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‘Back To The Future’ for SAmoan Food
Garrett Hillyer is a doctoral candidate in Pacific Islands history and a Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellow in Samoan[1] language at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. His dissertation takes an ethnographic historical approach to Samoan food, exploring the role of food within the Faʻasāmoa, or Samoan way of life, and how food shapes and is shaped by the Faʻasāmoa over time.
Learning Outcomes
After reading and discussing this text, students should be able to:
• Identify common contemporary dietary crises in Samoa and draw connections to food history in the region.
• Articulate the central role of food in Samoan culture (and other Indigenous Oceanian cultures, more broadly).
• Describe the complications of looking to food pasts to solve food problems in the present.
Introduction
Like many island nations and territories in Oceania, the two polities of Sāmoa (the Independent State of Sāmoa and the U.S. territory of American Samoa) are undergoing a serious health crisis. Problematic conditions linked to dietary habits are resulting in increased hospitalizations, surgeries, and even deaths. These conditions include type 2 diabetes, hypertension, and obesity, among others.
During my time conducting food research throughout the archipelago, which included years of participant observation, I noticed that imported processed foods were heavily featured in contemporary daily diets. While living with a host family on the island of Manono in the Independent State of Sāmoa, not a day went by that we didn’t eat hot dogs, instant ramen, white bread, or canned corned beef, which were generally accompanied by soda or other sugary drinks and juices. We also frequently ate ancestral foods, or foods produced, procured, and eaten long before outsider arrival in Sāmoa. These included foods like baked taro, breadfruit, and yams, or starchy varieties of bananas stewed in coconut cream, along with locally caught fish or locally raised chickens and pigs, and sometimes served with a glass of vai tīpolo, which is a juice derived from a local citrus fruit.
In either case, when we ate, we ate a lot. My host family was culturally obligated to take care of me, as a guest in their home, and this primarily centered on providing me with ample amounts of food. I once remarked to a friend in my village that I could barely finish my daily meals, to which he replied, “Good. That means your family is taking care of you.” As a Samoan, he knew that my host family would be highly regarded by their neighbors for their ability to host and to provide. Even without guests in the home, though, Samoan families still tend to eat large meals for similar reasons, because providing for one’s children or parents is also a sign of familial respect, care, and love. This provision primarily comes in the form of food. Ensuring that one’s family has plenty to eat is an assurance that one is of service and utility to their family, and therefore in keeping with the Faʻasāmoa—the Samoan way of life.
Though my research was more concerned with charting changes over time in Samoan foodways than with contemporary dietary disease, the issue of health and wellness constantly came up when discussing my work with others. Whether talking with Samoan scholars at different universities and archival centers, or with my host family or my friends in the village, I tended to hear the same sentiment shared over and over again: If only Samoans ate the foods they used toeat, then dietary disease would go away entirely. However, the uncomfortable truth that some acknowledged and many avoided remained: Newer, imported foods are just too tasty, too ingrained into Samoan diets, and too deeply embedded into Samoan culture itself to cut out entirely.
This chapter presents a historical overview of Samoan food and food culture, introducing readers to the roots of Sāmoa’s contemporary health crisis. In so doing, it offers a window into a problem that is not unique to Sāmoa alone. However, while dietary disease is on the rise around the world, the unique place of food in many Indigenous Oceanian cultures as a means of conveying notions of respect, love, and wealth means that many Indigenous Oceanian peoples are eating more and more imported processed foods. In what follows, therefore, I also show how these new and imported foods are entangled with deeper notions of Samoan taste, making it all the more difficult to eliminate them from Samoan diets. Finally, I ask readers to consider whether a “back to the future” approach—that is, an approach in which Samoans return to eating ancestral foods completely—is really feasible.
Food in Sāmoa’s Deep Past
When the Lapita peoples arrived in the Samoan archipelago around 3,500 years ago, they came prepared. Having long since mastered the domestication of animals like dogs, chickens, and pigs, the cultivation of crops like coconut, taro, and breadfruit, and the development of cooking techniques like the earth oven, Lapita peoples successfully colonized the Samoan archipelago as well as other island groups in Oceania.
As a distinct Samoan language and culture developed out of the first Lapita peoples, it eventually became predicated upon a matai, or chief, system. Daily life was paced by the will of matai who were obligated to look after the villages over which they held political influence. This meant, among other things, regulating the production and procurement of food. Matai delegated land for cultivation, organized and regulated the procurement of fish and shellfish, and deemed when it was appropriate to kill and prepare more specialized foods, such as chickens and pigs. In turn, non-matai village members were obligated to pay food tributes to their matai during important ceremonies and rituals, providing matai with prized food items like the heads of fish or loins of a pig.
As Sāmoa’s population grew, Samoan society and the matai system became even more stratified, and several different rankings developed. Some of these highly stratified rankings could be seen in food production, procurement, preparation, and service. For example, young men without matai titles were expected to carry out most of the day-to-day production and procurement of food, such as minding plantations and catching fish. They were also the primary cooks, as Samoan cooking with an ʻumu, or earth oven, is considered a laborious and dangerous job. Though some women held matai titles—and very high-ranking titles, at that—the vast majority of matai were men. As a result, women were primarily expected to raise families and maintain the cleanliness of villages and homes, although they also had specific food duties, such as procuring shellfish from shallow coastal waters. Age roles developed, too. Generally speaking, younger men and women were responsible for more laborious tasks while older people, titled or not, were taken care of by their children and grandchildren.
At regular intervals, peoples of all ranks came together for ceremonies and celebrations to mark significant moments in time, such as weddings, funerals, birthdays, and victories in war, and large feasting always accompanied these events. The strength and dignity of a village was often derived from their ability to host traveling parties from other villages. Likewise, the strength and dignity of villages represented by traveling parties, or guests, was often derived from their ability to present food gifts and tributes to their hosts in return. In this sense, food was integral in establishing relationships between peoples and groups.
As Samoan food culture developed, so too did Samoan tastes. Many oral traditions speak of lolo, or rich, fatty foods as being most prized. This is perhaps due to the fact that so much of Samoan food consisted of coconut cream, which is a rich, fatty substance that was often cooked with and/or served with baked taro, breadfruit, fish, and other staple foods. In fact, some of the elders I spoke with during my research told me that this is why the heads of fish or the loins of a pig are gifted to the highest-ranking matai—because these pieces contain the most lolo flavor.
This early period of Samoan food history was marked by intense labor. It is not easy to climb a coconut tree or to pull taro up from the root, not to mention moving the rocks necessary to form an ʻumu. Even a seemingly ‘easy’ task like picking shellfish off coastal rocks and coral still takes a significant amount of energy. This work—the work of food—regulated Samoan society for generations, but it also meant that peoples burned a significant number of calories to maintain steady diets.
Food in Sāmoa’s Recent Past
Europeans first sighted Sāmoa in the mid-18th century, but contact between Europeans and Samoans was very limited until 1830, when missionaries from England began working to convert Samoans to Christianity. Around this same time, a global whaling industry boomed, which brought several pālagi, or non-Samoans, to Samoan shores, to refuel their ships, trade their cargo, or to settle permanently and profit from Sāmoa’s burgeoning economy. As the Samoan economy boomed, European and American colonial interests peaked as colonial agents sought to profit from industries like whaling and copra. By 1900, the Samoan archipelago was split into two halves, and without much voice given to Samoans themselves.
Though this history of colonialism goes much deeper, it is important to note here that these early pālagi brought with them something that would change Samoan food forever—canned goods. These included canned vegetables, fish (especially salmon), and beef, including the highly prized pīsupo, or corned beef, so named because in its early canned form it resembled cans of pea soup. Given their scarcity, and especially their lolo flavor, canned fish and meats became especially highly prized items in Samoan society. Where once a high-ranking matai might have expected a certain cut of pig or piece of fish as a food tribute from their village or a traveling party, they eventually grew to expect imported pālagi foods. Still, throughout the nineteenth century, limited supply of canned goods, a small overall population, and the fact that most Samoans remained largely within ancestral subsistence economies, all prevented an exponential growth of Sāmoa’s pālagi food presence.
By the mid-20th century, however, a combination of factors changed this. Catastrophic natural disasters brought in food aid from countries like New Zealand, Australia, and the United States, including flour, yeast, rice, and sugar in great supply. This influx gave way to new foods like pani popo (literally “coconut bread”), or buns baked in coconut cream, and koko alaisa (literally “cocoa rice”), or rice cooked in hot cocoa. In addition, the world wars in the early-to-mid-20th century meant more people, industry, and cash in Sāmoa’s economy, giving more Samoans exposure and access to pālagi foods. As with many island groups in Oceania, food items like SPAM became a bigger part of daily diets, and with more Samoans able to afford more pālagi foods, Samoan tables began looking more and more pālagi by the minute, while also retaining many ancestral foods like taro, coconut, and breadfruit. While restaurants, bars, bakeries, dairies, and grocery stores had existed in Sāmoa since the mid-nineteenth century, they rapidly expanded through the mid- and late-20th century. Before long, both Samoan polities had several eateries and groceries selling ultra-processed foods. For example, the Independent State of Sāmoa boasts its own McDonald’s fast food restaurant, while the less populated American Sāmoa claims two, along with other fast food establishments like Carl’s Jr. and Pizza Hut.
Food in Sāmoa’s Present and Future
While foods changed, Samoan cultural values surrounding food persisted. This is not to say that Samoan culture remained static, as it continued to change during the 20th century, just as it had prior to European arrival in the islands. Rather, the ties between food, gifting, ceremony, respect, and provision remained a central tenant of the Faʻasāmoa. As such, Samoans continued to place incredible value on providing prized lolo foods to family, friends, matai, and any other peoples with whom they wished to sustain positive relationships. At the same time, within families, providing one another with plenty to eat remained a crucial way to communicate love, respect, and care. Consider, too, that with ease of access comes a lack of activity. Where foods were once difficult to cultivate, catch, and cook, they are now readily available on grocery shelves, and with the transition of many from subsistence to sedentary lifestyles and work, less activity means fewer calories burned. Some food scholars have labeled this kind of change in food choices and activity levels as the “nutrition transition.”
We also need to consider the interplay of food and colonialism. While this subject is too complex to go into here, it should be noted that power dynamics between smaller island nations like Sāmoa and larger nations like New Zealand, Australia, and the United States often involve some degree of hegemony. In regard to food, this can mean the exportation of unhealthy foods into Sāmoa without correlating funding for the medical problems that inevitably arise from eating such foods. For example, the Independent State of Sāmoa tried to implement various bans on imports, including a recent ban on turkey tails, but they received pushback from wealthier nations who threatened to restrict their induction into the World Trade Organization, not to mention significant local uproar from Samoan people who love turkey tails’ lolo flavor. With limited political recourse or external public health support, and widespread local demand for imported foods, both Samoan polities find themselves struggling to combat dietary disease. Craig Santos Perez, a CHamoru scholar and poet, calls this kind of power dynamic “gastrocolonialism,” which he broadly defines as “structural force-feeding.” According to Perez, gastrocolonialism not only erodes food cultural knowledge and increases dependency on imported foods, but it also leads to chronic diseases linked to poor diet. This is certainly true of Sāmoa.
In a recent documentary (which forms the foundation for an assignment at the end of this chapter), a Samoan doctor called type 2 diabetes a “tsunami in the Pacific.” Indeed, several recent studies show that both Samoan polities and several other Oceanian territories and nations have some of the highest per capita cases of obesity, type 2 diabetes, and other diet-related conditions in the world. Later in the documentary, the same doctor states that when he was young, he ate mostly ancestral foods, whereas Samoan children today eat imported processed foods in bulk. Like many Samoans, the doctor’s opinion is that a return to ancestral foods will mitigate dietary diseases in the region. However, is the answer that simple? Is removing imported foods from Samoan society and culture feasible?
Considering that imported processed foods have been an integral part of Samoan food culture for over a century, and that gifting and eating in bulk is intertwined with Samoan cultural norms, it becomes much harder to grapple with the possibility of ridding Samoan culture of imported foods. In fact, many Samoans dedicated to making these changes are adopting and adapting non-Samoan means of improving public health. For example, Zumba classes and CrossFit groups have become increasingly popular ways to stay active, and fruits and leafy green vegetables are being pushed by government and grassroots campaigns to try to convince Samoans to eat more healthfully. In this sense, the notion of returning to Sāmoa’s food past is complicated by the fact that innovative, contemporary public health practices are simultaneously promoted as the answer to the problems of Sāmoa’s food present. On the other hand, some farmers are attempting to grow a kind of slow food movement in Sāmoa, predicated on revitalizing ancestral agricultural practices and diets. This suggests that perhaps looking to the past can provide a path to a healthy and sustainable food future. On the other other hand, what does a “back to the future” approach mean for Samoans who feel that eating imported foods is the mark of a thriving people? And who are activists—especially outsider activists—to tell Samoans that they cannot eat the same foods that have given so much meaning to cultural exchanges for so long?
This short text does not propose clear answers to the complicated questions it poses. Perhaps, however, readers will now be interested to further engage with food studies in Sāmoa, and Oceania more broadly, to address things like food adoption and adaptation, the relationship between food and health, the entanglement of food and colonialism, and the complications of eradicating imported foods from Indigenous Oceanian societies and cultures. The assignments following this chapter provide an opportunity to begin that engagement, and welcome all readers to begin discussing these serious issues with one another.
Discussion Questions
• Given what you learned in this chapter about Samoan food culture, what is the role of food in the cultures with which you are familiar? In what ways is Samoan food culture distinct from and/or similar to these food cultures?
• What are some of the ways that dietary disease can be linked to food culture? How can food culture help prevent dietary disease?
• What is the link between colonialism and dietary disease?
• In its concluding section, this chapter asks if the answer to Sāmoa’s (and Oceania’s) dietary disease crisis is taking a “back to the future” approach? What might be learned from looking at diets from the past? What might be learned from contemporary public health practices?
Exercises
Exploring Food in Print
While it is not always possible to travel to Oceanic islands to speak directly with people to learn about the past and present of their food culture, much can be learned from materials housed in archives. Go to the National University of Australia’s TROVE digital archives and browse through issues of The Pacific Islands Monthly. While it is important to remember that this magazine was written for a Euro-American audience, it contains advertisements and stories about food across Oceania. Click on the “Browse this collection” button, and then click on any of the thumbnails that appear, while also scrolling or using the drop-down menu to see more recent issues. Once you select an issue, use the search tool to look for things like “food,” “beef,” “taro,” “beer,” “cookies,” “diabetes,” or any other food-related search term you can think of.
Write a description of what you found in the issue you selected, considering the following questions:
• What did you learn about food and food culture in Oceania?
• In the descriptions or stories about food that you read, what words or phrases stuck out for you?
• What did the images tell you about food culture in the region?
• How might the magazine’s audience be affected by the choice of food stories and/or advertisements in the issue?
Exploring Food in Song
Listen to the popular Samoan song “Oka oka laʻu hani,” and read the lyrics below as you listen. What kinds of foods does the song tell about, and how does the song use food symbolism? What might this tell you about changes in Samoan food culture that took place during the 20th century? (The song was written in the 1930s, and this version, performed by the Five Stars, is from the 1980s.)
Oka Oka la’u Hani
o La’u hani faasilisili
ou te faatusaina i se apa helapi
po’o se pisupo sili
po’o se masikeke mai Fiti
po’o sina sapasui
o ni tamato ma ni pi
Afai lava ua tonu
ua tonu lou finagalo
ta faaipoipo
avane i le malo
e leaga o le taʻatua
e tele ai o le tiapolo
pe fai sau pepe
o le pepe o le pō
Tia, tia tofa
o le a ta teteʻa
e leai o se mamao
alaga i gauta
avanoa sau taimi
telefoni ane se itula
pe fai sau leta
avane i se motokā
Oh oh my honey
My dearest honey
Who I compare to a can of Hellaby’s [corned beef],
Or the very best corned beef,
Or some cookies/biscuits from Fiji,
Or the very best Chop Suey,
With the tomatoes and peas
If it’s agreeable for you
With the will of your heart
We’ll get married
In accordance with the law
For it’s wrong to just play around
There is a devil [That is an act of the devil]
And if you have a baby
It will be a baby of the night [a demon]
Dear, dear, goodbye
We are parting ways
But the distance isn’t too great
Shout inland
When you have the time
Telephone me at some hour
Or write a letter
And send it to me by motorcar
Exploring Food in Film
Watch the documentary “Samoa Diabetes Epidemic: Part 4” from Attitude, and write a one- to two-page summary that reflects your understanding of Sāmoa’s contemporary health crisis. Drawing on what you learned in this chapter and in the film, offer your thoughts on potential solutions to this dietary “tsunami in the Pacific.”
Additional Resources
Teaching Oceania, a resource compiled by the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa’s Center for Pacific Islands Studies (CPIS)
Laudan, R. 2013. “Modern Cuisines: The Globalization of Middling Cuisines, 1920–2000,” in Laudan, Cuisine and Empire: Cooking in World History. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Sharma, J. 2012. “Food and Empire,” in Jeffrey Pilcher, ed., The Oxford Handbook of Food History. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
On “Gastrocolonialism,” see: Craig Santos Perez, “Facing Hawaiʻi’s Future – Book Review,” Kenyon Review (July 2013).
1. Note that in this text, the word "Samoan" is written without a macron over the a (ā). This follows Samoan linguist expertise, which notes that "Samoan" is not a Samoan word, but an English word, and English does not standardly use macrons. The Samoan word would either be "Gagana Sāmoa," or "Sāmoa," meaning "Samoan language" or "of Samoa," respectively. | textbooks/workforce/Food_Science_and_Agriculture/Food_Studies%3A_Matter_Meaning_Movement_(Szanto_Battista_and_Knezevic)/1.07%3A_Case-_Food_in_Samoa.txt |
Place-based designations and agri-food certification in a globalized food system
Eden Kinkaid is a PhD candidate in Geography in the School of Geography, Development, and Environment at the University of Arizona. Eden’s research focuses on local and heritage food projects in Arizona and engages themes of place, neoliberalism, development, and certification. Eden also conducts research on the impacts of the coronavirus pandemic on the food system of southern Arizona.
Learning Outcomes
After reading and discussing this text, students should be able to:
• Explain the emergence of place-based designations as a response to and product of the globalization of food systems.
• Discuss the rise of certification within contemporary trends in agri-food governance.
• Review the role of place-based designations in strategies of rural development.
• Identify critiques and shortcomings of place-based designations.
Introduction: Globalization and the “placeless” food system
What is the meaning of place in an increasingly globalized food system? Do the particular landscapes and cultures of food production continue to matter in a food system premised on uniformity, standardization, and “placelessness?”
Given the steady rise of place-based designations for food products around the world, it may be too soon to claim that place no longer matters in our global food system. Place-based designations, like the French appellation d’origine contrôlée (AOC; controlled designation of origin) system have long existed to authenticate that certain products originate from their traditional regions and are produced using traditional practices. These systems rely on the concept of terroir—the idea that the specific qualities of a product are linked to the environmental and cultural characteristics of its region of production. Since the 1990s, internationally recognized place-based designations, like Geographical Indication (GI), have become part of global agricultural and food governance, or agri-food governance. These designations continue to be taken up with enthusiasm around the world as a way of inserting “place” back into the global food system.
This brief overview examines place-based designations with a focus on three key topics: the globalization of food systems, certification as a technique of agri-food governance, and the role of place-based designations in rural development. It then turns to a discussion of the critiques of place-based designations. While the term place-based designation covers a range of labels and certification projects, the focus here is on internationally recognized systems, like AOC and GI. While it is difficult to make any hard and final claims about the impacts of place-based designations, it is clear that they have illuminated place as a terrain of contestation in our food systems, making them an important topic for food scholarship.
The globalization of food
The industrialization and globalization of food systems have transformed the places and landscapes where food is produced. These transformations have resulted in a “placeless” food system in which food products are standardized, anonymized, and disconnected from the landscapes, seasons, and sites of their production. Yet these processes of industrialization and globalization have not proceeded without resistance. Rather, consumers and broader social movements have resisted the globalization of agriculture by asserting the right to know where their food comes from and by honoring regional food and agricultural traditions.
It is in this context that we have seen the global expansion of place-based designations, through which a particular food product name—like Tequila or Camembert—can only legally refer to products produced within a historical region of production using traditional methods. These designations not only link foods to particular places but are premised on the idea that place is what gives particular foods their characteristic tastes and qualities (i.e., the concept of terroir). GIs strive to reinforce the traditions and meanings of place, but also serve to limit what producers from that place can do to innovate and transform their practices.
Given this connection to “tradition” and “place,” GIs are thus seen as a counterpoint to the globalization of food. Along these lines, Trubek and Bowen describe place-based designations “as a source of resistance against the homogenizing effects of ‘placeless’ food systems.”[1] Similarly, Rangnekar argues that placed-based designations “offer opportunities to retrieve history, inscribe locality, and facilitate resistance against global agrifood.”[2] For these scholars, connecting food with place is seen as a means of countering the processes and impacts of globalization.
Authentic foods: The rise of certification
While place-based designations can be understood as a response to the globalization of agriculture, they are, like other forms of agri-food certification, also very much a product of the globalization of agriculture. The rise of certification systems for food products is part of the complex shifts that have occurred as the governance of food and agriculture has become globalized. To understand how agri-food certification has emerged and proliferated, we need to understand this broader context of agri-food governance: the institutions, rules, and regulations that shape the production and trade of food and agricultural products.
As the food system has become more globalized, new forms of governance have emerged to regulate the production and trade of food. Power to regulate food and agriculture have shifted away from states, and toward global governing bodies like the World Trade Organization. These institutions set standards for food quality and safety that shape the rules of international trade in food. As global governing bodies attempt to “harmonize” national standards to facilitate international trade, global standards have increasingly come to shape the production of food across the globe. Agri-food certifications are one such standard that has emerged to designate and authenticate specialty products that are produced in particular places (GI, AOC) or in particular ways (e.g., organic, fair trade). Because consumers cannot verify the origins or qualities of food produced around the globe, these standards serve to guarantee the quality of foods on the global market.
These processes of certification have also emerged in response to a demand for “high-quality” and “authentic” foods that have particular environmental, social, and cultural values embedded within them. The emergence of new forms of consumer preferences and education, ecogastronomy and other food-based lifestyles, and various food movements have bolstered the demand for “high-quality” and “authentic” foods. Because these foods carry a price premium, it is necessary to certify the claims they make that differentiate them from generic commodities. How can I be assured that my Camembert cheese is an authentic product of Normandy, rather than a case of false advertising? Here, certification systems like AOC and GI have emerged as a way to support the claims being made by food producers, while ensuring transparency, authenticity, and quality in globally traded food products. In this way, we can understand place-based designations as both a response to the impacts of a globalized food system and a product emerging from the context of global agri-food governance and trade.
Capturing value: Rural development and agri-tourism
What are the benefits of place-based designations? In addition to authenticating the origin of a food product, place-based designations are promoted for their potential to protect rural cultures and bolster local and regional economies.[3] Because place-based designations add value to a product, they produce price premiums that are (ideally) captured by producers and thus support agrarian livelihoods (although this is not always the case).[4] Beyond adding value to food products, place-based designations are often part of efforts to promote rural landscapes and heritage through forms of tourism focused on agriculture and rural life, like agri-tourism. In this sense, place-based designations support the marketing of both products and places; they highlight a region’s unique agrarian and culinary heritage and help promote it as a tourist destination. For many regions around the world, agri-tourism and gastronomic tourism are seen as vehicles for rural development that can support, rather than erase, locally specific forms of food, farming, and culture.
While the histories and meanings of development vary regionally around the world, place-based designations like Geographic Indication have been seen as potentially contributing to forms of rural and agricultural economic development in both the Global North and Global South. In the Global North, agri-tourism has come to play a significant role in rural economies as these regions have transitioned from production to consumption landscapes. The term “consumption landscape” describes how some rural landscapes have become less oriented toward commodity food production and have shifted to more diversified, consumption-based activities, including tourism and recreation.[5] In this context, agri-tourism has been seen as a strategy for rural development and farm diversification, through which rural areas can support social goods including the protection of agricultural landscapes and agrarian cultural heritage. In the Global South, place-based designations have similarly been seen as a way to promote biodiversity and cultural traditions, and, critically, as a means for increasing export revenues, launching a product into global circulation, and promoting tourism.[6] In both contexts, by marketing the landscapes, products, and places of food production, farmers and other stakeholders seek to capitalize on the agricultural heritage of regions while connecting them to new economic circuits. However, given the different histories and meaning of development in the Global North and Global South, it is important to attend to broader cultural, socio-economic, and historical contexts when evaluating the potentials of place-based designations in any given place.
Implications
As previously discussed, proponents of place-based designations argue that they can counter the impacts of globalization, support local food economies, contribute to rural development, protect cultural heritage, and provide various other cultural and environmental benefits. Yet others remain critical of how well place-based designation and other forms of agri-food certification can accomplish these ambitious goals. In what follows, two critiques of place-based designation are considered: (a) that it reproduces dominant modes of neoliberal governance, and (b) that it produces uneven development.
Neoliberalism and market solutions
One of the major critiques of place-based designation as a form of agri-food certification is that it can reproduce neoliberal ideologies and practices. What does this mean? Neoliberalism refers to a philosophy and practice of governance that emerged in the 1970s in Europe and the United States, and which remains dominant today across the globe. Premised on the primacy of the market as a regulator of social life,[7] neoliberal approaches emphasize privatization, commodification, and other forms of marketization as solutions to social and environmental problems, entailing a shift in power from state to non-state actors.[8] According to neoliberal doctrine, social and environmental problems are best solved through market-based solutions. For example, in the case of air pollution, a neoliberal, market-based solution would entail “trading” the right to pollute by buying and selling “credits” (e.g., the right to pollute a given quantity) on the market. An example of a non-market-based approach would be enforcing emissions laws through state agencies.
Forms of agri-food certification, including place-based designations, are part of this trend in neoliberal governance. Instead of addressing the systemic problems of our food system through regulations, reform, or social movements, neoliberal approaches like food labelling leave it up to the market and consumers to make socially and environmentally conscious choices (by paying a price premium). From this perspective, solving the problems of our globalized industrial food system becomes the responsibility of consumers, rather than the responsibility of the food and agricultural industry or the state. According to critics like Guthman, certification does not actually challenge this system; rather, it merely allows privileged consumers to pay their way to consuming healthier, more ecological, more socially just, and more “authentic” food, all while leaving the system intact. Other scholars argue that food labels can spur on collective action and serve as a point of resistance to the logics of a globalized food system.[9] Understanding place-based designations and other forms of agri-food certification as both a symptom of and a response to neoliberal governance is key to evaluating its strengths and limitations as a strategy of agri-food governance and rural development.
Uneven benefits
Other critics of place-based certification point to how these strategies can produce benefits that are unevenly shared. First, the narratives underwriting these place-based designations—narratives that rely on ideas of tradition, place, and heritage—can be constructed in ways that valorize certain producers and practices while excluding others. This occurs as various actors attempt to control narratives of place and tradition to suit their interests and ensure that they can claim the value produced by place-based designations. Second, the material benefits of place-based designations and other forms of agri-food certification, like price premiums, may flow to some more than others, and thus can reproduce unequal social relations.[10] For example, Rangnekar (2011) describes how attempts to secure a GI for a traditional Indian beverage, Feni, ended up benefiting bottlers and distributors at the expense of producers of the beverage, who may not even know about the designation and its value. In the case of the GI status of tequila in Mexico, Bowen similarly demonstrates how negotiations over the details of the designation, including quality standards, processing protocols, and dynamics between small producers, bottlers, and distributors have diluted the meaning of the GI designation. Bowen describes “influential actors have manipulated production standards and certification policies in ways that contradict the theoretical concept of a GI and negatively affect the overall quality of tequila.”[11] Further, any kind of place-based designation relies on the demarcation of “traditional” regions and techniques of production, thus recognizing some producers as eligible for distinction while excluding others.
These problems are not unique to place-based designations but accompany any attempt to produce value through the distinction of labels and processes of certification. Guthman points to how all certification systems are built on exclusions; barriers to entry allow some to benefit from designations while excluding others.[12] Thus, rather than seeing place-based designations as a panacea to issues of rural development and the problems of a globalized food system, we need to approach these projects critically, with an awareness of both their potentials and limitations.
Conclusion
As this discussion suggests, place-based designations open up complex questions and practical challenges concerning food systems, globalization, agri-food governance, and rural change. This complexity means that there is no single verdict on the impacts or merits of place-based designations as a general approach, nor are there any uniform effects of such designations. Instead, how place-based designations affect particular places and landscapes depends upon how they are pursued; that is, by whom, for whom, and at what scale. This is because place-based designations, like any form of certification, are not simply a technical standard to be implemented, but a strategy of governance located within uneven socio-economic, cultural, and power relations. To understand their impacts, strengths, and limitations, we must pursue careful empirical research about particular certification projects in specific places. The general problems outlined here can aid us in approaching specific cases of place-based designations with a critical lens and within their larger historical context.
Discussion Questions
• What is terroir? How do claims to terroir differentiate a given food from other food products?
• How can place-based designations be understood as both responses to and products of the globalization of food systems?
• In what ways can place-based designations contribute to rural development?
• What are the major shortcomings or critiques of place-based designation as a form of rural development?
Additional Resources
Airriess, C. 2020. “Constructing durian terroir and geographical indications in Penang, Malaysia.” Singapore Journal of Tropical Geography, 41(1), 6–22.
Cavanaugh, J.R. 2007. “Making Salami, Producing Bergamo: The Transformation of Value.” Ethnos72 (2): 149–172.
Coombe, R.J., S. Ives, and D. Huizenga. 2014. “Geographical Indications: The Promise, Perils and Politics of Protecting Place-based Products,” Sage Handbook on Intellectual Property, Thousand Oaks, CA, Sage Publications: 207–223.
Parasecoli, F. 2017. Knowing Where it Comes From: Labeling Traditional Foods to Compete in a Global Market. University of Iowa Press.
Rangnekar, D. 2011. “Remaking Place: The Social Construction of a Geographical Indication for Feni.” Environment and Planning A 43 (9): 2043–2059.
Trubek, A.B. 2008. The Taste ofPlace: A Cultural Journey into Terroir. Berkeley: University of California Press.
References
Allen, P. and J. Guthman. 2006. “From ‘Old School’ to ‘Farm-to-School’: Neoliberalization From the Ground Up.” Agriculture and Human Values23 (4): 401–415.
Barham, E. 2003. “Translating Terroir: The Global Challenge of French AOC Labeling.” Journal of Rural Studies19 (1) (2003): 127–138.
Bowen, S. 2010. “Development From Within? The Potential for Geographical Indications in the Global South.” The Journal of World Intellectual Property13 (2): 231–252.
Coombe, R.J., S. Ives, and D. Huizenga. 2014. “Geographical Indications: The Promise, Perils and Politics of Protecting Place-based Products.” Sage Handbook on Intellectual Property. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. 207–223.
Guthman, J. 2007. “The Polanyian Way? Voluntary Food Labels as Neoliberal Governance.” Antipode39 (3): 456–478.
Harris, E. 2009. “Neoliberal Subjectivities or a Politics of the Possible? Reading for Difference in Alternative Food Networks.” Area41 (1): 55–63
Paxson, H. 2010. “Locating value in artisan cheese: reverse engineering terroir for new‐world landscapes.” American Anthropologist, 112 (3), 444–457.
Rangnekar, D. 2011.”Remaking Place: The Social Construction of a Geographical Indication for Feni.” Environment and Planning A43 (9): 2043–2059.
Trubek, A.B., and S. Bowen. 2008. “Creating the Taste of Place in the United States: Can We Learn from the French?” GeoJournal 73 (1): 23–30.
Woods, M. 2004. Rural Geography: Processes, Responses and Experiences in Rural Restructuring. New York: Sage.
1. Trubek and Bowen 2008, 24.
2. Rangnekar 2011, 2044.
3. Coombe et al. 2014.
4. Bowen 2010.
5. Woods 2009, 172.
6. Bowen 2010.
7. Allen & Guthman 2006.
8. Guthman 2007.
9. Harris 2010.
10. Rangnekar 2011.
11. Bowen 2010.
12. Guthman 2007. | textbooks/workforce/Food_Science_and_Agriculture/Food_Studies%3A_Matter_Meaning_Movement_(Szanto_Battista_and_Knezevic)/1.08%3A_Perspective-_Place-Based_Designations.txt |
Touching Food, Virtually Tasting
Natalie Doonan is an artist, writer, and educator. Her research focuses on food, place, and the senses. Natalie’s work has been shown in exhibitions and festivals across Canada and internationally. Her writing has appeared in professional and peer reviewed art and food culture publications. She serves as Assistant Professor in the Department of Communication at l’Université de Montréal.
Learning Outcomes
After reading and discussing this text, students should be able to:
• Explain how creative process can be crucial to learning and discovery in food studies research.
• Identify the advantages of developing sensory perception of the environment, and also the reasons for maintaining distance.
• Express the possibilities and the pitfalls of extending taste and touch through new media.
• Create a work that communicates the ways in which a plant nourishes the world.
Introduction
What might it mean to walk or to eat artfully? How might approaching these seemingly mundane actions through the framework of art (or with aesthetic intention) transform the experience of everyday life? This text describes the development of a sensory tour that uses walking, tasting, touching, and viewing to transform environmental perception. Beginning from the premise that art can re-orient and even change perception, the project described below encourages its participants to re-imagine a public place.
Coney Island MTL is a tour of the St. Lawrence River in Verdun, Montreal. It takes the forms of both a website (featuring an interactive map with a series of 360-degree videos) and a series of walks in the waterfront park. Through a combination of embodied actions such as walking and tasting, and immersive experiences like viewing videos in a virtual reality (VR) headset, participants are invited to re-imagine this place from more-than-human perspectives. In what follows, attention is directed to the creation of the work, rather than the finished piece. This is because the process itself raises questions about the limits of human perception and about the responsibilities of humans toward other species.
Making Tours
In my performance and multimedia work, I create scripts based on the narrative structure of walking tours. My interest in this kind of script comes from past experiences in the tourism industry, especially as an art gallery tour guide. For many years, I have been interested in tours as a way of telling stories in and about place. Walking tours and taste tours are two of the most popular ways in which people are first introduced to places. Think about beer samplers featuring local microbrews or charcuterie plates with artisanal meats and cheeses meticulously presented on a brilliantly designed menu and sensuously described by the server. Consider the haunted pub crawl or the famous restaurant that requires reservations weeks in advance. These are carefully crafted stories about place, designed to appeal to consumers through all of their senses. Unlike these tours though, the one that I describe in this chapter is not made to encourage consumption in bars and restaurants. Instead, it lures participants to a more ambiguous space, a place of spectacular views, punctuated by weeds that thrive in contaminated earth.
Hiccups and Roadblocks
Over the last decade I have presented more than twenty-five free, artist-led tours and tastings in and around Montreal.[1] These have included activities like dumpster diving and foraging for wild edible plants. This is always a tricky business, since foraging can be dangerous without proper training, and there are many food safety issues to consider. However, I encountered particular roadblocks sometime around 2017, when I started to work in the waterfront park in Verdun, a Montreal borough that is located on the shores of the St. Lawrence River. The first hiccup came when I began proposing ideas for transforming the waterfront weeds into edible concoctions for public events. This was a problem for two reasons: first, the municipality prohibits consumption of any plants that grow in this park, since it is a human-made area literally constructed from garbage: backfill extracted during the construction of the Montreal metro in the 1960s. The concern is that plants growing in potentially toxic soil could be detrimental to human health. A related concern that is not specific to Verdun is that certain plants, whether or not they are growing in toxic soil, are noxious for humans. Milkweed is one relevant example, since the latex in its pods pose a threat to some people. On top of this, plants can easily be mis-identified and thus cause poisoning.
The second snag in my plans for taste tours along the river had to do with a specific plant that grows there: Phragmites australis, or common reed. This is a Eurasian perennial reed grass that has made its way to the banks of the St. Lawrence after hitching a ride on trade ships that travel through the St. Lawrence Seaway. The plant has been widely identified as a threat to biodiversity as it is hardy, spreads easily, and crowds out other plants, while also eliminating animal habitats. The common reed thrives in full sun and flourishes in the conditions created by a warming climate. Long, silky hairs sprouting from the top of six-foot-tall stems sway in the breeze, dispersing tiny seeds as they flow. The non-profit organization Nature-Action Québec has been engaged in what seems to be an uphill battle removing common reed stands on Verdun’s waterfront. A biologist trained me to perform this removal operation, but it is very easy to propagate the seeds while doing so. Some biologists from Nature-Action Québec were thus understandably against my idea of sharing common reed decoctions with the public, fearing that this would encourage people to cut the plants and increase their spread. Others thought it was a good idea to do this as part of a workshop that would teach people about the threats posed by the plants.
What is the Place of Humans Here?
These complications surrounding human consumption of so-called wild plants offer rich opportunities for examining the negotiation of self and other. The construction of a dike along the waterfront in the early 20th century prevented seasonal flooding, thus allowing people to settle in Verdun. At the same time, the dike eradicated the habitat of other species, for example fish spawning grounds. Later, a park was created beside the St. Lawrence, bringing humans into closer contact with the river ecology. Through urban planning, the waterfront has been shaped and embellished using potentially toxic stuff (the backfill mentioned above), in order to encourage human connections with ‘nature’. The risk posed by toxicity means that barriers must be maintained between this stuff and human bodies. It is paradoxical that the waterfront park was created to bring pedestrians and swimmers into a more intimate relationship with a river that itself is also perceived as a threat, and which must be held at a distance. What do these more-than-human relations tell us about human subjectivity? Should we get closer to nature, developing our awareness of plant, animal, and insect life, or is it preferable for us to maintain a respectful distance?
Foragers and dumpster divers observe a semi-official ethic of restraint. There are common rules of practice that have been developed within these communities to preserve the well-being of others, both human and non-human. For example, it is commonly agreed that you should never take more than you need, and always leave enough for other people, and in the case of plants, for their continued thriving.[2] This ethic emphasizes the well-being of communities, rather than privileging individuals. Furthermore, it challenges consumers to consider food landscapes from more-than-human perspectives. Harvesting milkweed, for example, has an impact on pollinators that depend on this food source. This means that in harvesting milkweed, we may be privileging human tastes over more pressing ecological needs.
The notion of interdependence is gaining traction over stories that place humans at the top of the food chain, or in competition with other species (and with other humans too, for that matter). What relationships and responsibilities do humans have toward other species? Foraging and dumpster diving are practices that challenge the dissections that we try (and fail) to perform between ourselves and the world. Rather than approaching weeds or discarded food as waste or as trash, foragers and dumpster divers treat these as valuable sources of nourishment. In my proposal to serve decoctions of common reed, I intended to bring tasters into a more intimate contact with these plants, literally making plant and human one through the act of consumption. In my process of developing tours in Verdun, however, I eventually became aware of the fact that approaching an environment as an edible landscape can lead to outcomes that are beneficial to humans but detrimental to plants. Sometimes the best thing we can do for local ecologies is to leave them alone.
