Cultural sustainability – a framework for Aboriginal tourism in British Columbia

ABSTRACT

This paper presents a framework to assess the cultural sustainability of Aboriginal tourism in British Columbia, which meets must take into account the protection of human rights, good self-governance, identity, control of land, the tourism product’s authenticity, and a market-ready tourism product. These criteria are specified by two indicators each. The cultural sustainability framework was generated by triangulating qualitative research methods like experts’ interviews, secondary research, and participant and non-participant observations. This paper is thus conceptual in nature and inductive in its approach. It partly leverages a collaborative approach, as it includes interviewees in an iterative research loop. Furthermore, the paper shows why cultural sustainability is a determinant of the success of Aboriginal tourism.

KEYWORDS:

• Aboriginal People
• British Columbia
• indigenous tourism
• cultural sustainability
• Canada

Acknowledgement

I would like to thank two anonymous reviewers for their comments.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributor

Tatjana Thimm is professor for tourism management at HTWG Konstanz, Germany. Her research focus is on indigenous tourism, destination management, and cultural tourism. Her regional focus is on Spain, Argentina, India, and Canada.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by HTWG Konstanz.