This presentation was presented at the Ecotourism and Sustainable Tourism Conference 2011 (ESTC 2011), held in Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, USA, from September 19th-21st. Organized by The International Ecotourism Society (TIES), the

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ESTCSEPTEMBER 21, 2011

ALBERTA’S RECREATION & TOURISM RESOURCE DATA SYSTEM:

INFORMING COLLABORATIVE LAND USE PLANNING AND DECISION MAKING IN SUPPORT OF TOURISM

Justin EllisSenior Planner

Parks, Recreation & Tourism

SESSION OBJECTIVES

• To emphasize the importance of tourism destination planning– land use planning

• To introduce some land use planning tools that support tourism destination planning and management

• To encourage planners, operators and advocates to ensure tourism resources are identified

ALBERTA’S RECREATION & TOURISM RESOURCE DATA SYSTEM

• Context

• Purpose

• Inventories & Tools

• Applications

• Learnings & Encouragements

PRESENTATION OVERVIEW

ALBERTA’S RECREATION & TOURISM RESOURCE DATA SYSTEM

• Tourism needs to establish itself as a land based industry

• Land use planning, decision making and tourism competitiveness

• Ecotourism et al. is a resource based industry– Depend on the “recreation and tourism

resources” (features, scenery, settings, perceived & actual environmental quality)

• Understanding the supply of resources is critical to comprehensive land use planning & destination competitiveness

• Alberta Recreation and Tourism Data System

CONTEXT

ALBERTA’S RECREATION & TOURISM RESOURCE DATA SYSTEM

• Acquire spatially explicit data on the supply of recreation & tourism “opportunities”– The “Resource”

• Establish consistent & pragmatic provincial procedures

• Enable evaluation and comparison of opportunities across all scales

PURPOSE

ALBERTA’S RECREATION & TOURISM RESOURCE DATA SYSTEM

• overview

Significant Recreation & Tourism Areas

Scenic Resource Assessm

ent

Recreation / Tourism

Opportunity Spectrum

Recreation & Tourism Features Inventory

CONCEPT

ALBERTA RECREATION & TOURISM FEATURES INVENTORY

PURPOSE OF THE RECREATION & TOURISM FEATURES INVENTORY

• Obtain geographical data as to where rec/tourism features exist

• Central GIS based inventory system

• Collaborate & raise awareness with land managers & local governments

• Furnish base data to be consumed by other inventories and models

RTFI

Scenic

RTOS

STReAM

DEFINITION OF A RECREATION / TOURISM FEATURE

Recreation / Tourism Feature:A biophysical, amenity, cultural or historical feature which supports or has the potential to support one or more recreation / tourism activities

DATABASE DESIGN

DATABASE DESIGN

For each feature the inventory identifies it’s:

• Scarcity

• Sensitivity

• Uniqueness

• Usage Intensity

• Attraction Capability

• Accessibility

• SIGNIFICNACE

ENGAGEMENT AND COLLABORATION

• Initial Population

• GoA field staff workshops conducted

• County/MD workshops conducted

• Tourism industry was not included in initial population

RESULTS

NORTH SASKATCHEWAN REGION

RESULTS

NORTH SASKATCHEWAN REGION

SCENIC RESOURCE ASSESSMENT OF THE NSR

PURPOSE OF THE SCENIC RESOURCE ASSESSMENT

• Understand and incorporate public preferences

• Map the scenic resource

value of lands in the region

• Create a systematic, repeatable and objective assessment methodology

ENGAGING THE PUBLIC

• Developed and delivered visual preference survey to understand perceptions related to: – Inherent scenic quality– Scenic integrity

• Online Survey

• Stratified random sample of 305 Albertans obtained– Region– Age– Gender

• Participants rated photos on a seven-point Likert scale

VISUAL PREFERENCE SURVEY

RESULTS

• Landscapes rated high were characterized by:– Rugged terrain– A variety of vegetation– Rivers and/or lakes

• Landscapes rated low were generally flat, monotonous agricultural landscapes

• Overall, no landscape received a negative visual preference rating

• Interventions were generally perceived to detract from the scenic quality of the landscape