Tasting w ith the Eyes
Given the ethical issues surrounding feeding common reeds to people during taste tours in Verdun, I wondered how else the intimacy of tasting could be imparted. The waterfront park and its pedestrian paths were constructed to enable panoramic views featuring the St. Lawrence River. Condo developments on Nuns’ Island, which is part of the borough, are likewise designed for all-encompassing views. This desire to take it all in—but from a distance—is what philosopher Michel de Certeau called a “God’s eye view,” which he contrasts with the intimate connection with the city experienced through walking in densely developed streets. De Certeau describes walkers as artists, who create poetry in the ways that they move through space. They “make use of spaces that cannot be seen; their knowledge of them is as blind as that of lovers in each other’s arms. The paths that correspond in this intertwining, unrecognized poems in which each body is an element signed by many others, elude legibility. It is as though the practices organizing a bustling city were characterized by their blindness.”[3] Unlike the all-seeing eye that apprehends the totality of the city at a distance, walkers experience places only in fragments, but close up and sensually.
Is it true that landscape as a comprehensive vision is incompatible with intimacy? Current research in the field of virtual reality (VR) is aiming to prove that panoramic experiences, even as mediated through a VR headset, can produce sensations of presence, and illusions of embodiment. In other words, these media can produce a felt sense of being there, embodied in a place. Some artists and researchers are trying to develop techniques for tasting in simulated environments to enhance the sense of embodiment.[4] This is a question that I have been exploring in recent work. I have been creating 360-degree stories about the relationships between humans, plants, and animals along the waterfront in Verdun. These stories are based on interviews and fieldwork there. The videos are accessible from an online map, and I have also been screening them during live tours through the park (see Figure 1).
From the Safety of a Headset
If video can, as philosopher Laura Marks argues, create a “tactile, or haptic visuality,” extending the sense of touch through vision, can the same be true for taste? Food scholars Allison and Jessica Hayes-Conroy argue that “food is never ingested by itself,” and that taste is rather a biosocial process. If this is true, then visuality can also be a significant factor in consuming foods and environments.[5]
The 360-degree videos in Coney Island MTL offer immersive views of the river ecology in Verdun. Each of the videos in the series adopts the point of view of a different animal, plant, or insect. In one video, the viewer is hovering in a milkweed patch, experiencing the environment from the position of a monarch (see Figure 2). Another video plunges the viewer underwater, offering the viewpoint of a fish (see Figure 3). These more-than-human perspectives have the effect of destabilizing human subjectivity and habitual ways of experiencing the world. In this era of climate catastrophe, it is crucial that we develop new ways of perceiving and imagining this shared world.
Discussion Q uestions
• What do municipal restrictions on eating plants that grow in the waterfront park suggest about more-than-human relations and responsibilities in this place?
• What are some of the advantages of developing sensory perception of the environment (for instance, through taste), and in what circumstances is it more important to maintain distance from plants, animals, and insects that may be tempting to eat?
• What are some examples of technologies that allow us to touch and to taste otherwise imperceptible parts of the world? What are the possibilities and pitfalls of these tools?
Activity
Go outside and find a nearby plant. Create a work (photograph, drawing, video, poem, prose, etc. ) that communicates the way(s) in which that plant nourishes the world.
References
Barnard, A. V., & Mourad, M. (2020). “From dumpster dives to disco vibes: The shifting shape of food waste activism.” In C. Reynolds, T. Soma, C. Spring & J. Lazell (Eds.), Routledge Handbook of Food Waste. New York: Routledge. 381–399.
Davis, H., Turpin, E. (Eds.). 2015. Art in the Anthropocene: Encounters among aesthetics, politics, environments and epistemologies. London: Open Humanities Press.
De Certeau, M. 1984. The Practice of Everyday Life. Berkley: University of California Press.
De Certeau, M., Giard, L., & Mayol, P. 1998. The Practice of Everyday Life Volume 2: Living & Cooking. Trans. T. J. Tomasik. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
Denfeld, Z., Kramer, C., and Conley, E. 2015. Experimental Eating Introduction. The Center for Genomic Gastronomy.
Hayes-Conroy, A., & Hayes-Conroy, J. 2010. “Visceral difference: Variations in feeling (Slow) Food.” Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space42 (12): 2956–2971. https://doi.org/10.1068/a4365
Ritvo, Harriet. 2014. “How Wild is Wild?” RCC Perspectives, The Edges of Environmental History: Honouring Jane Carruthers1: 19–24.
Spencer, J. (2016). Miriam Simun.esse arts + opinions87: 74–77.
Tsing, A.L. 2015. The Mushroom at the End of the World: On the Possibility of Life in Capitalist Ruins. New Jersey: Princeton University Press.
1. See http://www.lesensorium.com/
2. For more on the ethics of foraging and dumpster diving see: https://freegan.info/freegan-philosophy/.
3. De Certeau 1984, 93.
4. See https://www.marshmallowlaserfeast.com/ for an example.
5. Hayes-Conroy & Hayes-Conroy 2010. | textbooks/workforce/Food_Science_and_Agriculture/Food_Studies%3A_Matter_Meaning_Movement_(Szanto_Battista_and_Knezevic)/1.09%3A_Creative-_Food_Tours.txt |
Food Meanings, Identity and Status: The Case of Haiti, Kraft Dinner, and Zen Crunch
Marylynn Steckley was a Policy Analyst and Advocacy Coordinator in Haiti for over five years and is now a faculty member at Carleton University. Marylynn investigates the relationships between of class, food, and environmental health, she is intrigued by how food meanings, expectations, and symbols impact diets, relationships, and politics. Food is power but eating can also be emancipatory! Marylynn loves vegan fare, but peanut butter stuffed pretzels and chocolate cheesecake from time to time too.
Learning Outcomes
After reading and discussing this text, students should be able to:
• Identify connections between food choices and food meanings, identities, and statuses.
• Demonstrate how food choices are constrained by food meanings, social structures and ideologies.
• Explain how food meanings, and food hierarchies are central to debates about food sovereignty.
Introduction: Foodie or Fraud? Identity, Class, and Food Meanings
What do I eat? I’m a white, female professor in food systems. I know what you’re thinking: Whole Foods, fair trade, organic. Foodie and scholar, Julie Guthman calls this “yuppie food”[1]. You have never seen me eat, but my job, my gender, and my skin colour tell a story about me. The inverse is also true. The foods I eat also tell a story about my identity. Here’s an example.
I was out for an interview lunch for an academic job, and I needed to make a good impression. This was a foodie bunch. I ordered the “Zen Crunch,” which included grilled bok choy, cashews, bean sprouts, shredded kale, and sesame-ginger vinaigrette. Why that dish? Certainly, taste played a role (it sounded delicious), but it also gave just the right impression—upwardly mobile, “woke” or enlightened, food conscious and appreciating, healthy, perhaps vegan or vegetarian (diets that have their own connotations of environmentalism, animal welfare, and beyond). Each of these are valued in foodie culture. But these foods don’t reflect my roots.
I grew up in rural Ontario, and money was tight because I’m from a single-parent home. My mother worked in a factory (she was the only woman), and my sisters and I also helped her clean houses. My mum’s food ethic was healthy and low cost; porridge was the breakfast of choice. But when she wasn’t around, my sisters and I loved Kraft Dinner[2], Swedish Berries, and Cap’n Crunch. We would often grab these at the convenience store up the street when home alone.
My class background, and current class position are paradoxical, and my food preferences mirror this disjuncture. When I need to invoke my foodie identity, I know what choices will give the impression that I am educated and of a certain class: farmers markets, heirloom tomatoes, goji berries. But I also have a sort of “coming out” fantasy, in which I escape the pressure of performing a class that I don’t feel I belong to. It goes like this: I walk into my food studies class with a covered tray of something tasty to share with my students. “Close your eyes, I have brought a treat.” I imagine their thoughts: Vegan tahini chocolate chunk cookies? Himalayan kale chips with lime zest? “Open your eyes.” In front of each student is a paper cup full of Kraft Dinner (KD), with a squirt of ketchup. My fantasy ends when the students look up at me, surprised and unsure. Just what I was hoping for!
Disrupting identity and food meanings makes me almost gleeful. It’s like throwing off the shackles of social hierarchies. I do my best to make environmentally sound and socially just dietary choices, but I also grew up connecting with my sisters over fast food and sugary cereals. I’m careful not to order the Happy Meal equivalent during a lunch interview, but I’m sure my sister would make fun of me if I brought a vegan quinoa Buddha Bowl to a potluck. There are the foods I’m proud to eat in the company of foodies, and there are foods I would eat at home, but not in public. The symbolic significance of food—food meaningis powerful.
On the surface, enjoying both Zen Crunch and KD might seem innocent, but our food choices have hefty environmental, social, and health consequences. Food shapes landscapes, community health, and bodies. Power really is in every bite. Organic foods are more environmentally friendly, fair trade foods are more socially justice, plant-based diets are more nutritionally sound. Maybe you see no problem with the disdain for the junk foods that I grew up on, especially when they include Kraft Dinner and Happy Meals. But what happens when people disdain other kinds of family or traditional foods—those with specific cultural significance? What happens if I turn my nose up at my aunt’s Christmas pudding, or my mum’s lasagna? That kind of disdain has a different feel: it leans towards food stigma. Familial and culturally significant foods harness emotions and relationships. Beyond cultural value, food meanings can also reflect hierarchies and social stratification. So what happens when the food of one group is considered more valuable than that of another?
In what follows, I explore food hierarchies in Haiti, where peasant farmers often disdain the very foods that they produce; where many black, Haitian, rural dwellers value imported “white foods” over local, nationally produced ones; and where food hierarchies often mirror social hierarchies.
Historicizing Food, Race, and Identity in Haiti
Haiti—the pearl of the Antilles—is perhaps most famous for two things: it is the world’s first Black republic, and it is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. For 300 years, kidnapped Africans were shipped across the Atlantic to the island of Hispaniola, where they laboured on sugar plantations. Alongside the physical brutality of the plantation system, enslaved people were psychologically oppressed. Colonizers violently imposed race-based social hierarchies that cemented a perceived relationship between skin colour and status, entrenched ideas of Black inferiority, and fostered desires to assimilate to the white colonial culture.
In the late 18th century, the enslaved people of Hispaniola rose up, defeated Napoleon’s army and declared independence. But Haiti’s physical liberation from plantation agriculture did not mark the end of racial hierarchies. In Haiti, the biological fallibility of “race” continues to be overshadowed by pervasive perceptions that link race to social status.
French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu argues that history and memory have lasting impacts on ideologies, which, in turn, guide and constrain behaviour[3]. In the case of Haiti, histories of colonialism, violence and racism locked-in racist ideologies, which have become hegemonic. Caribbean scholar Franz Fanon tells us that many formerly colonized people experience the “epidermalization of inferiority”[4], which is when racist ideologies are internalized, and people of colour start to believe that that they are worth less because of their skin colour. The result is that individual choices and preferences uphold elite values, and habits. In the colonial period, for example, those perceived as “milat”[5] often mimicked white habits and styles to improve their social standing. Today in Haiti, rural, Kreyòl- speaking peasants are often described using derogatory terms, and people with lighter skin are often more likely to have professional jobs, speak French, and tend to be prioritized in hospitals, banks, and government offices. So, what does this have to do with food?
Exploring Food Meanings and Hierarchies in Port-au-Prince, and Dezam
When I first set out to research the struggles of the Haitian peasantry, I had just completed a three-year term as a Food Advocacy Coordinator in the country’s capital, Port-au-Prince. I was privileged to have been in a position where I learned from leaders of organizations who were deeply engaged in food justice and food sovereignty movements. That learning led me to a pursue nearly three years of critical ethnographic research in Dezam, Haiti in the Artibonite valley. During this time, I conducted over 300 qualitative food frequency, dietary recall, and food and agricultural behaviour surveys with peasant farmers, and over 40 key informant interviews with government officials, and leaders of peasant organizations.
Food Meanings
Food Shame
Some of the those I interviewed became mentors, and taught me about how the colonial plantation economy, recurrent foreign interventions in Haitian politics, and the country’s parasitic merchant elite and predatory state have together impoverished the masses, undermined democracy, and denied the rural citizenry access to most basic services, from potable water to electricity to decent education and healthcare. One of my most important mentors was Ari Nikola, the director of Kore Pwodiksyon Lokal (Support Local Production). Ari said:
To understand Haiti, you first must recognize that for 300 years we were forced to believe that we were inferior, and these ideas have not gone away. Although we haven’t been physically enslaved for over 300 years, these ideas persist—the reference point of what is good is what is white, what is Western. The enduring mentality of enslaved people today is the consequence of slavery. To understand Haiti, you need to understand this history.
Ari and I often shared meals—pitimi (sorghum/millet), mayi moulen (cornmeal), patat (sweet potato), joumou (pumpkin)—foods rarely served at roadside restaurants, or at the office of non-governmental organizations, which unfailingly served white rice. In my effort to learn, I asked the office kitchen cook if we could prepare pitimi together. She laughed, “No!” she told me, “pitimi is peasant food.” Similarly, a friend told me a story about his partner and her love for joumou, another “peasant” food. One day he came home to find her in the backroom eating joumou; she was hiding, and embarrassed to have him find her.
Over time, I learned that many “peasant” foods are viewed with disdain, and that prestigious foods are often associated with foreigners and the elite. I started to log these and got a sense of Haiti’s food hierarchies. Prestigious foods are refined, packaged, and “foreign.” For example, white beans, white sugar, and white crackers are considered superior to black beans, brown sugar, and dark molasses buns (bon bon siwo, which are an alternative snack to white crackers, or bon bon sèl). Similarly, pitimi, joumou, and patat are disparaged and associated with the poor, Black peasantry. One interviewee called these manje mizerab (“miserable food”). My surveys also showed that spaghetti, meat, and rice are associated with white people, the urban elite, and the wealthy. To illustrate the centrality of rice in Haitian dietary aspirations, one community organization leader described a local study that he conducted to a get a sense of the significance of local desires to eat rice, and the prestige that rice carries. Researchers went to the mountain tops (mountain people are notoriously looked down on in Dezam) and conducted dietary surveys. They found that people were eating yams, even though they said that they didn’t, and that they only eat rice.” In other words, these survey participants wanted to claim a higher status by saying that they ate rice.
Food Pride
In Haiti, food meanings and hierarchies are influenced by racist ideologies. But equally importantly is the historical fortitude of social movements and the long legacy of peasant resistance. While my research indicates that dietary aspirations tend to be geared towards the consumption practices of the elite, some countervailing food values do exist. For example, many Haitians believe local chicken is more nutritious and tastes better than imported chicken, that local rice is superior to diri miyami (imported rice), and that local fresh juice is more prestigious that imported soft drinks or sweetie (which is like Kool-Aid). And although pumpkin is disparaged, soup joumou (pumpkin soup), which in the colonial era was reserved only for blan colonizers, is an important symbol of Haitian pride and independence. It is said that following the revolution and the advent of Haitian independence, Haitians of all class groups came to celebrate emancipation by feasting with soup joumou every Independence Day. These examples speak to a countermovement in food, a food justice sentiment that challenges the status quo. Indeed, pro-peasant food values exist in Haiti, and are gaining strength.
Ari Nikola continues to lead a food justice movement. He promotes local food across the country at festivals, and community gatherings, and has local food advocacy commercials, like this one, “Manman Doudou[6] on national television.
Implicationsand Future Pathways: Prospects for Food Sovereignty in Haiti
While it would be impossible to quantify the influence of food meaning on total food consumption (or to calculate the threat that aspiration for elite foods poses to peasant producers), there is striking symbolic alignment between peasant and elite values with respect to food preferences. Prestigious foods continue to be associated with white, elite, and foreign groups, and ‘Black’, peasant food continues to be met with disdain. This indicates an enduring ideological control that the Haitian elite and foreigners exert over the Haitian peasantry, and presents an important obstacle to food sovereignty. Food sovereignty emphasizes that power relations are embedded in food systems[7] and conceptualizes overcoming food system inequality by supporting democratic decision-making over food, ecologically integrated agricultural systems, and local food-provisioning networks[8]. The vision is to create food systems that are ecologically, nutritionally, and culturally enriching.
Negative attitudes towards the peasantry and towards peasant foods raise serious questions about the role of food meanings in limiting the pro-peasant goals associated with food sovereignty. Historically rooted race-based social hierarchies influence food meanings and preferences. It is not a stretch to imagine that ensuing food choices affect the land, create demand for imported food, and limit support for local food, peasant farmers, and food justice. At the same time, Ari Nikola’s messages—value local food, support the peasantry, have pride in what you produce—is a core mantra among peasant leaders, who agree that food is fundamental to Haiti’s development prospects, and that any meaningful pro-peasant change to Haiti’s food systems must involve the re-valorization of traditional diets.
Conclusion: Food Meanings Matter
In Haiti and beyond, social hierarchies affect food meanings, and in turn food meanings affect food preferences and choices. Our food choices have real impacts on the ground, environmentally and socially. My hope is that the case of Haiti sheds light on how ideas of food—food meaning—can impede healthy, ecologically rooted food systems. As Ari says, food justice initiatives must address systemic inequality, including race-based social hierarchies, and the “epidermalization of inferiority.”
Beyond Haiti, the truth is that I love a good vegan Buddha Bowl. The environmental burden of foods pulls at my heart strings (and my pocketbook). But I also love chips. Mostly, I try to do right by my health and the environment, but sometimes I don’t. Regardless, shaming and exclusion do not move us toward food sovereignty, in Haiti, Canada, or elsewhere.
Exercises
Mind Mapping Personal Food Choices
List five foods that you would be proud to share with a new acquaintance or colleague, and five foods that you would be embarrassed or hesitant to share. Reflect on your personal history with these foods. Then, in a mind-map diagram, write the characteristics, qualities, or social perceptions that you associate with these foods.
Scenario—What does this food say about me?
You’re a first-year university student and you have just arrived on campus. The first person you meet is really nice, has many friends, and seems effortlessly cool. They ask you to join them for lunch at a craft beer pub a block away. On the walk over, they tell you about the activities they enjoy. You sit down to your table. You like them—and you’re more and more interested in them liking you. What do you order? You find yourself wondering: What will a bacon cheeseburger say about me? What will a “Vegan Aztec Grain Bowl” say? Write a description of the food that you order and explain in a paragraph why you made this choice.
Reflecting on Racism, Food Preference, and Meaning
Listen to the podcast “Erasing Black Barbecue” and, reflecting on what you heard in the podcast and what you read in this chapter, consider the following:
• Franz Fanon argues that the “epidermalization of inferiority” happens when people of colour come to believe, or internalize, racist myths that associate skin colour with worth. In Haiti, ideologies of racism have become hegemonic, influencing food meanings and food preferences. How does racism influence food meanings and food hierarchies in the North American context?
Additional Resources
Podcast: The Racist Sandwich. E 58, “Erasing Black Barbecue.”
Kore Pwodiksyon Lokal (“Support Local Production”) TV commercial #1
Kore Pwodiksyon Lokal (“Support Local Production”)TV commercial, “Manman Doudou”
References
Bourdieu, P. 1984. Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgement of Taste . Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Bourdieu, P. 1980. The Logic of Practice. Cambridge: Stanford University Press.
Fanon, F. 1952. Black Skin, White Masks. New York: Grove Press.
Fanon, F. 1967. The Wretched of the Earth. New York: Grove Press.
Guthman, J. 2003. “Fast Food/Organic Food: Reflexive Tastes and the Making of ‘Yuppie Chow.’” Social & Cultural Geography4 (1): 45–58. https://doi.org/10.1080/1464936032000049306.
1. Guthman 2010.
2. Kraft Macaroni & Cheese is known as “Kraft Dinner” in Canada.
3. Bourdieu 1980, 1984.
4. Fanon 1963, 1967.
5. It is important to note that while the Kreyòl word milat translates directly to the English “mulatto,” the word carries a different meaning in Haiti than in North America. In Haiti, it is a historically rooted term used to describe either a person born with one “Black” and one “white” parent (the latter usually being a colonizer) or a person born of two “mulatto” parents. It is also used to signify a person of lighter complexion and is generally associated with the urban bourgeoisie class. This is illustrated by the Haitian proverb: “Nèg rich se milat, milat pòv se nèg,” which means “A rich negro is a mulatto, a poor mulatto is a negro.” This suggests that skin colour and class are not only intricately connected, they are also malleable. In Haiti, lighter skin can signify a higher class, and lighter phenotypes may make people overlook other attributes that signify poverty. At the same time, when one has wealth and dark skin, one might be labelled “blan.” I remember a day in Dezam, when a dark-skinned Haitian pulled up to a street vendor near me in a fancy SUV, and an onlooker said, “Gade yon blan,” or “Look at the white guy.” In Haiti, colour and class are connected in complex ways.
6. Manman Doudou is a term of endearment, which literally translates as “sweet/kind mother.”
7. Bernstein 2014.
8. Patel 2009; Walford & McCarthy 2016; Wittman 2015. | textbooks/workforce/Food_Science_and_Agriculture/Food_Studies%3A_Matter_Meaning_Movement_(Szanto_Battista_and_Knezevic)/1.10%3A_Perspective-_Food_Meanings.txt |
GASTRONOMY
Before joining the world of academia, Stan Blackley worked for more than 30 years as an environmental activist, political campaigner, communications adviser, and community organiser. He joined Queen Margaret University in 2014 to enrol in the MSc Gastronomy programme, after which he was employed as a lecturer, contributing his knowledge in the environment and sustainability, animal welfare and human rights, ethics and society, and politics and activism.
Donald Reid is a legally trained writer, publisher, and journalist with a background in the production of food and travel guides. He joined the QMU MSc Gastronomy programme as a lecturer in 2014, contributing his expertise in areas such as food culture, communication, and campaigning, as well as his encyclopaedic knowledge of food and drink in Scotland. He is one of the leaders of the Slow Food Movement in Scotland.
Stan and Donald are the co-Programme Leaders for the MSc Gastronomy programme at Queen Margaret University (QMU) in Edinburgh, Scotland. Established in 2013, the programme remains the only course of its kind in the UK.
Learning Outcomes
After reading and discussing this text, students should be able to:
• Describe how gastronomy involves an informed and critical view of where food comes from, how it is produced, and the many, varied impacts that it has.
• Articulate the historical origins of the term gastronomy and the trajectory along which the term and concept has evolved.
• Name ways in which gastronomy can be applied to practices around and with food, in ways that begin to tackle the environmental and social issues inherent to food systems.
Introduction
To define gastronomy, it is helpful to note two key anchor points. The first is etymology, which suggests—from a literal translation of the Ancient Greek—that gastronomy is the knowledge (nomos) of the stomach (gastros). While the term can be found in Ancient Greek texts, it was neither prominent nor common until 1801, when it was adopted by a French poet, Joseph Berchoux, and subsequently by two prominent French food writers from the early 19th century, Alexandre Balthazar Laurent Grimod de la Reynière and Jean-Anthelme Brillat-Savarin. The former is acknowledged as the first truly influential critic in the world of restaurants, and the latter—the second anchor point—was the man who coined the aphorism, “Tell me what you eat: I will tell you what you are.” [1]
Brillat-Savarin was a lawyer, politician, philosopher, and self-declared expert and enthusiast on the subject of food. His 1826 book, La Physiologie du goût (“The Physiology of Taste”) set out to establish a foundation for gastronomy. He defined gastronomy as “the intelligent knowledge of whatever concerns man’s nourishment” and suggested that gastronomic knowledge was important for all “who hunt, supply, or prepare whatever can be made into food.”[2] Importantly, he indicated that such knowledge was to be gained from disciplines as broad-ranging as physics, chemistry, cooking, commerce and political economy. “Gastronomy rules all life”, he wrote. “It has to do with all classes of society”; it considers taste “in its pleasures and its pains”, and how food and drink affects “the moral of man, on his imagination, his mind, his judgment, his courage and his perceptions.”[3] To him, it was worth understanding all about food, because food is universal: “The pleasures of the table belong to all times and all ages, to every country and every day; they go hand in hand with all our other pleasures, outlast them, and remain to console us for their loss.” [4]
In considering how gastronomy has become popularly understood in the two centuries that have passed since Brillat-Savarin wrote La Physiologie du goût, it is important to reflect on how the term gastronomy became synonymous with the country of France. In Sociologies de l’alimentation (“The Sociology of Food”), Jean-Pierre Poulain defines gastronomy as the attachment of an aesthetic value to the act of eating, something he traces back to the French royal court, aristocracy, and French Catholic theology during the 17th century. By the late 18th century, even as the French bourgeoisie was rejecting the hierarchies of the church and aristocracy, the culture around food retained its cultural capital. Far from being rejected as a mark of the ancien régime, Enlightenment thinking and revolutionary politics in France actually embraced gastronomy—the arts of the table—as “a celebration of all that was worldly”[5].
It was, after all, in Paris in the decades preceding the 1789 French Revolution that restaurants were ‘invented’ and took on their modern form.[6] Of equal significance, by the early 19th century, restaurant criticism had also been invented, with critics operating as intermediaries between the new eating places and their bourgeois clientele. Critics were important for legitimizing the restaurant as a place for refined eating, and in doing so, they raised the esteem of the chef, the people who dined there, and the cuisine itself. From this early stage, it was clear that gastronomy went beyond the food being served. “The gastronome is more than a gourmet – he is also a theorist and propagandist about culinary taste,” suggests Stephen Mennell[7], arguing that there was democratic value in the way gastronomes disseminated knowledge of elite standards beyond the elite. To this day, the mutual dependency between restaurants, chefs, and critics survives, most famously in the (French-based) Michelin guide books and star ratings.
GASTRONOMY EVOLVES
For the 19th and most of the 20th century, the most revered and prestigious gastronomes were envoys of French cuisine, just as the chefs—the high priests of gastronomy such as Antonin Carême and Auguste Escoffier—were French. New ideas evolved within France, most famously when nouvelle cuisine upset the established orthodoxies in the 1970s (again led by a combination of French chefs and guidebook writers), but France remained the locus of gastronomic identity across Western Europe and North America. The ‘Gastronomic Meal of the French’ appears in UNESCO’s list of Intangible Cultural Heritage, cited as a practice that “emphasizes togetherness, the pleasure of taste, and the balance between human beings and the products of nature.”[8] It goes on to note that gastronomes, who “possess deep knowledge of the tradition and preserve its memory,” are expected to “watch over the living practice of the rites.” UNESCO’s focus is on the meal itself, though most French nationals (and others besides) would assume their valorization applies more generally to a uniquely French approach to food.
But why should the term gastronomy be restricted to French culinary approaches, or limited to the aesthetics of food and eating? Neither etymology nor Brillat-Savarin’s original definition demand such narrow viewpoints. Indeed, it was Brillat-Savarin’s expansive conceptualisation that resonated with Carlo Petrini, the Italian founder of the Slow Food Movement,[9] as he sought to reclaim the value and integrity of food in the face of an increasingly industrialized, globalized, and homogenized food system. Slow Food identified itself as a reaction against the ‘fast’ modern world, one characterised by speed and in which the human relationship with the earth has become unsustainable—what Petrini called a “technocratic dictatorship”[10] of profit prevailing over politics, and economics over culture.
Frustrated by the ‘old’ French model, Petrini argued that gastronomy had wandered far from its original conception and too narrow a focus had left it open to misinterpretation, misunderstanding, and marginalization. The challenges of nourishment are, after all, fundamentally human and little different to those of our ancestors. Whether in hunter-gatherer societies, Ancient Greece, or post-revolutionary Paris, people seek to choose and consume food to the satisfaction of the stomach and the senses, a combination of nutritional needs and food’s ability to deliver pleasure.
Petrini set in motion a re-evaluation of gastronomic science in modern frames of sustainability. It was no longer sufficient to concern ourselves with our own palates and pleasure, the point where Brillat-Savarin’s legacy seems to have become stuck in the general consciousness. Rather, Petrini argues that in a globalized world gastronomy must be global as well, and that modern gastronomes are required to take a holistic, critical, and connected view of where their food comes from, how it is produced, and the impact it has on both society and the environment. He writes: ‘‘Under the frenetic impulse of technocratic and reductionist thought we have fallen into the temptation of neglecting the totality of the processes and inter-relations that enable us to eat every day, considering only the result, the food that we swallow.”[11]
In his book, Slow Food Nation, Petrini offers his own translation of Brillat-Savarin’s definition of gastronomy as “the reasoned knowledge of everything that concerns man as he eats”[12], arguing:
To reduce gastronomy to “eating well” is a twofold error: first, because this definition implicitly accepts the common belief that the history of nutrition—economy and subsistence—and the history of gastronomy—culture and pleasure—are distinct subjects; and secondly, because it only covers a small, and perhaps the least noble, part of the complex system of “roots” which underlie our food.[13]
The implication of this is that the modern gastronome or gastronomer (a variant adopted by some as less encumbered with implications of gourmet elitism) recognises the ways in which food choices and practices connect to the well-being of the earth and the shared destiny of all that inhabit it. The old, narrow and awkward connotations of French and ‘culinary’ gastronomy are thus further distanced by conceptualising contemporary gastronomy as eco-gastronomy—an ecological-philosophical vision of food—the “thinking-feeling-doing” of modern gastronomy.[14] This approach acknowledges that any choice or practice of food has to take into account the ecological and human dimensions of both the food itself and the systems and processes that provide it. With globalization, hunger, public health, labour, and climate change so prominent in our contemporary consciousness, no coherent philosophy of food today can ignore these issues.
Critics of Petrini—or more accurately of the Slow Food Movement under his charismatic leadership—point not just to gourmet and Euro-centric elitism in the attitudes of its followers in certain territories, but also to conservative, protectionist attitudes to heritage, tradition, and authenticity in its core philosophy.[15] It is true that different aspects of Slow Food’s cultural, political, and practical messages have taken hold in different parts of the world, leading to a somewhat confused understanding of the most effective thrust of its principles. That said, the value in re-interpreting gastronomy as concerning itself with matters beyond culinary aesthetics, and the incorporation of social and ecological considerations to questions of food, largely stand outside the areas of dispute.
COMPLEXIFYING GASTRONOMY
Boiled down, Slow Food recognises that, while an assessment of whether food is ‘good’ principally from a taste perspective is important, it is also insufficient. ‘Good’ must be informed by knowledge that includes whether food is also ‘clean’, in terms of ecological sustainability, and ‘Fair’, in its dealings with humans and animals.[16] This approach wraps together pleasure with politics, palate with purpose, and practice with principles. By this thinking, food cannot satisfy nor nourish unless the totality and interwoven complexity of these impacts of food are acknowledged, better understood, and addressed. This chimes with thinking that had previously been posited by French anthropologist Claude Lévi-Strauss, who stated that, in order to be “good to eat” (bon à manger), food must be first of all be “good to think” (bon à penser),[17] indicating that food must nourish people’s values, beliefs, and traditions to be considered suitable for their stomachs.
This is the work, now, of gastronomy. Thus reformulated—or ‘liberated’ as Carlo Petrini put it[18]—gastronomy, eco-gastronomy or ‘neo-gastronomy‘,[19] has a greater sense of purpose in the world and a wider scope to influence not just food, but the world from which it comes. Such thinking about modern gastronomy shifts its focus decisively (though not completely), beyond chefs, cooking, and eating to recognise and celebrate the contributions of farmers, growers, fishers, producers, processors, sellers, caterers, and the countless others engaged with food, who have valuable specialist skills and make crucial contributions to the food landscape. The gastronomer argues for a role alongside such specialists, offering the skills of the generalist, as someone who can appreciate the many different perspectives of these diverse participants, hold a centre ground, and reflect the complex, multidimensional, polysemic, diverse nature of food itself.
Modern gastronomers appreciate food in a multi-faceted way, first, as a lens through which to examine the world around them; second, as a tool through which complex issues and concepts can be made tangible and communicated more simply; and third, as a means through which to challenge injustices and change the world for the better. They recognise that food has wide-ranging influences and impacts and is more than just a simple satisfier of basic needs, but is, instead, something that fundamentally influences and shapes every part of the world around us: identities, relationships, communities, societies, cultures, economies, environments, and more.
Modern gastronomers recognize that food can be a cause or driver of many of the world’s most pressing problems, such as hunger, dietary-related ill-health, and ecological destruction, but that it can also, therefore, be part of the solution to these problems. If we ‘get food right’ then positive responses to these other problems will follow.
The perspective of modern gastronomy is that attitudes to and understanding of food have to move beyond personal preferences and concerns towards an appreciation of food as a potent, political tool. In this sense, everyone’s relationship with food incorporates economic, political, social, and environmental consequences, meaning that food choices and practices can influence the food system and help reshape it for the better. This broader view of food’s importance also demands that the subject of food, along with its study and the thinking around it, is given greater respect, especially in the traditionally male-dominated areas of science and academia where food has been invisible or, if considered at all, viewed as base, frivolous, or simply ‘women’s work’.[20].
GASTRONOMY AND LEARNING
In terms of the teaching of this modern version of gastronomy, its multidisciplinary and generalist stance can struggle for recognition where reductionist approaches dominate within science and academia. However, various forms of food studies have emerged over the last three decades, and there are a growing number of educational institutions offering programmes oriented towards neo-gastronomy, most prominently at the University of Gastronomic Sciences (UNISG)[21] in Pollenzo, Italy, but also in institutions as geographically diverse as Montreal and Boston in Canada and the U.S., Auckland in New Zealand, and Edinburgh in Scotland. Innovative and groundbreaking as these all are, it is worth noting that the concept of an academy for gastronomy was actually proposed by Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin in 1826.
In such programmes, and in a growing number of other forward-thinking institutions around the world, food is used to unpack and explain economics and ecology, culture and communication, politics and philosophy, a wide range of social and life sciences, and much more. Graduates in gastronomy understand that food touches and influences everything in this world and connects seemingly disparate parts of our lives. They emerge as practiced generalists who recognise different viewpoints, understand and embrace food’s complexity, are wary of reductionist responses, and expect food matters to be multidimensional and interconnected. In Food: the Key Concepts, Warren Belasco asserts that “to study food often requires us to cross disciplinary boundaries and to ask inconvenient questions,” pointing out that “to help us sort out the issues and gain some needed perspective, we need generalists – people with a decent grounding in science and poetry, agriculture and philosophy, who are not afraid to question assumptions, values and methods.”[22]
This approach equips graduate gastronomers to bring a fresh, even emancipated vision to established food-related work places or to conceptualise new roles that use food to bring benefits to an unexpectedly wide range of activities and interests. That people’s most pressing concerns—from health and well-being to the functioning of society or matters of sustainability—are deeply entwined with our relationship with food and the practice of feeding ourselves, makes the study and development of gastronomy, and gastronomers themselves, both important and necessary.
That is not to say that gastronomers give up appreciating food. Humans all eat and drink because of the compelling biological necessity to do so, but we also eat to learn, to belong, to appreciate, to understand, to share, to express ourselves, to practice who we are, to make ourselves better people, and to enjoy the social and physiological processes and all that it entails. The appeal of food and its importance are not mutually exclusive, and are indeed intertwined, a point made by Carlo Petrini who declared that “a gastronome who is not an environmentalist is surely stupid, but an environmentalist who is not a gastronome is merely sad.”[23]
This serves as a reminder not to lose touch with food. The Pollenzo Manifesto, produced by the University of Gastronomic Sciences in 2018, states that “the true 21st century gastronome does not study food as an object; a gastronome studies with food,”[24]. This points to two ways in which the study of food can be strangely susceptible to misplacing food. First, it can veer into looking too closely at just the food, a form of ‘foodie-ism’ that becomes obsessively interested in the particulars of food—its production, cooking, or presentation—but largely blinkered to broader perspectives. Anyone studying gastronomy in the form described here has likely had to rebuff assumptions that they’re participating in a kind of cookery course—a situation muddied by the frequent use of the word gastronomy in association with cookery skills classes, sometimes as an adjunct to culinary arts programmes or those specialising in molecular gastronomy. The neo-gastronomer’s response is that, while cooking or making food are hugely valuable and important skills, they are only a sub-section of the knowledge and practices around food.
The second, and oddly converse issue with some food scholarship, is that researchers and educators often become detached from ‘food’ itself. This can be seen in some social sciences contexts, where activities around food become a focus for observation and analysis. Similarly, in the health sciences, the functionality of food can dominate knowledge paradigms, sometimes reaching a point at which solutions to the challenges produced by food actually counter the holism of food. A similar problem occurs when policy connected to food is developed in isolation by or around government, with theoretical ideas failing to take account of how people actually interact with food and its meanings in real-life situations. Gastronomy and food studies programmes designed to develop holistic and interconnected thinking help learners study food “beyond the plate,”[25] but without forgetting that it is still food.
CONCLUSION
In the end, gastronomy remains hard to define. It is, in Barbara Santich’s astute description, “slippery.”[26] It can be easier to attempt to describe what gastronomy does than what it is, although in the recurring emphasis on multidisciplinarity, polysemia, and broad thinking, boundaries can be hard to come by too. Yet in remaining rather mercurial, important but imprecise, gastronomy asserts that its substance and meaning are continually developing, discussed, and negotiated, and shares those characteristics with its equally elusive principal subjects, humanity and food itself.
Discussion Questions
• Describe and discuss the tension between ‘old’ culinary gastronomes—and their focus on cuisine—and ‘new’, eco-, or neo-gastronomers. Explain their differing views and visions of food. Can (and should) both views be held at the same time? How and when are they contradictory?
• Why is gastronomy so difficult to define? Why is it so ‘slippery’, as Barbara Santich noted? What historical and current elements contribute to, or cause this confusion or difficulty? How might you begin to define gastronomy?
References
Belasco, W. 2008. Food: the key concepts. New York: Berg.
Brillat-Savarin, J.A. 1826. La Physiologie du Goût ou Méditations de Gastronomie Transcendante. Paris: A. Sautelet & Co.
Brillat-Savarin, J.A. 1949. The physiology of taste or Meditations on Transcendental Gastronomy. Translated by MFK Fisher. London: Penguin.
Brillat-Savarin, J.A. 1994. The physiology of taste or Meditations on Transcendental Gastronomy. Translated by Anne Drayton. London: Penguin.
Lévi-Strauss, C.1962. Le totémisme aujourd’hui. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France.
Maberly, C. 2017. “Thought for Food.” Beshara Magazine , Spring 2017.
Mennell, S. 1996. All manners of food: eating and taste in England and France from the Middle Ages to the present. Urbana: University of Illinois Press.
Perullo, N. 2018. “Pollenzo Manifesto.” UNISG.
Petrini, C. 2001. Slow Food: The Case for Taste. New York: Columbia University Press.
Petrini, C. 2007. Slow Food Nation. New York: Rizzoli.
Petrini, C. 2015. Food and Freedom: How the Slow Food Movement is Changing the World Through Gastronomy. New York: Rizzoli.
Poulain, J.-P. 2002. Sociologies de l’alimentation. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France.
Spang, R. 2020. The Invention of the Restaurant: Paris and modern gastronomic culture. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.
Santich, B. 2004. “The study of gastronomy and its relevance to hospitality education and training.” International Journal of Hospitality Management 23 (1): 15–24.
Slow Food. 2021. “Slow Food terminology.” Slow Food Website.
Szanto, D. 2015. “The Eco-Gastronomy Project.” UNISG Website.
UNESCO. 2010. Intangible Cultural Heritage. UNESCO Website.
