Examining the Pacific Marine Circle Route

Circle tours or routes are a strategy to disperse tourism throughout regions. They have been used widely around the world to create economic benefits in rural areas. By designating scenic routes and promoting the amenities available to visitors, destinations simplify complexity for visitors and enable them to access areas that may otherwise be missed.

I often advocate for tourism routes because of their ability to support rural areas that are using tourism for diversification. This week, I am taking ten graduate students in the new Masters in Sustainable Leisure Management at VIU into the field to develop a case study on the Pacific Marine Circle Tour on Southern Vancouver Island. Together, we have done research on route tourism in other contexts such as South Africa, Australia, USA and Canada to learn from their approaches. We are comparing what we have learned, to what we see and experience in the field. We are also comparing what is being promoted on the route vs. what we actually experience. In this sense, we are doing a modified gap analysis and our results will be fed back to those involved in championing the route to visitors.

Over the week, I have asked each student to submit a short blog entry on a portion of their experience. This sort of fieldwork is important for students, and it will provide some information to those in the communities along the route - a win win. Wish us luck!