VISUAL PREFERENCE SURVEY

MODELLING FRAMEWORK

• Conceptual Modelling Process

SCENIC RESOURCE ASSESSMENT

SCENIC QUALITY

SCENIC RESOURCE ASSESSMENT

SCENIC INTEGRITY

SCENIC RESOURCE ASSESSMENT

EFFECTIVE SCENIC QUALITY

SCENIC RESOURCE ASSESSMENT

VISUAL SENSITIVITY

SCENIC RESOURCE ASSESSMENT

VISUAL VALUE

SCENIC CORRIDORS

ALBERTA RECREATION & TOURISM OPPORTUNITY SPECTRUM

PURPOSE OF THE ALBERTA RECREATION & TOURISM OPPORTUNITY SPECTRUM

• Map and understand the supply of recreation / tourism settings

• Establish a provincially consistent, multi-scale and modular GIS modeling methodology

• Enable scenario assessments and the evaluation of land use decisions

A RECREATION AND TOURISM OPPORTUNITY DEFINED

A Recreation / Tourism Opportunity

Activity + Setting = Experience Benefits

Many activities

Biophysical attributes,

social conditions, managerial conditions

Many dimensions

Multiple senses

IndividualCommunityEconomic

Environmental

Managers ManageRecreationists

ConsumeSociety Gains

Adapted from the New Zealand Department of Conservation, 2009

ALBERTA’S RECREATION AND TOURISM OPPORTUNITY SPECTRUM DEFINING THE SPECTRUM OF SETTINGS IN ALBERTA

RECREATION & TOURISM OPPORTUNITY SPECTRUM

Adapted from US BLM, 1998, and Government BC, 1998

Backcountry Mid-country Front-country Develope

d

Setting I Setting II Setting III Setting IV Setting V Setting VI

Classifications Backcountry Mid-

country Frontcountry Developed

Settings Setting I Setting II Setting III Setting IV Setting V Setting VI

Com

ponen

ts / C

riter

ia

Remoteness

Accessibility

Isolation/ Insulation

Naturalness

Degree of Human Disturbance,

Modification, and Development

Presence of Motorized

Conveyances

Social Conditions

Managerial Presence

Solitude/Self-Reliance

Complete Spectrum

Highly accessible; very close to access points

Moderately accessible; closer to access points

Very low accessibility; far from access points

Small, fragmented patches; isolation difficult

Moderately sized contiguous patches; isolation possible

Large contiguous patches; isolation highly possible

Human-dominated

High disturbance, low naturalness

Moderate disturbance; moderately natural

Low disturbance, highly natural

No disturbance; highly natural

Commonplace

Motorized conveyances permitted, with some restrictions

Motorized conveyances prohibited

Unavoidable

High presence

Moderate presence

Low presence

No presence

Interaction likely

Interaction highly likely

Moderate chance of interaction

Low chance of interaction

Interaction highly unlikely

AAllbbeerrttaa RR//TTOOSS

RTOS CRITERIA

• Combination of components/criteria indicate a type of setting

• Mapping is a matter of identifying which combinations of components/criteria are present in an area

• Many possible combinations of setting criteria

MAPPING THE SETTING

RESULTS

Lower Peace

Lower Athabasca

Upper Peace

Upper Athabasca

North Saskatchewan

Red Deer

South Saskatchewan

Alberta

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90%100%

I II III IV V VI

RESULTS

NORTH SASKATCHEWAN

APPLICATION

• R/TOS model can illustrate changes to setting over time

• Multi-decade forestry scenario– Cut blocks

created– Cut blocks

regrow– Access roads

MODELLING CHANGES OVER TIME – FORESTRY NEAR BIG HORN FLUZ

APPLICATION

• Decade 5

MODELLING CHANGES OVER TIME – FORESTRY NEAR BIG HORN FLUZ

setting pct chg

I 8.5% 0.0%

II 29.0% -2.5%

III 33.3% 4.5%

IV 25.1% -2.5%

V 4.2% 0.5%

VI 0.0% 0.0%

ALBERTA SIGNIFICANT TOURISM / RECREATION AREAS MODEL

PURPOSE OF THE ALBERTA SIGNIFICANT TOURISM & RECREATION AREAS MODEL

• To spatially identify the lands that are most important to the recreation and tourism industry

• Provincially consistent procedures

SUPPLY SIDE APPROACH

RECREATION/TOURISM DEMAND AND PARTICIPATION

Tourism resources, their characteristics and their surroundings are evaluated for their potential to facilitate tourism opportunities.

