Chapter 5. Recreation
5.4 Conclusion
Despite some of the challenges faced by recreation, outdoor recreation, and adventure tourism, the industry as a whole remains an exciting, dynamic, and growing sector of the Canadian tourism economy. Employment opportunities abound, and the potential for economic contribution to the country, protection of wilderness areas, and diversification of rural economies away from resource extraction are exciting prospects. Nova Scotia is uniquely positioned to maintain positive growth in this area, contingent upon government support to address barriers and challenges. Students looking to develop professionally in this field should strive to gain both hands-on experience in a specialized activity, and a strong tourism focused education; this combination will offer the best chance to open doors to a long-term career in this exciting industry.
Now that we understand the importance of recreation to the tourism industry, let’s explore Chapter 6, which looks at entertainment, the other half of this industry classification.
Key Terms
- Adventure tourism: outdoor activities with an element of risk, usually somewhat physically challenging and undertaken in natural, undeveloped areas
- Association of Canadian Mountain Guides (ACMG): Canada’s only internationally recognized guiding association, offering a range of certifications
- Avalanche Canada: a not-for-profit society that provides public avalanche forecasts and education for backcountry travellers venturing into avalanche terrain, dedicated to a vision of eliminating avalanche injuries and fatalities in Canada
- Canadian Ski Guide Association (CSGA): founded in British Columbia, an organization that runs a training institute for professional guides, and a separate non-profit organization representing CSGA guide and operating members
- Ecotourism: responsible travel to natural areas that conserves the environment, sustains the well-being of the local people and involves interpretation and education (TIES)
- Destination mountain resorts: large-scale mountain resorts where the draw is the resort itself; usually the resort offers all services needed in a tourism destination
- Nature-based tourism: tourism activities where the motivator is immersion in the natural environment; the focus is often on wildlife and wilderness areas
- Off-road recreational vehicle (ORV): any vehicle designed to travel off of paved roads and on to trails and gravel roads, such as an ATV (all-terrain vehicle) or Jeep
- Outdoor recreation: recreational activities occurring outside; generally in undeveloped areas
- Recreation: activities undertaken for leisure and enjoyment
- Regional mountain resorts: small resorts where the focus is on outdoor recreation for the local communities; may also draw tourists
Exercises
- Compare and contrast the terms recreation, outdoor recreation, and adventure tourism. How can we differentiate between each of these terms?
- Do you believe that ORV tourism operators shoul