Communities in Transition: Changing Views On Tourism Development as a Vehicle For Economic Diversification In Northern Ontario, Canada

Abstract

In recent years, an increasing number of protected areas have been established as an attempt to preserve the biodiversity of coastal and terrestrial ecosystems. In Canada, government agencies have set a goal to increase the number of protected areas by establishing more national/provincial parks, marine protected areas (MPAs), national wildlife areas, marine wildlife areas, and migratory bird sanctuaries. Many of these protected areas are being created in rural areas where there is a heavy dependence on natural resources for survival. Recently in Ontario the first National Marine Conservation Area (NMCA) was established on the North Shore of Lake Superior. Due to recent global changes that have affected the resource-based economy in Canada, many rural communities have turned to developing their tourism attributes to diversify their economy. The purpose of this case study is to examine how community stakeholders‘ views toward tourism have changed over the course of the development of the Lake Superior National Marine Conservation Area (LSNMCA). Findings indicated that since the LSNMCA initiative was first introduced, local attitudes have positively changed toward the potential of tourism development in the area; such shifts coincide with the decline and restructuring of the region‘s resource-based industries. Keywords: protected areas, tourism, rural and resource-based communities, Lake Superior National Marine Conservation Area (LSNMCA)