theless been surprisingly backward in adopting technology for destination marketing. Ann Pollock of the Stategy Group, in an instructive overview of North American developments, re- vealed that only half of the approx- imately 40 US states with customer databases were using these databases for marketing purposes.

Only a handful of states ran reserva- tion services though over 80% oper- ated some form of call centre, mostly as an information service. An excep- tion to this was Nova Scotia which had recently installed an advanced destina- tion information and reservation sys- tem supplied by Infocentre.

Pollock argued that the role of the Destination Marketing Organisation (DMO), usually a publicly funded body, is changing. An interesting aspect of IT is that it can facilitate measuring of the effectiveness of DMO activities.

Pollock described how 'electronic b r o c h u r e s ' , d e l i v e r e d via publ ic address networks, can provide in- finitely greater reach than traditional media. There is already a noticeable proliferat ion of Internet ' servers ' , da t abases ma in ta ined by var ious bodies which are freely accessible to those with the right software. Travel is a sensory experience - sold on images and dreams. Multimedia can therefore be presumed to be an extremely powerful support tool for destination marketeers.

The triple responsiblity of DMOs therefore is to define their target audi- ences, develop the correct sales mes- sages and establish the best methods of reaching their audiences. IT is an 'investment to assist this process and not a cost'.

European developments featured during the afternoon, including the apparen t imbalances in European Commission funding for tourism. The modest (6m ECU per annum) budget allocated to DG XXIII 's Tourism Unit contrasted with the substantial sums spent on international aid by DGs I and VIII and DG XIII 's massive fund- ing for technology research.

Dr Roger Carter of Edinburgh out- lined a forthcoming proposal, code- named SAM, intended to facilitate worldwide electronic trading in tour-

ism services. SAM would demonstrate the potential for using advanced in- formation and reservation services for destination marketing. For regions and cities such as Edinburgh this n a t u r a l l y i n c l u d e d r e s e r v a t i o n s . DMOs have a particular responsibility for smaller enterprises. Commercial operators, in both reservation and publishing activities, inevitably cherry pick. This often excludes SMEs from the market-place, to the overall detri- ment of the customer as well as the destination. Leslie Mingay of multinational Tho- mas Cook then gave an excellent pre- sentation on her company's view of IT as an 'enabler ' . IT allows an agency not only to do its daily business better (by reducing cost and improving cus- tomer service) but also to do it dif- ferently (by direct sales or operating bureau services for other sellers). It also allows an agency to do new things (such as developing their own travel TV sales channel).

Thomas Cook has taken a strategic decision to develop technology part- nerships with other organizations, such as the National Westminster Bank. This approach could be just as valid for the tourism industry, facili- tating more rapid development and higher success ratios.

A travel agent's needs were then defined as easy access to product in- formation, online real-time availabil- ity, immediate confirmation, a stan- dard interface, a central payments mechanism and a guarantee of pro- duct standards.

Mingay also raised the issue of own-

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ership of multimedia content, likely to be the most costly element of any future application. It was also essen- tial to define this content in a way which was relevant to the customer's requirements. Tourist boards had a particular role to play in the areas of trust and reassurance.

F ina l ly Ross Furby , Managing Director of British Rail International and Chairman of the European Rail- ways Systems Group, described a number of initiatives under way in the

f i e ld of rail product distribution. In particular he suggested that the adop- tion of the ATB2 ticket standard will facilitate the provision of joint air-rail services, a t rend already seen in France.

In questions, BTA's Barbara Austin asked 'how can we take control of all these in i t i a t ives? ' but no simple answers were forthcoming. The exam- ple of Canada's newly formed Nation- al Advisory Board for Tourism Tech- nology was mentioned but although there was clearly a consensus in the meeting that 'something' needed to be done, there was no agreement as to what that something was or even as to what the next steps should be. How- ever, if the sponsors ' plans for a follow-up seminar next year come to fruition then this year's has certainly provided a good foundation for in- formed debate on a subject of growing importance.

Gilbert H Archdale Motcombe

Shaftesbury SP7 9NT, UK

Tourism in Canada

Tourism in Canada was the theme of the 1994 London Conference for Canadian Studies. Held in the splendid surroundings of the Canadian Embassy on 18 November 1994, the conference brought together resear- chers from both sides of the Atlantic and, for the most part, the discussion centred on tourism and the community, for long an area of debate among Canadian academics.