1. This is the origin of the more commonly known and often misapplied simplification, “You are what you eat.”
2. Brillat-Savarin 1994, 54.
3. Ibid.
4. Brillat-Savarin 1994, 15.
5. Poulain 2002, 195.
6. Spang 2020.
7. Mennell 1996, 267.
8. UNESCO 2010
9. Petrini’s involvement in food dates from his earlier career in journalism and local food activism, largely starting in the 1970s. It was in the 1980s that his efforts grew into the movement now known as Slow Food.
10. Petrini 2001.
11. Petrini 2015, 38.
12. Petrini 2005, 55.
13. Petrini 2005, 41.
14. Szanto 2015, n.p.
15. Chrzan 2004; Laudan 2004.
16. Petrini 2015.
17. Lévi-Strauss 1962.
18. Petrini 2015
19. Slow Food 2021.
20. Belasco 2008
21. UNISG is widely recognised as the ‘Slow Food University’, having been founded by and built around the ethos of Carlo Petrini.
22. Belasco 2008, 6–7
23. Petrini 2015, 29.
24. Perullo 2018, n.p.
25. Maberly 2017.
26. Santich 2004, 15. | textbooks/workforce/Food_Science_and_Agriculture/Food_Studies%3A_Matter_Meaning_Movement_(Szanto_Battista_and_Knezevic)/1.11%3A_Perspective-_Gastronomy.txt |
The Meaning of Food in Rural Mountainous Kyrgyzstan
Christian Kelly Scott is a postdoctoral associate in the Department of Geosciences at Mississippi State University. He holds a PhD in Rural Sociology and International Agriculture & Development from Pennsylvania State University. His research focuses on societal issues of hunger and food insecurity. His dissertation focused on the economic, environmental, and social determinants of household food security in the rural southern Kyrgyz highlands.
Guangqing Chi is a professor of rural sociology and demography and director of the Computational and Spatial Analysis Core at Pennsylvania State University. Dr. Chi is an environmental demographer with a focus on socio-environmental systems, aiming to understand the interactions between human populations and built and natural environments, and to identify important assets (social, environmental, infrastructural, institutional) to help vulnerable populations adapt and become resilient to environmental changes.
Learning Outcomes
After reading and discussing this text, students should be able to:
• Examine practices of food gathering, eating, and meaning-making using the principles of political ecology.
• Explain how food, environments, and identities are related.
• Describe the importance of everyday experience to food studies.
Introduction
Cascading, poplar-lined rivers, along with glacier-peaked mountaintops and lush, fertile pastures are everyday aspects of rural life in southern Kyrgyzstan. The community members whose experiences are discussed in this text reside in a village that lies in a valley overlooked by steep mountains on both sides. To the north lies a brightly colored slope of red, yellow, and orange sediment and rocks. To the south are dark rock outcroppings with clusters of ancient, stoic, deep-green juniper and spruce trees. Both sides show the telltale markings of landslides in the distant and recent past. The surrounding ecology shapes what each day and night bring for the people in southern Kyrgyzstan. Life in the village and life in the mountain pastures are intimately tied to the passage of seasons. There is a close tie among humans, environment, and food, which lends itself to the application of political ecology theory—the study of environmental themes that are inherently tied to human political, economic, and social factors.
Livelihoods in these rural communities are centered on traditional agropastoral practices—a mixture of sedentary agriculture practiced in mountain valley villages and semi-nomadic livestock management in mountain pastures. Environmental subject making and identities, explained in detail below, are reproduced in the types of food that are prepared, preserved, shared, or traded, and consumed in the villages and pastures. This text outlines the ways in which the theoretical foundations of political ecology are demonstrated in the meaning of food for the people in a rural community. The principles of political ecology are demonstrated in ways that reflect the composite meanings of food in multiple contexts in this area. Drawing on data collected throughout four seasons of the same year in rural southern Kyrgyzstan, our examination of food demonstrates how diets and meals reflect the surrounding mountain environment.
Political Ecology
The theory of political ecology enables the analysis of humans and the environment as innately linked together through interactions among biophysical, cultural, economic, political, and social factors.[1] Five core concepts make up a framework for political ecology: environmental knowledge, environmental subjects and identity, environmental change, environmental governance, and environmental political objects and actors.[2]Environmental subjectmaking and identity means that “people’s behaviors and livelihoods (their actions) within ecologies influence what they think about the environment (their ideas), which in turn influence who they think they are (identities).”[3]
In food studies, political ecology is useful for situating the experience that people have in their food relationships within the spatio-temporal context of their environment. This concept is brought to light here by examining how people perceive food in agropastoral Kyrgyz communities. By applying this framework to the study of food, we were able to focus on ways in which people derive meaning from what they eat, how they eat it, and where it comes from. We reached beyond the surface of merely analyzing interviews and embraced the connections and complexity of political ecology. With this focus in mind, we analyzed interviews of local residents conducted in their homes and yurts (a round mobile dwelling used by nomads), villages, and pastures to shape our understanding of food as a source of identity and practice.
Research Process
We conducted 44 interviews with adults in a rural southern Kyrgyz community. The interviews took place throughout the winter, spring, summer, and fall of 2019, and aimed at understanding seasonal aspects of food security. Interviews were recorded in Kyrgyz and translated into English for analysis. The semi-structured interviews allowed for an open discussion about rural life, food systems, and relationships with the surrounding mountain environment.[4] Transcripts were coded to focus on identifying, describing, and linking themes.[5]
Pastures and livestock
Traditional livelihoods in rural Kyrgyzstan are oriented around agropastoral practices. These include sedentary agriculture produces a small yield of mountain-friendly crops (such as potatoes, which can grow in the harsh conditions with the limited growing season) and seasonal vertical transhumance (i.e., movement from higher pastures in the summer to lower pastures in the winter). The latter takes place with livestock (mostly horses, cattle, and sheep) in mountain pastures. One mother of five highlighted the importance of livestock by saying, “Well, our life revolves [a]round the livestock, each day, repeatedly. That’s the reality in [the] village… That’s the way we live. [We have] no other income apart from that.”
The mountain pastures are therefore key places of environmental interaction. This interaction takes the form of spatial movement when traveling in pasture and staying in yurts and villages, as livestock is grazed, slaughtered, herded, breed, sheared, and milked. The foundation of seasonal diets is derived from livestock and livestock products. These ideals were voiced by one mother as she was baking bread with her daughter: “People love dairy products here in the village. Dairy products are our main diet. People call it aktyk, which means ‘white food.’ The times when cows produce less milk we say, ‘We are having a tough time without white food.’ Today our cows are out in pasture, so we are having tough times. To cope with the shortage of milk, once in a while we go to pasture to bring some milk, ayran, and kymyz [examples of white foods].”
But the adaptive food preparation strategies that households deploy to make it through times of scarcity are also tied to cultural identity and the historical legacy of the community. One father of six said, “You can also preserve jukka [a mixture of yogurt, butter, and flour] for years. This is why we’re called the nomad nation. [Our ancestors] practiced a lot of these preservation methods because it was easy to take [those foods] everywhere.” Movement in pastures and the intergenerational legacy of nomadic movements are tied to the meaning of food preservation and food consumption. In this way, food preservation takes on a meaning not only as a source of resilience to food shortage but also as a celebration of the proud heritage among the Kyrgyz people.
Seasonal diets
The passage of seasons in the mountains of the southern Kyrgyz highlands influences the precise makeup of household diets. Another mother of five articulated this by saying, “Of course, [household diet] changes [seasonally]. During autumn we have high harvest, so we have a lot to eat, and we eat a lot. In February and March our preservations are over, so we have difficulties. Not difficulties actually, [because] we know spring is coming, so we will have food [then].” The local environment changes starkly with the season. Winter is characterized by thick snow cover, and summer is accompanied by lush pastures, so the food security status of households also changes. Diets are closely related to the relationship that the community has with the environment through these changes. In winter, food is in short supply and diets need to change to consume fewer fresh foods.
Community members said that the utilization and availability of foods often coincide with the processes of raising livestock in the mountain pastures. Another mother of five explained, “When the fall comes, our livestock gets fat, times of abundance, everything is ripe. We cook a variety of dishes. In the winter and spring, [consumption of] meat and nutritious [food decreases]… In general, spring is [a time] of scarcity.” Here we see how livestock and pastures relate to the perceived abundance or scarcity of food throughout the year. The reference to fall and summer abundance is in stark contrast to the previous mother’s reference to times of difficulty when there may be an acute shortage of food in winter and spring.
The importance of meat
Food can take on a meaning reflective of the Kyrgyz ethnic identity that links the mountain environment and pastoral movement through explicit statements that community members made about meat: “Meat is the most important ingredient in our meal. It should always be available. A meal without…meat is like a low-calorie food. We can’t live without meat. If we eat food with no meat in it, we can feel a weakness.” With those words, this mother explained how meat is vital to making life possible in the mountains and, without it, survival would be difficult. Meat comes from livestock that are well suited to life in the mountains: sheep, horses, cattle, and goats. The type of meat that was available was also seasonal, depending on whether the livestock were in distant pastures during summer or in village stables during winter.
But meat is about more than just survival—it also links the ethnic identity of the Kyrgyz people to the surrounding mountain environment: “First of all, we consume the Kyrgyz food—meat—as all Kyrgyz people do.” And, when asked about the foods they eat, one young mother of two said, “Mainly we eat boorsok [fried dough], oromo [rolled dough with cube-cut, steamed potatoes], etc. We fry potatoes, meat. You know, Kyrgyz foods. These are our main foods.” To these community members, to be Kyrgyz, at least in these communities in the mountainous rural highlands, is to eat meat.
Nature provides
The final observation that demonstrates the meaning of food as a source of environmental identity among community members is how the respondents articulated their relationship with and utilization of nature as a source of resilience and sustenance. One grandfather of eleven stated, “We, Kyrgyz people, are ancient people. We are resourceful. Even if we do not have flour today, for example, we will find a way to make it work somehow… If we have no imported groceries, we can go to the mountains, hunt mountain deer, and still get by. Or we can set bird traps to hunt for meat.” This grandfather linked their identity and ancestral heritage to the resilience that the environment enables through wild-sourced foods. Another community member discussed the importance of nature in providing nutritious, wild-sourced foods. Likewise, a young father of one son linked natural foods to previous generations and traditional medicines: “Today they also collect from the mountains. There are things to collect, thanks to God. For example, they collect black currant, rosehip, green onions. They save some for winter, they eat some. In the old times, everything depended on the mountains… People eat more things that are natural… There are [also] special herbs for medical purposes.”
Discussion
Our observations and interviews show how the idea of environmental subject making and identity is linked to the meaning of food in a real-world setting. The livelihoods and personal identities of these Kyrgyz community members are shaped by their surrounding mountain environment. One community member, a father of four, perhaps said it best and most simply: “Here everything is connected to…nature. We eat clean. We have clean air.” The fundamental implication of this research is that the meaning of food, as seen through a political ecology lens of environmental subject making and identity, is not an abstract ideal. Community members stated clearly that food took on a meaning that reflected how the surrounding ecology shaped their lives and their own environmental identities. It also speaks to the importance of incorporating everyday experience into food studies, especially when examining something as complicated as the meaning of food and the role of food in shaping identities.
Conclusion
This study provides a practical example of how food is conceptualized in a unique environmental and sociocultural context. The observations of pastures and livestock, seasonal diets, the importance of meat, and foraging from the landscape demonstrate the interconnected relationship between food, identity, and the environment. Food may not mean the same thing to everyone in the same community, let alone to different populations in completely different geographic contexts. It is therefore helpful to bring critical perspectives to the forefront, particularly for research conducted in places that are under-represented in scientific studies, such as Central Asian countries and, specifically, communities in rural Kyrgyzstan.[6]
Discussion questions
• What does food mean to the members of communities in rural Kyrgyzstan? How do the meanings of food, the environment, and personal identity relate to each other in this context?
• Drawing on your own experience(s), identify a food that is connected to both identity and the environment. How do the meaning of food, the environment, and personal identity relate to each other in this context? How does this relationship differ from example from rural Kyrgyzstan described in the chapter above?
• How does each of the four observations—pastures and livestock, seasonal diets, the importance of meat, and nature provisioning—exemplify the connection of food to everyday life in the Kyrgyz highlands? What are some potential observations about everyday life and food that shape your identity?
Acknowledgments
References
Bridge, G., J. McCarthy, and T. Perreault. 2015. “Editors’ Introduction.” In The Routledge Handbook of Political Ecology, edited by Tom Perreault, Gavin Bridge, and James McCarthy. New York, NY: Routledge: 3–18. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annals.2014.11.004
Ellis, J., and R. Lee. 2005. “Collapse of the Kazakstan Livestock Sector.” In Prospects for Pastoralism in Kazakstan and Turkmenistan: From State Farms to Private Flocks, edited by C. Kerven. London, UK: Routledge Curzon: 52–76.
Neely, A.H. 2015. “Internal Ecologies and the Limits of Local Biologies: A Political Ecology of Tuberculosis in the Time of AIDS.” Annals of the Association of American Geographers 105 (4): 791–805.
Robbins, P. 2012. Political Ecology: A Critical Introduction. 2nd Ed.. West Sussex, UK: Wiley-Blackwell.
Robie, T. S., Tyler, V. Q., Al-Omair, A., Ahmed, S. E. H. E. T., Schaffer, T., Imanalieva, C., … Harvey, P. 2011. Situational Analysis Report: Improving economic outcomes by expanding nutrition programming in the Kyrgyz Republic. Washington, DC: World Bank/UNICEF.
Saldana, J. 2016. The Coding Manual for Qualitative Researchers. 3rd ed. Los Angeles, CA: Sage Publications. https://doi.org/10.1109/TEST.2002.1041893.
Scott, C.K. 2021. “The Pasture, the Village, and the People: Food Security Endowments and Abatements in the Southern Kyrgyz Highlands.” Dissertation. University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State University.
UNICEF. 2015. “Situation Analysis of Children in the Kyrgyz Republic.”
1. Neely 2015.
2. Gavin et al. 2015; Robbins 2012.
3. Robbins 2012, 216.
4. Scott 2021.
5. Saldana 2016.
6. See Ellis & Lee 2005; UNICEF 2015. | textbooks/workforce/Food_Science_and_Agriculture/Food_Studies%3A_Matter_Meaning_Movement_(Szanto_Battista_and_Knezevic)/1.12%3A_Case-_Food_in_Kyrgyzstan.txt |
The Sweetest Sound in the City
Vincent Andrisani is an Instructor in the Communication and Media Studies program at Carleton University. He specializes in the area of sound studies, intersecting the fields of soundscape studies, oral history, and popular music studies. Media production is an important dimension of Vincent’s research and teaching, and he presently produces (and hosts) a radio show called “The Place of Sound,” showcasing the audio media produced in his classrooms.
Artist’s Statement
“The Sweetest Sound in the City” is an audio documentary that tells a history of Havana through the sounds of the ice cream vendor. The piece comes out of a larger project on sound and listening in the city, developed using a combination of methods grounded in sensory ethnography and media archiving. Using a handheld audio recorder, and with the guidance of Havana-based oral historian Dr. Aurelio Francos Lauredo, I constructed a sound archive of Havana that today is housed at Fundación Fernando Ortiz. This audio documentary makes use of a number of those recordings, including the sounds of street vendors and Havana’s soundscapes among others. The narrative it tells was developed through my own research and is a story that (re)centres Havana as a city defined not by colonial or imperial rule, but one that belongs to the residents themselves.
Listen to the documentary. (See transcript below.)
A link to an interactive elements can be found at the bottom of this page.
The song “Helado Sobre Ruedas” by Gema y Pavel can be heard in the documentary and was used with permission from Peermusic Spain and Pavel Urquiza Domenech. [1]
Exercises
Exercise 1: Listening to an Image
Have a close look at the photograph of the old ice cream vendor. Take a moment, study the image. Imagine you’re a resident living in Havana at the time. How might you have learned about the presence of the vendor? What are some of the sounds that he may have made? What are some other sounds that are in some way associated with him and his truck?
Exercise 2 : Finding Sounds
This is a simple listening exercise, but it often produces surprising results. Whether you’re alone or in a group, take out a stopwatch or open your smartphone’s timer app. Take out a pen or pencil, and a piece of scrap paper, and be ready to use them. From the moment you press ‘go’ on your stopwatch, sit in silence and write down all the sounds you hear over the course of three minutes.
Some people’s lists will be longer than others, and that’s totally fine. All answers will be correct. This exercise highlights how differently each of us listen, because listening is a very personal practice.
Exercise 3 : Categorizing Sounds
Now you’re going to work with your list from Exercise 2, categorizing each of the sounds you wrote down. Beside each sound, indicate its type using the letters N, H, or T, which stand for Natural, Human, and Technology (i.e., a machine-generated sound). Which of the categories is dominant?
Exercise 4: Listening to, and for, food sounds
A “food sound” is any sound that is in some way related to food. Some food sounds are directly related to the preparation or consumption of food (e.g., frying or chewing). Others are less obvious and can be related to such processes as preservation or transportation.
Using the categories above (Nature, Human, Technology), think of a food sound that falls into each of the three categories.
* These listening exercises are adapted from R. Murray Schafer’s text “A Sound Education” (1992).
Transcript
Vincent Andrisani: The Sweetest Sound
[Vendor’s chant, sound of passing vehicles]
It’s unlikely you’ll encounter this sound on your own street, but chances are, you know what it is. It’s the sound of a street vendor calling out to nearby residents, letting them know they have material goods or food items for sale. This particular vendor happens to be selling cookies.
[Vendor’s chant, sound of passing vehicles and brief car horn]
In the city of Havana, Cuba, where this recording was captured, this sound can be heard at most times of the day. There, vendors walk the streets and capture the attention of residents using a signature musical cry known in Spanish as a “pregón.” Presumably, the more musical and captivating the pregón, the more successful the vendor is.
[Vendor chanting a pregón]
But there’s one vendor whose sounds you might very well hear on your own street. A vendor that doesn’t use a pregón, but instead, plays a recognizable musical jingle. A jingle that summons childhood nostalgia, and is symbolic of a tasty summertime treat.
[Recorded music plays over sound of passing cars, children’s voices, and birds chirping]
Of course, I’m talking about the ice cream vendor. The recording you’re listening to was captured on a street corner in the district of Central Havana, one of the older and more populated areas of the city. You might notice that the vendor’s not moving, and neither am I. We’re standing across from one another in the same intersection. And the vendor is standing next to his parked tricycle, waiting to greet customers.
[Vendor’s music, ringing of bicycle bell, voices and ambient street noise]
I thought this was a bit unusual at first since vendors are typically on the move, but after thinking about it for a while, I realized that he’s playing music, not only for people in the streets, but also, for people in their homes. Because there’s no glass on windows and doors are often left open, sounds move easily between the street and the home. This vendor knows that, and so stopping in a populated intersection is actually a pretty good sales tactic. When I let one of my friends listen to this recording, he said, “You know, this is a very new sound in our city.” I replied, “How could this be a new sound? Ice cream vendors have been around for a really long time.” He said, “of course they have. But in Cuba, they were silent for many years.”
[Vendor’s music fades to silence]
In 1990, the fall of the Soviet Union brought about an intense economic crisis in Cuba. Over the next several years, there was barely enough food to eat, let alone ingredients to make ice cream. Only in about 2010 did the sound return. And today, ice cream vendors can be spotted ‘most anywhere in the city and at ‘most, any time of the year.
[Lively Cuban music begins, with whistling and a woman singing in Spanish]
Because of this, I realized that there’s a profound difference between how I listen to this sound, and how it’s heard by residents of Havana. For them, it must have a very different meaning since it was gone for over two decades. And one way we can hear that meaning is in song. This song by Havana-based duo Gema y Pavel, is called “Helado sobre ruedas,” which means “ice cream on wheels.” It’s a musical tribute to Havana’s missing ice cream vendors, and it represents them as a source of joy, happiness, and as a neighborhood event that, as the song says, “made family problems disappear.”
[“Helado sobre ruedas” plays]
Andrisani: So, I wondered, how can I listen to the sounds of the ice cream vendor in a way that resembles how residents of Havana listen to it? And what place does this sound hold in the collective memory of the city? To answer these questions, I’d have to follow the sound through history. I’d have to learn how it sounded before it was silenced, all the way back to the moment that it appeared on the streets of Havana. So that’s what I did.
[“Helado sobre ruedas” fades to silence. Electronic music box begins to play]
The sounds of the electronic music box that we heard earlier have been used by ice cream vendors for quite some time. The technology was invented in the mid 1950s by Minnesota-based company Nichols Electronics. And so, these were the sounds that were heard on the streets of Havana before the vendor fell silent. They appeared sometime in the late 1950s and were present right up until about 1990 at the onset of the crisis.
[Music box continues playing]
But before this technology became available, ice cream vendors were associated with an entirely different set of sounds.
[Music box fades, bell starts ringing]
One of which was the bell, which vendors in the 1940s and 50s would ring as they walked the streets with a cart they pushed by hand. Some of them would pause from time to time to ring the bell, but others mounted it directly onto their cart so they could ring it as they walked. Another sound made by ice cream vendors was much less deliberate.
[Small bell ringing; sounds of horse-drawn carriage moving along street]
While some vendors walked the streets with pushcarts, others traveled with a horse and carriage. And so, you can imagine what the sounds associated with these vendors might have been. A memoir written by Iris Díaz, a former resident of Havana, offers a really rich description of her memories of the horse-drawn carriage. Díaz says the following, [female speaking voice] “I remember the hoof sounds of a horse pulling the Hatuey ice-cream cart, and the cries of a peddler ringing his bell, yelling ‘Helado!’ Children ran into the street, holding onto their nickels and dimes to buy that creamy vanilla ice cream cone, then balancing the cone in one hand as they tried petting the horse with the other. The sweetest sounds were the happy voices of children calling each other, ‘Angelina come out to play!'”
[Street noise and sounds of children playing]
And all of these sounds: the bells, the horse, the carriage and the children, could be heard just like the modern vendor in the streets and through open windows and doors into nearby homes. But we can go further still into the past and listen to the moment that ice cream vendors first appeared on the streets of Havana.
[Street noise fades to silence. Sound of a large crowd of people at a baseball game]
During Cuba’s struggle for independence in the late 1800s, cultural practices, traditions and customs from the United States began to replace those from Spain. For instance, baseball took the place of bullfighting and was an important example of the island’s turn-away from Spanish colonial culture in favor of a more modern American way of life.
[Murmur of crowd of people in baseball stadium, homerun, applause]
It’s no coincidence that streetside ice cream vending arrived in Havana at this very same time. And one way we know this is because an early ice cream vendor was captured in a photograph taken right around the time of Cuban independence in 1902.
[Camera light bulb flash, silence]
This photo tells us that early ice cream vendors also made use of a hand cart, but their cart was bigger and bulkier than those used in the 1950s. And it was made entirely of wood, so it was probably quite difficult for them to push. These vendors didn’t use sound-making technologies like chime music or bells. But that doesn’t mean they didn’t make any sounds.
[Creaking wooden cart wheels moving against ground]
The most obvious sound they’d make is their pregón. Presumably, they’d walk the streets shouting, “Helado!” Letting residents know they’re selling ice cream, just like vendors do today. These vendors marked an important moment and played an important role in the everyday life of the city for a couple of reasons. The first of which is that they offered the opportunity for the working class to purchase a food item that was historically reserved for the upper class. Through the ice cream vendor, ice cream became a popular confection that could finally be served to everyone. And the second reason, is that ice cream vendors represented the local desire to replace Spanish with American culture in the hopes of modernizing the island, and ultimately, demonstrating what it means to be Cuban. The sounds of the ice cream vendor were literally the sounds of a city and a cultural identity being formed!
[After the silence begins, the sound of wooden cart fades. “Helado Sobre Ruedas” begins to play again]
And it’s worth noting that this identity was brought to life, in part, using an ingredient that had grown in Cuba for hundreds of years: sugar! Sugar was the reason for the colony, and it plays an important role in the Cuban diet—which of course includes a steady dose of ice cream to keep cool on those hot Havana days.
It’s quite amazing to think that all of this information, and all of this history is expressed in the sound of the ice cream vendor. In it, we hear: the silence of Cuba’s economic crisis; Havana’s golden era in the 1940s and 50s, the Americanization of the city at the turn of the century, and the emergence of a middle class that could afford ice cream for the first time.
But in order to hear this, we not only had to listen to the sound locally, through the open windows and doors of Havana’s neighbourhoods. But we also had to listen globally, by mapping those sounds onto far away places at different moments in history: the Soviet Union in the late 1980s, Minnesota in the 1950s, and Spain in the late 1800s.
All of this history is expressed in the sound of Havana’s ice cream vendor today, but it takes a bit of time, effort, and guidance in order to hear it. It takes curiosity to map the linkages between taste, sound, people, their geography, and their history. But when we do, it enriches our experience. It makes the world make a bit more sense, once we accept the idea that certain sounds and certain flavours have a cultural history, and are defined not by one but by many different meanings.
So this raises the following question: what do you hear when you listen to the sounds of the ice cream vendor?
[Music fades]
1. Song: Helado Sobre Ruedas Author: Pavel Urquiza Domenech © Peermusic Española, S.A.U. | textbooks/workforce/Food_Science_and_Agriculture/Food_Studies%3A_Matter_Meaning_Movement_(Szanto_Battista_and_Knezevic)/1.13%3A_Creative-_Street_Food_Vendors.txt |
Bento box and mothering away from home: Japanese immigrant families’ experience at Canadian school lunchtime
Yukari Seko is a critical health communication scholar and an Assistant Professor at Toronto Metropolitan University’s School of Professional Communication. Her program of research takes a participatory, arts-informed approach to explore communication processes related to mental health, disabilities, and food practices. Her current research interrogates how Asian immigrant families navigate through institutionalized food environments in Canada including school, hospital and long-term care facility.
Lina Rahouma graduated from the Nutrition and Food program at Toronto Metropolitan University. She then completed a Professional Master’s Diploma in Dietetics through Ryerson University, in partnership with The Hospital for Sick Children. She is passionate about food literacy, food security, and children’s nutrition and health, and she has a deep interest in working internationally and learning about different cultures and foods.
Learning Outcomes
After reading and discussing this text, students should be able to:
• Describe how children’s home-packed lunches reflect family food values and their social locations.
• Identify potential impacts of food culture mismatch experienced by children between home and school.
• Discuss potential ways of mitigating the negative impact of food culture mismatch.
• Name structural barriers in school food environments and propose creative solutions for fostering an inclusive and accepting climates in the classroom.
Introduction
“Mom, can I bring a sandwich to school?”
“Yes, of course. But can you tell me why? I thought you love onigiri [rice ball].”
“…My friend told me ‘you brought sushi again.’ I’m hiding it during lunch time.”
I (Yukari) vividly remember this conversation with my then five-year-old son when he started senior kindergarten in the Toronto District School Board.[1] Growing up in Japan and having migrated to Canada in my 20s, it never occurred to me that my son’s Japanese-style bento would attract unwanted attention at school. His bento box was typically packed with what we eat at home: meat or fish dishes (dinner leftovers), cooked vegetables, and steamed rice (often made into onigiri), which I grew accustomed to and thought of as ‘normal.’ Yet what I thought was an ordinary lunch stood out at my son’s school, leading him to feel embarrassed about his favorite foods.
This poignant experience told me that children’s lunches at school closely reflect the complex realities of their families’ food landscapes. Indeed, food has profound symbolic values that shape one’s cultural identity. For immigrant families, home-packed lunches (i.e., meals to be consumed outside the home) can play a crucial role in maintaining their emotional ties to the ‘home country’ and preserve their culinary identities across generations. However, as my son’s request for sandwiches indicates, norms and expectations around what to eat at school differ, not only among family members, but also between the home and the school, and across food cultures.
In this chapter we present a case about school-aged children of Japanese origin and their mothers focusing on their experiences during Canadian school lunchtimes. As a unique medium connecting the private and the public food environments, children’s lunches at school provide a salient context in which to explore how families formulate food meanings and habits in and outside the home. Our exploration unpacks the complex interplay between migration, gender, social class, school, and larger sociocultural discourses on healthy eating that determine what goes in the lunchbox.
Unboxing the bento box[2]
To help children engage in the study and openly express their thoughts on school lunchtime, we used an arts-informed research method in combination with focus group interviews. A total of 16 school-aged children (6 to 12 years old) of Japanese background participated in two art workshops, facilitated by the researchers and a fine artist, and created art pieces about their typical school lunchboxes. Coloured paper, textiles, magazine pages, coloured pencils, markers, and other arts and crafts supplies were provided to spark children’s creativity (see Figure 1). After creating their lunchboxes, the children were invited to join focus groups to talk about their experiences at school lunchtime. This data collection process transformed otherwise adult-oriented interview procedures into a more relaxed, enjoyable, and child-centred experience.
Along with the children, we also conducted a total of four focus groups with 19 Japanese immigrant parents (all mothers), asking about their experience packing children’s lunches to school. After the preliminary analysis, we shared an animated video summarizing the findings and asked all participants for anonymous feedback. This engaging member checking process was invaluable for this study, to ensure analytic rigor and integrate voices of the children and mothers into the final analysis.
Mothering away from home through bento box
All mothers who participated in the study reportedly took on responsibility for family feeding and indicated strong preferences about serving Japanese home meals to their family. For the mothers, a ‘good’ lunch means aJapanese-style lunch, namely, a nutritionally balanced, wholesome meal containing diverse food items, including a staple, main and side dishes, and a substantial amount of vegetables. This perception was informed mainly bythemothers’own experience growing up in Japan, within theJapanese national food educationprogram(shokuiku) that prioritizes Japanese home-cooked meals as optimal for children’s development.[3] Moving away from Japan, the mothers strived to prepare good bento for their children, in order to nourish their growth and food literacy. Some mothers reportedly taught themselves how to cook Japanese home meals after having children in Canada, so as to “feed [their] children properly” (Parent 05).
Echoing the mothers, most children in our study said they usually bring home-cooked Japanese foods to school. The majority of children’s artworks reflectedthat their lunchboxes typically contain a variety of food items,including a staple (mainly steamed rice), a main dish (mainly meat), and vegetables (Figure 2), or one-dish meals such as Japanese-style curry on rice (Figure 3).
In many mothers’ perspectives, the preparation of ‘good’ lunchboxes is tied closely with the moral accountability of ‘good mothering’ that influences children’s future health:
“All I do for the lunch stems from the truly nutritiously balanced lunch my mother made for me… I believe moms should put their effort into lunch making for their elementary school kids… The food practice during the elementary years affects his/her whole life, such as fussiness [in food habits].” (Parent 03)
Relatedly, the mothers’ perceived responsibility to prepare ‘good’ lunches for children goes in tandem with their commitment to help children with goodeatinghabitsoutside the home. Many mothers taught their children to finish the bento—leaving no leftover—so that they can get enough nutrients and express appreciation for the food. Through everyday lunchbox making, these mothers hope to pass on to their children a Japanese culinary identity and normative understandings of personal responsibility for health. In return, most children internalized the mothers’ ideas of a ‘healthy’ lunch and the moral imperative of good eating, and followed the exhortations to eat all foods served to them.
Food culture mismatch
Although their children’s lunchbox embodies the mother’s active commitment to promote children’s health and well-being, what were considered ‘good’ lunches do not always fit within the school food environment. Some children in our study reportedly experience food culture mismatch[4] between home and school. As the opening anecdote suggests, Japanese food items such as onigiri (rice ball) and nori (seaweed) occasionally attract unwanted attention at Canadian schools. When asked what their schoolmates would say when they bring Japanese foods to school, one child described:
“They sound like they’re saying it’s gross, I don’t like it. [They’re] not my friends but the boys in the class… They say like, ‘ew, what is that?’ in like a gross way.” (Child 12)
Other participants shared that some Japanese food items are seen unfamiliar or foreign, and thus become subject to mockery and negative comments.
“My son was told by his classmate, ‘inari sushi[5] is bad for your health.’ I said to my son you should ask your classmate if they have ever had it. My son actually asked next day and found that the classmate didn’t know anything about inari sushi. They were like ‘what is it?’ For them it was an unfamiliar brown thing that looked unhealthy.” (Parent 07)
Additionally, both children and mothers noted that Canadian school food environments do not always accommodate their food practices. Due to the lack of access to microwave ovens, some of their favorite Japanese foods cannot be packed in their lunchboxes, as these foods lose flavor when they get cold. Some children bring thermal lunchboxes, but their favorite foods cannot always be packed because both the texture and flavours are altered.
Most children also reported that they often feel rushed to eat. As lunchtime is part of recess in many Canadian public schools, students’ actual seated lunchtime is limited to 15 to 20 minutes, which may not allow children to finish Japanese-style bento with a variety of food items. Responses to their children’s experiences at school varied among families. While many have maintained their preferred food practices, some mothers have reportedly modified their children’s bento to accommodate their children’s need to fit in at school.
Shaming toward ‘unhealthy’ food habits
While some Japanese foods are seen as foreign and unfamiliar at Canadian schools, food shaming does not occur in a one-way direction. Many participants, children and mothers alike, shared negative views toward other children’s ‘unhealthy’ lunchboxes, ones that were perceived to be nutritionally unbalanced or containing ‘junk’ foods. Some children commented that their classmates bring “unhealthy (foods) like burgers…like sandwiches that have a lot of junk in it” (Child 07). Such descriptions do not fall into their definition of a ‘healthy’ lunch. Other children reportedly felt puzzled by peers whose lunches do not consist diverse food items. One child commented that it was hard to understand why one of her classmates “only had Tim Hortons for lunch for the whole year” (Child 03). To her, such a food habit does not represent ‘healthy’ eating.
Though relatively scarce in our data, negative perceptions toward ‘unhealthy’ food habits were sometimes associated with lower socioeconomic status and financial constraints. One mother commented on her child’s classmate who brings prepackaged snacks for lunch:
“I asked my daughter what [the classmate] eats during lunch time. [My daughter said] she fills with snacks. I was like really? Her parents are rich and still that?” (Parent 08)
A link between low socioeconomic status and ‘snacks’ (i.e., prepackaged, processed foods) is alluded to in this comment through the surprise the mother felt that affluent parents would provide their children with ‘unhealthy’ foods. It is worth noting that children reported that their teachers would quickly intervene when culture-related food shaming took place in class, but comments on ‘junk food’ rarely attracted the adults’ attention.
Conclusion
Children’s school lunchboxes embody multiple aspects of a family’s food practice, including culinary traditions, family dynamics, social locations, and sociocultural discourses of ‘healthy’ eating. For many of Japanese mothers in our study, everyday lunchbox making is a key aspect of mothering in and outside home, through which they demonstrate an active commitment to their children’s health and future well-being. The lunchbox is also an important locus of cultural identity to materialize and instill Japanese food values within the children growing up in Canada. Children’s artworks and narratives indicated that the mothers’ norm of ‘good’ lunch and eating is being successfully passed down to them.
The mothers’ effort to preserve Japanese culinary traditions in their new country, however, sometimescaused food culture mismatch between school and home environments. Home food that does not fit the dominant food norms of schools stands out, producing feelings of embarrassment and ostracization in children. As food is closely tied to one’s identity, the bitter experience of lunchtime shaming at school could have a substantial impact of children’s and their families’ emotional well-being. In order to embrace and nurture the diverse food identities that children bring to class, schools can engage with families from diverse food cultures and explore their priorities in helping children establish positive relationships to food.
In so doing, the prevalence of disdain toward ‘junk’ foods and a class-based notion linking ‘unhealthy’ eating with socioeconomic status merit closer attention. Stigma toward ‘unhealthy eating’ could be linked to culinary ethnocentrism or classism, which prioritizes one food practice over the others. A more inclusive, intersectional, and culturally appropriate discussion on ‘healthy eating’ at schools can support children and families from diverse ethnocultural and socioeconomic backgrounds, while safely exploring and performing their food identities. Meantime, food should not become a taboo subject at school, resulting in children becoming afraid of offending one another. Instead, schools can offer an optimal space that helps children be exposed to many different food cultures and learn how to negotiate social and emotional boundaries around their food identities.
Discussion Questions
• What are some of the ways in which a person may experience food culture mismatch between home and school?
• What are the potential ways of mitigating negative impacts of food culture mismatch children may experience between home and school environments? Take the role of students, educators, parents/families, and school staff members, and discuss how to collaboratively approach this issue.
Exercises
Think back to your own school lunch and write a short reflective essay by addressing the following questions:
• What did your typical school lunch look like when you were at elementary school? (Option: draw or make an artwork of your typical school lunch.)
• What was your favorite food/dish that you ate at school? Explain what makes this food/dish special for you.
• If you brought home-packed lunches to school, what factors shaped your lunches? How much of a factor were family food tradition, cost, nutrition, and your preference?
• Reflect on any notable experiences you may have had regarding the way your school lunchroom was set up.
Additional Resources
Allison, A. 1991. “Japanese mothers and obentōs: The lunch-box as ideological state apparatus.” Anthropological Quarterly64 (4): 195–208.
Finally Getting “White People Lunch” — “Fresh Off the Boat”
Harman, V. and Cappellini, B. 2019. “Intersectionality and migrant parents’ perspectives on preparing lunchboxes for their children.” In Feeding Children Inside and Outside the Home: Critical Perspectives. New York: Routledge. 28–41.
References
Agaronov, A., T. Entwistle, and M.M. Leung. 2019. “From the lunch table, to the family table: A grounded theory approach to understanding urban adolescents’ experiences of food culture mismatch between school and home environments.” Ecology of food and nutrition58 (1): 23–44.
Mah, C. 2010. “Shokuiku: governing food and public health in contemporary Japan.” Journal of Sociology46 (4): 393–412.
Seko, Y., L. Rahouma, C.T. Reeves, and V. Wong. 2021. “Unboxing the bento box: An arts-informed inquiry into Japanese families’ experience at Canadian school lunch time.” Canadian Food Studies/La Revue canadienne des études sur l’alimentation8 (3): 21–44. https://doi.org/10.15353/cfs-rcea.v8i3.492
1. The recollection of this dialogue was made in collaboration with Asahi Seko, who was eight years old at the time of writing (summer 2021).
2. Results from this study are also reported in a paper published in Canadian Food Studies (Seko et al. 2021). While that work is distinct from what is presented here, the two pieces draw on the same body of research and there is some overlap between the two texts.
3. Mah 2010, 406-7.
4. Agaronov et al. 2019, 24.
5. Inari sushi, also known as bag sushi, is a dish of sushi rice stuffed in a seasoned deep-fried tofu pocket.
1.15: Creative- Collaborative Eating Performances
Chinese Croquembouche & Congeegate
Annika Walsh is a transdisciplinary artist who was born in Chuzhou, China and adopted at 11 months of age by her family in Canada. She works with a variety of ingredients, materials, and collaborators to form her conceptual pieces. Her practice ranges from exploration of cultural identity to participatory food performances, and everything in between. Striving to blur the lines and push the boundaries, Annika makes a habit of traversing many disciplines, including sculptural installation, performance, and media.