MODEL MUST REFLECT THE SUPPLY VARIABLES THAT AFFECT THE CHOICE OF DESIRABLE DESTINATIONS

• Attractiveness can be influenced by:– Aesthetic quality of

surroundings– Scarcity of the settings– Rare, unique, sensitive,

elements / features

• Accessibility of locations

THEORY

• Detractors are “any elements in the setting that are perceived by the recreationist to diminish the quality of the recreation or tourism experience (Miller and McCool, 2003).

• Users cope with detractors by:– Alternate site selection– Time-shifting visits– Changing the detractors or

effects– Adjusting expectations– Choosing not to participate

• Ability for visitors to cope was reflected in the model’s criteria weightings– Feature – is a must– Setting – is critical– Scenery – coping will occur– Access – can be developed

SETTING DETRACTORS AND COPING

METHODS

• Fifteen characteristics:– Natural RTFI Features

• Scarcity• Sensitivity• Usage Intensity• Uniqueness• Point density• Line density

– Built RTFI Features• Scarcity• Sensitivity• Usage Intensity• Uniqueness• Point density• Line density

– Recreation/Tourism Opportunity Spectrum

– Scenic Value– Accessibility

SIGNIFICANCE CRITERIA

METHODS

• Index values from input layers weighted by relative importance to recreation / tourism significance– Density of features– Quality of features– Quality of setting

• Summation of values provides final Significance Score

CALCULATING SIGNIFICANCE

METHODS

• From the map of significance score, areas of high significance can be identified

• Two methods:– Absolute: Values above a

threshold are considered significant

– Relative: Values significantly higher than the local area score are considered significant

• Areas are processed to remove small islands, linear features

IDENTIFYING SIGNIFICANT AREAS

ALBERTA’S NORTH SASKATCHEWAN REGION SIGNIFICANCE SCORE

SIGNIFICANT AREAS

RESULTS

• Can identify the location and distribution of RTSA’s– Majority of the Significant Areas

are found in Boreal settings

• Understand the administrative / jurisdictional responsibilities for the land– Number of SRTAs in the Green

Zone

• Evaluate the extent of RTSA”s that are currently protected within Parks or other conservation regime’s– Less significant overlap between

SRTAs, PPAs.

EVALUATING SIGNIFICANT AREAS

RESULTS

INDIVIDUAL AREAS

• As part of STReAM, the 46 Significant Areas were identified and isolated for further analysis

• Individual area reports developed which include:– Major characteristics and

features– R/TOS, scenic statistics– Overlapping administrative /

land use management areas (FMAs, Green Zone, etc.)

– Historical features found within areas

– Inventory of all features in the Significant Area

“STREAM” CONCLUSIONS

• Different applications of STReAM are possible:– Different times of the year– Different users– Different scales / study areas– Scenario analysis– Cumulative effect

management

• Related to demands– When data is available

NEXT STEPS

PROJECT LEARNINGS & ENCOURAGEMENTS

The AB Rec / Tourism Data system can be used to:

• Plan to meet recreation and tourism target market demands,

• Inform the relationship between rec / tourism and other land uses

• Spatially predict influences of land use decisions on rec / tourism opportunities– At all scales and on all lands,– Significance and intensity of

influence,– Location of changes.

• Inform establishment of clear rec / tourism management objectives through land use planning and decision-making,

PROJECT LEARNINGS & ENCOURAGEMENTS

• Design management strategies to improve compatibility between competing land uses

• Inform and communicate rec / tourism opportunities to the public

• As an industry, it is critical to make your values known – spatially

• Critical to ensure the connection between land use and tourism competitiveness is understood

• Organize – big and small