adopted by operators; (c) understand the influences on the adoption of sustainability practices, including motivators and barriers; and (d) determine ways to support the adoption of sustainability practices among tourism operators. An online survey was administered and interviews were conducted with rural operators throughout the Canadian province of British Columbia. Results showed an overall strong ?pro-sustainability? attitude among respondents. Dominant barriers identified were lack of available money to invest, lack of incentive programs, other business priorities, and limited access to suppliers of sustainable products, with the most common recommendation being the need for incentive programs to encourage businesses to become more sustainable. The results also indicate differences in adoption behaviour among three groups of operators: those who have fully committed, those who have piloted a few strategies, and those who have not. Understanding differences in adoption of sustainable practices using innovation theory may help to support the development of programs and policies that can be used as incentives to create behaviour change among tourism operators, thereby furthering collective efforts toward sustainable tourism development.

Is leisure research contributing to sustainability? A systematic review of the literature

ABSTRACT The purpose of this study was to identify and summarize to what extent articles in leisure journals have focused on and critically examined the relationship between leisure and sustainability. The study was conducted using content analysis of articles in leisure journals over the past decade (2005–2015) including: Leisure/Loisir, Journal of Leisure Research, Leisure Studies, Leisure Sciences, World Leisure, Journal of Park and Recreation Administration, Annals of Tourism Research, Journal of Sustainable Tourism, Journal of Travel Research, Tourism Management and Journal of Ecotourism. The results indicate that while some contributions to advance sustainability are emerging in leisure journals, there is a need for more explicit links between leisure and sustainability in the literature. The paper highlights areas where leisure research could be making stronger contributions to advance sustainability moving forward including questioning the relationship between leisure and sustainability, determining the level of sustainability of the leisure industry and proposing and monitoring new models and approaches to enhance sustainability.

The role of leisure in integrated community sustainability plans within Canada

ABSTRACT Given the preoccupation that all levels of government have been giving to sustainability, those advocating for the role of leisure must be able to clearly articulate how leisure intersects with and supports sustainability. Within Canada, federal and provincial governments have encouraged the development of Integrated Community Sustainability Plans (ICSP) at the municipal level to advance sustainability initiatives. The aim of this study was to determine to what extent ICSPs indicate a role for leisure in achieving sustainability. Using a sample of 18 ICSPs, the analysis revealed that leisure plays a strong and integrated role in sustainability planning suggesting that communities view leisure as a valuable contributor to sustainable communities. Leisure emerged as a potential solution to a broad range of social, environmental and economic issues and strategies transcended sectoral boundaries. The findings highlight the importance of collaborative planning and encourage leisure practitioners to actively engage in sustainability initiatives.

Using experiential education to expose graduate students to the relevance of case studies in sustainability and innovation

Field studies play an important role in curriculum at many levels. Within the Sustainable Leisure Management graduate program at Vancouver Island University (VIU), field studies play a critical role in allowing students to better understand the complexities of sustainability and innovation at the local/regional level. One particular course utilizes case studies as a research method and experiential education as a pedagogical philosophy, and in the 2012 edition highlighted by this article, the course examined sustainability and innovation on the Southern Gulf Islands of British Columbia, Canada.