Chinese Croquembouche (Nov. 2021)
This interactive sculpture puts a savoury twist on a classic french dessert. A croquembouche is a pastry cream stuffed choux pastry tower that is stuck together with sweet caramel. My version has a savoury chinese flavoured bean sprout and cabbage filling. For the caramel aspect, I created a concentrate of soy sauce, hoisin, rice vinegar, mushroom oyster sauce, garlic and ginger. I took that concentrate and mixed a bit of it into simmering maple syrup. I let this concoction bubble down into a hard ball caramel. With all of the new elements, I constructed the tower the day of reviewing. This piece requires activation and destruction in order for it to be “completed”. The rest of the art making happens through the deliberate action of the participants.
Congeegate (Dec. 2021)
I call this piece a performance because the focus is not about an art object. While this experience did involve objects (some crafted specifically for this piece), it is more about the notion of congregating and eating together. All of the elements were placed close to the ground, encouraging the participants to shift their attention down towards the floor. Things were placed in a linear fashion, with three distinct sections. The first was a bowl and spoon stand; the stand was made for this piece. The second station had a large pot containing congee (a rice porridge). This batch only had jasmine rice cooked down with water and salt. This base suggested a blank canvas in which participants could add their own preferences, putting more of themselves into the piece that was initially presented to them. Surrounding the pot was a handmade lazy susan that smoothly revolved around the pot. It held different toppings: tea eggs, spicy peanuts, green onions, oyster mushrooms, a Szechuan kelp mixture, and more. The last part of the installation was a pre-made lazy susan that held sauces and seasoning such as soy sauce, sesame oil, black vinegar, kosher salt and more. The stations were placed in the middle of my studio; surrounding the food were pillows, blankets and exercise mats. During this experience, everyone chatted while creating their bowls, and then went to sit down and eat. | textbooks/workforce/Food_Science_and_Agriculture/Food_Studies%3A_Matter_Meaning_Movement_(Szanto_Battista_and_Knezevic)/1.14%3A_Case-_School_Lunchtimes.txt |
Food as Relation s : Reflecting on our Roots , ( Re ) visioning our Relationships
Sarah Rotz is an Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Environmental & Urban Change at York University. Her academic and organizing work is grounded in environmental justice, with a focus on land and food systems.
Learning Outcomes
After reading and discussing this text, students should be able to:
• Describe the relationship between systemic/structural food issues and personal food choices and beliefs.
• Reflect on and question their relationship to food and body, particularly as related to issues of systemic racism and sexism.
• Critically interrogate the personal and political impacts of diet culture, and propose alternative perspectives toward food, dieting, and body acceptance.
Introduction
How often and how deeply do you think about your relationship to food ? If you’re like many students I speak to, you might say, “I try to eat healthy, but other than that…not too much.” Yet we are inundated with all sorts of food messages every day. How, then, can we make sense of all this information if we don’t ask ourselves some critical questions? Let’s start with the following: H ow would you describe your relationship to food? What meaning do es food have in your life? What thoughts and feelings does food evoke for you ? Wh at different feelings are associated with certain foods and food practices ? What key memories have shaped your ‘coming to know’ food?
This process of reflection has been powerful for me personally , because it ha s helped me connect bigger picture food system issues , such as industrialization, corporate concentration , and systemic racism, to cultural and emotional dimensions , such as diet culture , body image , and fat-phobia (fear or disdain of fatness) . For t his chapter , I draw from my own reflection process to make some connections between seemingly abstract structural forces of racism , settler colonialism, and patriarchy to our personal relationships with food , our bodies , and ourselves .
Some of my earliest food messages centered on themes of food restriction and self- discipline , creating an inner world of confusion and self-doubt. Many of the people in my life—especially the women—modelled an anxious and polarized relationship with food, displaying a venomous hate for both ‘the calorie’ and the body in some moments, and a ravenous desire for food in others. The latter often end ed in self-blaming and punishing remarks about piggies ,” along with promises to never do that again. Weekend brunches were often followed by declarations that “we don’t need to eat anything until dinner!” I remember feeling nervous, thinking: B ut, what if I get hungry before dinner? The message I took from this was that that hunger is something to be controlled , managed , and contained , and t hat one should only feel hungr y at socially appropriate times. If, then, my hunger arose outside of these socially sanctioned moments (which was often), I would feel shame: W hy am I hungry? This isn’t right, I shouldn’t feel hungry . Looking back, I see how immediately I internalized my parents relationship to food as I grew . T heir punitive, regulatory voice became my own.
Situating our Relationship to Food
E xploring our personal relationship s to food ( made up of intertwined experiences, perceptions, mentalities, narratives, and messages) can feel difficult because it is so deeply connected to our core sense of self . O ur early messages about food tell us a great deal about whether or not we can ( and should ) t rust ourselves , our bodies , and our feelings. If they are shaming, critical , and restrictive messages, they can have deep and persistent negative effect s on our self-worth , and our degree of body acceptance . They also shape how we understand and internalize larger cultur al messages , such as fat-phobia and the idealization of thinness. The relationship between the personal and political reveal themselves in the realm of food . Our internal relationship to food is shaped and informed by our familial and socio-cultural food knowledges and practices , which are strongly determined by larger forces that condition how we understand, access, interact with , and consume food. Put simply, o ur ability to engage in different food practices ( e.g. , whether we gain access to food from a fridge, restaurant, garden , or forest) are limite d to a large extent by the culture and society we live in (e.g. , how we are situated in society to have access to economic resources, cultural knowledge s , land , and natural space s ) . So while we can certainly push back against and move beyond food messages that feel unhealthy and harmful to us, it i s helpful to remember that our social conditions have heavily encouraged some way s of knowing and interacting with food , while making others incredibly difficult .
As my own memories affirm, many of usstruggle with various forms of rigid and disordered eating, which canbe described as a way of relating to food that causes emotional, psychological and/or physical harm. Again, this harmful relationshipdoes not arise simply from one’sownmind—externalforces shape our personal relationships to food. Diet culture, defined as a system of beliefs that equate thinness and particular body shapes and sizes to health and moral virtue, has played a particularly destructive role here. Its roots run deep. As systemsof capitalism, colonialism, and ecological imperialism reveal,unhealthy and unethicalsystemsoften cultivate unhealthy and dysfunctional relationsto food, the land, each other, and ourselves.
Getting to the Roots of our Personal Food Relations
Th e restrict-binge cycle of eating has become so common in Western culture that most of us can easily recognize it in ourselves and others. F at-phobia and diet culture have a centuries-long history rooted in European imperial and colonial expansion (marked by resource theft and political and cultural domination) , and cultural beliefs in the superiority of white people men in particular . These are the same systems through which the dominant food industry has evolved . In her book, Fearing the Black Body : The Racial Origins of Fat Phobia , s ociologist Sabrina S t rings clearly show s how a nti-black racism (linked to the Atlantic slave trade) and the rise of religious P rotestant ism shaped anti- fat expressions around food and the body , coming together firmly in the early 19th century .
Fat-phobic languageandthe admiration of the thin body weredeployedthrough popular culture and mediaby Europeans and white Americans to create and reinforce “social distinctions between themselves and so-called greedy and fat racial Others.” Religious language linked slenderness to ‘civilized’ dispositions and moral and racial superiority, while equating fatness to signs of ungodliness, “poor constitution”, and savagery. The popularization of fat-phobia in dominant North American culture had material interests and consequences, and it played a key role in degrading Black people, so-called “hybrid whites” (e.g., Celtic Irish, southern Italians, Russians), immigrants, and poor people. As feminist and gender scholars have shown, fat-shaming language and thin obsession has targeted women by regulating and denigratingwomen’s relationships with food and their bodies. White women became the representatives and delegates of the white Protestant ideal, involuntarily assigned the role of upholding established codes of superiority—a slender woman is a disciplined, civil, dignified, and pure woman. In this way, Strings argues that race acts as a double agent “to both degrade black women and discipline white women.”[1]
The disciplining language of fat-phobia has been passed down through generations of families, and mine was not immune. Reflecting on how the main tenets of diet culture have shown up in my own life[2]—in my home, amongst friends, at school, and in the media, the messaging was everywhere. Family and friends were often comparing themselves and each other to white, thin ideals,and they tended to associate thinness withhealthand moral virtue. When I was as young as ten or eleven, I remember the shame and frustration on the faces of female friends as they declared their weight loss goals and focused on “getting thin.” I learned at a young age that weight loss was widely attributed to sexual desirability and socialstatus. Around this time, my mom began an especially intensive healthy eating’ phase in which she demonizedcertain foods and revered others.[3]This self-disciplining language of ‘good’ or ‘healthy’,versus ‘bad’or ‘unhealthy’ foods,createsa sense of shame and erodes ourpleasureand trustaroundfood. These thoughts and practices have far-reaching impacts on our internal lives and psyches.Also, these culturally constructed categories of food (as either ‘good’ or ‘bad’) are rooted in racist and classist language that centers white Euro-American foods while excluding, demonizing, or otherwise appropriating foods from non-white cultures and communities.
When I was young, my family didn’t cook or eat together regularly . Money and time were both fairly tight, but that doesn’t fully explain why our food culture felt so isolating and non communal . M y family , too often, carried and reinforced food messages based in shame, restriction , and discipline . [4] Looking back, I would describe our food atmosphere as unloving, with undertones of hostility . Food preparation and eating practices were often spoken about negatively—as an unwelcome obligation (and unwelcome calories)—rather than as a potentially joyful opportunity to bring people together. T hese characteristics are not unique to my family. They are premised on age-old sentiments that openly lov ing and find ing joy and pleasure in food implies you are weak , inferior , boorish, and unrefined. The se sentiments have evolved from—and serve the interests of—capitalist food and diet culture , but they have particular historical origins in North America under white European settler colonial ism. While particular in how they function, s ettler colonial and enslavement societies are relatedly underpinned by beliefs and practices of discipline, control, and hierarchy , alongside individualist, acquisitive, and supremacist ways of thinking .
Reflecting on Colonial Food Relations
While my ancestors may not have been the centralarchitects of colonial invasion(although I’m still unclear about the details), they were by and large colonial in their mentality and actions. Like most settler Canadians, my ancestorswere born into a mental framework of Euro-American arrogance”[5] that operates as a widespread system or method of control and underpins our dominant society. In terms of food, the settler colonial mental framework drove the project of land theft and resource accumulation, and gave riseto the dominant food system we are now steeped in. The settler colonial origins of our food system are marked bythe rise of the settlerpatriarchalfamily farmengaged in market-based production using increasingly large and expensive machines and inputs (such as seeds, chemical fertilizers, and pesticides) onrelatively large plots of land within a growing agri-businessindustry. In turn, the vast majority of agricultural land and other-than-human beings (also described as ‘resources’) in Canada have been built by and for white settler people, governments, and corporations. It is thus unsurprising that nearly all of the agricultural land in Canada is managed by white (male) settler farmers. Collectively, settler culture understands land and food as an economic resource and commodity, and this way of seeing has deeply shaped how settler societies and institutions relate to it.
Put differently, regardless of the motives of individual settlers, the structure of colonization(comprised of institutions, laws and policies, norms, and worldviews) evolved with intent and purpose. Patrick Wolfe argues that to effectively accumulate land and build an industry, peoplesand cultures currently living on those lands must be eliminated.[6]Giving the lie to the rhetoricthatCanada was “empty land” or “terra nullius,Indigenous peoples had deeplyrooted food relations and practiced complex forms of food growing and gathering for centuries before contactwith Europeans; they continue to do so today. Colonial governments createdpolicies to suppress Indigenous food growing, gathering,and harvesting while also restrictingIndigenous involvement in settler agricultureeven while colonial policy-makers argued that they wanted Indigenous people to be farmers. These policies(includingthe homestead, reserve, pass, and Métis scripsystems) played a central role in dispossessing Indigenous Nations and dismantling their food and livelihood systems.Further, they forcedcertain settlerfood cultures, habits,and relations uponIndigenous Nations.Forced starvation, food and water contamination, the prohibition of Indigenous food practices, and other food injustices that the colonial government has inflicted on Indigenous peoples are often strategies in the larger project ofsettler expansion. Indeed, settler expansion requires the concurrent undermining of Indigenous lifeways, control,and self-determination (although Indigenous peoples, communities,and nations have done a great deal to resist this).
Revisioning Food Relations: Making Joy, Love, Kin & Justice
If colonial mentalities and behaviors are conditional rather than inevitable states of a society [7] , how then can we move beyond colonial and patriarchal food relationships, both personally and collectively? I have shifted away from the perspective that sustainable food solutions must be found primarily through legal regulation (e.g. , banning or mandating certain foods or ingredients) that would change consumer behavior. This is s pecifically because these approaches have been shown to reinforce diet culture tenets of discipline, restriction , and shame, while transferring structural harms onto individuals and deploying cultures of surveillance onto those with the least power.
Taking direction from Black and Indigenous scholars, activists , and teachers —and in community with students and colleagues— I envision what it means to build a ( de )(anti) colonial and feminist relationship toward food . As Kim TallBear explains , “ in order to sustain good relations among all the beings that inhabit these lands, we must undercut settler (property) relations. Instead of killing the Indian to save the man, we must turn the ontological table.
As a first step in this life-long process, I began working toconfront my internalized racism, sexism and fat-phobia, especially with how I thought about and acted on food. By applying processes of reflection to my own life, I have been able to better understand how these internalized mental frameworks have guided my approach to food and my body. The wisdom and support ofteachersand community have shownmethe power ofpracticesand relationsgrounded in mind-body attunementand self-trust (through, for instance, an‘intuitive eating’approach)[8], starting with simply listening to and affirming my body’s own intuitions, desires, and needs. Doing this work has allowed me to begin healing shame- and control-based food behaviourswhile encouraging internal dialogue that de-links self-worth from appearance. For me, these teachings have been the most promising and sustainable path of recoveryfrompersonally destructivefood relations. In addition, they can be extrapolatedto the political.
Given our deeply unequal social conditions, we know that declaring that all people ought to just make healthy food choices’ only strengthens shame-based food messages , especially for marginalized folks and those in larger bodies . Instead, what would it mean to center the needs and well-being of those who se bodies and identities fall outside of the limited boundaries of diet culture , and who bear the brunt of white, heteronormative patriarchy? What would it mean to apply decolonial and feminist mental frameworks to our understanding of and relations to land more broadly? Wise teachers and practitioners are showing us what a different way can look like through visions, principles , and practices of collective cultural resurgence, land-based learning, reciprocity and kin-making, land reclamation, remediation and rematriation, and food sovereignty. [9] Taking these visions, principles and practices seriously allows us to work together toward emancipatory food relations rooted in personal food relations of pleasure, joy , and deep acceptance , alongside nourishing and mutually supportive family, kin ship , and collective food cultures .
Discussion Questions
• What are some of your significant experiences with growing food, working with soil, or cooking and preparing food? In what ways have these food experiences been influenced by your or another’s race, gender, or class?
• When you think about ‘Canadian’ food, what kinds of foods do you think of? What messages have you been told about ‘Canadian food’? What kinds of foods and what different communities and populations of people might these categories and messages exclude?
• How much do you know about First Nations (Anishinaabe or Haudenoshaunee, for instance), Inuit, or Métis foods, or Haitian, Jamaican, or South Asian foods? Why or why not?
Additional Resources
Brady, J., E.M. Power, M. Szabo, and J. Gingras. 2017. “Still Hungry for a Feminist Food Studies.” In Critical Perspectives in Food Studies , edited by Mustafa Koç, Anthony Winson, Jennifer Sumner, 2nd ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Carter, S. 1990. Lost Harvests: Prairie Indian Reserve Farmers and Government Policy . Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press.
———. 2016. Imperial Plots: Women, Land, and the Spadework of British Colonialism on the Canadian Prairies . Univ. of Manitoba Press.
Corntassel, J. 2012. “Re-Envisioning Resurgence: Indigenous Pathways to Decolonization and Sustainable Self-Determination.” Decolonization: Indigeneity, Education & Society 1 (1): 86–101.
Cox, J.A.R. 2020. Fat Girls in Black Bodies: Creating Communities of Our Own . Berkley: North Atlantic Books.
Daschuk, J.W. 2013. Clearing the Plains: Disease, Politics of Starvation, and the Loss of Aboriginal Life. Regina: University of Regina Press
Friedmann, H. 1978. “World Market, State, and Family Farm: Social Bases of Household Production in the Era of Wage Labor.” Comparative Studies in Society and History 20 (4): 545–86.
Kimmerer, R.W. 2015. Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants . Minneaopolis, MN: Milkweed Editions.
La Via Campesina. 2009. La Via Campesina Policy Documents.
Laduke, W. and D. Cowen. 2020. “Beyond Wiindigo Infrastructure.” The South Atlantic Quarterly 119 (2): 243–68. https://doi.org/10.1215/00382876-8177747.
Linardon, J., and S. Mitchell. 2017. “Rigid Dietary Control, Flexible Dietary Control, and Intuitive Eating: Evidence for Their Differential Relationship to Disordered Eating and Body Image Concerns.” Eating Behaviors 26: 16–22. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eatbeh.2017.01.008.
Monture, R. 2014. We Share Our Matters (Teionkwakhashion Tsi Niionkwariho:Ten): Two Centuries of Writing and Resistance at Six Nations of Grand River. University of Manitoba Press
Muthien, B. n.d. “Rematriation of Women-Centred (Feminist) Indigenous Knowledge.”
Newcomb, S. 1995. “Perspectives: Healing, Restoration, and Rematriation.” Indigenous Law News & Notes (Spring/Summer): 3.
Rogers, C.B., J.J. Taylor, N. Jafari, and J.B. Webb. 2019. “‘No Seconds for You!’: Exploring a Sociocultural Model of Fat-Talking in the Presence of Family Involving Restrictive/Critical Caregiver Eating Messages, Relational Body Image, and Anti-Fat Attitudes in College Women.” Body Image 30: 56–63. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bodyim.2019.05.004.
Rotz, S. 2017. “‘They Took Our Beads, It Was a Fair Trade, Get over It’: Settler Colonial Logics, Racial Hierarchies and Material Dominance in Canadian Agriculture.” Geoforum 82: 158–69. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoforum.2017.04.010.
Simpson, L.B. 2014. “Land as Pedagogy: Nishnaabeg Intelligence and Rebellious Transformation.” Decolonization: Indigeneity, Education & Society 3 (3): 1–25.
Mitchinson, W. 2018. Fighting Fat: Canada, 1920-1980 . Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
Whyte, K. 2017. “Food Sovereignty, Justice, and Indigenous Peoples.” Oxford Handbook on Food Ethics , 345–66.
———. 2018. “Settler Colonialism, Ecology, and Environmental Injustice.” Environment and Society: Advances in Research 9 (1): 125–44. https://doi.org/10.3167/ares.2018.090109.
Wildcat, M., M. McDonald, S. Irlbacher-Fox, and G. Coulthard. 2014. “Learning from the Land: Indigenous Land Based Pedagogy and Decolonization.” Decolonization: Indigeneity, Education & Society 3 (3): i–xv.
Wolfe, P. 2006. “Settler Colonialism and the Elimination of the Native.” Journal of Genocide Research 8 (4): 387–409. https://doi.org/10.1080/14623520601056240.
References
Alfred, T. 2005. Wasáse: Indigenous Pathways of Action and Freedom . Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
Barker, A.J. 2009. “The Contemporary Reality of Canadian Imperialism: Settler Colonialism and the Hybrid Colonial State.” American Indian Quarterly 33 (3).
Harrison, C. 2019. Anti-Diet: Reclaim Your Time, Money, Well-Being, and Happiness Through Intuitive Eating . New York: Little, Brown.
Strings, S. 2019. Fearing the Black Body: The Racial Origins of Fat Phobia . New York: NYU Press.
TallBear, K. 2019. “Caretaking Relations, Not American Dreaming.” Kalfou
Tribole, E., and E. Resch. 2020. Intuitive Eating, 4th Edition: A Revolutionary Anti-Diet Approach . New York: St. Martin’s Publishing Group.
1. Strings 2019, 6.
2. See Christy Harrison’s book, Anti-Diet: Reclaim Your Time, Money, Well-Being, and Happiness Through Intuitive Eating for a deeper analysis of diet culture.
3. I now see that my mother was merely responding to the same diet culture and fat-phobic messaging that pervades our society.
4. Both markers of broader settler colonial and European imperial cultural norms and ways of knowing.
5. Barker 2009, 341.
6. How the elimination happens is always ongoing, and it shifts according settler-Indigenous relations of mediation, action, and resistance.
7. To differentiate between social states and cultural imperatives, Barker points to Taiaiake Alfred’s passage from Wasáse (2005, 109). As a clash of “cultures,” “civilizations,” etc., this problem could be discussed in more objective theoretical terms to avoid the discomfort of personal responsibility, but in reality, the injustices we live with are a matter of choices and behaviours committed within a worldview defined by a mental framework of Euroamerican arrogance and self-justifying political ideologies set in opposition to Onkwehonwe [this term is the Kanienkehaka equivalent to “Indigenous,” meaning roughly “original or authentic peoples”] peoples and our worldviews. The basic substance of the problem of colonialism is the belief in the superiority and universality of Euro-American culture.
8. See Tribole & Resch 2020.
9. I’ve been thinking a lot about how the concept of kin-making can be applied to re-imagining and righting our relations to food, land, and the body as non-Indigenous people: “Making or creating kin can call non-Indigenous people (including those who do not fit well into the ‘settler’ category) to be more accountable to Indigenous lifeways long constituted in intimate relation with this place. Kinship might inspire change, new ways of organizing and standing together in the face of state violence against both humans and the land.” (TallBear 2019, 38) | textbooks/workforce/Food_Science_and_Agriculture/Food_Studies%3A_Matter_Meaning_Movement_(Szanto_Battista_and_Knezevic)/1.16%3A_Perspective-_Food_Relationships.txt |
Green Bean Casserole: Commercial Foods as Regional Tradition
Lucy M. Long directs the independent nonprofit Center for Food and Culture and teaches at Bowling Green State University, Ohio. She focuses on food, music, and dance as mediums for meaning, identity, community, and power. Her publications include: Culinary Tourism (2004), Regional American Food Culture (2009), Ethnic American Food Today (2015), Food and Folklore Reader (2015), Honey: A Global History (2017), and Comfort Food Meanings and Memories (2017).
Learning Outcomes
After reading and discussing this text, students should be able to:
• Describe how the environment and history of a region shapes its food traditions.
• Explain folkloristic concepts of tradition using foods that are familiar to them.
• Recognize and reflect on the relationship between commercial foods and local cultures.
Introduction
Green bean casserole, a baked dish of green beans, canned cream of mushroom soup, and canned fried onions, was invented by the Campbell Soup Company in their New Jersey test kitchen in 1955. Marketed across the United States for Thanksgiving, it has since become popular among many families in the eastern Midwest, eaten not only on holidays, but also for everyday meals, potlucks, and community gatherings. It has been embraced in this region, more so than others, as an expected customary tradition.
While it seems odd that a mass-produced, commercial food product could be considered a tradition, folklore studies (folkloristics) sees tradition as more than just old-fashioned ways from the past. From this perspective, traditions are things, behaviors, and attitudes that connect an individual to their past, place, and other people. Traditions are resources for individuals to creatively act upon those connections, expressing—and negotiating—who they are, what they value, and what tastes they prefer.
As a food tradition, green bean casserole represents the identity, ethos, and aesthetics of the culture of the eastern Midwest, all of which are shaped by the history of the region. To understand why the dish has been embraced by so many residents, we need to look at that history. It is not simply a matter of people liking it or finding it convenient to make. There is a logic behind it, in the same way there is a logic to every tradition. This is particularly important to recognize with foods that are frequently made fun of or dismissed as not being ‘serious cooking’, as often happens with green bean casserole. Understanding the logic of a food tradition helps us understand why people eat the things they do. It also helps us understand how things that start out as commercial inventions and are distributed nation-wide can come to be meaningful to specific groups in specific places.
Discovering a Tradition
I first became aware of green bean casserole (GBC) when I began teaching folklore classes at a university in northwest Ohio in the mid 1990s. I frequently included assignments about food traditions, and the dish kept coming up as a standard part of Thanksgiving dinner menus and other meals. At that time, most of the undergraduate students came from the region, which was primarily rural with heavily industrial agriculture, but also included several major cities—Toledo and Cleveland, Ohio. Many of the students felt that the dish held a special place in their own lives, and, even if they didn’t like it, it carried meaningful memories for them.
That I was surprised by the popularity of the dish is a reflection of my own cultural background. I had been living on the urban east coast where there was a high value given to fresh, nutritious, and innovative foods. GBC did not fit those expectations, nor did it fit the food ethos and aesthetics of my southern upbringing where holiday foods were made from scratch and required culinary skill and finesse. In contrast, GBC is made by opening cans of green beans, cream of mushroom soup, and fried onions, mixing the contents together, and baking the mixture in the oven, none of which is too demanding.
As a folklorist, however, I wanted to understand how this tradition came about. Folklore shares many theoretical perspectives and methods with anthropology, and Franz Boas’ concept of cultural relativism is foundational. That means that we need to understand how a practice functions and what it means within the culture using it, rather than judge it according to our own standards.
In order to gain that understanding, I conducted formal and informal interviews with students and residents in the region and did ethnographic research. I then took my observations on GBC as a tradition back to members of this regional culture to see if they agreed with my interpretations. They affirmed that the interpretations made explicit the implicit meanings of the tradition. (This kind of collaborative, reflexive fieldwork ensures the accuracy of conclusions drawn by the researcher and is common practice in folkloristics.)
Observations on a Dish
One of the first observations drawn from my fieldwork is that GBC represents the history of this area (northwest Ohio, specifically) as a cultural region. Because it was largely swampland, it was settled later than other parts of the Midwest. Starting in the 1830s, drainage systems started being developed. The rich land was perfect for farming and its flatness made it ideal for larger machinery and large swaths of crops, setting the stage for industrial agriculture.
The region also was one of unpredictable weather. High winds, tornadoes, droughts, and heavy rainfalls could destroy crops in a moment, and the continued threat of the fields flooding and returning to swamp kept farmers on their toes. This meant that nature itself was seen as a danger, something to be tamed and controlled, rather than worked with—a worldview that embraces technology and industrial agriculture.
The human history of the region also supported that worldview. Although Native American groups had used the area for hunting and fishing, permanent settlements were established by farmers from larger, German areas of Europe. They tended to have a pragmatic and conservative approach to life, valuing hands-on skills and practical knowledge. They wanted their farms to be efficient and orderly, leaving little room for romanticizing nature or “trivial” things like decorative arts. Food was expected to be the same—hearty, filling, with no surprises. Housewives were expected to be frugal and make food guaranteed to be consumed.
Commercial, industrial foods offered those kinds of guarantees, and represented the elevation of human inventiveness and technology over nature. GBC reflects that history and worldview. It also reflects the foodways aesthetic of many of the settlers, who preferred dairy-based sauces and preserved vegetables with little spice other than salt and maybe some black pepper.
GBC also offered the opportunity to participate in a nationally known food produced by a company that represented both tradition and modernity. The Campbell Soup Company began in 1869 in New Jersey by Joseph Campbell, a fruit merchant and Abraham Anderson, an icebox manufacturer. In 1897, the company invented condensed soups, selling them for a dime for a ten-ounce can. This condensed soup was displayed at the Paris Exhibition of 1900, where it won a gold medal, and the image of that medal is still shown on the can labels. In 1916, the company published a cookbook, Helps for the Hostess, that suggested ways to incorporate condensed soups into cooking. In 1931, they began radio ads, including the saying “M’m! M’m! Good!”, which then entered into popular culture. In 1934, cream of mushroom soup was invented and promoted as a sauce as well as a soup. In 1955, the green bean casserole was invented by “Campbell home economist” Dorcas Reilly. Today, more than one million cans of soup are used everyday, and the green bean casserole is one of the company’s most popular recipes. Preparing and consuming this dish, then, is a way to participate in what is perceived as an all-American national tradition.
At the same time, GBC offered the possibility for personal creativity. One of the assumptions about commercially created, processed, and distributed foods is that individuals passively accept whatever is them handed to them. It is easy to see, however, that all of us put our own tastes and identities into foods, whether they come from the industrial food system or from our grandparents’ farm. We do this by changing ingredients or cooking styles, adding flavorings, pairing foods in particular ways, and developing our own rituals and memories around them. Variation is the hallmark of tradition, and GBC is easily varied. Some cooks use commercially canned green beans; others use home-canned. Some add mushrooms, fresh onions, or ‘Italian’ spices. Some substitute crushed potato chips for the more usual Durkee-French’s crispy fried onions. One of my children made the dish completely from organic, vegan ingredients. In this way, individuals adapt the tradition to their express their own identities, tastes, and values.
Conclusions
Mass-produced, commercial foods have been a significant part of American food culture since industrialization enabled their development in the late 1800s. While they seem like the antithesis of home-cooked folk foods, they have frequently been incorporated into family and community tradition. Green bean casserole illustrates how such a product can become a meaningful tradition that expresses both regional culture and individual creativity. It suggests the processes by which all of us adapt commercial foods to fit our own histories, needs, and tastes.
Discussion Questions
• Are there any food traditions you participate in that others might find silly or distasteful? Is there a “logic” to them that explains why they make sense to you?
• Can you think of any of your foods or practices that reflect the specific place you are from or live in now? Does the natural history of that place shape those foods in any way? Can you detect the influence of the cultural history?
• What are some ways that you personalize fast food or other commercially available food? How do those foods relate to your personal tastes or identities? Do you think of those foods as traditions? Does reading about GBC make you think of your own experiences with commercial foodways as traditions?
Exercise
View this short documentary on Mexican-American food in northwest Ohio. The video focuses on the meanings of tortillas for members of that community and discusses how the artistry and skill needed to make tortillas is oftentimes overlooked. Drawing on your own experience, reflect on foods in your life that might not be appreciated by others.
Ask yourself: Does that lack of appreciation evoke embarrassment, sadness, or even humiliation? In what ways are your foods significant carriers of identity, values, or memories?
Additional Resources
Kim, S. and R.M. Livengood. 1995. “Ramen Noodles and Spam: Popular Noodles, Significant Tastes.” Digest: An Interdisciplinary Study of Food and Folklore 15: 2-11.
Long, L.M., ed. 2015. Food and Folklore: A Reader. New York: Bloomsbury Press.
Long, L.M. 2007. “Green Bean Casserole and Midwestern Identity: A Regional Foodways Aesthetic and Ethos.” Midwestern Folklore 33 (1): 29–44.
Long, L.M. 1999. “Food Demonstrations in the Classroom: Practicing Ethnography and the Complexities of Identity with Tamales in Northwest Ohio.” Digest 19: 46–52.
Long, L.M. 2004. “Learning to Listen to the Food Voice: Recipes as Expressions of Identity and Carriers of Memory.” Food, Culture, and Society 7 (1): 118–122.
Long, L.M. 2001. “Nourishing the Academic Imagination: The Use of Food in Teaching Concepts of Folkloristics.” Food and Foodways9 (3-4): 235–262.
For more on folklore as a discipline and profession, see the website of the American Folklore Society.
Also see the Center for Food and Culture for more discussion of folklore approaches, as well as our YouTube channel for short documentaries on food traditions in northwest Ohio. | textbooks/workforce/Food_Science_and_Agriculture/Food_Studies%3A_Matter_Meaning_Movement_(Szanto_Battista_and_Knezevic)/1.17%3A_Case-_Food_and_Folklore.txt |
Household Foodwork: An Essential Service, Essentially Devalued
Mary Anne Martin is a White settler woman and adjunct faculty member in the Master of Arts in Sustainable Studies program at Trent University. Her interests include household food insecurity, the impact of community-based food initiatives, and intersections between gender and food systems. She actively participates in food policy initiatives and is dedicated to fostering social change through campus-community collaborations.
Michael Classens is a White settler man and Assistant Professor in the School of the Environment at University of Toronto. He is broadly interested in areas of social and environmental justice, with an emphasis on these dynamics within food systems. As a teacher, researcher, learner, and activist he is committed to connecting theory with practice, and scholarship with socio-ecological change. Michael lives in Toronto with his partner, three kids, and dog named Sue.
Learning Outcomes
After reading and discussing this text, students should be able to:
• Explain the concept, framing, and dynamics of household foodwork
• Name ways in which household foodwork is organized through structures of inequity such as gender, race, and class.
• Articulate ways in which individuals’ foodwork and food consumption are inextricable from broader structures and interdependencies.
• Identify possible paths towards a fairer food system.
Introduction
How much thought do you give to activities like getting groceries, making meals, and washing dishes? These forms of household foodwork, while so necessary on an ongoing basis for households to survive and for society to function, nonetheless tend to go relatively unnoticed and undervalued, both in the home and well beyond it. They can seem unremarkable, taken-for-granted, almost invisible—at least until one has to do them. And because this work isn’t measured or counted, it doesn’t count in national accounting systems of economic value, like the Gross Domestic Product (GDP)—which, in turn, can make this work even less noticeable in homes and communities.[1]
Household foodwork is defined here as all the tasks and effort involved for a household in planning for, acquiring, preparing, serving, consuming, cleaning up, storing, and disposing of food. It includes not only more obvious, practical tasks (e.g., food shopping or washing dishes), but also cognitive tasks (e.g., determining what food to buy or how to use a recipe), emotional work (e.g., responding to household members’ needs for nurturing or celebration through food) and managerial work (e.g., enlisting the assistance of others with foodwork). The way that households are organized (e.g., nuclear family members, extended family members, individuals living on their own, collections of roommates) affects what household foodwork looks like.
Overall, household foodwork activities revolve primarily around the home and occur on an unpaid basis. However, they are by no means confined to just domestic spaces or non-monetary practices. Feeding households frequently means engaging with businesses (by phone, online, or in public spaces) to procure food and related goods and services. More than ever, people today buy their food instead of growing or making it.[2] This means that the kinds of work that were more common 150 years ago—like growing vegetables, raising chickens, preserving jams, baking bread, or cooking meals—are more often outsourced to those such as farmers, processors, retailers, restaurants, and, increasingly, takeout delivery services. Our ability to eat almost anything relies on other people.
Food for Foodwork
It may go without saying, but at a bare minimum, household foodwork requires food and the means to acquire it. Even though food is one of the most basic human needs, it is still treated as a commodity. That is, food is usually bought and sold, like so many less-important things in our lives. This means, of course, that people with money are seen as “deserving” food, but those without money aren’t. Instead, people who can’t afford food often live with food insecurity, “the inadequate or insecure access to food because of financial constraints.”[3] They may worry a lot about affording food, go without nutritious food, or skip meals entirely—even though many countries have committed to the right of all their citizens to adequate food.[4]As one example, in Canada, a prosperous country, 12.7% of households (or at least 4.4 million people) were living with food insecurity before the global COVID pandemic, while 10.5% of households, or over 35 million people in the U.S., were food insecure.[5]
Paradoxically, as Figure 1 illustrates, some of those with the utmost responsibility for household foodwork, such as parents, often don’t have adequate food with which to accomplish it. In fact, in Canada, the presence of children under the age of 18 raises a household’s risk of food insecurity from 11.4% to 16.2%. Households of lone parents, in particular, experience much higher rates of food insecurity. In fact, 21.6% of male lone-parent households and an astounding 33.1% of female lone-parent households experience food insecurity.[6] Having children means both added expenses and more challenges in maintaining stable and well-paid employment. Furthermore, raising children on one’s own typically means that there is no additional adult to earn an income for a household. And women are much more likely to earn less than men and to assume primary caregiving roles for children.[7] Overall, parenting status, partner status, and gender all affect food insecurity. That is, who you are, who you live with, and who you care for all affect whether your food needs will be met. The individualized assumption that every person should be able to earn enough money to buy all the food that they need does not consider the relationships and social structures of inequality that affect their lives.
Household Foodwork, an Essential Service
The right to food itself is critical for, but not the same as, the right to eat. Indeed, a package of rice or dried beans is not immediately consumable. What often gets lost in thinking about food access is the essential labour required to literally put food on the table. Food itself generally needs to be transformed through the use of physical resources (e.g., tools and energy sources for cooking) and the labour of acquiring, preparing, and serving the food in ways that meet eaters’ needs. Since human survival and well-being utterly depend on food, they utterly depend on the foodwork, within or outside the home, that makes food edible. Given people’s varying skills, capacities, and circumstances, it is rare for any person to be completely self-reliant in producing, processing, and preparing all the food that they require.
The start of the COVID pandemic shone a harsh light on the essentiality of household foodwork as expectations for it grew. Household foodworkers, primarily women, faced increased challenges as children required more meals at home, elementary and high school students could no longer access food from programs at school, some supermarket shelves emptied, and all public places, including those selling or donating food, were seen as sites of potential COVID exposure. Foodwork extended to disinfecting groceries, waiting in lines outside grocery stores, and generally reconciling household food needs with the pandemic-related risks and regulations pertaining to acquiring food. This work has been crucial for ensuring that people remain alive and healthy.
Household Foodworkers: Some plates are fuller than others
Despite how necessary it is, household foodwork cannot be separated from a political context in which power, money, food access, and effort are unequally distributed. Social structures of inequity, such as sexism, racism, and poverty, combine so that both the efforts required and the resources available for household foodwork are unevenly assigned. For example, even with significant increases in women working in paid employment[8] and men doing domestic work,[9] women continue to perform the bulk of foodwork.[10] However, except for some mothers’ ability to breastfeed, actual foodwork abilities are not limited to just women. This discrepancy means that mothers in particular, especially those with low incomes, face difficult choices between providing in-person care for their children and participating in paid employment to afford to feed them.
Racialized poverty and racialized food system labour interfere with food access and the opportunity for adults to be physically present and able to feed their own families. Food is persistently kept out of reach for the 28.2% of Indigenous and 28.9% of Black individuals who live in food insecure households.[11] Racialized workers disproportionately fill low-wage, precarious jobs in food retail while their employers post huge profits.[12] Furthermore, a long history continues in which migrant women of colour support their own families in their home countries by providing household foodwork and other caring labour in the homes of North American, mostly White, families.[13] Similarly, (primarily) male migrant agricultural labourers work in underpaid, insecure, and unsafe conditions to feed Canadians, in order to financially support the vital needs of their own families back in their home countries. In addition to these barriers to having the ‘privilege’ to do household foodwork for one’s own family, foodwork can also be impeded by difficulty in having access to culturally specific foods, stigma around the consumption of certain foods, and a lack of understanding by health and teaching professionals regarding the appropriateness of particular foods and food practices.
Foodwork as Heartwork
Sociologist Mignon Duffy states “We should be able to value relationship without reducing care to the warm and fuzzy.”[14] The ways in which household foodwork’s concrete physical necessity and its ‘fuzzier’ emotional and social dimensions intertwine make it hard to perceive its value. Connecting with loved ones by understanding and responding to their food needs places household foodwork activities within social relationships. Here, these activities transform into caring labour, a medium for expressing love, affection, creativity, playfulness, and commitment—but also a source of judgement, guilt, shame, frustration, and anxiety. The breadth of these emotions relates in part to the dual meaning of “caring.” The word can simultaneously act as both a verb and an adjective, both an action and a personality characteristic—so that the work of caring for fuses with the emotion of caring about and the state of being a caring person.[15] The result is that work that comes from the heart (or that is expected to) is easily exploitable and not fully regarded as work. It holds a contradictory position where it is necessary and demanded, but not fully seen or valued. This invisibilization of care operates so effectively that it blocks questions about whether those responsible for foodwork should even be supported in doing so—leaving those with limited resources having to fend for themselves.
