Chapter 6. Events, Culture, Heritage, and Sport (Entertainment)
Chapter 6. Events, Culture, Heritage, and Sport (Entertainment)
6.3 Attractions
As a broad definition, tourist attractions are those places of culture, heritage, nature, or activities that draw people to visit. When the Canadian Tourism Commission, now Destination Canada, planned a survey of Canada’s tourist attractions in 1995, there was no official definition of tourist attractions. After consultation, federal, provincial, territorial, and industry stakeholders agreed on a working definition: “places whose main purpose is to allow public access for entertainment, interest, or education” (Canadian Tourism Commission, 1998, p. 3).
Five major categories were established:
- Heritage attractions: focus on preserving and exhibiting objects, sites, and natural wonders of historical, cultural, and educational value (e.g., museums, art galleries, historic sites, botanical gardens, zoos, nature parks, conservation areas)
- Amusement/entertainment attractions: maintain and provide access to amusement or entertainment facilities (e.g., arcades; amusement, theme, and water parks)
- Recreational attractions: maintain and provide access to outdoor or indoor facilities where people can participate in sports and recreational activities (e.g., golf courses, skiing facilities, marinas, bowling centres)
- Commercial attractions: retail operations dealing in gifts, handcrafted goods, and souvenirs that actively market to tourists (e.g., craft stores listed in a tourist guide)
- Industrial attractions: deal mainly in agriculture, forestry, and manufacturing products that actively market to tourists (e.g., wineries, fish hatcheries, factories)
The term “attraction” can convey a negative meaning. Something becoming a tourist attraction can imply a site that has been commercialized and, likely, negatively impacted by tourism. In addition, attraction typically denotes pleasure and fun, like an amusement park. The term becomes inappropriate, as does ‘entertainment’ when we speak of learning about other cultures and contested histories. For example, the Nikkei Internment Memorial Centre, in New Denver, BC is a National Historic Site of Canada, and tells the history of Japanese-Canadian internment during the Second World War. Another example may be an Indigenous art gallery, with many objects representing the spiritual beliefs and history of a people’s ancestors. Although both examples are technically sites of interest to tourists and therefore attractions, the mandate, approach, and design of the visitor experience varies from site to site.
To exist, these attractions often need to generate revenue to pay for site operations, to pay for staff, and to run educational programs. The sector involves a range of organizations, some privately owned, while others are government-funded, or non-profit. Revenue to culture- and nature-based sites has the added benefit of supporting their preservation as well as to build awareness and a deeper understanding in the public. In the case