If there is a feeling of insecurity in Canada's national psyche, it is perhaps best i l lus t ra ted by former Prime

Minister Pierre Trudeau's remark that living next door to America was like sharing a bed with an elephant. Such a

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view could certainly not be extended to the outpourings on tourism plan- ning and management which, in the last 10 years, have placed Canadian academics at the heart of the sustaina- bility debate. Indeed, the 'community approach' was one of the main refer- ence points at the conference, though whether the advocates of such an approach would have remained opti- mistic as speakers highlighted appa- rent contradictions and even failures is open to question. A second important theme, clearly significant at the com- munity level, concerned the commod- ification and use of Canada's cultural heritage.

Economics, though, were where the c o n f e r e n c e b e g a n . P e r h a p s not surprisingly, the recently appointed Canadian High Commissioner Royce Frith chose to open the conference with the assertion that 'tourism is big business in Canada' . He made no sec- ret of the fact that the government viewed the setting up of the Canada Tourist Commission as 'part of the agenda to create jobs ' , and more hopefully, as a unifying force in a country facing the prospect of federal disintegration. His Excellency was in no doubt that he wanted the govern- ment, tourism workers and academics to come together in a partnership whereby the ' theories could be put into practice'. It was at this point, sadly, that the High Commissioner departed - before a single theory had seen the light of day.

With tourism optimistically put in its place, it was time for Roy Keane of the Canadian Tourist Office to explain how 'to sell Canada to the world'. Keane proclaimed that 'we have cre- ated the product ' and though it is currently 'a difficult sell for travel agents', it is hoped that a major adver- tising campaign in 1995 will increase UK visits to Canada. Keane was con- tent to include 'culture' as part of the 'product ' ; what was not clear was whose culture he was talking about. The commodification of cultural herit- age for political as well as economic gain was the central theme of the morning session.

Shelagh Squire, Carleton Univer- sity, Ottawa, noted that much of the early writing about Canada, and espe-

cially the Rocky Mountains, was by Americans. Thus many of the popular images of Canada - wilderness, abor- iginal people, mounted police - were c r e a t e d by m i d d l e - c l a s s n o n - Canadians. And even where ' the lure of place' is connected to a quintessen- tially Canadian institution (Anne of Green Gables), the descriptions of Prince Edward Island's 'purple twi- lights' and 'velvety green hills' may do nothing more than to remind the dis- appointed visitor of the failure of the local community to recreate a fictional reality.

Could, then, the 'cultural resurg- ence' of what Heather Norris Nichol- son referred to as Canada's First Na- tions include promotional images that are both recognizable and have ethnic integrity? Nicholson, University Col- lege of Ripon and York St John, York, explained why 'aboriginal peo- ple are back in fashion' and provided a shopping list of objectives - political, economic, educational and cultural - that can be achieved through their involvement with tourism. She in- sisted that decisions were taken after community-wide consultation though the process for this was not made clear nor, and perhaps more problematical- ly, was there any indication as to how the aboriginal people would retain cont ro l of tour ism deve lopmen t . Given the inherent conflict within the objectives listed above, and the fact that for some aboriginal communities 'culture is the only thing they have to sell', it is hard to conceive of any fundamental altering of the stereo- type. The representation of culture as 'more than folk dance and feathers' is being restrained by the same kind of nostalgia that accounts for the popu- larity of Anne's house, the kind of nostalgia that provides the visitor dol- lar.

Greg Ashworth, University of Gro- ningen, was in no doubt that 'heritage can be sold easily to tourists'. Several other speakers had considered the buying and selling of heritage but Ashworth was unequivocal, 'You can- not sell your heritage to tourists. You can only sell their heritage back to them.' If he is correct in that the heritage product is shaped by current market demands then who selects the

ingredients of that product? The answer is not likely to be the local community.

Bernard Lane, The Rural Tourism Unit, University of Bristol, began the afternoon session by describing a pro- cess in which the Prairie Provinces were encouraged to become more in- volved with tourism. Lane, a long- t ime advocate of the communi ty approach, claimed that the community route to development was not only academically and politically correct but that it is (still) 'flavour of the month ' . The Community Tourism Programmes in Alberta and Saskatch- ewan, however (1985-87), sounded more like some Orwellian fantasy than any serious attempt at long-term plan- ning. Each community was invited to form its own Tourism Action Commit- tee (9-12 members), follow a set of instructions contained in a manual, and in 20 hours (maximum) produce a Tourism Act ion Plan. In Alber ta alone some 400 communities (out of 427) completed the programme, forc- ing even the most committed suppor- ter of spreading the tourist load to think that this was going a little too far.