What happens when resources are not adequate to meet needs
Because food is treated as a commodity, people without sufficient money to pay for it must be resourceful in finding ways to access it. The low-income mother who drew the dollar signs and almost-empty cupboards and fridge in Figure 2 explained that money is the main reason that she cannot gain access to enough food for her family.[16] Insufficient incomes increase foodwork in many ways: walking long distances for groceries; determining how to make meals from food bank offerings; calculating how to stretch an inadequate budget; and helping children feel valued when ‘special’ foods are not affordable. A significant portion of the foodwork of marginalized women involves acting as “shock absorbers”[17] to bridge gaps between household food needs and available resources.
As an example, a low-income mother’s drawing in Figure 3 illustrates many of her experiences regarding food in her life.[18] With the ball, she shows the delicate act of balancing considerations around healthy food, affordability of food, other costs (like housing), social isolation, and time demands. At the same time, she recognizes that it is not entirely her responsibility to reconcile these issues and that policy makers (at the “institution”) play a role in allocating money for necessary resources.
When household resources are limited, women often assume added responsibility to make ends meet by using their own resourcefulness. This responsibilization is shown as they stretch food by using sales and coupons, using less expensive ingredients, growing or preserving their own food, and going without food themselves. Women also try to free up more funds for food through juggling other expenses, reducing medication consumption, and putting off expenditures like new clothes or haircuts. They participate in informal economic activities such as bartering, engaging in odd jobs, and selling personal items. This bridging between resources and need also occurs through risky, punishable, and demeaning behaviour, such as asking friends and family for help, applying to social assistance programs, accessing food banks, engaging in adult entertainment or sex work, and participating in dishonest or criminal activity.[19] These kinds of attempts to bridge household food needs with the resources for them clearly demonstrate the cost to women that results from ‘having to figure it out.’ The sense that people are on their own in meeting their basic needs and those of their loved ones demonstrates a form of individualism.
Beyond the Individualizing of Household Foodwork: No eater is an island
Although household foodwork is necessary for human well-being and for all the activities we do in the world, the responsibilities and resources for this work are not distributed evenly. Women continue to take on the brunt of this labour, while many people who work within the industrial food system, especially women and people who are racialized, are prevented from directly or adequately feeding their own families. Food access is far from assured, even in rich countries. For example, despite Canada’s repeated commitments, food insecurity is a growing crisis, especially affecting those who are Indigenous, Black, and/or parenting children. For some, making foodwork tenable comes at a distinct cost, which is often paid by women. Throughout, we see how care is invisibilized and how responsibility rests heavily on individuals to “make it work.” Moving forward towards a fairer food system that values what is essential means addressing an over-emphasis on the individual.
Making the normal abnormal
An important first step in imagining alternatives for ensuring that people can eat what they need is to rethink or de-normalize assumptions. It is important to question, for example: Why are food prices and incomes so incompatible that they make food inaccessible for many people? Are the poverty and food insecurity of single mothers, Indigenous people, and racialized people unchangeable? What is the role of the state, if not to ensure its people’s well-being? Moving towards more equitable futures requires questioning current realities.
Where is interdependence working?
The dominant food system sees people as detached from one another and privileges the choices of individuals—instead of supporting projects that redefine food as being for the collective use and enjoyment of all. Beyond questioning the status quo, it is important to look for existing examples of better alternatives and to discover those places where people work collectively and interdependently. Food co-ops, community kitchens, neighbourhood food exchanges, and community gardens are some of those places.[20]
No eater is an island
Food systems are utterly dependent on human foodworkers and non-human actors (e.g. animals, water, trees). To ensure that everyone can eat sufficiently requires questioning who really depends on whom, and embracing the reciprocity and interdependence of all actors (human and non-human) in the food system. It means thinking about the people, animals, waters, and plants that all played a role in food reaching our plates.
Working on our relationship with the state
The state has an important role to play in ensuring that people can eat. Policies around income, agriculture, land planning, and even housing and childcare influence whether people can access the food that they need. Within the food system, it is important to see ourselves not just as consumers. We also need to see ourselves as citizens with both the right to food and the responsibility to hold the state accountable for ensuring it. This can mean informing ourselves, voting, contacting elected officials, and educating others about the policies that are necessary.
Discussion questions
• What are some ways in which food access and household foodwork are related?
• Does it matter who does the dishes? Why or why not?
• What are some examples of exploiting, devaluing, externalizing, or invisibilizing the resources and labour that support the global industrial food system?
• What kinds of policies, programs, initiatives, or practices might support household foodwork?
Exercise
Think about a time when you had to be responsible for your own meal(s). How does that compare with times when you were part of a collective food experience? What was or was not possible in each situation?
With a partner, share your experiences and discuss similarities and differences. Identify some of the key factors that shaped what was or was not possible in each situation.
Additional Resources
Ontario Basic Income Network. (2021). The Case for Basic Income Series
Two cases here are particularly relevant to this text: The Case for Basic Income for Food Security ; and The Case for Basic Income for Women.
Tarasuk, V. & Mitchell, A. (2020). Household food insecurity in Canada, 2017-18. Toronto: Research to identify policy options to reduce food insecurity (PROOF).
Waring, M. (1999). Counting for nothing: What men value and what women are worth (2nd Ed.). Toronto and Buffalo: University of Toronto Press.
References
Arat-Koç, S. 2006. “Whose Social Reproduction? Transnational Motherhood and Challenges to Feminist Political Economy”. In Social Reproduction, Edited by Meg Luxton and Kate Bezanson, 75–92. Montreal and Kingston: McGill-Queens University Press.
Bakan, A. and D. Stasiulis . 2005. Negotiating Citizenship: Migrant Women in Canada and the Global System . Toronto: University of Toronto Press .
Beagan, B., G.E. Chapman, A. D’Sylva,and B.R. Bassett. 2008. “‘It’s Just Easier for Me to Do It’: Rationalizing the Family Division of Foodwork.” Sociology42 (4): 653–671.
Block, S.B. and S. Dhunna. 2020. “COVID-19: It’s Time to Protect Frontline Workers.” Behind the Numbers, March 31, 2020.
DeVault, M.L. 1991. Feeding the Family:The Social Organization of Caring as Gendered Work. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Duffy, M. 2011. Making Care Count: A Century of Gender, Race, and Paid Care Work. Piscataway, NJ: Rutgers University Press.
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). 2021. “The Right to Food around the Globe.”
Gibson-Graham, J.K. 2006. The End of Capitalism (As We Knew It): A Feminist Critique of Political Economy. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press.
Houle, P., M. Turcotte and M. Wendt. 2017. “Changes in Parents’ Participation in Domestic Tasks and Care for Children from 1986 to 2015,” Statistics Canada.
Jaffe, J. and M. Gertler. 2006. “Victual Vicissitudes: Consumer Deskilling and the (Gendered) Transformation of Food Systems.” Agriculture and Human Values, 23: 143–162. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10460-005-6098-1
Martin, M.A. 2018. “‘At Least I Can Feel Like I’ve Done My Job As a Mom’: Mothers on Low Incomes, Household Food Work, and Community Food Initiatives,” PhD dissertation. Trent University.
Martin, M.A., M. Classens, and A. Agyemang. 2021. “
Moon, J. 2018. “Supermarkets Are Making Huge Profits at a Time When Food Prices Are Rising and Canadians Are Suffering, Advocates Say,” St. Catharines Standard, November 18, 2020.
Moyser, M. and A. Burlok. 2018. “Time Use: Total Work Burden, Unpaid Work, and Leisure.” Statistics Canada.
Neysmith, S., M. Reitsma-Street, S.B. Collins, and E. Porter. 2012. Beyond Caring Labour to Provisioning Work. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
Neysmith, S., M. Reitsma-Street, S. Baker Collins, and E. Porter. 2004. “Provisioning: Thinking About all of Women’s Work.” Canadian Women’s Studies 23 (3/4): 192–8.
Pelletier, R. & M. Patterson. 2019. “The Gender Wage Gap in Canada: 1998 to 2018.” Statistics Canada.
Rideout, K., G. Riches, A. Ostry, D. Buckingham, and R. MacRae. 2007. “Bringing Home the Right to Food in Canada: Challenges and Possibilities for Achieving Food Security.” Public Health Nutrition10 (6): 566–573. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1368980007246622567
Silva, C.. 2020. “Food Insecurity In The U.S. By The Numbers.” September 27, 2020,
Statistics Canada. 2020. “Family Matters: Sharing Housework among Couples in Canada: Who Does What?” February 19, 2020.
Tarasuk, V. and A. Mitchell. 2020. “Household food insecurity in Canada 2017-18.” Toronto: Research to identify policy options to reduce food insecurity (PROOF).
Waring, M. 1999. Counting for nothing: What men value and what women are worth (2nd Ed.). Toronto and Buffalo: University of Toronto Press.
1. See Waring 1999.
2. Jaffe & Gertler 2006.
3. Tarasuk & Mitchell 2020.
4. FAO 2021.
5. This included participation by all provinces and territories but excluded some groups like people living on First Nations reserves, in prisons or in care facilities. Tarasuk & Mitchell 2020; Silva 2020.
6. Tarasuk & Mitchell 2020.
7. Pelletier & Patterson 2019; Moyser & Burlok/Statistics Canada 2018.
8. From 1976 to 2015, the employment rate for women (25 to 54 years) rose from 48.7% to 77.5%. Houle et al. 2017
9. Moyser & Burlok/Statistics Canada 2018.
10. Beagan et al. 2008; A study conducted by Statistics Canada among parents found that fathers preparing meals rose from 29% in 1986 to 59% in 2015 and that mothers preparing meals remained high but dropped somewhat during this time from 86% to 81%. Houle et al. 2017; A study of opposite-sex couples living in the same household found that meal preparation was done more often by women (56%), but that dishwashing was done equally by men and women. Statistics Canada 2020; These studies do not consider the full complement of foodwork involved in feeding a household.
11. Tarasuk & Mitchell 2020.
12. Block & Dhunna 2020; Moon 2020.
13. Arat-Koç 2006.
14. Duffy 2011, 40.
15. See DeVault 1991; Neysmith et al. 2004.
16. Martin et al. 2021.
17. Bakan & Stasiulis 2005, 24.
18. Martin 2018.
19. Martin 2018, 7-9; Neysmith et al. 2012.
20. See J.K. Gibson-Graham 2006. | textbooks/workforce/Food_Science_and_Agriculture/Food_Studies%3A_Matter_Meaning_Movement_(Szanto_Battista_and_Knezevic)/1.18%3A_Perspective-_Household_Foodwork.txt |
Your kitchen is a laboratory
Joshua Steckley is a PhD candidate in the Department of Geography at the University of Toronto. His research focuses on the commodification of nature and how capital accumulation both shapes and is shaped by biophysical processes. He is also an avid urban beekeeping in Gatineau, Quebec, which explains his fondness for mead.
Learning Outcomes
After reading and discussing this text, students should be able to:
• Explain how alcoholic drinks were historically a means for consuming calories and nutrients.
• Name the basic biochemical reactions that occur during fermentation.
• Ferment honey into mead using simple ingredients and equipment available from their own kitchens.
How to turn honey into mead
Your kitchen is a laboratory. It is the setting for daily chemical reactions that we often take for granted. Saut éed onions, toasted bread, and seared barbecue meat, for example, produce their cacophony of flavours when sugars and proteins are broken down through what is known as the Maillard reaction . Frying an egg initiates the process of ‘denaturation,’ in which heat unspools the egg’s intricately folded proteins to produce those deliciously spongy tastes and textures. Kneading bread smashes glutenin and gliadin together to produce gluten, while the baker’s yeast consumes carbohydrate sugars, expelling carbon dioxide and causing the dough to rise.
But today, we are going to use your kitchen laboratory to set of a biochemical relation that will produce a special drink—so special that the Norse god Odin claimed it bestowed the gift of knowledge to all those who drank it. We are going to turn honey into mead.Mead is perhaps the oldest alcoholic drink known to humankind, and it was (and is) everywhere.Archeologists have found remnants of mead in Northern Chinese pottery dating to 7,000 BCE; in Europe and Egypt, theydate mead consumption back to 2,500 BCE.[1]While other fermented drinks like wine, sake, and beer require particular environments to produce the grapes, rice, or grains, mead can be made wherever honeybees have access to flowering plants, bringing the nectar back to their hive, and regurgitatingit back and forth to one another until it is transformed into honey.
Mead is nothing else but fermented honey. It is also how we acquired the word honeymoon , since family and friends would make sure the newlywed couple had enough of this ‘honey wine’ to last a month. And yes, mead contains alcohol. While we might connect mead with drunken medieval feasts, much like a keg of beer at a house party, we often forget that fermented drinks have historically provided all sorts of nutrients and enzymes, as well as packing a hefty caloric punch.[2] Alcoholic beverages were not simply a means to a drunken end, but rather a means of sustenance. Beer, for example, was considered essential to pre-industrial English households and thought to be a caloric necessity for anyone engaged in arduous agricultural labour.[3] In addition to the calories, fermentation also synthesizes B vitamins , which are necessary for human health. When some puritanical colonial forces, for instance, forbade I ndigenous population s from drinking traditional fermented drinks, they began to suffer nutrient deficiencies.[4]
Mead’s long history—as well as its calories, nutrients, and alcohol—are available to you right now; you only need two simple ingredients and some patience. The first thing you will need, unsurprisingly, is honey. But not just any honey. You need “raw” or unpasteurized honey. Pasteurization is the process of applying heat to liquids to eliminate potentially harmful microorganisms. Unlike milk, however, for which pasteurization is meant to destroy potentially harmful pathogens, pasteurizing honey is largely a means to keep honey in its liquid form, prevent crystallization, and thereby increase shelf life in grocery store aisles. (As a side note, crystallized honey has not gone bad; it has only changed its form. If you want it soft and syrupy again, simply heat it up.) Raw or unpasteurized honey has many health benefits,as it possesses natural yeasts and antioxidants that have been shown to reduce stress, treat wounds, and reduce cold symptoms.[5]For our mead, we want those natural yeasts; they are the microorganisms that will eat up the honey’s sugars and ferment our drink.
But if honey contains yeasts and other bacteria, you might be thinking, doesn ’t it ever go bad? Honey’s moisture content is typically around 17%. At this low level, the yeasts lie dormant, unable to eat all the sugars that envelop them; it’s as if you were surrounded by chocolate cakes after you’ve just come back from a long run—you’d probably rather have a glass of water before you cut yourself a slice. The bees, however, need this low water content to preserve their honey stores. Inside the hive, they will actually use their wings to fan the honey, evaporating the moisture to just the right amount, at which point they will seal the honey with wax capping, and keep it stored as food throughout the long , flowerless winter. We humans have figured out bees can produce more honey than they need for the winter, and thus essentially steal their excess throughout the summer and fall. Once in human hands, we slice off the wax caps, spin out the honey, filter it , and bottle it. That’s the unpasteurized honey we want.
So, how are we going to set off this biochemical reaction? Ingredient two : water. Boost the moisture content above 17% , and the yeast will start to feast on the sugars around it . There is no specific measurement of water to add, but I’ve found a ratio of four parts water to one part honey makes delicious mead . Find a nice jar that will hold the quantity of mead you are making.
I am not a proponent of bottled water, but you may want some for this experiment. Municipal tap water will have traces of chlorine in it,which may prevent the fermentation process. Also, we will re-use the plastic bottles later when we bottle the mead.
Stir the water and honey together until well mixed. Take a coffee filter (or some kind of cloth) and an elastic band and cover up the jar. This will protect our concoction from the curious fruit flies that will be attracted to the fermenting scent.
What’s going on in our bottle? Very soon, the yeast willstart to devour the sugar. And we all know that whatever goes in, must come out. Fortunately for us, yeast excrete alcohol and carbon dioxide. You maybe thinking, wait, does that mean when we use yeast in a bread dough, we’re making carbon dioxide and alcohol?Yes!The same carbon dioxide that makes your drink fizz is the same carbon dioxide that makes your bread rise. And that musty smell of your rising bread? Thats the alcohol. Fortunatelyor unfortunatelywhen you bake bread,you also evaporate the alcohol.
Ourmead is not going to have a high alcohol content, only one or two percent. We are making what is called a green meador ashort mead.”This means we won’t have to wait months or years,but can enjoy it after ten to fourteen days. Honeycontains two types of simple sugars: glucose and fructose. Once the water is added, the yeast will spend the next few days or so eating up the glucose which is evidenced by the carbon dioxide bubbles youll see drifting to the top. If you want to boost the alcohol content you will have to wait for the yeast to consume the fructose, but it will only do slowly under anaerobic conditions. This requires some more equipment like carboys and air locks. But the point of this video is not to teach you how to increase alcohol content! You can do that research on your own.
After a few days you should see some bubbles rising to the top and may notice a fermented scent. If you don ’t see any bubbles or smell any smells, give the mead a good stir.
Stir the mead every day or two and listen for the beautiful fizzing chorus of yeast excrement. Don’t hesitate to take a sip to see how the flavours are changing.
After ten to fourteen days, depending on the temperature and your own personal taste, your mead is ready to drink. If the mead tastes like you basically mixed honey and water together, something probably prevented the fermentation. If by chance it tastes vinegary, it means the alcoholic fermentation has transformed into acetic fermentation where other bacteria and oxygen are now turning your alcohol into vinegar. Either way, you will have to start again. If,however it has a deep, rich, slightly tangy, effervescent taste, then you’re ready for the next step:bottling.
Grab those empty plastic water bottles and, using a funnel, pour the mead into the bottles, leaving about an inch of air space at the top. Ever so slightly, squeeze the bottle and fasten the lid tightly. Leave the bottles on the counter for another two or three days and let the yeast continue to produce carbon dioxide. Your bottles will re-expand and become firm. (You can use glass “swing top” bottles to bottle your mead, but the increasing carbon dioxide will pressurize the glass bottle, and if you’re not careful, it will explode. Stick to plastic bottles for now.)
After a few days, place the plastic bottles in the fridge. The fermentation will slow considerably, and you can enjoy the mead at your leisure. Or, if you are impatient, you can skip bottling all together. Pour the mead from the jar into a bunch of glasses for your closest family and friends and relish in the knowledge that you are imbibing a drink of the gods, thousands of years old, and it all came from your kitchen.
Cheers.
Watch the video:
A link to an interactive elements can be found at the bottom of this page.
References
Allsop, K.A. and Miller, J.B. 1996. “Honey revisited: a reappraisal of honey in pre-industrial diets.” British Journal of Nutrition 75 (4): 513–520
Blasa, M., Candiracci, M., Accorsi, A., Piacentini, M. P., Albertini, M. C., & Piatti, E. 2006. Raw Millefiori honey is packed full of antioxidants. Food Chemistry 97 (2), 217–222.
Buhner, Stephen Harrod. 1998. Sacred and Herbal Healing Beers: The Secrets of Ancient Fermentation. Boulder, CO: Siris Books.
Thompson, E.P. 1963. The Making of the English Working Class. New York: Pantheon Books.
Steinkraus, K. 2013. “Nutritionally significant indigenous foods involving an alcoholic fermentation.” In C. Gastanieu, ed. Fermented Food Beverages in Nutrition. Elsevier. 36–57
Vidrih, R., Hribar, J. 2016. “Mead: The Oldest Alcoholic Beverage.” In K. Kristbergsson and J. Oliveira (eds.) Traditional Foods. Integrating Food Science and Engineering Knowledge Into the Food Chain, vol 10. Boston, MA: Springer.
1. Vidrih & Hribar 2016, 329.
2. Allsop & Miller 1996, 514.
3. Thompson 1963, 317.
4. Steinkraus 2013, 55.
5. Blasa et al. 2006, 218. | textbooks/workforce/Food_Science_and_Agriculture/Food_Studies%3A_Matter_Meaning_Movement_(Szanto_Battista_and_Knezevic)/1.19%3A_Creative-_Making_Mead.txt |
Knowing and Eating: A brief Western history of nutrition paradigms
Alissa Overend is an Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology at MacEwan University, in Amiskwacîwâskahikan, Treaty 6 territory. Her teaching and research interests include critical food studies, the sociology of health and illness, contemporary theory, and social inequality. Her book, Shifting Food Facts: Dietary Discourse in a Post-Truth Culture, was recently published with Routledge’s Critical Food Studies series.
Learning Outcomes
After reading and discussing this text, students should be able to:
• Explain the historical relativity of nutritional paradigms.
• Differentiate between humoural medicine, the doctrine of signatures, and modern nutritionism.
• Argue for the ways our understandings of food change our relationships to it.
Introduction[1]
As a sociologist, I have long maintained that food is cultural. Food ties us[2] to our childhoods, to our families and their ancestral histories, and to our cultures and their traditions. What we eat today—our tastes and distastes—is a reflection of those cultural histories. What we eat today is also a reflection of our access to various foods, whether through geographical location and food availability, or through the social determinants of health, such as income, affordable housing, and job security, which affect our ability to procure and prepare food. While food can be studied through a range of disciplinary lenses (psychological, anthropological, biological, etc.), this chapter analyzes how historic framings of food shape contemporary understandings of health. To understand why we eat the way we eat, we also have to examine the changing social and historical paradigms in and through which we come to know food, and, correspondingly, frame health and nutrition. This chapter offers a broad overview of three paradigm shifts in Western nutritional wisdom: (a) ancient humourism; (b) the Middles Ages and the Doctrine of Signatures; and (c) modern nutritionism. Knowledge about food is contingent and changes over time, depending on the values circulating at any given historical moment.
A brief Western history of food knowledge
Ancient and Renaissance food knowledge
For more than 15 centuries in much of Europe and its colonies, the dominant understanding of food and nutrition stemmed from the theories of humoural medicine. Although the ancient Greek physician, Hippocrates, did not put forth the complete theory of humoural medicine, he is often credited for attributing foods with ‘heating’, ‘cooling’, ‘moistening’, and ‘drying’ properties. It was Galen, a Greek physician and disciple of Hippocrates, who advanced and popularized the idea that disease states were the result of an imbalance of the bodily humours—black bile, yellow bile, blood, and phlegm—which were considered central for the body’s regulation, maintenance, and function.[3] Humoural medicine was part of a broader dietetic understanding of health and medicine held by the ancient Greeks. Dietetics were a set of rules that regulated the care of the self, including eating, drinking, sex, exercise, and sleep. These rules were not the same for everyone—labourers and upper-class bodies were seen to tolerate different foods. Likewise, athletes and scholarshad divergentdietetic needs. Unlike today’s almost singular focus on the relationship between health and nutrition, dietetics was aholistic approach—a mode living that combined health, medical, and philosophical orientationsto everyday life.[4]
Given the holistic framework of dietetics, it is unsurprising that according to humoural logic, diet was both the cause and treatment of disease. The principal philosophy behind humoural medicine was allopathic—to rebalance the humours by consuming foods with the opposite properties to the symptoms described. For example, a physician would attempt to correct phlegmatic symptoms (i.e., those that were considered a result of an excess of cold and moist properties) with foods that were classified as hot and dry.[5] Likewise, a fever would be rebalanced by cooling foods and liquids (a method still used today). Eating foods with opposite properties to one’s temperament was essential to maintain balance, part of a dietetic regimen of living.[6] While humoural theory was widely accepted from ancient times into the Renaissance, the classification of hot/cold, wet/dry foods was more complicated and widely debated.
Detailed in his book Eating Right in the Renaissance, Ken Albala documents how humoural properties were foremost categorized through taste.[7] The tongue was the first indicator—a kind of litmus test—for effects foods would have on the rest of the body. Black pepper, which burns or warms the tongue, was presumed to have similar heating effects as it passed through the body; sour foods, such as lemons, were considered cooling and constricting (or drying) to the tongue, and were assumed to have similar effects on the rest of the body; and cooling foods, such as cucumbers, were classified as cooling and moistening to the tongue, and were thought to hydrate the body. In addition to taste, a food’s colour was also used to determine its humoural properties. Red and yellow foods, such as bell peppers, were considered heating; green foods, like lettuce or spinach, were considered cooling; and foods pallid in colour, such as rice and bread, were considered to have neutral effects on the body.[8] Another consideration in humoural food classification was the physical environment in which foods grew. Marsh plants, for example, were considered cool and wet, while mountain plants were cool and dry.[9]
Cooking methods, food order, and food pairings also played important roles in the ancient and Renaissance understanding of food’s effects on the body and on health. Potentially harmful foods such as raw meats or eggs were corrected (or balanced) by appropriate cooking methods and by combining foods to counterbalance any insufficiencies. The latter is one explanation for why meats, which were considered heating, were often combined with vegetables, which were cooling, and why denser red meats were often broken down into soups and stews, rendering them easier to digest.[10] Wheat also had to be corrected (or balanced) by salt and leavening processes, rendering it more easily digestible and absorbed by the body. Food order was also debated at great length. The general consensus among ancient and Renaissance physicians was to start with “opening foods,” which is one explanation for why European cuisines tend to start with cooling salads. Jams and cheeses, because of their texture, were seen to “close the meal” by providing a plug between the stomach and the mouth, and likewise still function in many European cuisines as desserts.[11]
By the 19th century, through mass migration and colonization, humoural medicine had spread throughout the various parts of the world, blending with the traditional knowledge systems of local cultural groups. Humoural medicine and its associated theories of food remain one of the longest-standing documented knowledge systems historically and cross-culturally. As E.N. Anderson notes, “by the mid-20th century, the humoral theorof food was the most widespread belief on earth, far outrunning any single religion.”[12] While the bulk of contemporary Western food knowledge has drifted away from humourism, remnants of this 3,000-year-old system still linger. Many people continue to treat the common cold (the name of the ailment itself a vestige of humoural thinking) with a hot soup, refer to a laid back or ‘chill’ person as someone who is as “cool as a cucumber”, and use the word “hot” as a synonym for spicy.[13] Moreover, distant cousins of the humoural system are still widely used by traditional Chinese, Ayurvedic, Indigenous, and some holistic dietary practices where food and diet are used to counteract (or rebalance) disease states. The major Western epistemological shift in food knowledge that followed humoural medicine was the folk concept of the Doctrine of Signatures (DOS). The DOS emerged out of the spiritual paradigm of the late Middles Ages and circulated as an alternative model to humoural theory into the Renaissance period.
Middle Ages and the Doctrine of Signatures
While Galen and Hippocrates subscribed to the healing epistemology of antipathy (i.e., opposite cures opposite), Paracelsus—a 16th-century Swiss physician and alchemist—and his followers espoused the healing philosophy of sympathy (i.e., like cures like).[14] In the spiritual societies of the Middle Ages, the guiding premise of the DOS was that the divine creator had endowed signs-in-nature (i.e., signatures) that pointed healers to the curative potential of foods and plants. Unlike humoural medicine, which focused on a food’s taste, colour, and location of growth, the theory DOS contended that a food’s shape provided clues to the body part or ailment it was intended to heal.[15] A walnut, for example, which resembles the brain, was widely used to treat head ailments; gingerroot, which resembles the stomach, was widely used to treat indigestion and other stomach ailments.
A number of European scholars, including pioneers in modern toxicology and botany, were attracted to the DOS. Paracelsus was one of the earliest proponents of the DOS and contended that humoural theory was too limited to account for the scope and complexity of human ailments. Like many of that era, he maintained that health and eating were best achieved in union with the heavens.[16] Paracelsus, like other supporters of the DOS, believed that the spiritual essence of all things (including food) were best understood by studying their material form as presented in nature. For scholars of that generation, the many wonders of the natural world, including humans and food, were considered a microcosm of the divine, connected by a universal chain of symmetry (or similitude). As Paracelsus explains, humans and the natural world were “two twins who resemble one another completely, without it being possible for anyone to say which of them brought its similitude to the other”.[17] Epochal understandings of nutrition were merely an extension of this spiritual paradigm.
As a broad-scale theory of food, the DOS was eventually replaced and debunked. According to historians and anthropologists, the DOS is best understood as a mnemonic method for recalling and classifying a wide range of curative plants, especially in illiterate societies common to the Middle Ages.[18] Moreover, in highly spiritual societies, the DOS was “rather fancied by men than designed by Nature,”[19] understood in today’s terms as a kind of confirmation bias. Despite the paradigmatic shift away from the DOS, elements of the similarity framework persisted. Into the 18th and 19th centuries, red wine was thought to strengthen the blood and was often given to the ill. Likewise, meat was considered necessary for manual labour—muscle work needed to be replenished with muscle tissue. Even today, walnuts (like other nuts) are high in omega-3 fatty acids and are thus beneficial to brain function, and gingerroot is still widely used (by both Western and Eastern medicine) to treat indigestion and upset stomachs. Finally, Paracelsus’s near 500-year-old claim that “it is the dose that makes the poison” was foundational to the development of modern understandings of toxicology and immunology, which rely on the homeopathic logic developed in the DOS.[20] While sight continued to play a formative role in the incumbent paradigm of modern nutritionism, how one came to see food, and correspondingly, what came to be seen, changed extensively in the era of scientific nutrition.
Modern nutritionism
Commonplace by contemporary Western standards, scientific understandings of food date back to the chemical revolution in France at the end of the 18th century. The identification of chemical properties and the development of methods of chemical analysis led to quantitative ideas concerning food and how food was used by the body and departed substantially from the similarity and humoural paradigms of previous eras. In 1827, summing up the work of chemists of the past three decades, the 17th-century English biochemist, William Prout, divided foods into three substances: saccharine (i.e., sweet), oily, and albuminous (i.e., resembling animal protein). These classifications would later come to be reclassified as carbohydrates, fats, and proteins, respectively, and form the basis of a macronutrient approach to food.[21] Food was no longer understood in terms of its humoural or morphological characteristics, but instead by its internal nutrient properties, launching an empirical focus into the study of food.
The next building block in the scientific understanding of diet was the small unit, but immeasurable force, of the calorie. Derived from the Latin word calor, meaning heat, the unit of the calorie was used to measure the energy contained in food and burned by the body.[22] By the end of the 19th century, German and American scientists led the study of the energy content of various foods and the amount of energy expended during a range of activities. In both countries, considerations about which foods most efficiently maximized human energy were largely focused on questions of labour.[23] Using a calorimeter, American chemist Wilbur Atwater measured the caloric composition of food, aiming to decipher which foods maximized human energy at the cheapest costs. As Atwater itemizes, “[t]en cents spent for beef sirloin at 20 cents a pound buys 0.5 pounds of meat, which contains 0.08 pound of protein, 0.08 pound of fat, and 515 calories of energy available to the body”.[24] These measurements were used to advance empirical understandings of food but also to continue differentiating working- and upper-class food and bodies. As Neswald explains, early nutrition science “aimed for the precision of physics and chemistry, but was confronted with the enormous variability of its subjects, objects, and external circumstances, and with discrepancies between the artificially controlled conditions of the lab and the variable conditions of human life”.[25] In a relatively short period of time, a good diet, which was once understood as a matter of balance broadly defined, aimed to be both uniform and quantified.
As transformational as the caloric model of food was, however, it failed to account for the persistence of scurvy and other illnesses that continued to plague Europe and North America at the turn of the 20th century.[26] In 1912, the Polish biochemist Casimir Funk hypothesized that beri beri, pellagra, scurvy, and rickets were caused by unknown food deficiencies. He went on to propose that these deficiencies were a result of a lack of vital amines, which he shortened to “vitamins” since not all vitamins were amines.[27] For the next 30 years, beginning with Elmer McCollum’s work on “accessory food factors” A and B (later renamed vitamins A and B), vitamins including riboflavin, folic acid, and vitamin D were the central focus of nutritional research and had both replaced and challenged the prior, singular focus on the calorie.[28] Even today, vitamins are hailed as protective agents against disease as well as for their broader promises of health.
In a matter of a couple hundred years, the dominant food paradigm of Enlightenment Europe had swung from holism to mechanism, from individualization to homogenization, from localization to standardization, from community- to expert-driven, and from one largely concerned with quality to one inherently focused on quantity. What was once fluid, contingent, and complex, became increasingly mechanistic—“ordered, controlled, and understood though measurable factors.”[29] Coining the term nutritionism, Australian food theorist Gyorgy Scrinis highlights the reductive nature of empirical understandings of nutrition. While scientific understandings of nutrition have yielded valuable insights into human health, the focus on internal biochemical components of food has also led to the “decontextualization, simplification, and exaggeration of the role of nutrients in determining bodily health.”[30] Culturally, we have swung so far to the role of nutrients, calories, and vitamins, that we have decentralized foods as a whole, the diet of which they are a part, and the broader social, cultural, and economic contexts in which they are embedded.
Discussion and implications
By tracing the broad shifts in historic framings of food knowledge, this chapter sets up the ways that nutritional knowledge is far from continuous and has changed—quite significantly—between paradigms. The language of nutrients, calories, and vitamins, while near ubiquitous by contemporary Western standards, was unknown to past populations. Likewise, the holistic, descriptive humoural understandings of food have been, for the most part, replaced. Using the French philosopher Michel Foucault’s[31] helpful concept of a history of the present, the historical overview of nutritional paradigms offered here provides a critical orientation on how current understandings of healthy eating have come to be constructed. As David Garland explains,[32] Foucault’s history of the present is not intended to judge historical concepts through contemporary values, nor is it meant to reimagine the past in new ways. As its name suggests, a history of the present is a means of critically engaging with and understanding how the contemporary moment has come to be shaped. A critical questioning of current food paradigms, I contend, is beneficial for two reasons.
First, rather than accepting current nutricentric framings of nutrition as static truths, these truths should be positioned as one historical paradigm among others. How we eat today, and prospectively how we will eat in the future, are thus contingent and actively shaped by shifting knowledge paradigms. As new nutritional information emerges, our Western collective understandings of nutrition will also change. Researchers, for example, are only beginning to understand the role of our gut’s microbiome in human health, factors previously unstudied in nutrition.[33] Newer nutritional studies are also only beginning to include situational factors that affect health, such as genetic predisposition, epigenetics, hormone levels, life stage, medications, environmental toxins, and gut bacteria, but these factors are far from the norm in mainstream food research. What other yet-to-be discovered food, bodily, illness, and/or environmental factors will alter our currently held nutricentric views of nutrition? Only time will tell, but if the history of nutrition yields any guidance, it’s probable that nutrition paradigms will continue to change and evolve as new knowledges become available.
Second, by decentralizing nutricentric food truths, we can recentralize social, cultural, familial, ecological, relational, and contextual food truths. While nutricentric understandings of food worked well to mitigate deficiency diseases of the early 20th century, the same model does not equally apply to the many chronic health concerns affecting Western societies in record numbers today.[34] The increase (not decrease) in diet-related diseases of the 21st century indicates shortcomings of a strictly nutricentric food paradigm. Such a paradigm fails to account for the social conditions affecting human health, including but not limited to the accessibility and affordability of healthy food, affordable housing, a secure neighbourhood, a guaranteed minimum income, job security, air quality, access to clean water, stress care and mental health, and social inclusion. (Many of these factors are considered social determinants of health.) In focusing too intently on what we eat, we overlook other questions of healthy eating relevant to contemporary food and social inequality. As we move towards new food paradigms, I hope we learn to better balance social determinants of health alongside nutricentric food truths, to create a more complete picture of the role of food and eating in our lives.
Conclusions
Before looking into the history of food, I did not fully consider why we eat the way we eat. Before studying food as a social object, I did not think that intently about the social or historical contingency of what I routinely found on my plate. The more I studied food and its history, the more I saw how much of what we eat, when we eat, and how we eat is inextricably linked to how we see, understand, and ultimately know food. As history has shown, how we understand nutrition profoundly affects our orientation to it—what we consume, how much, and in what combinations. Organ (or offal) meats, for example, used to be a routine food item on the plates of many Canadians, but are much less popular today. History has also shown that what we eat and consider healthy is continually shifting, not only because our contexts of health are likewise shifting, but also because our food paradigms are in themselves in flux, reflecting dominant ideas of the time. As we continue to move towards new nutritional paradigms, refining and augmenting what we already know about food, health, and the human body, my hope—to borrow from Geoffrey Cannon[35]—is that we continue to maintain one piece of nutrition’s long history: to value it as science as well as a philosophy.
Discussion Questions
• Do you agree or disagree with Lisa Heldke’s statement that the “unexamined meal is not worth eating”?[36] Justify your answer. What does a historical analysis of food provide?
• Take a moment to consider how scientific understandings of food affect how, what, and why you eat. What patterns or trends do you notice in your own life? Can you identify elements of food and eating not captured by a nutritionism paradigm?
• What are some examples of humoural medicine or the doctrine of signatures that remain in circulation today? How do these paradigms encourage a different relationship to food that the scientific paradigm of modern nutritionism?
• What factors do you think would be important to highlight in the next regime of nutritional knowledge? How might these factors augment previous understandings of food and healthy eating?
Exercise
Pick a meal you’ve recently eaten, or perhaps one you eat often. This can be an everyday meal or a festive/ceremonial one. What do you notice most about the meal? How is the meal usually organized, presented, or served? What language do you use to describe the meal to others? How do you understand the foods included? Which of the three historical food paradigms helps you best understand or describe your selected meal?
References
Albala, K. 2002. Eating Right in the Renaissance. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Anderson, E.N. 1997. “Traditional Medical Values of Food.” In Food and Culture: A Reader, ed. Carole Counihan and Penny Van Esterik, 80-91. New York: Routledge.
Anderson, E.N. 2005. Everyone Eats: Understanding Food and Culture. New York: New York University Press.
Bennett, B. 2007. “Doctrine of Signatures: An Explanation of Medicinal Plant Discovery or Dissemination of Knowledge?” Economic Botany61: 246–255.
Bitlekoff, C., Mudry, J., Kimura, A.H., Landecker, H., and Guthman, J. 2014. “Interrogating Moral and Quantification Discourses in Nutritional Knowledge.” Gastronomica: The Journal of Critical Food Studies14 (3): 17–26.
Cannon, G. 2002. “Nutrition: The New World Disorder.” Asia Pacific Journal of Clinical Nutrition 11: S498–S509.
Carpenter, K. 2003. “A Short History of Nutritional Science: Part 1 (1785–1885).” The Journal of Nutrition133: 638–645.
Crowther, G. 2013. Eating Culture: An Anthropological Guide to Food. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
Coveney, J. 2000. Food, Morals, and Meaning: The Pleasure and Anxiety of Eating (2nd edition). New York: Routledge.
DuPuis, M. 2015. Dangerous Digestion: The Politics of American Dietary Advice. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Foucault, M. 1970. The Order of Things: An Archaeology of the Human Sciences. New York: Random House.
Foucault, M. 1977. Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison. New York: Vintage Books.
Garland, D. 2014. “‘What is a History of the Present’? On Foucault’s Genealogies and their Critical Preconditions.” Punishment & Society16: 365–384.
Gentilcore, D. 2016. Food and Health in Early Modern: Diet, Medicine and Society, 1450–1800. London: Bloomsbury Academic.
Hargrove, J. 2006. “History of the Calorie in Nutrition.” The Journal of Nutrition 136: 2957–2961.
