Raynald Harvey Lemelin

Polar Bear Viewers as Deep Ecotourists: How Specialised Are They?

Individuals visiting natural areas, such as national parks, or engaging in certain outdoor recreation activities like birdwatching, are often assumed to be ecotourists and also concomitantly assumed to be highly specialised by virtue of their behaviour. In this study, tourists visiting the Churchill Wildlife Management Area in Canada to view polar bears are examined using a comprehensive index of specialisation and compared to selected demographic variables and indicators of environmental concern. The results suggest that these visitors reflect a wide range of levels of specialisation, and that the majority of visitors are novices who might not share the same degree of concern for the environment or the same motives for visiting as their more specialised counterparts. Concerns for management of natural areas for wildlife viewing are raised based on these findings.

Appreciative Inquiry and Rural Tourism: A Case Study from Canada

Abstract Many Canadian, resource-based communities are facing an economic crisis and often turn to tourism for economic diversification and some recent trends in the growth of tourism employment in Canadas rural areas suggest that such choices are well founded. Despite positive growth indicators, rural tourism is criticized for several reasons, including issues with employment, ownership and lack of understanding of the industry. Although much has been written on the development of community-based tourism and its potential to address such concerns, much of the discussion remains at theoretical levels, with few examinations of practical frameworks for rural communities in crisis, such as the current experience in North-western Ontario, Canada. Enquiries into tourisms contribution to rural community economic development identified two gaps concerning how rural tourism can be a viable industry in resource-dependent communities and how to embed the industry within a community seeking alternatives from a deficit/crisis context. Interviews with a tourism operator in rural Manitoba, Canada seemed to provide an answer to both of these questions, through the application of Appreciative Inquiry (AI) to rural tourism development. Such an examination indicates that although such an approach does not solve the issues, it does provide a new lens through which to understand the potential for tourism in rural communities.

Ethical considerations of last chance tourism

Global environmental change is altering natural and built systems in many regions of the world and such changes play a significant role in an emerging travel trend that has been labelled ‘last chance tourism’ (LCT). In LCT, tourism demand is based on the desire to see these vulnerable places and features before they disappear or are essentially and irrevocably changed. The paradox in this new form of travel lies in the fact that the tourists often travel long distances and, thus, are disproportionately responsible per capita for increased greenhouse gas emissions and various other stressors that have the potential to alter further the very attractions being visited. The emergence of LCT requires careful ethical consideration and adds a new twist to the debate about ‘loving a destination to death’. In this case, the relationship is indirect and intangible, and is complicated by spatial and temporal lags, as well as the complex system of biophysical interactions at the heart of climate change. LCT presents a situation that is considerably more difficult to manage and mitigate than those where tourism involves only direct and local impacts. Through a praxis/reflective approach, we discuss this complexity and the various ethical issues associated with marketing and managing LCT. In order to provide context and clarification of the LCT concept, we use one of the most evocative symbols of climate change, the polar bears of Churchill, Manitoba, Canada, as a source of empirical evidence and a foundation for exploring ethical considerations.

Perceptions of Polar Bear Tourists: A Qualitative Analysis

A number of themes and concepts emerged from 18 interviews conducted with polar bear tourists visiting the Churchill Wildlife Management Area, near Churchill, Manitoba. This article focuses on themes relating to environmental dimensions of polar bear tourism. These include environmental concerns, rationalization of wildlife tourism, and perceptions of environmental impacts. By focusing on the human dimensions of wildlife tourism in protected areas, this study provided an opportunity to acquire an understanding of perceived management roles in these protected areas, as well as perceived impacts of the polar bear viewing industry.

Conflicts, battlefields, indigenous peoples and tourism: addressing dissonant heritage in warfare tourism in Australia and North America in the twenty-first century.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the omission of Indigenous narratives in battlefields and sites of conflicts while also highlighting how certain battlefields and sites of conflicts have attempted to address dissonant heritage by diversifying interpretation strategies and implementing elements of collaborative management approaches, thereby addressing Indigenous erasure.Design/methodology/approach – The study uses a content analysis, field studies and case studies to examine dissonant heritage in warfare tourism sites involving Indigenous peoples in Australia and North America.Findings – The content analysis reveals that aboriginal erasure is still prevalent within the literature on warfare and battlefield tourism. However, the case studies suggest that dissonant heritage in warfare tourism is being addressed through collaborative management strategies and culturally sensitive interpretation strategies.Research limitations/implications – The content analysis is limited to tourism journals...

To bee or not to bee: whether ‘tis nobler to revere or to revile those six-legged creatures during one’s leisure

By incorporating the concept of speciesism into a multi-disciplinary critical approach to animal–human studies in leisure, I provide an overview of anthropomorphism and entomophobia and suggest how these concepts limit our understanding of human–insect encounters. The concentric circles of leisure illustrate how human–insect encounters in rural and urban areas are often influenced by our senses, spatial cues, socio-cultural forces and our perceived need for safety and comfort. In his study of the pluralistic aspects of environmental values, Norton (2000) suggested that we should be cautious in the dichotomy of the opposites and seek to find new approaches that consider the multitude of perspectives, the nuances and inconsistencies that make up human values of nature. Such an approach requires challenging the institutionalised speciesism woven into many aspects of our recreational activities, critiquing the philosophical underpinnings of anthropomorphism and entomophobia, and addressing inter and intra species dynamics throughout various leisure terrains (i.e. indoor/outdoor, urban/rural and local/global) and illustrating how such movements creates interactions that are fluid, complex, unsettling and rewarding. The potential contributions of leisure to this emerging field are outlined in the conclusion.