Bernard Lane admitted that the net resul t was local d i s appo in tmen t . There was ' too much enthusiasm' he said, and obviously too much competi- tion. For the programme to be suc- cessful, some of the communit ies would have to be selected as 'winners' and provided with the necessary skills in hospitality and marketing. Some- how, the political expediency of all this seems much more pervasive than anything else.

The remaining speakers presented case studies from Niagara Falls and Newfoundland , though only Elke Det tmor , Memorial University, St Johns, was able to describe a small success at the community level. In an attempt to diversify an economy once dominated by cod fishing several com- munities in the St Johns area (North- west Avalon) have formed groups and established projects (such as cycling trails) which it is hoped will increase visitor numbers. In the Niagara Falls region, described by Norman Freeth, Bournemouth University, as one of the world's largest tourism honeypots,

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every citizen has received a copy of the 'Tourism Master Plan' (1992). This will cer ta in ly increase local awareness but the Master Plan, with its insistence on reconciling the eternal triangle of growth, preservation and quality, has, according to Freeth, done nothing more than to increase the conflict between the various agen- cies responsible for policy in the re- gion.

The 'community approach' , a con- stant reference point in Canadian tourism literature, was not questioned at this conference though few success stories were reported. There seemed

to be an acceptance that a community has the ability to share a vision about how tourism should develop, who should be involved, what signifiers of culture are appropriate and what out- side help is required. Let us not feel too secure that we understand the communal psyche - the elephant may roll over.

George Taylor Department of Hospitality and

Tourism University of Central Lancashire

Preston PRI 2HE, UK

A new geographical approach

The Institute of British Geographers' annual conference took place on 3-6 January 1995 at the University of Northumbria in Newcastle, UK. Among the many sessions covering all aspects of geography was one devoted to 'New horizons in the geography of leisure, recreation and tourism'.

The 'new horizons' theme may be old hat - it has appeared in the title of at least two past tourism conferences - but the papers presented at the IBG differed from many at straight tourism conferences by placing greater em- phasis on theory, by featuring areas that have previously been under- researched and by drawing heavily from the cultural and humanistic geography traditions.

Indeed, Shelagh Squire (Carleton University, Canada) called specifically for geographers to forge new links between geography and tourism stu- dies, focusing on people, place and cultural communication, paying more attention to the social and cultural context within which tourism occurs and making more use of qualititative techniques such as ethnographies,

focus groups and open-ended ques- tions in interviews. She used her re- search on the cultural values of liter- ary tourism in Beatrix Potter country (the English Lake District) as an ex- ample of how these techniques could enhance understanding of tourism. Whi le o the r d i sc ip l ines , no tab ly soc io logy and an th ropo logy , are already examining just these links, the positive reaction from the audience suggested that the idea was new to many geographers.

Also new were papers focusing on gender and tourism (Vivian Kinnaird, University of Sunderland, UK) and gay tourism (Briavel Holcolm and Michael Luongo, Rutgers University, USA) - both areas that have been woefully under-researched up to now.

Ms Kinnaird showed how gender

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relations were inextricably bound up with the tourism industry (eg in pat- terns of employment, which often re- p roduce gender s te reo types) and proposed a gender-aware framework that would enhance our understanding and analysis of it. Dr Holcolm and Mr Luongo provided a wealth of data to demonstrate that gay tourism is be- coming increasingly important, both economically and socially, a fact ack- nowledged by the tourist authorities and CVB in Miami Beach who are no longer leaving it to gay organizations to market to this sector. Similarly the Dutch Tourist Board had a presence at the 1994 Gay Games in New York - not only is Amsterdam considered a gay-friendly city, it is hosting the next games in 1998.

Other papers focused more on place and ' s i tua tedness ' . J e remy Hoad (Edinburgh University) analysed the way historical maps could be used as a code to reinforce certain stereotypical images of tourism and place; he chal- lenged the traditional view of car- tography as scientific and objective by suggesting that maps are only a par- ticular representation of a landscape, which is itself a particular representa- tion of reality. Paul Waley continued the theme with a discussion of places of recreation and pilgrimage on the outskirts of Japan's pre-modern cities and the ways in which sacred and symbolic interpretat ions had been placed upon them. David Crouch (Anglia University) extolled the vir- tues of caravanning as a symbol both of freedom and of home in his discus- sion on leisure in "late modern" society and the way place is situated in it, and Arthur Morris (Glasgow University) examined the evolution of tourism and local awareness of it in Spain.

Frances Brown Edenbridge, UK

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