Heldke, L. 2006. “The Unexamined Meal is Not Worth Eating: Or, Why and How Philosophers (Might/Could/Do) Study Food.” Food, Culture & Society9: 201–219.
Overend, A. (2021). Shifting Food Facts: Dietary Discourse in a Post-Truth Culture. New York: Routledge.
Mayes, C. and Thompson, D. 2014. “Is Nutritional Advocacy Morally Indigestible? A Critical Analysis of the Scientific and Ethical Implications of ‘Healthy’ Food Choice Discourse in Liberal Societies.” Public Health Ethic 7: 158–169.
Mudry, J. 2009. Measured Meals: Nutrition in America. Albany: State University of New York Press.
Neswald, E. 2017. “Nutritional Knowledge between the Lab and the Field: The Search for Dietary Norms in the Late Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries, in Setting Nutritional Standards: Theories, Policies, Practices, ed. Elizabeth Neswald, F. David Smith, and Ulrike Thoms, 29–51. Rochester: Rochester University Press.
Pearce, J.M.S. 2008. “The Doctrine of Signatures.” European Neurology60 (2008): 51–52.
Richardson-Boedler, C. 1999. “The Doctrine of Signatures: A Historical, Philosophical and Scientific View.” British Homeopathic Journal88: 172–177.
Scrinis, G. 2013. Nutritionism: The Science and Politics of Dietary Advice. New York: Columbia University Press.
1. This chapter has been adapted from “Western Genealogies of Healthy Eating: From Humoural Medicine to Modern Nutritionism, Chapter 1 in my book Shifting Food Facts (Overend 2021, 14).
2. I use “us”, “our” and “we” in a plural sense to capture multiplicity, not homogeneity, of people, identities, and cultures.
3. Anderson 2005, 141.
4. Coveney 2000, 26.
5. Crowther 2013, 12.
6. Gentilcore 2016, 19.
7. Albala 2002, 52.
8. Anderson 1997, 82.
9. Albala 2002, 81.
10. Ibid, 94.
11. Ibid, 59.
12. Anderson 2005, 142.
13. Ibid, 84.
14. Bennett 2007, 248.
15. Pearce 2008, 51
16. Richardson-Boedler 1999, 174.
17. Quoted in Foucault 1970, 20.
18. Bennett 2007, 249.
19. Ray 1717, quoted in Bennett 2007, 251.
20. Richardson-Boedler 1999, 174.
21. Scrinis 2013, 54.
22. Hargrove 2006, 2957.
23. Neswald 2017, 32.
24. Atwater 1902, quoted in Mudry 2009, 40.
25. Neswald 2017, 29.
26. Scrinis 2013, 63.
27. Carpenter 2003, 3023.
28. Scrinis 2013, 64.
29. Mudry 2009, 2.
30. Scrinis 2013, 5.
31. Foucault 1997, 31.
32. Garland 2014, 367.
33. DuPuis 2015, 137–144.
34. Mayes & Thompson 2014, 160–161.
35. Cannon 2002, 503.
36. Heldke 2006. | textbooks/workforce/Food_Science_and_Agriculture/Food_Studies%3A_Matter_Meaning_Movement_(Szanto_Battista_and_Knezevic)/1.20%3A_Perspective-_Nutrition_Paradigms.txt |
The Contested Terrain of What it Means to Eat Healthy
Jennifer Brady is a Registered Dietitian and Director of the School of Nutrition and Dietetics at Acadia University in Mtaban/Wolfville, Mi’kma’ki/Nova Scotia.
Learning Outcomes
After reading and discussing this text, students should be able to:
• Describe the two divergent paradigms of healthy eating that are central to current nutrition debates.
• Identify and define key concepts for thinking critically about healthy eating.
• Discuss healthy eating as a n area of contested meaning that shapes— and is shaped— by power inequities.
Introduction
What is healthy eating? For many, the answer to this question seems simple: healthy eating means eating a variety of foods with an emphasis on low-calorie, nutrient-dense fruits and vegetables, fibre-rich whole grains, lean proteins, and unsaturated healthful fats, like plant-based oils. Conversely, healthy eating means avoiding unhealthful foods, which are high in calories, fat, salt, and sugar. This description reflects a mainstream account of healthy eating that is championed by nutrition and health experts, as well as via government-issued tools and policies, such as Canada’s Food Guide. Although the answer to the question “what is healthy eating?” may seem simple, this chapter suggests that it is anything but!
Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin (1755–1826), a French politician and lawyer, wrote, “Dis-moi ce que tu manges, je te dirai ce que tu es.”[1] This phrase is often translated into the well-known idiom, “You are what you eat.” However, a more accurate translation reads, “Tell me what you eat, and I will tell you what you are.” In other words, who and what we are, our social, cultural, and spiritual identities, and even our bodies, shape and are shaped by what we eat. If we agree with Brillat-Savarin’s observation—and many do—then it is important to think about another question when thinking about healthy eating: If we tell people what to eat, aren’t we at the same time telling them who we think they should be?
This question is important because it invites consideration of the ways in which defining healthy eating and telling others what to eat is inherently political. That is, the ways in which healthy eating is defined and communicated to diverse populations are not neutral. This includes the people, the knowledge, and the language involved in such communications. Rather, as researchers in the fields of critical nutrition studies and critical dietetics have established, healthy eating is a terrain of competing perspectives that are rooted in diverse forms of knowledge. Said otherwise, healthy eating is intertwined with social and structural inequities in society.
Current debates
An important debate within critical nutrition studies and critical dietetics is about who gets to decide what it means to eat healthy and based on what criteria. Although there are a multitude of views about what healthy eating is, at the core of current debates lie two competing perspectives—or paradigmseach of which present divergent ideas about what healthy eating is, the kinds of knowledge that are important to understanding it, and what it means to tell others what they should and shouldn’t eat to be healthy.
On one side of the debate is a dominant paradigm. A dominant paradigm may be described a set of values and ways of thinking about an issue that becomes so pervasive that the underlying assumptions and approaches to understanding it are seen to be normal and completely natural, and other perspectives and approaches are dismissed as inappropriate or false. On the other side of the debate is a critical paradigm. A critical paradigm also comprises a set of values and ways of thinking about an issue, but it is explicitly concerned with relationships of power. More specifically, a critical paradigm is concerned with the ways in which power inequities form and are perpetuated in society. Hence, the dominant and critical paradigms comprise very different priorities and ways of understanding what it means to eat healthy, and what it means to tell others what to eat. The next two subsections explore each paradigm in more detail.
The Dominant Paradigm
Why, at first glance, does the question “What is healthy eating?” seem so simple? How is it that we all seem to be able to recite a version of healthy eating that approximates the one described at the beginning of this chapter, even though it does not reflect what, how, or why many of us eat? In short, healthy eating is the subject of a dominant paradigm. In other words, healthy eating has come to be defined in ways that reflect a particular set of values, ideas, assumptions, and forms of knowledge that are largely taken for granted. More specifically, the values, ideas, assumptions, and ways knowing that underlie hegemonic nutrition frame healthy eating as something that is best understood as a biophysiological concern, and is therefore most accurately described using science and quantitative measure. That is, the dominant paradigm understands healthy eating through an approach to knowledge known as a positivist epistemology. When viewed through this lens, the criteria used to define healthy eating focus almost exclusively on the quantifiable nutrients contained in single food items, which are determined through scientific analysis. Hence, the answer to the question, “What is healthy eating?” is simply understood as the consumption of foods that are high in health-promoting nutrients and low in nutrients that are seen as harming one’s health.
An example of hegemonic nutrition as the dominant paradigm of healthy eating is Canada’s Food Guide (see Figure 1).[2]Canada’s Food Guide reflects the model of healthy eating that is described at the beginning of this chapter, and that stems from a positivist epistemological approach. In other words, Canada’s Food Guide categorizes and promotes foods based almost exclusively on their nutrient content. For example, fruits and vegetables are grouped and promoted based on their relatively high content of fibre and micronutrients, such as vitamins and antioxidants, versus the number of calories and the amount of fat, sugar, and salt. Likewise, the recommendation to “eat protein foods,” particularly those that are plant-based and unprocessed, is intended to encourage consumption of foods such as fish and legumes, which are high in protein and other health-promoting nutrients like omega-3 fatty acids and fibre, and which are low in calories and saturated fat.
The dominant paradigm of healthy eating and the science of nutrition have led to important discoveries about consuming certain nutrients and avoiding others. This in turn can benefit our health and help to manage and/or reduce our risk of various diseases. But consider this: there is also much about food, eating, and health that the dominant paradigm and nutrition science cannot tell us about healthy eating. To explore this issue, consider how the question “What is healthy eating?” might be answered from the perspective of the critical paradigm.
The Critical Paradigm
In contrast to the dominant paradigm, the critical paradigm draws on a different understanding of what counts as legitimate knowledge, known as interpretive epistemology. An interpretive epistemological approach sees food, eating, and health as being highly contextual, and that insights gained from people’s lived experience are also important to understanding healthy eating. In other words, the critical paradigm sees food, eating, and health—and how we understand these things—as inseparable from the social, cultural, economic, political, historical, and geographic contexts in which they exist. This includes the ways in which food, eating, and health are understood and experienced by people. For example, when viewed from the dominant paradigm, chocolate cake is a high-calorie, nutrient-poor, unhealthful food. Yet when viewed with from the critical paradigm, eating chocolate cake is (for many of us) laden with meanings that connect us to who we are, to our relationships with friends and family, and to important social and cultural rituals like birthdays. Hence, from a critical perspective, what healthy eating is depends on a set of unique circumstances related to who, when, where, why, and how one might be seeking to define healthy eating. The critical paradigm thus implies that understanding healthy eating requires knowledge beyond what can be known through science alone.
In taking an interpretive epistemological approach, the critical paradigm also highlights the ways that definitions of healthy eating are intertwined with social and structural inequities, such as sexism, classism, racism, as well as hierarchies of knowledge wherein non-dominant (i.e., non-scientific) ways of seeing the world are dismissed as untrue, deceptive, or deluded. For example, the dominant paradigm sees lobster as a universally healthy food because it is low-fat, protein-rich, and high in omega-3 fatty acids. Yet the dominant paradigm obscures the local context in which lobster may be fished, sold, and eaten. For example, in Mi’kmaw’ki/Nova Scotia, where I live and work, lobster has been at the centre of on-going and sometimes violent conflict between commercial lobster fishers—who are predominantly White—and Indigenous Mi’kmaw fishers, whose right to fish is protected by treaties, but which has been repeatedly threatened as a result of settler colonialism and anti-Indigenous racism.
The fundamental differences between the dominant and critical paradigms of healthy eating are well illustrated by Atlantic Canada’s Food Guide (see Figure 2) and Cape Breton’s Food Guide (see Figure 3), both of which were published as satirical responses to the latest version of Canada’s Food Guide shortly after its release.[3],[4] The Atlantic Canada and Cape Breton food guides may be seen as simply poking fun at the gap between the picture of healthy eating depicted by Canada’s Food Guide and the stereotypical eating habits and food culture of those living in Cape Breton and Atlantic Canada. However, they may alternatively be seen as legitimate critiques of Canada’s Food Guide, which does not reflect the social, cultural, economic, and historical realities of those living in Eastern Canada.
One strength of the critical paradigm is its emphasis on the highly contextual nature of food and health, which doesn’t dismiss as unhealthy the foods and ways of understanding health that are meaningful and important to people all over the world. The traditional food and eating habits of Eastern Canadians reflect the region’s rich social and cultural identity that is rooted in its unique history, geography, and climate; some of these are depicted in the Cape Breton and Atlantic Canada food guides. Both guides include a diverse array of foods, such as canned corned beef, lobster, soft rolls, luskinikan, rappie pie, boiled dinner, and donair. Many of these might be unfamiliar or unappealing to those who “come from away” (as those people from the rest of Canada are typically labelled by Eastern Canadians). These foods are also low in fibre and other health-promoting nutrients, and high in calories, fat, sugar, and salt, but are also deeply rooted in the history and culture of the region, and in the identities of those who live here. Are these foods not a part of healthy eating for people living in Eastern Canada?
Another strength of the critical paradigm is its emphasis on the interconnection between social and structural inequities—such as racism, sexism, and poverty—and what people eat and how they understand health. The provinces of Eastern Canada have suffered social and structural inequities as a result of economic hardship and intergenerational poverty. Nova Scotia, for example, and especially Cape Breton island have for decades reported the [5],[6] compared to all other Canadian provinces. The minimum hourly wage in Nova Scotia falls well below what is considered an adequate living wage, and many people earn salaries that are below or barely above the poverty line[7] The impact of poverty is even more severe for the Indigenous Mi’kmaq individuals and communities who live throughout the region, and who have fought to maintain traditional food and eating habits despite the impact of racism and colonialism. In short, many of the foods that are visually depicted in Canada’s Food Guidesuch as salmon, quinoa, and fresh berries—are both financially out of reach and culturally irrelevant to the people who live in this region.
Canada’s Food Guide, and the dominant paradigm of healthy eating more generally, overlook the contextual factors that shape what is accessible to and considered healthy by Eastern Canadians. What is more, if what we eat is meaningful to who we are (as Brillat-Savarin suggests and as the Cape Breton and Atlantic Canada food guides seem to affirm), then in many ways we are telling people who they should be when we tell them what to eat. The dominant paradigm of healthy eating can thus be seen as overlooking, if not exacerbating, the social and structural inequities that shape what, why, how, and when people eat.
Despite its strengths, the critical paradigm also has shortcomings. Specifically, the critical paradigm provides little concrete guidance about what foods and eating patterns contribute to human health. This insight leads to yet more questions that are important to the ongoing debates about healthy eating that have unfolded within critical nutrition studies and critical dietetics. One such question is: How do we reconcile the strengths of the dominant and critical paradigms? In other words, how can we provide information that may help people eat healthfully, but in ways that do not dismiss or exacerbate inequities, and instead affirm the highly contextual and deeply held meanings of food, eating, and health?
Discussion and implications
The dominant paradigm has led to many health-promoting and life-saving discoveries about healthy eating, including how to manage and treat disease through diet. However, this paradigm has been widely criticized for overlooking the highly contextual nature of healthy eating, which is intertwined with social and structural inequities, as well as the knowledge that is derived from people’s everyday lived experiences of food and eating. Conversely, the critical paradigm has shed light on the highly contextual nature of food and eating, the interconnections between how we define and think about what is healthy to eat, and social and structural inequities. Yet the critical paradigm tends to overlook the scientific evidence, and provides little direction about what and how we should eat to support health. In this light, the question remains: What is healthy eating?
The answer that is currently emerging from critical nutrition studies and critical dietetics points to the need to bring together the strengths and weaknesses of both the dominant paradigm and the critical paradigm. That is, what is needed is an understanding of healthy eating that reflects scientific evidence about the impact of what we eat, but which also incorporates the diverse meanings of food, eating, and health that are rooted in the complex and contextual experiences of people’s everyday lives. How exactly that might unfold is a question on the horizon of the developing field of critical nutrition studies and critical dietetics.
Conclusion
As researchers, activists, practitioners, and students of food and nutrition, our work is often geared toward changing what and how people eat. Questions such as “What is healthy eating?,” and “What does it means to tell others what to eat?” are important and require us to consider the breadth of knowledges that are needed to understand potential responses.
This overview has drawn on key concepts in the field of critical nutrition studies and critical dietetics to explore two epistemological paradigms that provide very divergent responses to these questions. Some of these responses are reflected in the different depictions of healthy eating presented by Canada’s Food Guide and the Cape Breton and Atlantic Canada food guides. Ultimately, what these divergent paradigms indicate is that healthy eating is a terrain of contested meaning that shapes and is shaped by social and structural inequities. In other words, answering the question, “What is healthy eating?” is anything but simple.
Discussion Questions
• Reflexive thinking is important for being aware of our social positionality within systems of power and privilege, such as those that influence how we view healthy eating. Think about what healthy eating means to you and the role it plays in your day-to-day life and in shaping your identity. What informs your conceptualization of healthy eating? How does your conceptualization of healthy eating reflect the dominant and critical paradigms discussed above?
• Recall the Atlantic Canada Food Guide and the Cape Breton Food Guide discussed in this chapter. If you were to create a food guide to reflect the town, region, or country that you call home, what foods or messaging about healthy eating would it include?
Additional Resources
Coveney, J. and S. Booth, eds. 2019. Critical Dietetics and Critical Nutrition Studies . Boston: Springer.
Hayes-Conroy, Allison, and Jessica Hayes-Conroy, eds. 2016. Doing Nutrition Differently: Critical Approaches to Diet and Dietary Intervention . New York: Routledge.
Ko ç , Mustafa, Jennifer Sumner, and Anthony Winson, eds. 2021. Critical Perspectives in Food Studies, 3 rd edition . New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Parker, Barbara, Jennifer Brady, Elaine Power, and Susan Belyea, eds. 2019. Feminist Food Studies: Intersectional Perspectives. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Rebel Eaters Club, S2 E5: “Eating 101 with Dr. Jennifer Brady.
References
CMikeHunt. “Substitute donair for Lick-a-chick and you’ve got a Halifax version.” Reddit, January 25, 2019.
Brillat-Savarin, J.-A. 2007. Physiologie du goût . Project Gutenberg.
deAdder, M. “Atlantic Canada’s Food Guide,” Chronicle Herald, January 28 2019.
Driscoll, C.and C. Saulnier. “Living Wages in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick 2020” (website). Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. Accessed May 1, 2021.
Health Canada. Canada’s Food Guide (website). Accessed May 1, 2021.
Saulnier, C. and C. Plante. “The Cost of Poverty in the Atlantic Provinces” (website). Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. Accessed May 1, 2021.
Tarasuk, V. and A. Mitchell. “Household food insecurity in Canada, 2017-18” (website). PROOF. Accessed May 1 2021.
1. Brillat-Savarin 2007.
2. Health Canada 2021.
3. deAdder 2019.
4. CMikeHunt 2019.
5. Tarasuk & Mitchell 2020.
6. Saulnier & Plante 2021.
7. Driscoll & Saulnier 2021. | textbooks/workforce/Food_Science_and_Agriculture/Food_Studies%3A_Matter_Meaning_Movement_(Szanto_Battista_and_Knezevic)/1.21%3A_Perspective-_Eating_Healthy.txt |
Activity: Classification of Food as a Way to Understand Diversity and Socio-cultural History
Erin Sperling, PhD and Sara Scharf, PhD are freelance academics with deep and wide-ranging expertise. Erin, a sessional lecturer, has taught numerous elementary science methods and environmental education courses at post-secondary institutions in Ontario and has a doctorate in the field of food justice education. Sara, a professional academic editor and cybersecurity researcher, wrote her dissertation on the history and development of field guides in botany.
Learning Outcomes
After reading and discussing this text, students should be able to:
• Articulate their understanding of their personal and cultural connections to food and begin to analyze these connections in relation to their own and others’ contexts.
• Identify a variety of food products and understand their cultural and/or historical origins, including influences of colonization and globalization.
• Express multiple ways of knowing food and name the various stakeholders in food systems, including ecological, medicinal, industrial, and agricultural interests.
Classification of Food
This activity on the classification of food plants encourages participants to draw on their own cultural and historical backgrounds to explore food-knowledge development in an inclusive way. The activity was developed by working with teacher candidates to encourage them to see food as an inclusive material for teaching across subject areas and supporting knowledge-sharing.
In this activity, students explore and classify food plants as a way to highlight the importance of biodiversity and to examine the role of scientific study and classification as just one of several ways of understanding the world, including Indigenous and other localized approaches. An additional goal is to help participants recognize their own biases, as well as the views and experiences of others. Our biases have an impact on the way we view and encounter the world and the assumptions we may make.
In particular, students may explore specific skills of observation, using inference, classification, and the practices of information organization used to represent knowledge. Participants will draw upon their own experiences with particular foods—including cultural practices and personal preferences—to demonstrate that there are multiple useful ways of looking at our complex and varied world, that scientific classification grew out of local classifications and works as a bridge among different local classifications, and that these different ways of engaging continue to inform each other.
This activity can be done with real food items, paper and pens or markers, paper towels and knives (for cutting open fruits and vegetables). It can be carried out in person, or through virtual delivery, using a Google Images search or the food randomizer site, for example. The latter is helpful for selecting a variety of foods for students to consider, as opposed to having students preselect the food items, which may bring unconscious bias into the activity, and which also eliminates the possibility that students may encounter new food items in the activity. However, it should be noted that a disadvantage to the food randomizer site is that its selection options are limited and already biased toward northern North American or European cuisine. If meeting in person is not possible, the instructor can also pre-select a list of images without letting the students know the names of the items. Students will have their own preconceptions about what each item might be. These preconceptions should also be explored.
For the virtual delivery of this activity, use the website(s) selected to make a list including at least four fruits and four vegetables. Students may draw and colour in the objects as well, based on their own knowledge, or do some quick research online for images to print and cut out or copy. Be careful not to have them read too much detail about the use or origin of the item selected.
Once you have a clear list of 8 to 10 items, have the students follow the directions below, making adjustments for virtual or in-person participation:
• Arrange yourselves into groups of about four.
• Put away your phones and close your browsers. Do not look anything up!
• First, on your own, investigate the contents of the “food basket.” Try not to discuss your thoughts and memories with others yet, but take note of them.
• On your own, decide how you will organize your items. Write out clusters and sub-clusters (if appropriate) of food items with clear categories. Label the categories. There are no wrong answers!
• Write down a brief summary of why you organized your items the way you did. What guided your choices?
• Within your group of four, share and compare your organization and analysis. Respectfully discuss your results and consider how similar and different they are from each other. Consider both the categories you and your classmates have chosen as well as the way you have each organized the information.
• Come to a group consensus, if possible, about how to organize the items in your “food basket.” Write down and/or illustrate your classification to share with class on big paper/digitally.
• Some possible ways of classifying the food items include: colour, connections to family or celebrations, cooking method, taste, geographic origins, texture, plant body part (i.e., root, stem, fruit), and others. Possible modes of representing the information could include a flow chart, matrix, pie chart, or graph. There are no limits and no wrong answers.
This activity highlights how to include other ways of viewing the world through diversifying modes of classification. The two engagements—individual and group—show multiple ways of looking at our complex and varied world, and that science is just one way among many. Even whether a given item counts as a fruit or vegetable is open for discussion.
Additional options include selecting a food or two from the lists and asking students to do further research to gather additional background information. This may include which of the foods are indigenous to the local site, which ones were introduced but can be grown locally, and which must be imported. It may also include learning which foods have cultural meaning to some groups and why, and/or which foods grow best in certain conditions or climates, and why.
Discussion Questions
• What did you notice about your connections to food compared to other members of your group?
• How did your group come to consensus about the final categorizations and organization that was displayed to the class?
• What factors did your group discuss that helped to determine individual and group representations of the food items?
• What do you notice about the overall class representations of their food items? What were the more and less common ways of organizing and categorizing food items? In what ways can we use this information to support food studies actions?
• Scientific classification came out of an effort to produce a common language that would bridge different local ways of knowing and communicating about living things. In what ways is having a common scientific language useful? In what ways is it less useful?
Note: If this activity is to be held in person, tell the students ahead of time that fresh produce will be brought into the classroom and give them the opportunity to indicate if there are any serious allergies that should be taken into account.
1.23: Creative- The Foodish Gaze
One Day at the Microwave & Savoury Dreams
Annika Walsh is a transdisciplinary artist who was born in Chuzhou, China and adopted at 11 months of age by her family in Canada. She works with a variety of ingredients, materials, and collaborators to form her conceptual pieces. Her practice ranges from exploration of cultural identity to participatory food performances, and everything in between. Striving to blur the lines and push the boundaries, Annika makes a habit of traversing many disciplines, including sculptural installation, performance, and media.
One Day at the Microwave (Nov. 2021)
“One Day at The Microwave” is an interactive installation that situates you in an absurd space that you’ve probably never thought you’d want to be in. From the position of your food in a microwave, you have the ability to set the amount of time for which you would like to be heated up. Sitting and spinning in the small, lit-up box, you are invited to take a break from the day and enjoy the amusing space that the appliance provides.
A Vimeo element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://pb.libretexts.org/food/?p=161
Savoury Dreams (Oct. 2021)
Savoury Dreams is an installation that has visual and olfactory elements. A projector is suspended from an overhead lamp; a short looped animation of an array of ingredients glows in the simmering soup pot. The liquid of the softly boiling soup interacts with the projected materiality, adding another form of movement. Visitors to the space smell hints of lemongrass, shrimp, and ginger as the soup slowly simmers away.
A Vimeo element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://pb.libretexts.org/food/?p=161 | textbooks/workforce/Food_Science_and_Agriculture/Food_Studies%3A_Matter_Meaning_Movement_(Szanto_Battista_and_Knezevic)/1.22%3A_Activity-_Classifying_Food.txt |
When Food Kills: The Impact and Meaning of Food Allergies
Janis Goldie is the incoming Dean of Academic Programs at the Alberta University of the Arts in Calgary, Alberta. Prior to this role, she was Professor and the Chair of the Communication Studies Department at Huntington University in Sudbury, Ontario, Canada. Her research on food and public health focuses on Canadian communication contexts, including investigating discourses of food allergies via popular culture artifacts, news media, or governmental sites, as well as the discourse that stakeholders use when considering food allergies.
Learning Outcomes
After reading and discussing this text, students should be able to:
• Explain the basic aspects of food allergies and their prevalence as a public health issue.
• Describe how food allergies are an important issue of consideration in the broader context of Food Studies.
• Identify elements of the impact and experience of those living with food allergies.
Introduction
What did you eat for lunch today? A sandwich? Perhaps some bannock or curry? Maybe a sushi roll or a taco or a slice of pizza? Did you think about the ingredients? How the food was prepared? What oil or condiment was used? Did you consider that eating your lunch might harm you—harm you so severely that you would need immediate medical attention and, if not treated promptly, could even die? If these questions aren’t at the top of your mind before lunch—or every time you eat—then you probably don’t live with a food allergy.
Food allergies occur when the immune system does not recognize a food as safe and responds with an allergic reaction.[1] A serious reaction, anaphylaxis, can manifest as a number of different body-system effects, such as respiratory (trouble breathing, chest pain, or throat tightness), skin (hives or swelling of the face or lips or tongue), gastrointestinal (nausea or vomiting), or cardiovascular (dizziness or fainting), among others. While reactions can range in severity, a food allergy is a chronic health condition, requiring ongoing medical attention and limiting the daily activities of those afflicted.
Roughly 2.6 million Canadians are affected by food allergies that can be deadly if treatment is delayed.[2] In Canada, 7.7 percent of adults and 6.9 percent of children under the age of 18 now report having at least one food allergy.[3] Peanuts, tree nuts, milk, eggs, mustard, fish, shellfish, sesame, soy, and wheat are the priority food allergens in Canada and are responsible for the majority of clinical reactions.[4] (See Table 1 below for breakdown of prevalence by age and allergen in Canada.) Food allergies are a serious and growing public health issue in Canada and much of the world. There has been a significant reported rise in food allergies in the past two decades, with up to a 50 percent increase of prevalence for children since 1997.[5] With prevalence at an all-time high[6] and no agreed upon explanation as to the cause and minimal treatment options available for the food allergic, food allergies are cause for concern.[7]
Alongside the increasing prevalence of food allergies, research on the subject has also increased over the last few decades. Living with a food allergy qualifies as a legal disability under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms in Canada, including an obligation to accommodate.[8] Those with food allergies are frequently bullied, socially isolated, economically challenged, and experience significant negative outcomes on their quality of life (QoL). In this way, “food allergies not only increase the risk of fatality for those most severely affected, they regularly disrupt life for those diagnosed and their families”.[9] Given that eating is a constant and potentially lethal risk, the study of food allergies presents a unique and important perspective to consider within food studies. Whether examining the issue from a food systems, culture, justice, risk, feminist, or policy lens, the topic of food allergies provides an ample area for future study in the field.[10] In the following section, some of the current findings in the research on food allergies are outlined. I then go on to discuss an area that is receiving greater consideration and research—the communication or discourse of food allergies.
Current Research
The Impact and Experiences of Food Allergies
The majority of the research on food allergies to date is biomedical. Biomedical studies examine issues such as current diagnosis options, prevention, treatment, and management strategies, as well as the epidemiology of food allergies and their prevalence.[11] In contrast, social science research on food allergies has focused on the experiences and effects of living with food allergies. For example, recent studies on the economic costs associated with food allergies have found that the overall economic burden is substantial, both for those with food allergies as well as for healthcare systems.[12] In Canada, families with a member who has a food allergy reported higher direct annual costs of just less than \$2400 (on average), largely attributed to increased spending on groceries and restaurant meals. Food-allergic families also spent more travelling to medical appointments and on medications compared to families without a food allergy.[13] While healthcare costs in Canada related to food allergies are only beginning to be tracked, the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) reported that between 2007 and 2014, the total number of visits to the emergency departments for anaphylaxis and allergy rose from 69,691 to 84,855 in Alberta and Ontario alone.[14] Other studies have examined billing fees from physicians for common allergy tests across Canada and have found that costs vary widely depending on the service and province.[15]
Beyond the economic effects of living with a food allergy, there has also been a significant focus on the effects on QoL and the lived experiences of the food allergic as well as their caregivers. This research includes examinations of the psychosocial and mental health impacts of living with food allergies, as well as daily management and health-related measures.[16]. These studies show how all areas of life can be affected by food allergies—including emotional, physical, and social—for the food allergic and their family members. Everything from grocery shopping, meal preparation, school attendance, family and social activities, as well as social skills can be impacted. In addition, the effect on caretakers of children with food allergies, as well as the children themselves, can result in high levels of emotional distress and anxiety. Caregivers feel sadness, anger, guilt, worry, and uncertainty about food allergies in their children, and that their distress becomes worse if they have fewer emotional resources, younger children, and/or children with behavioural problems. [17] In addition to the effects on mental health, there are notable psychosocial effects. Living with a food allergy results in significant instances of social isolation, such as not being able to attend or participate in workplace, friend or family functions, restaurant outings, or even travel opportunities, which further affects QoL.[18] For children, not being able to eat what others are eating, or even needing to eat alone, can be particularly challenging in social settings such as schools, parties, and sports events. In addition, bullying is a noted problem for children with food allergies. Anywhere from 16 to 32 percent of children or teens report having been teased or bullied because of their food allergy, often leading to negative emotional/psychological impacts such as sadness, depression, and decreased QofL.[19] Other studies note the stigma surrounding food allergies and the challenges that go along with the consistent self-identification that management of a chronic health condition necessitates.[20]
With regard to vulnerable groups, research has indicated that education, socioeconomic status, and race can affect the experiences and management of food allergies. For example, lower-income individuals in Ontario with food allergies reported difficulty obtaining safe food and medications due to medical misinformation, having to use food banks, and/or general financial barriers.[21]Other studies havefound that Caucasian children and those with higher income are more frequently provided a diagnosis than other children,[22] while Aboriginal children have low rates of diagnosis and treatmentfor their food allergiesas well as significant disparities in food allergy management related to healthcare access.[23]
Various other studies on food allergies have examined risk perception as well as risk-taking behaviors, such as the conscious risks teenagers with food allergies are willing to take (trying food without knowing the ingredients, not having their EpiPens on hand, etc.), in addition to management strategies and practices in schools and policies, to name just a few areas.[24] In all, the study of food allergies is a burgeoning area of focus with many facets.
Food and Communication: The Discourse of Food Allergies
In food studies, food is understood to be much more than just a means of survival. Food is sustenance, but it is also “a symbol, a product, a ritual object, an identity badge, an object of guilt, a political tool, even a kind of money.”[25] As Koç, Sumner, and Winson argue, “What we eat, how we eat, when we eat, and with whom we eat reflect the complexity of our social, economic, political, cultural, and environmental relations with food”.[26] Food has much meaning. As such, the combination of a communication studies approach and a food studies approach (both fields emphasize interdisciplinarity and a critical perspective) is a natural fit.
Connecting food and communication is a fairly recent move.[27] The study of communication “is concerned with understanding the ways in which humans share verbal and nonverbal symbols, the meanings of the shared symbols, and the consequences of the sharing.”[28] Because food is a nonverbal symbol in so many ways, unpacking the meanings that we have around food and the consequences of those meanings is crucial to understanding food. Food is also a code, much like language, in that it expresses patterns of social relationships, can be performative, and is directly linked to both ritual and culture.[29] In all of these ways, we “use food to communicate with others and as a means of demonstrating personal identity, group affiliation and disassociation, and other social categories, such as socioeconomic class” so that “food functions symbolically as a communicative practice by which we create, manage and share meanings with others.”[30] We use food in the construction and communication of our own personal identities, in our group associations, and our ability to share and discuss food across a wide variety of social sites and situations. Importantly, our communication about food, which can be referred to as our fooddiscourse, “operates as important ‘sites of struggle’ with significant social and political implications.”[31] Discourses around the local food movement, organic food, or dietary practices such as veganism, for example, all point to social and political implications such as changes in production and consumption behaviours, investments in economic resources, and government policies.[32]
When we understand that not just food and the ways we communicate about food matter economically, politically, and socially, we start to ask questions about the ways issues such as food allergies are represented in talk, text, and media culture more broadly. We also start pay more attention to the implicit and explicit meaning of discourses around food allergies, and what they mean for how we develop resources and supports, approach treatments, management practices, policies, etc. While there is a great deal of research on food allergies, the focus on the various discourses of food allergies is only beginning to receive more attention.
Examining how we communicate about food allergies can be undertaken in various discursive sites of text and talk across various contexts. A few studies have begun to examine the discourse of food allergies within sites of media culture. For example, looking at food allergy blogs, Morlacchi has investigated the ways that food-allergy discourse orients the health risk as an individual responsibility, centered on food consumption and choice. Further, she highlights that that responsibility is represented as a gendered one, so that “allergy foodwork is overwhelmingly seen as the responsibility of women as mothers and as providers of food for their families.”[33] Analysis on the framing of food allergy discourse in the news has pointed to the way that certain stakeholders frame issues differently. Advocates and affected individuals make moral judgments and suggest remedies, while doctors diagnose the cause of food allergies or frame food policy issues.[34] Others point to the harmful effects of representing food allergies humorously in entertainment media.[35] In a recent piece, for example, two short comedic media representations of food allergies were analyzed: an episode of CBC Television’s Mr. D, in which one of the main characters has an anaphylactic reaction; and a short stand-up skit from the Halifax Comedy Festival about food allergies in wartime.[36] These media artifacts represent food allergies as something to be not taken seriously, even ridiculed. The food allergic are shown as weak and unable to survive or cope with life’s everyday challenges. Further, food allergies are represented as an individual problem—one in which the food allergic is responsible for the problem solely on their own.
These messages matter, because like all discourse circulating in the public domain, they can inform our broader beliefs and behaviours, especially when certain representations persist and dominate. Its pervasiveness in North America as a cultural-orientation machine means that media culture offers much social instruction about who we are and what our norms and values are in a society. The ways that food allergies are presented in our popular media such as comic books[37], news or social media[38] or entertainment texts, can thus influence how we feel, think about, or react to food allergies in our lives. If the messages we hear about food allergies on television, for example, tell us that people with food allergies are weak and that food allergies are not an issue to take seriously, then it might relate to the policies that are created for schools or the real-world bullying that exists for the food allergic.
In all, while the study of the discourses of food allergies needs much more attention, it is an important step in the research on food allergies more generally. When we tie the research on the experiences of those living with, or caring for, the food allergic with research into the way we talk about, and thus understand food allergies, we are much better positioned to provide valuable and meaningful social impact. We must first assess how we understand the meanings behind food allergies in our cultures if we are to come to any sort of health or policy solutions.
Conclusion
The issue of food allergies is an important area of consideration within the broader field of food studies because of its increasing prevalence and the impacts it has on the daily lives of those affected. The study of food allergies also provides a valuable opportunity to examine an area of discourse of food—in which the meanings imbued within a wide variety of talk and text construct and cement our understandings of disease, management strategies, support systems, and policies. We are used to thinking about food as a source of nourishment and identity, as well as for enjoyment and pleasure. But when the food one consumes poses a constant, everyday risk to one’s life, there are very different meanings imbued within it. Understanding the different ways that food means is an important endeavour to continue to build on in the work of food studies.
Discussion Questions
• Why is it important to connect food discourse to the broader field of food studies? Why do our meanings and language about food matter?
• Why do you think the research on food allergies has been slow to examine the communication around this health issue?
• What representations have you seen of food allergies in media culture? Do you recall any scenes in popular films or television series in which a food allergy episode or reaction occurs? If so, what happened? How was the reaction portrayed? How was the person experiencing the reaction portrayed? What meanings about food allergies were constructed? Do these align with the experiences indicated by the academic research?
Additional Resources
Food Allergy Canada
National Film Board, Sabrina’s Law, 2007, documentary available for free online streaming.
References
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Zhen, W. 2019. Food Studies: A Hands-On Guide. London: Bloomsbury Academic.
1. Nettleton 2010.
2. AllerGen 2017.
3. Ibid.
4. Husain & Schwartz 2013.
5. Jackson et al. 2013.
6. Sicherer & Sampson 2018.
7. Clarke et al. 2020; Soller et al. 2015; Kamdar et al. 2015.
8. Murdoch et al. 2018.
9. Elliott & Cardwell. 2018.
10. Zhen 2019.
11. Foong et al. 2021; Dixon et al. 2016; Silvaet al. 2020; Nwaruet al. 2014; Warren et al. 2020.
12. Gupta et al. 2013.
13. Golding et al. 2021.
14. Information Canadian Institute for Health Information 2015.
15. Protudjer et al. 2020.
16. Cummings et al. 2010; Shaker et al. 2017; Miller,et al. 2020.
17. Williams et al. 2009; Abrams et al. 2020.
18. Ravidet al. 2012.
19. Fong et al. 2017.
20. Pitchfort 2011.
21. Minaker et al. 2014.
22. Gupta et al. 2011.
23. Harrington et al. 2013.
24. Warrenet al. 2017; Abramset al. 2020; Sauer et al. 2018.
25. Reardon cited in Koç et al. 2017.
26. Koç et al. 2017.
27. Henderson 1970.
28. Lizie 2014.
29. Greene & Cramer 2011.
30. Ibid, xi.
31. Fiske cited in Greene & Cramer 2011.
32. Desrochers 2016; Derkatch & Spoel 2017; Greenebaum 2012.
33. Morlacchi n.d., 11.
34. Harrington et al. 2012; Rachul & Caulfield 2011
35. Abo et al. 2017; Goldie 2019.
36. Ibid.
37. McNicol & Weaver 2013.
38. Hamshaw et al. 2017. | textbooks/workforce/Food_Science_and_Agriculture/Food_Studies%3A_Matter_Meaning_Movement_(Szanto_Battista_and_Knezevic)/1.24%3A_Perspective-_Food_Allergies.txt |
From Head to Dough
Annika Walsh is a transdisciplinary artist who was born in Chuzhou, China and adopted at 11 months of age by her family in Canada. She works with a variety of ingredients, materials, and collaborators to form her conceptual pieces. Her practice ranges from exploration of cultural identity to participatory food performances, and everything in between. Striving to blur the lines and push the boundaries, Annika makes a habit of traversing many disciplines, including sculptural installation, performance, and media.