From hunting and fishing to cultural tourism and ecotourism: examining the transitioning tourism industry in Nunavik

Arctic tourism has seen major shifts in the last decade as global events and local developments have affected this industry. This article presents findings of a case study examining tourism changes in Nunavik (northern range of Quebec, Canada). Key informant interviews conducted with tourism operators and managers from Kuujjuaq, Nunavik, and Montreal, Quebec, provide an understanding of the changes being experienced by the industry and help to characterize factors that contribute to resilience. Recent events in Nunavik affecting tourism include the controlled caribou sports hunt in 2010–11 and the transformation of Cruise North Expeditions in 2010 from a regionally owned Inuit enterprise to a joint venture between Cruise North and Adventure Canada. These situations provide a picture of a tourism industry in transition, reacting and adapting to change. Tourism diversification strategies include the Aqpik Jam Festival, sled-dog races and the development of specialized cultural tours like Inuit Odyssey, a cooperative venture between regional and provincial operations that was selected by National Geographic Traveler as a lifetime tour. This article provides an historical overview, contemporary description and future projection of this industry in Northern Quebec in the context of resilience.

Gazing upon Nanuk, the polar bear: the social and visual dimensions of the wildlife gaze in Churchill, Manitoba

Abstract The importance of photography to the ‘wildlife gaze’ should come as no surprise since photography is an integral component in the observation of wildlife tourism. Also essential to the experience, yet often overlooked, is the social dynamics of tourism. Fourteen interviews were conducted with eighteen polar bear viewers visiting two protected areas near Churchill Manitoba, Canada. Three main themes emerged from these interviews relating to the characteristics of the experience, perceptions of self and others, and photography. The need for exclusivity, the experiential nature of the trip, and the spiritual nature of the experience were all characteristics of the tourism experience described by participants. Some interviewees viewed themselves as part of a larger group of tourists visiting Churchill, yet still distinctly different from ‘mass’ tourists, while other participants because of their desire to learn or acquire spiritual experiences, viewed themselves as different from all tourists. Finally, photographs were viewed as trophies, as a way to stimulate memories, and as detraction from the experience. These findings illustrate the importance of understanding tourists’ experience from their perspective and how this understanding can assist in the management of polar tourism destinations.

Introduction to the Special Issue on Aboriginal Ecotourism

The declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples by the United Nations in 2007 highlights the rights of all Indigenous Peoples to remain distinct while also promoting their full and effective participation in all matters concerning them (United Nations, 2007). This declaration provides a timely opportunity for researchers to assess the current state of Aboriginal ecotourism and to discuss to what extent communal needs are being addressed by scholarly research in this area. This special issue on Aboriginal ecotourism, in the Journal of Ecotourism, represents a selection from 23 international manuscripts. As a result of a critical and constructive review process, eight papers were judged suitable for publication and appear in this double issue. Special efforts encouraging concerted approaches between researchers and collaborators resulted in three of the eight articles featured being co-written with authors from the Sami nation, the Tl’azt’en First Nation, and members of local communities in the Kelabit Highlands of Malaysia and the Kerayan Highlands of Indonesia. The other five were written in collaboration with Indigenous partners or communities. Therefore, like Maher (this issue) in his review of the Butler and Hinch (2007) text, we recognize that further work is required in this area. However, it should also be noted that an increasing amount of information on ecotourism in the form of books, articles, workshops and conferences, research findings, and websites are now available. This is indicative of a scholarly growth and methodological diversification in this particular subject area. Of particular importance to these changes are the new and upcoming voices in Aboriginal ecotourism, a number of which were used throughout the editing and writing processes of this special issue. Whether it is guiding, cultural festivals, or corroborees, aboriginal peoples have been central to tourism activities for centuries (Denzin, 2008; McLaren, 2003; Parsons, 1997, 2002). However, the first scholarly work on the subject according to Notzke (2006) was Smith’s (1977, 1989) influential piece “Host and Guests”. But it was only in the 1990s when Butler and Hinch’s (1996) seminal work was published that the term “Indigenous tourism” become “a force in its own right” (Notzke, 2006, p. 9). The book is often defined as the catalyst on Indigenous tourism research since it provided the first

From coal to wood thermoelectric energy production: a review and discussion of potential socio-economic impacts with implications for Northwestern Ontario, Canada

The province of Ontario in Canada is the first North American jurisdiction withlegislation in place to eliminate coal-fired thermoelectric production by theend of 2014. Ontario Power Generation (OPG) operates coal-fired stations inOntario, with Atikokan Generating Station being the only facility slated toswitch to 100% woody biomass. It is anticipated that this coal phase out policywill have socio-economic impacts. Because of these anticipated changes, in thispaper, we review the current state of peer-reviewed literature relating to threeburning scenarios (biomass, coal and co-firing) in order to explore theknowledge gaps with regard to socio-economic impacts and identify research needswhich should elucidate the anticipated changes on a community level. We reviewedover 150 sources, which included peer-reviewed articles and non-peer-reviewedgrey literature such as government documents, non-governmental organizationreports and news publications. We found very few peer-reviewed articles relatedto Canadian studies (even fewer for Ontario) which look at woody biomass burningfor thermoelectric production. We identify a number of socio-economic impactassessment tools readily available and present potential criteria required inselecting an appropriate tool for the Ontario context. For any tool to providemeaningful results, we propose that appropriate and robust local data must becollected and analyzed.