From Head to Dough (Dec. 2020)
“From Head to Dough” is a process-oriented work. Starting with a simple dumpling dough, I rolled it out into a large oval, then cut it into the shape of Anhui Province. I then stamped one of my Chinese names, 生, on the location of Chuzhou, the city I was born in. I made some score lines where the Yangtze river runs through the province and put tinfoil underneath to mould mountain ranges. Anhui is known for their mountain topography; for me, it was important to represent the terrain, because I resonate so much with this type of landscape in the Canadian Rockies. Then I let the dough dry for three days on my kitchen island, where it cracked into many uncontrollable pieces, one being the line of the Yangtze River.
“Form” was the word prompt I used to create this project. By allowing the dough to take on its own natural form, after some initial manipulation at the beginning, I was able to highlight how the materiality of the dough interacts with elements such as heat, air, and time. When I decided it was done drying, I flipped it over attached supports—using broken chopsticks—to piece some of the pieces back together and create three larger segments. I then hung each segment separately onto the wall, as I would a canvas. I then garnished it with a bit of gesso and gochujang (red chili paste). The visual simplicity makes of this piece allows viewers to concentrate more on the individual ingredients.
1.26: Perspective- Salt
Salt’s H idden H istories
Liam Cole Young is an Associate Professor in the School of Journalism and Communication at Carleton University in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, where he teaches and writes about media-technology and culture. He is the author of List Cultures: Knowledge and Poetics from Mesopotamia to BuzzFeed. His favourite salt is Halen Môn from Wales.
Learning Outcomes
After reading and discussing this text, students should be able to:
• Describe the intersections between culture, economics, and technology .
• Explain how human cultures ascribe symbolic meaning to foods that transcend flavour or nutrition .
• Build links between the histories of food production , distribution, and consumption and aspects of contemporary food culture s and supply chains .
Introduction
S alt is so ever-present in our lives as to be banal, so woven into the fabric of our culinary and gustatorial lives that we hardly notice it. Ev ery pantry or spice collection, in every corner of the world, has some form of salt. It is one of the five modalities of taste, along with sweetness, bitterness, sourness, and umami. Salting is the oldest and most popular technique of food preservation . For thousands of years, humans have used i t to extend the life of meats, fish, and vegetables, but also of dairy , in t he making of cheese and butter . In this way, salt has been an important mediator of nutrients and protein , allowing humans to nourish themselves during periods of climate unpredictability , famine, or war. Some argue our appetite for salt is hard wired . Our neural networks require sodium, but our bodies do not produce it; s odium c hloride , the chemical name for common salt, offers a cheap and abundant way for our cells to metabolize precious sodium ions.
This list of common and consequential uses of salt could go on and on . A lmost every civilization from which we still have material traces has gathered, traded, and used it for a variety of purposes , mak ing salt a central player in the emergence and history of what we call “human culture.” Its ubiquity across cultural traditions and historical time makes salt fun to think about but also difficult to study. All we can hope to do is scratch the surface. In this chapter , I tackle this challenge by exploring a few episodes from salt’s many histories , us ing three lenses : taste, trade, and technology .
Taste
To think abouttaste isinevitably to think about culture. It raises questions such as:howis saltusedand enjoyed, and where, why,andby whom?Or, what and how does saltsignifyin cultural practices and texts,like ancientrituals and recipes,or modern representationsand advertisements?Culture, as Raymond Williams famously argued,is the stuff of human life—practices, customs, values, rituals, but also the way people imagine and tell stories about their lives, experiences, and relationships.[1]Salt figures atthe centre of many such stories.
In fact, the question of how salt became culturalteaches us a lot about this complicated concept of culture.Salt stands at the threshold between ideas of ‘nature’ and ‘culture.’ For many thousands of years, salt was anaturally occurringsubstancethat humans and animals used instinctively to regulatelevels of sodium and water in theirbodies (this is whysalt licks are still used in animal husbandryto herd and organize the movement of animals). But over time and alongside other technological and cultural transformations, salt became acomplex and contested object of taste, meaning, and value, one that offers us important insights into more general processes by which the earliest human societies transformed from small, disaggregated bands of hunter-gatherers into sedentary, large-scale, agricultural communities. Anthropologists sometimes refer to this process as one of “hominization” or “becoming-human.” By this,they simply mean that over many thousands ofyears, Homo sapienstransformed from a hunter-gatherer, quadpedalcreature (with which today’s human beings have little in common)into one that we more readily recognize as our physiological and culturalancestor: people whostood upright, made fire, cooked, pair-bonded, farmed, lived alongside a relatively large number of others for long periods of time, developed rituals,language andother forms of representation, and so on.In short, a species with culture.Salt was present during all these complex transformations. There is archaeological evidence of salt mining in the Araxes Valley of Azerbaijan from 3500 BCE, salt refining in the Mekong River Delta from 900 BCE, and commercial-scale pig salting at Hallstatt during the late Bronze Age. There is even some evidence of a salt trade at Jericho as early as 9000 BCE! Such evidence suggeststhat, along with cooking and making fire, uses of salt played an important role in theseprocessesof becoming-human.
These early human societies eventually developed systems of writing and representationthat allowed them preserveand transmit knowledge toward the future. Suchrecordsgive us a more precise sense of how they used salt. One area of usewas health and wellness. For many centuries prior tomodern medical science, healers and alchemists speculated about the machinations of the human body and how certain substances might be usedto alleviate pain, removeparasites, and curedisease. These were important goals because, as humans set down roots, transitioning from smaller nomadic communities into longer-term agricultural settlements, viruses, bacteria, and malnutrition settled in place along with them. To combat these problems, a variety of regimes were proposed in which salt played a crucial role. The Charaka-Samhita, a compendium of traditional Indian medicine likely compiled in the 1st or 2nd century CE, suggests salt be used in skin and eye care, enemas, and even to treat wounds after surgery. In the 7thcenturyCE, Isidore of Seville, wrote about the Roman goddess of safety and well-being, Salus, who was named after salt and came to stand as a term for health and even salvation. Chinese medicine has long held that salt is good for the kidneys and liver. It is likely that these uses of salt in early forms of healthcare established habits, or even addictions, that would continue as human bodies became healthier. This leads historian S.A.M. Adshead to suggest salt as “part of the struggle of culture against nature, a weapon of culture supplied by nature,” which “became part of culture itself.”[2]
In spite or because of these practical uses,salt haslong served as a powerful metaphor. Most of us have probably heard someone referred to as a “salt of the earth” type, but did you know that phrase comes from the Bible? (Matthew 5:13, “Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt has lost its savour, wherewith shall it be salted? It is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men”). Maybe you’ve had a particularly “salty” teacher, or a friend whose advice youalwaystake “with a grain of salt.” Most languages and cultural traditions have these types of metaphors. “When the Garuda exhausted his ideas,he boiled salt” notes an ancient Burmese proverb about despair. From the Chinese tradition comes the saying, “Just as dishes without salt are tasteless, so words without reason are powerless” (Cà méi yán wúwèi; huà méi lī, wúlì).
To explore such metaphors and other cultural aspects of salt is to be less interested in how salt gets to a kitchen pantry or dining table than in what it means and how it is used by people in such places . The double meaning of the English word “taste” captures these cultural questions . Taste can be used to describ e both cooking and class relations ; for instance, how salt combines with other foods to create flavour but at the same time can mark one’s status and power (their “good” or “bad” taste) . This was particularly true during the European Middle Ages , when only royals and nobility had ready access to salt . Salt at a table signified the host’s power, privilege, and elegant taste. This is why salt cellars from the period (used to store salt on the table, long before the introduction of salt shakers) were ornately designed using the finest of materials such as silver and gold. Such class dynamics inevitably le a d to question s of access and power, the focus of the next section.
Trade
Many scholarsconsider historiesofsalt as a commodity and staple good, asking such questionsas:How is salt transported and traded, and where, by whom, and for what?This approachencompasses the question of value; specifically,howin many culturessalt was considered “white gold.” Roman soldiers were oncepaidnot in gold or silver, but salt!That’s where the Englishword salarycomes from—salwas the Roman word for salt.
Salt’s ancient histories are present not only in words like salary, but also in basic infrastructures of transportation that continue to shape global trade and supply chains of food and other goods. For thousands of years, “salt roads”—ground routes established primarily for the salt trade—spread like veins across the continents, moving people, things, and information from place to place.Theseinfrastructure projects tooka lot of time, energy, and resourcesto build, which makes them valuable,heavy,and difficult to change. And so,when it cametime to make improvements,people tendednot to replace thembut instead tobuild on top of or around them. This is what scholars and historians of infrastructure and communication refer to as path dependency. A great example is how the internet’s fibreoptic cables were stretched around the globe using poles, wires, and undersea cables,originally built for telephone and telegraph networks. The same was true in ancient times. Today,all roads lead to Romeis a metaphor, but it once expressed a basic truthabout how all people, things, and information of consequence flowed through theImperial capital’scity walls. But theRomans didn’t start from scratch, either.They builtthis network ontop of existing pathways and trade routes, many of which were, according to archaeologists, first usedin the salt trade.
Roman roadsare afamous example of how transport and communication infrastructures are important sitesof economic and political power.This continued to be thecase during Europe’sMiddle Ages (500to 1500CE). In Northern Germany, for instance, anOld Salt Road (Alte Salzstrasse) linked the inland city of Lüneburg, which stood atop one of Europe’s largest underground salt deposits,with Lübeck, a major port on the Baltic Sea. There was far more salt at Lüneburgthan local and surrounding communitiesrequired. Therefore, the Church, which controlled the saltworks, began totransportthis surplus toLübeck. From there, it could be exported to countries such as Norway and Sweden, where demand for salt exceeded supply given the importance of salted fish toScandinavian diets. Given the vast wealth and power derived from this trade route, those who controlled it sought to defend the route from attacks and preserve the free flow of goods and capital. This was a primary factor in the foundingof the Hanseatic League,a group of Northern European towns, duchies, and merchants that banded together to protect each other’s economic interests and infrastructure. In some ways, this multi-lateral security and trade agreement was a precursor to modern interstate cooperatives such as the European Union, or even the United Nations.Some scholars in fact point to the Hansaetic League as an important step toward the founding of modern state system inaugurated with the Peace of Westphalia, a multi-party treaty that ended the Thirty Years’ War in 1648. This treaty established important principles that continue to inform international relations and law, such as the right of each individual state to sovereignty and law over its own territory, the standardization of international borders, and the principle of non-interference, among many others.
That so many resources and so much human labour have been devoted to the extraction and movement of salt testifies to the value it has held for most of its history. But before labour, transportation , and value become concepts used by scholars to describe the movement of people and commodities , they are simple practices and techniques, forms of work that humans conduct using a variety of technologies. This takes us into the third and final section.
Technology
To think about technology is to think about how humans do things—what tools and techniques do we use to enhance or extend our bodies? What systems do we develop to cooperate and coordinate our actions with other people, sometimes across vast distances? What structures do we built to improve and enhance our ability to work, communicate, organize, or accumulate resources and wealth? Who owns them? What are the implications of these activities—on our bodies, environments, other people and creates? These are big questions , all of which can be understood within the broad category of “technology.”
The extraction, movement, uses, and exchange of salt help us to consider some of these questions. Salt was so valuable for so long because methods of produc tion were labour and resource intensive. They took a long time and required a lot of blood, sweat, and tears. By far the most popular technique was to derive salt through solar evaporation. People would take brine (salty water), either from the ocean or an underground source, put it in a large vessel, and wait. H eat from the sun would slowly evaporate the water, leaving salt crystals behind. Some salt is still produced in this way, particularly in coastal regions. But humans are impatient, especially when there is money to be made, and so they began to experiment with ways of speeding up the process. The most effective and thus popular of these new techniques was to heat the brine using non-solar fuel sources. Until recently, the only way to do this was by burning wood or coal. The outdoor , solar powered” brine vessels thus became cauldrons, and saltworks became encased in structures with protruding chimneys . This had wide-ranging environmental implications—you can imagine how much wood or coal was required to keep the cauldrons hot enough to boil water away almost 24 hours a day. That’s why most of the areas surrounding old European saltworks have very few trees; they were all chopped down to be used as fuel!
Beyond these environmental and geographic impacts, technologies and techniques of salt production had further consequences on statecraft, migration, and patterns of colonization. Saltwas at the centre ofthe so-called “Age of Exploration”in the 16thand 17thcenturies, which started withEuropean powers makingregular voyages to fish thewaters off the coast of what today we call North America. Salt was necessary as a provision for sailors’ diets, but more importantlyit was necessaryto preservethe catchfor return to European markets.Return voyages took days or weeks—much longer than fish would normally keep—so salt helped keep the fish from rotting. Sincesolar evaporation was then the dominant mode of salt production, countries with a lot of sunshine like France, Spain, and Portugal were at a distinct advantage to cloudy countries like England. Their shipscould bringsalt from homeand thussalt the catchimmediately, on board in barrels, without landing the ship. This process required a lot of salt but it was fast, efficient, and easy to do in a confined space like the deck of a ship.As a result, ships from sunny countries could fish to capacity andreturn to European marketsvery quickly.Cloudy Britain, by contrast, did not have ready access to salt and had to acquire it via trade.Because thiswas more expensive, complex, and time consuming,British crews were motivated to find ways to preservetheir catch that required less salt. One waywas to spread the fishoutso it could be driedinthe sun before being lightlysalted. But spreading out required more spacethanwas available on the deckof a ship, and more time than they could afford to stay at sea. So,British ships began landingat sunny spots, such as Newfoundland’s Avalon Peninsula,or along the coast of what is today called New England.In drying thecatchon land,British crews began to build infrastructure that could be left behind and used again in the future. They even began to leave sailors behind to make room for more fish on the return voyages.[3]These were some of the first European footholds on the North American continent, which had profound consequences for contact with Indigenous communities and the eventual projects of European settlement and colonization.All these decisions, at least in part,were motivated by access to salt.
These examples help us understand that though technological innovation often occurs in the service of what seem like banal purposes—e.g. , to find, use , and trade salt—its consequences are anything but. Looking at these tools, techniques, systems, and infrastructures remind us that broad patterns of history settle into place only through practices and objects of everyday life.
Conclusion
In this chapter , I have surveyed some lessons from the history of salt through the lenses of taste , trade , and technology. These lessons show how a substance we today take for granted, or hardly notice at all, has played many important roles throughout human history. German philosopher Hans Georg Gadamer once wrote, “ W hen you take a word in your mo u th you must realize that you have not taken a tool that can be thrown aside if it won’t do the job, but you are fixed in a direction of thought which comes from afar and stretches beyond you.” [4] The same is true of food. When we take a mineral like salt in our mouths, we are not just enjoying a tasty flavour. We are participating in ancient and ongoing histories of taste, trade, and technology that stretch far beyond us, which are haunted by complicated and contested meanings, and which teach us about many histories of power and struggle.
Discussion Questions
• What are other foods or spices that we take for granted and that have consequential “hidden histories”?
• What are some further consequences of humans learning to extend the lifespan of food through salt preservation?
• For most of recorded human history, salt was known as “white gold.” What are some of the reasons it seems to have faded in value and consciousness over the last hundred years?
Exercises
Over the course of two to three days, observe every encounter you have with salt. Count, for instance, the number of times you add it to food while cooking or eating. Consider the salt content on ingredient lists of foods you consume, and keep an eye out for non-culinary salt usage (such as on roads during winter).
• After a few days, survey and reflect on your inventory of uses and encounters. What surprise s you about the role of salt in your day-to-day life? Did you consume more or less salt than you expected? How many “unconscious” uses of salt did you encounter?
Pick a source of salt in your cupboard and try to reconstruct its supply chain. In what part of the world was it harvested, and how? What can you find out about the company on the label? Are they a producer of salt, or just a distributor? How do they move salt from the point of production to sites where it is packaged, then on to sites for consumer purchase? What about the workers that help harvest, package, and ship the salt? What are their working conditions?
• Find a way to creatively visualize this salt supply chain. How do such visualizations supplement our knowledge about tastes, trade, and technologies of salt? Does your supply chain map onto older supply chains, such as those between European imperial capitals and what were once their colonial holdings in the Global South, or perhaps onto an ancient supply routes like the Alte Salzstrasse ?
Additional Resources
Le Goff, J. and P. Jeannin. 1956. “Une Enquête Sur Le Sel Dans l’histoire.Revue Du Nord38 (150): 225–33.
Kurlansky, M. 2011. Salt: A World History. New York: Random House.
Laszlo, P. 2001. Salt: Grain of Life. New York: Columbia University Press.
Mintz, S.W. 1986. Sweetness and Power: The Place of Sugar in Modern History. New York: Penguin.
Mumford, L. 2010 [1934]. Technics and Civilization. Chicago: University of Chicago Press,
Multhauf, R.P. 1978. Neptune’s Gift, a History of Common Salt. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.
References
Adshead, S.A.M. 1992. Salt and Civilization. London: Palgrave.
Gadamer, H.-G. 1975. Truth and method. New York: Seabury Press.
Williams, R . 1958 . Culture and Society, 1780 1950 . London: Chatto & Windus.
Innis, H.A. 1978 [1940]. The Cod Fisheries: The History of an International Economy. Revised edition. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
1. See Williams 1958.
2. Adshead 1992, 26.
3. Innis 1978 [1940], 30–51.
4. Gadamer 1975, 496. | textbooks/workforce/Food_Science_and_Agriculture/Food_Studies%3A_Matter_Meaning_Movement_(Szanto_Battista_and_Knezevic)/1.25%3A_Creative-_Form_and_Matter.txt |
Artisan Cheese: A Category, A Set of Practices, A Shared Sensory Experience
Amy Trubek is a Professor in the Nutrition and Food Sciences department at the University of Vermont. Trained as a cultural anthropologist and chef, her research interests include the globalization of the food supply, the relationship between taste and place, the development of food agency, and cooking and sensory evaluation as cultural practices. Dr. Trubek is increasingly involved in transdisciplinary, collaborative research with scholars focusing on nutrition, public health, and sensory science.
Learning Outcomes
After reading and discussing this text, students should be able to:
• Name the differences between artisan and industrial (or mass-produced) cheese making.
• Describe the relationships among artisan cheese, certain cheesemaking practices, social networks, storytelling, and places.
• Explain the importance of terroir and its influence in making artisan cheese unique.
Introduction
Over the past 20 years, the category of artisan cheese has become important in understanding contemporary production and consumption of this fermented and aged dairy product. This category very much exists as a counterpoint to the category of industrial (or mass-produced) cheese.
There are several reasons why artisan cheeses are categorized differently than industrial cheese. One is that the conditions of production are dissimilar. Industrial or mass-produced cheese is based on a production model that seeks consistency. For example, if there are two Kraft factories making Cracker Barrel cheddar cheese, both of them will aim to make a product that is identical in appearance, taste, flavor, and texture. The industrial model of production also assumes that the labor involved in making the cheese is exchangeable and interchangeable, thus adding to the cheese’s role as a commodity. A second reason is that, in the case of industrial cheese, there is an assumption that it will be integrated into a spatially distributed supply chain. In other words, someone on the West Coast of the United States and someone else on the East Coast will have roughly equal access to the cheese. On the other hand, in the case of artisan cheese, the primary commitment is to a clear or present connection to a specific place. When foods are linked to a certain place—due to geographical conditions or cultural traditions—regionally based practices (in terms of making such foods) emerge. In this way, it is understandable that cheeses produced in Vermont should be fundamentally different from cheeses produced in Oregon or Wisconsin. The connection to place also has an impact on the conditions of production and the spatial distribution of the product. Both are based on smaller scales, and there is an implication that specific people (and not just machines) put skilled labor into the products[1].
Many food scholars are interested in artisan (as well as traditional and/or craft) products because of their social implications. This includes researching the stories, practices, and politics of these products to understand both what they reveal and reflect about our contemporary food system. Social scientists also examine the strong connections between products defined as artisan and the geographic regions where they are produced. In other words, artisan products can be understood as crucial to the identities of individuals, groups, and places—as much or more than anonymous commodities sold in a generic retail marketplace. In this way, the intrinsic and extrinsic attributes of a certain product are assumed to be intertwined with both their social and natural environments. There are numerous examples, including Comte cheese[2], Burgundy wine[3], and Darjeeling tea[4].
With artisan cheese (as with other similar products), it is widely understood that these products are unique due to their connection to the identity of a group of people, a set of shared practices, and a place. A powerful expression of this set of connections is identified in the unique sensory characteristics of, for example, a three-year aged Shelburne Farms cheddar cheese or a Cabot Clothbound cheddar. Both of these cheeses are made using similar production techniques; the ‘recipe’ for cheddar involves stacking blocks of cheese curd on top of each other to encourage the removal of moisture. That means these cheeses will be similarly dry and tangy. However, there are also sensory differences between these cheese (the Shelburne Farms is tangier and the Cabot Clothbound cheddar is nuttier). The differences can be ascribed to the breed of cow, the type of pasture the cows graze on, and the location and type of aging facilities for storing the cheese. The intersection of place, sensory qualities, and social embeddedness is expressed in the concept of terroir, or the taste of place[5].
Integral to terroir is that the intrinsic and extrinsic attributes of a food or drink are based on certain environmental conditions and/or human practices. In the case of cheese, this includes the breed of the animal, the plants eaten by the animal, and the traditional practices for transforming the fluid milk into the finished cheese (e.g., the type of rennet, other ingredients, aging, etc.) Although these can be understood as objective factors, they are all in fact the results of decisions made by human actors. Such human-made decisions act in ways that transform a wild landscape into a domesticated one, responding to what works in that natural environment while simultaneously creating an indelible human imprint on the landscape, the animals and plants, and the conditions for sensory evaluation. The analytic framework used in the sensory analysis of foods and drinks shaped by terroir relies on the articulation of these underlying environmental conditions, leading to an explanation of the ultimate sensory experience. At the same time, the story of terroir, of the unique natural environment and specialized human practices that make such foods and drinks, is very important to the appreciation of these practices.
Recent investigations into artisan cheese provide excellent evidence for the sensory importance of the story when it comes to eaters’ sensory experiences. In a qualitative study of the development of the market for Vermont artisan cheeses, people who were interviewed indicated that their preferences for and experience of these products were influenced by their knowledge of the cheeses’ stories[6]. These included how the products were made, who was making them, and their connections to the landscape and community of Vermont. In this study, people became Vermont artisan cheese consumers because of specific connections and encounters with these cheeses (e.g., amongst friends, in restaurants, at a special tasting), and those same connections and encounters became their personal context for understanding and appreciating these products. In other words, the story of the products was relevant to the eaters because of their own stories[7]. These qualitative findings were supported by a second quantitative consumer study in which subjects tasted, evaluated, and described Vermont artisan cheeses in two different “story” conditions. The first included accurate but general information about the technical production process for each cheese, and the second included a more specific description and story provided by the cheese’s actual producer[8].
In both research studies, the people involved reported higher liking and more positive experiences when provided with the specific stories. More intriguingly, they also reported significantly different sensory experiences. Specifically, the producers’ stories allowed them to understand their intrinsic experience of strong or challenging flavors (like those of a ripened, blue-mold cheese) into positive experiential frameworks related to the making of the product (or the extrinsic conditions). This finding seems to be consistent with what is known about the importance of context and information when it comes to sensory experience[9]. Where the cheese comes from and how the cheese is made matter to consumers tasting it, as do the stories told about both.
An exploration of artisan cheese as a category within the world of all cheeses helps reveal the various structures, perceptions, and practices that constitute our contemporary food systems. It reveals the pervasiveness of industrial processes when it comes to making food, as well as the various other strategies that can be used. It also helps us see why producers who use industrial, large-scale production practices sometimes also adopt aspects of artisan production. For example, Cabot Creamery, a mid-sized, nationally marketed cheese producer that otherwise produces industrial cheeses, also makes Cabot Clothbound cheddar, an artisan cheese. This product draws on connections to place and tradition by using a single production line and single herd, located in Vermont, to produce the cheese. (It is also widely accepted and lauded in the artisan-cheese world.)
At the same time, artisan cheese reveals the importance of both social context and natural environments when it comes to the ways in which we make and appreciate food. No food is consumed in isolation (even if an eater of Kraft Cracker Barrel cheddar or Cabot Clothbound is alone). There are always larger cultural contexts and social values—as well as specific personal memories—that inform our sensory experiences and preferences.
Discussion Questions
• What are some of the different cheeses you consume in your everyday life, given the distinction that is made between artisan and industrial (mass-produced) cheeses? How do your cheese preferences reflect your social or cultural context?
• Recall a personal experience with a food or drink that involves the celebration of place (as defined by a natural environment) and an appreciation of the tastes of the food or drink. What was the place and how would you explain the tastes? What were the intrinsic and extrinsic attributes of the food/drink? If you haven’t had such an experience, are there other foods or drinks that you connect to certain celebrations and/or communities? How would you explain these tastes? What are the intrinsic and extrinsic attributes of that food/drink?
• What is the place of artisan cheese, informed by terroir, in our food system? How might the place for artisan cheese change, given contemporary changes in how we live and work today, and our increasing reliance on urban centers for both?
References
Lahne, J. and Trubek, A.B. 2014. “’A little information excites us.’ Consumer sensory experience of Vermont artisan cheese as active practice.” Appetite78. 129–38.
Paxson, H. 2013. The Life of Cheese: Crafting Food and Value in America. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Bowen, S. 2011. “The Importance of Place: Re-territorialising Embeddedness: Embeddedness in the Comté supply chain.” SociologiaRuralis 51 (4). 325–48.
Shields-Argelés, C. 2016. “The Comté Aroma Wheel: History of an Invention, Ethnography of a Practice, A Look at the Early Years”. In McWilliams, Mark, ed. 2016. Food & Communication: Proceedings of the Oxford Symposium on Food 2015. S.l. 363–72. London: Prospect Books.
Besky, S. 2013. The Darjeeling distinction: Labor and justice on fair-trade tea plantations in India. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Black, R. and Ulin, R. 2013. Wine and Culture: Vineyard to Glass. London: Bloomsbury
Demossier, M. 2010. Wine drinking culture in France: a national myth or a modern passion? Cardiff: University of Wales Press.
Demossier, M. 2018. Burgundy: The Global Story of Terroir. New York: Berghahn Books.
DiStefano, R. and Trubek, A. 2015. Cheese Stories: Cheesemongers, Vermont Artisan Cheese and the Value of Telling Stories. Cuizine6 (1). n.p.
Paxson, H. 2010. “Locating Value in Artisan Cheese: Reverse Engineering Terroir for New-World Landscapes.” AmericanAnthropology112 (3). 444–57.
1. Paxson 2011, 2013.
2. Bowen 2011; Shields-Argeles 2018.
3. Demoissier 2010, 2018.
4. Besky 2014.
5. Trubek 2008.
6. DiStefano & Trubek 2015.
7. Ibid.
8. Lahne & Trubek 2014.
9. Shields 2015. | textbooks/workforce/Food_Science_and_Agriculture/Food_Studies%3A_Matter_Meaning_Movement_(Szanto_Battista_and_Knezevic)/1.27%3A_Case-_Artisan_Cheese.txt |
Disordered Eating
Danyael Lutgens is a psychology instructor in the Department of Social Sciences at Capilano University in North Vancouver, Canada. Her research focuses on psychopathology, well-being, and flourishing in developmental and sociocultural context, with a growing interest in the use of mixed methods. Over the years, she has trained in psychology, neuroscience, and journalism at universities in British Columbia, Québec, and the Netherlands
Andrew Ryder is professor of psychology in the Centre for Clinical Research in Health and the Department of Psychology at Concordia University in Montréal, Canada, where he directs the Culture, Health, and Personality Lab. His research focuses on cross-cultural variation in emotional disorders, the mental health of migrants, and how best to train researchers and clinicians in cultural-clinical psychology. He is also a licensed clinical psychologist in the province of Québec.
Learning Outcomes
After reading and discussing this text, students should be able to:
• Name and describe the differences among key eating disorders.
• Express disordered eating as an intersection of sociocultural, physiological, and psychological elements.
Introduction
Have you ever heard someone describe themselves as “hungry for love”? Or conversely, so “heartbroken” that they cannot eat? Or more extreme, that they are “dying to fit into this dress”? If you are East Asian, there is a good chance you have been asked “have you eaten rice today?” instead of “how are you?” And if you are feeling ill, there may well be a dish, personally and culturally significant, that can make you feel a bit better—one preferably made by, or at least following the recipe of, a parent or grandparent. At the core of these links are expressions of care. Elsewhere in this book are descriptions of how food may be used as a tool for cultural ritual and social cohesion. Here, we consider how food may also work within these sociocultural frames to serve individual psychological needs. One person may fail to find the love they are “hungry” for in their environment and turn to food instead. Another may fail to live up to unhealthy body image norms and turn away from food, despite mounting hunger and malnutrition.
Indeed, food is a daily necessity and key to sustaining life and health. The search for food is thus essential, not only to being human, but to being any living thing. Biological evolution brought teeth and tongues, throats and stomachs to the animal kingdom. Those who ate lived to survive and procreate. In this sense, food and eating are central and truly universal. But then in humans, cultural evolution also brought a series of innovations, from tools for hunting and gathering, to agricultural techniques, to contemporary mass-production and mass-marketing. Moreover, cultural evolution built innumerable innovations on top of the basic biology of food. To take one example, disgust, which is an emotion grounded in the ancient physiological imperative to expel potential poisons. Yet this same emotion system also scaffolds a very complex, culturally shaped, set of responses: moral disgust.[1]
The human experience of food and eating is at once deeply shared and personally idiosyncratic, biologically grounded and culturally shaped. One lens through which to view this complexity is that of disordered eating: the various ways in which our experience of food and eating goes wrong. As with any other form of what are commonly called “mental disorders,” or psychopathology, we can understand disordered eating at the complex intersection of three levels: culture (and society); mind (and behavior); and brain (and genetics).[2] In this chapter, we consider some of the major ways in which eating can go wrong, considering several disorders described within the psychiatric manual commonly used in North America: The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, or DSM-5. We look first at emotional distress, in which problems of anxiety and depression can lead to weight and appetite change. Then, we turn our attention to the eating disorders of anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and binge eating. After describing these disorders, we explore some research-based examples of how they are shaped by culture, mind, and brain. Finally, we will look at traditional and contemporary treatments, noting ways in which food has been used to treat emotional problems, along with ways in which psychological interventions have been used to treat eating problems. We observe effects in both directions because culture, mind, and brain are not three separate domains, but are instead deeply interconnected.
Disorders Affecting Food and Eating
Imagine that you have an upcoming exam or that you are getting ready for a first date. Many people find that increased levels of stress or anxiety will suppress their appetite. For most, the situation passes and the appetite returns—but for someone with an anxiety disorder, appetite may be compromised for a prolonged period of time. This occurs because stress and anxiety lead to arousal of the autonomic system, which leads to many different physiological changes including symptoms that reduce appetite, such as nausea, diarrhea, and a subjective sense of bloating. Chronic sadness or loss of pleasure can also have an impact on appetite, with depressive disorders including weight and/or appetite change as one of the core symptoms. Appetite may be lost because of direct physiological effects of depression on the gastrointestinal system, but also because depression can affect the hedonic pleasure obtained from the senses.[3] When someone is exceptionally sad, foods that were previously enjoyed and ordinarily very tempting, like chocolate cake or French fries, may be described as unappealing, tasting instead like cardboard.
Stress, anxiety, and depression do not always lower one’s appetite. A sizeable minority of sufferers instead report increased appetite, often accompanied by weight gain. Some people cope with anxiety through what is popularly known as “stress eating.” This phenomenon can be observed, for example, in people who are quitting smoking and no longer experiencing either the subjective calming or the appetite suppression caused by nicotine. One subtype of Major Depressive Disorder, known as “atypical depression,” involves weight and appetite gain, along with other less common symptoms, such as increased sleep. Another subtype follows a seasonal pattern where sufferers are prone to depression during the winter months. A common feature of this Seasonal Affective Disorder is weight and appetite gain, driven especially by powerful cravings for carbohydrates.
DSM-5 also includes a chapter on specific “Feeding and Eating Disorders.” The most widely studied eating disorder is Anorexia Nervosa, characterized by marked restriction of caloric intake resulting in strikingly low body weight. Bulimia Nervosa, meanwhile, involves a pattern of recurrent episodes of binge eating in combination with recurrent compensatory behaviors, such as purging or use of diuretics. A more recent inclusion in the diagnostic system is Binge Eating Disorder, characterized by consumption of a vast amount of food in a discrete period of time. Up to 4% of Canadian women report an eating disorder.[4] Although men generally face pressure to increase musculature, eating disorder symptoms are observed in some men. There is evidence that these rates, especially among youth, are steadily increasing.[5]
Focus on Feeding and Eating Disorders
“Convinced that any extra weight would slow her down, and hearing coaches make offhand remarks about whether she had gotten bigger, Ruck began to fixate…
Out with her teammates that evening, Ruck later ducked into a nearby cafe and forced herself to throw up the meal, telling no one. Purging had become as much a part of her routine as 7:30 a.m. laps in the pool.”Canadian Athlete Taylor Ruck[6]
Description and Symptoms
Anorexia nervosa. The North American obsession with thinness as an ideal of beauty grew steadily over the 20th century, but came to public attention in the 1980s as several celebrities died from anorexia nervosa–related complications. Others, such as Princess Diana, began to talk openly about their struggles with food and its relation to their self-identity. Anorexia nervosa is a serious disorder associated with a high mortality rate if left untreated. Indeed, death rates are about ten times higher for people with anorexia nervosa compared to the general population.[7] This disorder is considered “visible,” in that we can often see when a person has abnormally low body weight. Other tell-tale signs include the appearance of fine downy hair on the body (Lanugo hair), loss of tooth enamel, and fidgeting. Subjective experiences of people with anorexia nervosa include intense fear of gaining weight, distorted body image, and difficulty understanding the consequences of the problem. Although some impacts such as gastric complications are reversible, physical features such as low bone density may remain.
“And when I feel lonely, my heart feels hungry and I end up bingeing”
—Demi Lovato, “Simply Complicated,” 2017
Bulimia nervosa. In contrast to anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa is an “invisible disorder,” as those who suffer from it are often normal weight, or even overweight. A person struggling with this disorder may thus be able to keep their overwhelming hunger a secret for a very long time. An individual with bulimia nervosa will experience repeated episodes of binge eating, especially of highly palatable (e.g., ready to consume, high calories) and easy to purge (soft texture, mild flavour) foods, such as pizza, ice cream, or donuts. These episodes are not like the overeating you may have occasionally indulged in at a holiday or celebration with good, plentiful food. Rather, a binge averages 3,400 calories—and up to 10,000 calories—in a single episode, along with a subjective sense of little or no control during these times. The sufferers then engage in various activities to counteract the feared weight gain, including: self-induced vomiting; misuse of laxatives, diuretics, or other medications; or excessive exercise. Over time, a person with bulimia nervosa may experience serious physical complications.[8] Some may find it more difficult to convince their body to purge, further worsening mood.
Binge eating disorder. Binge eating disorder has received much less research attention, as it is a relatively new addition to the diagnostic system. As in bulimia nervosa, people with binge eating disorder will regularly eat large amounts of food in a short period of time. Unlike bulimia nervosa, however, they do not engage in compensatory behaviors. Moreover, people with binge eating disorder are likely to eat for reasons other than hunger, such as coping with stress or loneliness, and find this behaviour to be significantly distressing. Subjectively, they report low self-esteem, even self-hatred, as a consequence of the binges; they often report feelings of repressed anger and depressive symptoms.[9] Although people with binge eating disorder are often overweight or obese, some may have a body weight within the normal range. Now that this disorder has been admitted into the DSM and formally defined, we should expect to see more research on it in the future.
Causes and Contexts
Culture and society. In the 1980s and 90s, anorexia nervosa was thought to be a disorder of young, white, upper class, Western women. This is no longer the case. As industrialization and globalization increase the reach of the internalization of Western beauty ideals through media, including social media, so too does the prevalence of eating disorders increase around the world. For example, in the mid-1990s, after television was introduced to the island of Fiji, eating disorders that were previously unheard of escalated dramatically.[10] Anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa were previously thought to be infrequent in China, but this may have been because many Chinese eating disorder sufferers lacked the “fear of fat” required for a DSM diagnosis. Moreover, there is evidence from Hong Kong that greater cultural familiarity with Western concepts of eating disorders has actually shifted the symptom presentation of these disorders, closer to Western norms.[11] Eating disorders are especially common in social subgroups where body image is particularly important, such as models or dancers. Bulimia nervosa in particular seems to affect ethnoracial minority women in North America.
Mind and behavior. People suffering from eating disorders are likely to have distorted thoughts, especially about their body but also regarding their self-esteem and relationships with others. Some research suggests that individuals with eating disorders may have difficulty being aware of their own bodily sensations (like being hungry or satiated). Childhood trauma and mood difficulties, including with depression and anxiety, are also linked with eating disorders. Anorexia nervosa stands out as having a particularly strong association with obsessional self-control,[12] with sufferers reporting that they experience a feeling of reward in their ability to exert control to override their hunger instinct and “successfully” limit their eating. People with bulimia nervosa may be more prone to act impulsively and they may also be more likely to prefer novelty and stimulation.[13] They may be particularly prone to being people pleasers and may feel an averse reaction to negative social interactions, which may even trigger a binge. People with binge eating disorder may find that they use food to avoid, cope with, or “numb out” negative emotions.
Brain and genetics. A child who restrains their eating is more likely to have a mother with anorexia nervosa, or a family with high expectations for their child or one that emphasizes the importance of weight.[14] Genetic studies suggest that inheritance plays a role in eating disorders and that chemical messengers in the brain (neurotransmitters)—such as serotonin and dopamine, responsible for regulated mood and feelings of well-being—are implicated. In many cases, stress may trigger a desire to eat an abundance of food containing carbohydrates, which help the brain to create and release serotonin, in an effort to calm the body down. Unfortunately, in both bulimia nervosa and binge eating disorder, the brain and body simply do not register the chemical message that the body is now satiated. Some studies have even shown that foods high in carbohydrates and sugar present the brain with such a powerful reward that it overrides the body’s signals of being full and even of the associated pain. Indeed, foods high in sugar trigger the same reward hormone (dopamine) in the same brain pathway associated with addiction to narcotics.[15]
Treatment Interventions
Antidepressant medication is often incorporated into eating disorder treatment, as mood (depression/anxiety) and eating problems are often co-occurring. Appetite and weight symptoms in mood disorders respond to anti-depressants but prescribers need to be careful: many of these medications have weight gain as a side effect,[16] although some of them instead can lead to nausea and weight loss. Anorexia nervosa, in particular, can demand quite radical interventions because it is potentially life-threatening. The most immediate goal of treatment is to introduce food incrementally, safely increasing weight to an acceptable level. In some cases, such treatment (food) may need to be given involuntarily.
Psychological approaches to anxiety, depression, and eating disorders often include interventions grounded in cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT). For people with eating disorders, the aim is to help develop normal eating patterns; a similar goal can be seen in CBT for anxiety or depression when applied to weight and appetite symptoms. Eating journals may be employed as a technique to keep track of moods and to connect various emotional states to eating. CBT can also be used to bring attention to internal processes—such as stress, sadness, or anger—and to exchange unhealthy coping mechanisms with healthy coping (e.g., exchanging binge eating for breathing exercises). Exercise may also be utilized to improve mood and increase bodily awareness. For bulimia nervosa, the core of this approach is a focus on dismantling unhealthy beliefs about the self and the body. Individuals who binge may learn to override the impulse both to continue eating after eating a ‘forbidden’ food and also to purge in response. People who previously binged on pre-packaged foods may learn to cook and prepare foods carefully, thereby re-establishing a new relationship with food.
The sociocultural context should also be considered when discussing treatment. In many cultural contexts, food is an essential part of maintaining or recovering good health. In Traditional Chinese Medicine, various conditions—which can include mood or appetite symptoms—are understood as deficits of hot and cold, wet and dry.[17] Specific foods are then prescribed to help correct any imbalances. In Ayurvedic Medicine, disorders might arise through a person eating foods that are not compatible with one’s body type; treatment would then correct this.[18] In any case, clinicians working with eating disorder patients should not assume that these patients inhabit a cultural world similar to the clinicians themselves. Culturally sensitive treatment involves finding out about the patient’s own beliefs about food, weight, and health, as well as beliefs commonly held in the patient’s community. There are also direct interventions at a societal level, although these are most often implemented by public health officials and policy-makers, rather than psychiatrists or psychologists. For example, some magazines have introduced a diversity of models into their fashion pages,[19] thereby attempting to widen the definition of beauty, to include a variety of body shapes. Psychological interventions can also help young people to increase their self-esteem and body image satisfaction.[20]
Reflections
Food and eating can be understood as biological necessities grounded in evolution, as deeply shaped by sociocultural context, and as varying across individual people depending on their temperament, family of origin, social network, and so on. Disordered eating can be understood in a similar manner. Dividing our overall story into sections—on culture and society, on mind and behaviour, on brain and genetics—makes it easier to tell.
This chapter began by considering both North American but also cross-cultural metaphors and analogies linking food and eating with expressions of longing, of pain, and of care for another. We see that human relationships with food and eating are deep and universal. These relationships bring such pleasure, joy, and facilitate connection but when they go wrong, can also be a signal that it is time to pay attention to the confluence of mind, body, and culture where suffering and healing are both possible.
If you or someone you know needs help with an eating disorder, please visit the National Eating Disorder Information Center (NEDIC) for information and to find links for local resources.
Discussion Questions
• What are some of the common impacts of emotional stress on eating habits?
• What are the key characteristics of each of the three main eating disorders described in this chapter?
• This chapter identifies three intertwined causes/contexts of disordered eating: culture and society, mind and behaviour, and brain and genetics. How are each of these contexts/causes distinct? How are they related?
• How might an understanding of the intersection of the sociocultural, physiological, and psychological dimensions of disordered eating contribute to an integrative approach to treatment?
Exercise
Consider the following synthesis of a case study in disordered eating:
A girl in her late teens, a competitive dancer, has recently moved to Canada from abroad. She has an evolved biological tendency to seek out food and eat it when hungry; but she also has evolved biological tendencies to seek the company of others, fit in reasonably well with them, use high-status people as models for behaviour, and so on. At her new dance school, she is among the heavier dancers—and the high-status dancers are particularly thin. Unlike in her home country, she now frequently sees unusually skinny models on billboards and in magazines. Just as frequently, she finds many more opportunities to eat food high in sugar and calories. Her dance teacher criticizes her weight; the teacher also criticizes several other students in a similar way, but this girl already has a family history of parental criticism and a temperament that is unusually likely to respond badly to such criticism.
She starts to restrict her food intake, her classmates give her some positive reinforcement for it, the teacher is still critical but starts easing up a little. But she finds it hard to resist junk food, the sugar is so readily available and helps her deal with her stress. Then she regrets it and starts to purge. The more she purges, the more she starts to like the flood of endorphins and the feeling of relief that comes. But she needs to hide her purging, so as not to alarm her parents; her parents might be critical, but mostly about school performance rather than weight, as she is normal weight where they come from. Indeed, she is normal weight outside the dance context, except that her slimmer frame is now attracting some positive feedback from her regular classmates, outside of dance. Acceptance by some of these classmates helps her feel a bit less foreign, but they also want to go out for fast food. She starts to contemplate increasing her exercise routine. A cycle of disordered eating is now well underway. And we would be hard pressed to describe what is happening as strictly biological, psychological, or sociocultural—or even where, precisely, one ends and the other begins.
Consider the etiology (causes of) of the teenage dancer’s eating disorder and describe how this might lead you towards different interventions. What interventions might follow from culture, mind or brain perspectives? Given that culture, mind, and brain are intertwined, how might your proposed interventions be integrated?[21]
References
American Psychiatric Association. 2013. Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed.).
Attia, E. 2010. Anorexia Nervosa: Current status and future directions. Annual Review of Medicine 61: 425–435.
Bardone-Cone, A. M., Wonderlich, S. A., Frost, R. O., Bulik, C. M., Mitchell, J. E., Uppala, S., & Simonich, H. 2007. Perfectionism and eating disorders: Current status and future directions. Clinical Psychology Review 27 (3). 384–405.
Becker, A. E., Burwell, R. A., Navara, K., & Gilman, S. E. 2003. Binge eating and binge eating disorder in a small‐scale, indigenous society: The view from Fiji. International Journal of Eating Disorders 34 (4). 423–431.
Buhrman, S. 1996. Ayurvedic psychology and psychiatric approaches to the treatment of common affective disorders. Protocol Journal of Botanical Medicine 2. 1–8.
Chentsova-Dutton, Y. E., & Ryder, A. G. 2020. Cultural models of normalcy and deviancy. Asian Journal of Social Psychology 23 (2). 187–204.
Davis, H. 2017. Simply complicated. Youtube.
Fava, M. 2000. Weight gain and antidepressants. Journal of Clinical Psychiatry 61 (11). 37–41.
Flaws, B., & Sionneau, P. 2001. The treatment of modern Western medical diseases with Chinese medicine: A textbook & clinical manual. Blue Poppy Enterprises, Inc.
Frank, G. K., Shott, M. E., Stoddard, J., Swindle, S., & Pryor, T. L. 2021. Association of brain reward response with body mass index and ventral striatal-hypothalamic circuitry among young women with eating disorders. JAMA Psychiatry 78 (10). 1123–1133.
Langlois, K. A., Samokhvalov, A. V., Rehm, J., Spence, S. T., & Gorber, S. C. 2012. Health state descriptions for Canadians: Mental illnesses. Ottawa: Statistics Canada.
Le, L. K. D., Barendregt, J. J., Hay, P., & Mihalopoulos, C. 2017. Prevention of eating disorders: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Clinical Psychology Review 53. 46–58.
Le, L. K. D., Hay, P., & Mihalopoulos, C. 2018. A systematic review of cost-effectiveness studies of prevention and treatment for eating disorders. Australian & New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry 52 (4). 328–338.
Mehler, P. S., Krantz, M. J., & Sachs, K. V. 2015. Treatments of medical complications of anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa. Journal of Eating Disorders 3 (1). 1–7.
Polivy, J., & Herman, C. P. 2002. Causes of eating disorders. Annual Review of Psychology 53 (1), 187–213.
Robertson, G., & Brady, R. 2021. Dangerous Games. The Globe and Mail (December 18th).
Rozin, P., & Haidt, J. 2013. The domains of disgust and their origins: Contrasting biological and cultural evolutionary accounts. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 17 (8). 367–368.
Simmons, W. K., Burrows, K., Avery, J. A., Kerr, K. L., Bodurka, J., Savage, C. R., & Drevets, W. C. 2016. Depression-related increases and decreases in appetite: dissociable patterns of aberrant activity in reward and interoceptive neurocircuitry. American Journal of Psychiatry 173 (4). 418–428.
Singer, M. 2021. Generation America: The Models Changing an Industry. Vogue (September).
Telch, C. F., & Agras, W. S. 1996. Do emotional states influence binge eating in the obese? International Journal of Eating Disorders 20 (3). 271–279.
Vyver, E., & Katzman, D. K. 2021. Anorexia nervosa: A paediatric health crisis during the COVID-19 pandemic. Paediatrics & Child Health 26 (2). 1–2
Wu, J., Lin, Z., Liu, Z., He, H., Bai, L., & Lyu, J. 2020. Secular trends in the incidence of eating disorders in China from 1990 to 2017: A joinpoint and age–period–cohort analysis. Psychological Medicine, Advanced online publication. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0033291720002706
1. Rozin & Haidt, 2013.
2. Chentsova-Dutton & Ryder, 2020.
3. Simmons 2016.
4. Langlois et al. 2012.
5. Vyver & Katzman 2021.
6. Robertson & Brady 2021.
7. Attia 2010.
8. Mehler, Krantz & Sachs 2015.
9. Telch & Agras 1996.
10. Becker 2002.
11. Wu et al. 2020.
12. Bardone-Cone 2007.
13. Atiye et al. 2015.
14. Polivy & Herman 2002.
15. Frank et al. 2021.
16. Fava 2000.
17. Flaws & Sionneau 2001
18. Buhrman 1996.
19. Singer 2021.
20. Le et al. 2017.
21. A possible response to the question above: A pharmaceutical intervention might introduce chemical alterations that include boosting her tolerance of criticism. A psychotherapeutic intervention might help her to think through ways of navigating her still-new social world, helping her to make better choices about how best to balance food, exercise, dance, and social approval. A social intervention might involve rethinking the easy availability of fast food in her school, or the posters on the wall at her dance studio. Importantly, the effects of any of these interventions can eventually have an impact on culture, mind, and brain. The key is to find a place in the situation where it is relatively easy to intervene, and to do so effectively. Indeed, in mild-to-moderate depression, change in diet (along with sleep and exercise) is one of the simplest ways to intervene early in a course of treatment. If we can understand disorders as vicious cycles that play out across the complex system of culture, mind, and brain, so too can we understand treatments as attempts to intervene within that system. In effect, treatment interventions represent different ways of attempting to interrupt the system, turning vicious cycles into virtuous ones. | textbooks/workforce/Food_Science_and_Agriculture/Food_Studies%3A_Matter_Meaning_Movement_(Szanto_Battista_and_Knezevic)/1.28%3A_Perspective-_Disordered_Eating.txt |
Thumbnail: Circuit Breakers (Unsplash License; Markus Spiske via Unsplash)
01: Electrical Terms and Definitions
1 Ohm’s Law and Watt’s Law
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This section provides a brief description of two of the most fundamental electrical relationships: Ohm's law, which describes current flow in electrical circuits, and Watt's law, which describes how power is dissipated.
Ohm’s Law
Combining the elements of voltage, current, and resistance, George Ohm developed the following formula:
$\text{I}=\dfrac{\text{E}}{\text{R}}$
Where:
• E = Voltage in volts
• I = Current in amps
• R = Resistance in ohms
This is called Ohm’s law.
Let’s say, for example, that we have a circuit with the potential of 1 volt, a current of 1 amp, and resistance of 1 ohm. Using Ohm’s law we can say:
$1\text{ A}=\dfrac{1\text{ V}}{1\text{ ohm}}$
Let’s say this represents a tank with a wide hose. The amount of water in the tank is defined as 1 volt, and the “narrowness” (resistance to flow) of the hose is defined as 1 ohm. Using Ohm’s law, this gives us a flow (current) of 1 amp.
Using this analogy, let’s now look at a tank with a narrow hose. Because the hose is narrower, its resistance to flow is higher. Let’s define this resistance as 2 ohms. The amount of water in the tank is the same as the other tank, so, using Ohm’s law, our equation for the tank with the narrow hose is:
$?=\dfrac{1\text{ V}}{2\text{ ohms}}$
But what is the current? Because the resistance is greater and the voltage is the same, this gives us a current value of 0.5 amps:
$0.5\text{ A}=\dfrac{1\text{ V}}{2\text{ ohms}}$
Watt’s Law
Combining the elements of voltage, current, and power, named after James Watt, Watt’s Law is defined as the following formula:
$\text{P}=\text{E} * \text{I}$
Where:
• P = Power in watts
• E = Voltage in volts
• I = Current in amps
Electric power is the rate at which energy is transferred. It’s measured in terms of joules per second (J/s). One joule of work done every second means that power is dissipated at a rate equal to one watt (W).
Given the few basic electricity terms we know, how could we calculate power in a circuit?
Well, we have a standard measurement involving electromotive force, also know as voltage (E).
Current, another of our favourite electrical terms, measures charge flow over time in terms of the ampere (A), which equals 1 coulomb per second (C/s). Put the two together, and what do we get? Power!
To calculate the power of any particular component in a circuit, multiply the voltage drop across it by the current running through it.
For instance, if current flows at a rate of 10 amps while the available voltage is 10 volts, then the circuit dissipates power at a rate of 100W.
$100\text{ W}=10\text{ V} * 10\text{ A}$
1.02: Overload and Overcurrent Terms
2 Overload and Overcurrent Terms
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Inrush Current
When a motor load is first started, before it has a chance to pick up speed and begin to rotate, the characteristics of the stator coil are that of a short circuit. As such the motor starts to draw very high values of current. This current creates a magnetic field that causes the motor shaft to spin, and that spinning action creates a counter-EMF (CEMF), which limits the current to its normal running value.
The initial high value of current is called inrush current and can cause severe line disturbances and nuisance tripping if fuses and circuit breakers are not sized accordingly.
Overload
The term “overload” describes a moderate and gradual rise in the value of current over a relatively long period of time. It is caused by excessive amounts of current drawn by a motor, which may be as high as six times the rated current. This is caused by too much load on a motor. Systems are protected by overload protection relays. While overloads are allowed for a short time (usually minutes), prolonged overloads will use thermal action to cause a protective device to trip.
Overcurrent
The term “overcurrent” (sometimes called a short circuit or a ground fault) describes a sharp and fast rise in current over a very short period of time (fractions of a second). Circuits and equipment are protected from overcurrent situations by fuses or circuit breakers.
During a short circuit the value of current is far greater than the nominal line current and can indeed be anywhere from six times to many hundreds of times greater the normal rated current value of circuit.
There are several causes of overcurrent situations. For example, when a bolted fault occurs—either a line to ground or a line to line fault. This causes a very large value of current to be drawn because of the inversely proportional relationship between the resistance of a circuit and the current that is drawn.
Another less intuitive cause of short circuits is when an induction motor starts. When a three-phase induction motor is first energized, the stator windings consist of a very low resistance path. This draws a very large inrush current which is indistinguishable from a standard short circuit, except that it quickly drops down to the rated value of current drawn by the motor. This is due to the CEMF (counter-electromotive force) developed by the rotating shaft of the motor. When the motor is spinning, a CEMF limits the current to safe values. When the motor is not spinning, a very large value of current is drawn from the source. This current is sometimes called locked-rotor current, and motor starters and overcurrent devices must be rated to safely handle and interrupt this value of current.
Effects of short circuits
Overcurrents are responsible for two main negative effects:
• Thermal energy: High values of current will create large amounts of heat, which can damage equipment and wires. Thermal energy can be expressed by the formula: I2t (current squared multiplied by time) meaning that the longer the fault persists, the greater the potential thermal damage.
• Mechanical forces: Large fault currents can create powerful magnetic fields, and exert huge magnetic stress on busbars and equipment, sometimes warping them out of shape and creating new problems in the process.
Large values of fault current can cause severe damage to circuits and equipment, so overcurrent protective devices must act very quickly to clear the fault. There are two main categories of overcurrent protective devices: fuses and circuit breakers. | textbooks/workforce/HVAC_and_Power_Plant_Operations/Basic_HVAC_(Lee)/01%3A_Electrical_Terms_and_Definitions/1.01%3A_Ohms_Law_and_Watts_Law.txt |
3 Overload and Overcurrent Protection Devices
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Fuses and Circuit Breakers
A circuit breaker is an electromechanical device designed to automatically open one or more ungrounded circuit conductors in the event of a fault. They use thermal action and a bi-metallic strip to protect from overload conditions, and a magnetic sensing coil to protect against overcurrent situations. The main advantage that circuit breakers have over fuses is that they are re-settable.
A fuse is a simple device that protects the conductors and equipment of a circuit from damage due to higher than normal fault values. It is designed to be the weakest link in a circuit. It is an insulated tube containing a strip of conductive metal (fuse-link) that has a lower melting point than either copper or aluminum. The fuse link has narrow, resistive segments that concentrate the current and cause the temperature at those points to rise.
During a short circuit the fuse elements burn open in just a fraction of a second. The higher the values of fault current, the faster the fuse will react. In an overload situation, the fuse elements can take many seconds or even minutes before thermal actions cause the fuse link to melt open.
Fuses come in two categories: Fast-acting fuses (Type P) and time-delay fuses (Type D). Fuses used in motor circuits have to withstand the intense inrush current when the motor is first started, and so we install time-delay fuses, also known as “dual-element fuses” in those circuits.
Common Ratings
All overcurrent devices must be operated within their rated values. Three of the most important ratings are voltage, current, and interrupting capacity.
Voltage rating
Fuses and circuit breakers must be rated for at least the value of the voltage of the circuit they are designed to protect.
When a fuse or circuit breaker interrupts a fault current, it must safely extinguish the arc and prevent it from reestablishing itself. Therefore, the voltage rating of a fuse or circuit breaker must be equal to or greater than the system voltage.
For example, a fuse rated at 240V RMS will be acceptable for use in a 120V circuit. However, it would exceed the fuse’s voltage rating to use it in a 600V circuit.
Continuous-duty rating
Continuous-duty rating describes the maximum rated value of RMS current that the overcurrent device is designed to handle on a continuous basis without tripping. Generally speaking, the ampere rating of the fuse or breaker should not exceed the current carrying capacity of the circuit, but there are exceptions, such as certain motor circuits.
Unless otherwise marked, the continuous-duty rating of fuses and circuit breakers is 80% of their marked ampere value. This means that a standard 15 amp circuit breaker is generally designed for use in a maximum 12 amp circuit.
Interrupting capacity
When a short circuit or ground fault occurs, the circuit resistance drops to effectively zero ohms, causing very large values of current to flow. This extremely fast rise in fault current can cause damage to wires and equipment through overheating and must be extinguished as quickly as possible.
The interrupting-capacity (IC) rating of an overcurrent device is the maximum fault current that the device can interrupt without damage to itself. Most circuit breakers and fuses have an IC rating of 10,000 amps.
For systems capable of larger fault currents, high-rupture capacity (HRC) fuses can interrupt currents up to 200,000 amps by using arc-quenching fillers such as silica sand to help interrupt the fault current.
1.04: Single-Phase Systems vs. Three-Phase Systems
4 Single-Phase Systems vs. Three-Phase Systems
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In electrical systems, we use the terms “single-phase” and “three-phase” fairly often, so a brief description of them will help us moving forward.
Single-phase systems are the simplest electrical circuits. They require only two wires: one for power to go in and the other is a return path for current to go out. These are often called Line 1 and Line 2, or Line 1 and Neutral. Current only has one path to travel in a single-phase circuit, and all of the control circuits that we will be looking at are single-phase.
Three-phase systems are bit more complex. They use three current carrying conductors, called Line 1, Line 2, and Line 3, which have a 120° phase shift in the voltage and current waveforms between them. Each of these conductors are connected to a three-phase load, like a three-phase motor.
When in operation, a balanced three-phase load (such as a motor) has each of its three line’s current values cancel each other out, and so it does not require a return conductor. These loads can be connected in Wye or Delta configuration.
Unbalanced three-phase loads are mainly connected in the Wye configuration where the central point is used as a neutral conductor to carry any stray return currents. In practice a motor is almost always a balanced three-phase load.
Only large industrial and commercial loads will be supplied by three-phase systems. Most heating and cooling loads, especially those used in residential applications, will be single-phase. | textbooks/workforce/HVAC_and_Power_Plant_Operations/Basic_HVAC_(Lee)/01%3A_Electrical_Terms_and_Definitions/1.03%3A_Overload_and_Overcurrent_Protection_Devices.txt |
5 Low-Voltage Release vs. Low-Voltage Protection
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Two of the first terms that we will cover are low-voltage release (LVR) and low-voltage protection (LVP).
Sometimes called under-voltage release, low-voltage release (LVR) is a property that circuits have when upon a return of voltage following a power outage, loads automatically turn back on.
Sometimes called under-voltage protection, low-voltage protection (LVP) is a property that circuits have when upon a return of voltage following a power outage, loads will not automatically turn back on and will require further input from the operator.
A simple example of low-voltage release (LVR) and low-voltage protection (LVP) is a simple lighting circuit and a household microwave. Imagine that you are at home, heating something in the microwave (perhaps a burrito) when all of a sudden all of the lights go out. But not just the lights, the microwave and every electrical device not powered by a battery is dead.
Perhaps a tree has fallen across some power lines? Regardless of the cause, the effect is the same: the power is out. This is a common and annoying experience for us all, and often there is nothing to do but light some candles, read a book, and wait.
How do we know when the power has been restored? All of a sudden all the lights come back on, and there’s a beep from the microwave letting you know that the clock needs to be reset.
The lights are an example of low-voltage release (LVR). The switches that control the lights were closed when the power went out, stayed closed during the power outage (the period of “low voltage”), and when the power was restored, the switches were all still in their “ON” position. The load was “released” after the period of “low-voltage.”
Low-voltage release (LVR) is very useful for circuits where re-energization after a brief or temporary loss of power is safe and desirable. Some examples include lighting circuits, sump pumps, refrigeration circuits, and ventilation circuits. These are examples of circuits where their failure to re-energize after a power disruption could lead to damage of property (sump pump) or endangerment of safety (parkade ventilation).
The microwave was an example of low-voltage protection (LVP). The timer controlling the microwave shut off when the power went out, and when the power returned, the control circuit of the microwave waited for further input from a human operator.
Low-voltage protection (LVP) is desirable when the sudden activation of a machine or other electrical load could cause damage or injury. Some examples would include any rotating machinery (table-saws, lathes) or moving conveyor belts. These are examples of circuits where the sudden re-energization could surprise or injure a person working nearby.
There are many ways that circuits can be equipped with either low-voltage release (LVR) or low-voltage protection (LVP), but two of the simplest are with two-wire and three-wire control circuits respectively.
As a rule, if a circuit uses a magnetic contactor and a holding contact, it will provide low-voltage protection (LVP).
If it uses maintained contacts, then it most likely provides low-voltage release (LVR).
1.06: Self Test 1
6 Self Test 1
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If using the print, PDF, or eBook copy of this book, navigate to the above link to complete the quiz. However, the quiz questions are also provided at the end of the book for offline use: Offline Copies of Chapter Quizzes. | textbooks/workforce/HVAC_and_Power_Plant_Operations/Basic_HVAC_(Lee)/01%3A_Electrical_Terms_and_Definitions/1.05%3A_Low-Voltage_Release_vs._Low-Voltage_Protection.txt |
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02: Heating
7 Thermostats – General
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Thermostats are what we refer to as “temperature-actuated switches,” meaning they will automatically open or close their electrical contacts upon a change in ambient temperature. This means that we can set the thermostat in the room to a comfortable level and allow the heating or cooling system regulate the temperature.
Thermostats that control heating loads will close their contacts when the temperature falls below its set point, while thermostats controlling cooling loads will energize upon a rising temperature. Some systems will allow a single thermostat to control both heating and cooling apparatus.
Inside the average residential home, thermostats are generally found in two varieties: line-voltage thermostats, which directly control the flow of current to the load, or low-voltage thermostats, which indirectly control current to the load.
Regardless of the type of thermostat used, it must be rated for the voltage and current that it is expected to operate at and control.
The location of thermostats is critical as well. As a rule, we place our heaters, either baseboard heaters or air vents, near the outside of rooms and near windows and other areas of high heat loss. For the most effective heating of a room, thermostats should be installed on the opposite wall, or as far away as possible from a heat source.
If the thermostat was installed directly above the heater, for example, it would sense a high temperature and switch the load off long before the room heated up to a desirable level. By installing it on the opposite wall, we ensure the heat has to travel through the whole room before the sensor opens the circuit, providing more balanced heating.
Some thermostats will have the temperature sensitive portion of their apparatus installed remotely from their electrical contacts. This type of thermostat is commonly used for in-floor heating and certain industrial processes, where temperature monitoring equipment is impractical to install.
2.02: Line Voltage Thermostats
8 Line Voltage Thermostats
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Line-voltage thermostats are available as either single-pole single throw (SPST) or double-pole single throw (DPST) switch types and are popular for use with baseboard heaters. They are relatively inexpensive and act as on/off switches to conduct full power to the heater load.
Used most commonly with multiple baseboard heaters, line-voltage thermostats must be installed in each room or heated area to allow precise control of heat.
For example, it is common to install a baseboard heater under the window in every room with an exterior wall and have one thermostat near the entrance to that room, either above or beside the light switch, to control that individual heater. This ensures that the whole room will be heated before the thermostat clicks off, but that the unoccupied room next door does not heat up.
Since heating loads are energized at 240V for increased efficiency, thermostats controlling them are not allowed to have a marked “OFF” position unless they open all ungrounded conductors. This means that only a double-pole, single-throw (DPST) thermostat will have an “OFF” position, while a single-pole, single-throw (SPST) thermostat will instead be marked “LOW” or “MIN.”
Regardless of the type of thermostat used, NEVER use a thermostat as a disconnecting means before working on a baseboard heater. Disconnect the power at the source and verify it is dead before working on any voltage source.
Line-voltage thermostats must be rated for the voltage, current and power ratings of the loads they will be controlling. For example a thermostat rated at 240 volts and 2880 watts must only be used to control maximum 12 amps of load current.
$12\text{ A}=\dfrac{2880 \text{W}}{240\text{ V}}$
2.03: Low-Voltage Thermostats
9 Low-Voltage Thermostats
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Low-voltage thermostats are smaller and cheaper to install and maintain, and the wiring does not need to have as high a voltage and power rating as their line-voltage counterparts. This is why low-voltage control circuits are favoured for central heating units. Low voltage thermostats are also more sensitive to changes in heat than line-voltage thermostats, and so can provide more precise control.
When controlling a single large heating unit, such as a central gas furnace or electric furnace, there is no zone control as with baseboard heaters; either the whole house is getting heated, or none of it is. A low-voltage thermostat installed in a central location, and powered by a 120 - 24V transformer, can senses the ambient temperature and be used to control a relay to deliver power to the heating load.
By using an extra-low-voltage source for the control circuit we get the benefit of lower cost and easier installation along with increased safety, allowing a simple two-wire low-voltage cable to be installed in an ideal location in the house. Because it is only meant to handle the control current and not the load current, low-voltage thermostats are highly responsive and can provide more accurate control than line-line voltage thermostats.
Some models of low-voltage thermostats used to control central gas furnace or electric furnace loads incorporating heat exchanges and blowers, will have a small, series connected, resistive device called an anticipator resistor. The purpose of this device is to fine tune the sensitivity of the thermostat and prevent overshoot of the desired room temperature.
Low-voltage thermostats, fall into two general categories, some are simple temperature activated switches while others are more modern electronic thermostats incorporating solid-state circuitry and allowing for programmable behaviours such as 24-hour cycles, and weekday vs weekend scheduling.
Electronic thermostats use semiconductor components for both temperature sensing and control-circuit switching. If installed to replace an existing analogue thermostat, the electronic thermostat must have a separate power source, which is usually a battery. | textbooks/workforce/HVAC_and_Power_Plant_Operations/Basic_HVAC_(Lee)/02%3A_Heating/2.01%3A_Thermostats__General.txt |
10 Electric Heat – General
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There are several main styles of fixed electric heating loads, including baseboard heaters, unit heaters, heating cable sets (in-floor heating) and central electric heating, which is similar to central gas heat, in that there is one source that distributes heat, usually by blowing warmed air through ductwork.
Electric heating loads are very reliable methods of heating a building. By passing current through a resistive element, our electric heaters produce heat proportional to the square of the applied voltage.
$\text{P}=\dfrac{\text{E}^2}{\text{R}}$
This means that if you connect your heating load at half its rated voltage, you will produce one quarter of the power, or consequently if you connected at twice the loads rated voltage you would develop four times the rated power. It is for this reason that fixed electric heating loads are connected at 240V, which is the line-to-line voltage inside most houses.
2.05: Baseboard Heat
11 Baseboard Heat
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The simplest form of fixed electric heat is the baseboard heater. These small, modular units with their long horizontal profile are installed underneath windows and other areas of high ambient heat loss.
Energized at 240V in households to maximize heat production, baseboard heaters are commonly controlled by line-voltage thermostats installed in each room or heated area though some can also be controlled by built-in thermostats installed directly into the unit housing.
Because line-voltage thermostats directly control the flow of current to the heater element they must be rated for whatever value of current flows through them.
Baseboard heaters are rated for their power output, in watts, and are generally available in 250W increments, thus allowing installers to select the appropriate size of heater for the area being heated. To find the current requirements of a device, divide the rated power by rated voltage.
For example, a thermostat rated 3kW at 240V would be able to handle 12.5 amps of current.
$12.5\text{ A}=\dfrac{3000\text{ W}}{240\text{ V}}$
When installing any kind of baseboard heaters, care must be taken not to install any other electrical equipment above them. No receptacles may be installed above a baseboard heater because of the risk of a cord resting on the heater and getting damaged by the heat. If a receptacle is required in a section of wall that also has baseboard heat, some manufactures will provide spacing inside the heater for installation of a receptacle.
2.06: Central Electric Heat
12 Central Electric Heat
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A central electric furnace is comprised of a large bank of resistive heating coils, and a blower motor that pushes air across them. Most furnaces allow for the installation of air filters to help purify the air as it circulates through the building.
Control of the furnace comes from a low-voltage thermostat installed in a central location of the house. This room thermostat energizes a 24V solenoid contactor, which in turn energizes the 240V heating elements. As the temperature in the plenum chamber rises, eventually the blower motor thermostat engages and begins to push heated air throughout the building.
The furnace houses the relays which control the heating elements. These are normally switched on and off in increments of 5 kW or less. This helps reduce the strain on the line due the heavy currents drawn when large heating loads are all switched on simultaneously. This helps reduce the flickering of lights and other under voltage concerns in parallel circuits.
The furnace will also contain a high temperature safety cut-out switch that will disconnect all power to the heating elements if the temperature rises above a pre-set safety threshold. This can happen if the blower fan fails to engage and drive the heated air through the house, and thus draw cool air into the plenum chamber.
Electric furnaces are sized according to their power consumption and can generally range anywhere from 5 kW to 40 kW, and be supplied with either single-phase voltage for household use, or three-phase voltage for industrial and commercial heaters, depending upon the availability at the point of installation. | textbooks/workforce/HVAC_and_Power_Plant_Operations/Basic_HVAC_(Lee)/02%3A_Heating/2.04%3A_Electric_Heat__General.txt |
13 Unit Heaters
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Unit heaters are often installed at ceiling height or recessed into a wall, and consist of a heating element, a built in blower fan and louvers to direct the direction of heated airflow. They are small and compact in size, yet have a high capacity for heating a room or area.
If a single unit heater is to be installed, its heated airflow should be directed towards the area of highest ambient heat loss, such as a window or door, however care should be taken to make sure that no surface is heated beyond a safe level.
If multiple unit heaters are installed their air flow should be directed in a circular motion along the exposed outer walls.
Control of unit heaters is similar to that of baseboard heaters, in that there must be a temperature activated switch, either installed directly on the heater unit, or more effectively, in another part of the room. A built-in fan switch is also provided to allow the fan to circulate air during warm weather without energizing the heater elements.
Unit heaters are available anywhere from 2 kW to 60 kW, with units on the lower side, up to approximately 5 kW usually being single-phase AC and controlled by low-voltage thermostats and relays, while units rated above 5 kW are usually three-phase.
2.08: Portable Heaters
14 Portable Heaters
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Portable electric heaters, such as a temporary space heaters, will operate at 120V because this is the output voltage of standard receptacles. These smaller heating loads can be moved from room to room to allow for flexibility in heating options. Portable heaters will have a thermostat built into them to automatically switch off the heater once the room has reached the preset temperature. Some may include a fan to help drive warm air through the space being heated.
2.09: In-Floor Heating
15 In-Floor Heating
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As anyone who has walked on a cold tiled floor in their bare feet can attest, nobody likes cold toes. Likewise, anyone who has shovelled snow off their driveway or sidewalk will agree that not dealing with snow would be far superior. The good news is that in-floor heating exists to help ameliorate these situations.
By installing resistive heating cables below the finished floor, such a tiled floor in a bathroom, we can eliminate the heat sapping characteristics of the cold tiles, however underfloor heating sets are not intended to be a source of heat for the room.
Heating cables can also be installed below driveways and walkways for the purpose of melting ice or snow in the winter. When laid in concrete, cables must be of a material that is resistant to any chemical reaction.
This is a similar process to installing heat trace cables for freeze protection on plumbing, and drain piping.
Some manufactures produce heating cables that are embedded in mats which are laid out below the tiled floor to be installed, in which case cable spacing is not a problem. If the heating cable comes on a roll, the cable is usually installed at a spacing of about 150 mm to 300 mm. Regardless of the style, they are commonly designed for a loading between 40 and 160 watts per square meter.
One of the most important details to keep in mind is to never shorten the length of cable when installing in the field. Doing so would change the series connected resistance of the cable, and thus change the current drawn and the power dissipated by the cable, perhaps beyond safe conditions.
The system can be controlled by a wall mounted thermostat that has a remote sensor embedded in the floor to sense floor temperature. | textbooks/workforce/HVAC_and_Power_Plant_Operations/Basic_HVAC_(Lee)/02%3A_Heating/2.07%3A_Unit_Heaters.txt |
16 Gas Heat – Basic Principle
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One of the most common ways to heat a home or other type of building, is with a gas-fired furnace. In contrast to an electric furnace, a gas fired furnace converts the stored chemical energy in methane rich natural gas to produce heat. While natural gas is cleaner than other fossil fuels, it still emits carbon when consumed, and so it is a greenhouse gas emitter. Its chief benefit is that it is often a cheaper alternative to expensive electric heating bills.
Natural gas is used to provide space heating by heating either air, in a forced-air system, or water, in a hydronic heating system. Both systems rely on either pumps or fans to push either the heated air or water throughout the building.
Basic Principle
A gas fired forced-air furnace operates on a similar principle as a central electric furnace. Both require a control circuit to sense the temperature of the space to be heated, and a fan to circulate air throughout that space. The furnace is usually located in the basement or crawl space of a house.
If the room temperature falls too low, the main thermostat clicks on and opens the main gas valve which allows the combustible gas to fill the heat exchanger. The inflowing gas is ignited via a pilot light, direct spark ignition, or an electrically heated hot-surface igniter similar to a diesel engine glow plug. Once the temperature in the heat exchanger has risen to a sufficient level, a local thermostat or timer switch engages the blower fan.
An upper-limit safety thermostat is installed in the plenum chamber to disengage the main gas valve should the blower fan fail to engage, and the temperature rise too high.
The blower fan pushes the heated air through the ducting system and the building, usually via floor registers. Since hot air rises, it is always more efficient to install heat registers as low as possible and near places of high ambient temperature loss, such as windows and exterior walls or doors. Return-air registers draw cooled air back down to the furnace and the heat exchanger to be warmed again.
As the blower fan draws the return air, it pushes it through a filter before heating it again. This helps maintain healthy air quality levels in the building, and filters should be replaced regularly.
If a hydronic heating system is used instead of a forced-air system, a pump will push the heated water to radiators throughout the building to dissipate their thermal energy.
One of the by-products of combusting gasses to produce heat, is smoke, which needs to be vented safely away from the house. The heat exchanger keeps the toxic byproducts of combustion separate from the air that is circulated throughout the building. Most of the heat is transferred to the circulating air, but some still lost through exhaust. Older heat exchangers had an efficiency of roughly 50%, meaning half the heat produced was wasted up the chimney. Modern designs have improved efficiency to approximately 70% to 80%, and recent high-efficiency furnaces can achieve heat distribution efficiencies above 90%. | textbooks/workforce/HVAC_and_Power_Plant_Operations/Basic_HVAC_(Lee)/02%3A_Heating/2.10%3A_Gas_Heat__Basic_Principle.txt |
17 Gas Heat – Control
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The control of a central gas heating system is fairly simple. An extra-low-voltage, 120 to 24 V transformer provides the power for a control circuit, while a dedicated 120 V low-voltage circuit provides power to the blower fan. Extra-low-voltage conductors connect the furnace to the room thermostat.
When the room temperature gets sufficiently low, the room thermostat clicks shut, and the completed circuit opens the main gas valve. The inrushing gas is then ignited and begins to heat the air in the heat exchanger.
It is important that the heat exchanger isolate the products of combustion from the heated air that is to be circulated through the house. Once the temperature in the heat exchanger reaches a sufficient level, a second thermostat inside the furnace housing clicks shut and engages the blower motor.
When the heated air causes the temperature in the house to rise sufficiently, the main room thermostat contacts will open, de-energizing the main gas valve, thus cutting off the gas supply and extinguishing the burner flame.
Though the main gas valve has now been closed and the flame extinguished, the heat exchanger is still very hot, and so the blower motor continues to run, dissipating and distributing any residual heat. This will continue until the blower motor thermostat senses a sufficient drop in plenum chamber temperature, and opens its contacts.
This residual heat would normally cause overshoot of the desired room temperature, and so the low-voltage thermostat may incorporate a series connected, anticipator resistor, which creates a small amount of heat causing the thermostat to open before the set temperature is reached. A few minutes after the thermostat opens, the blower control thermostat opens, de-energizing the blower motor, and the room reaches the desired temperature.
The furnace will also contain a high temperature safety cut-out switch that will disconnect all gas to the heating elements if the temperature rises above a pre-set safety threshold. This can happen if the blower fan fails to engage and drive the heated air through the house, and thus draw cool air into the heat exchanger.
2.12: Pilot Lights
18 Pilot Lights
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Many gas-fired systems incorporate a pilot light to ignite the gas when the furnace is first turned on. A pilot light is a steady flame which is always present. It is fed by a normally-closed valve which is held open by a solenoid coil, and allows a small amount of gas through at all times. When the room thermostat engages the heating system and the main gas valves open, the in-rushing gas is instantly ignited by the pilot light flame.
If the pilot light was to ever extinguish, a danger might be presented if the flow of gas was allowed continue without combusting. It is for this reason that the valve is designed to automatically close if the flame should ever extinguish. To achieve this, a thermocouple is used to keep the valve open.
Spark ignition and electronic ignition, sometimes called a glow coil, are alternative methods of igniting the gas used for heating. All rely on the principle of instantly igniting the gas once the main gas valve opens.
2.13: Thermocouples
19 Thermocouples
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A thermocouple is constructed from two dissimilar metals that utilize thermoelectric generation to create a small voltage when heated. When one junction is subjected to presence of heat at the pilot light flame, a small DC current flows through the cold junction of the thermocouple, which is connected to the pilot safety shut-off gas valve circuit.
If the pilot flame is extinguished, the voltage source disappears and the normally closed, held-open valve re-closes, thus preventing gas from filling the space.
This small value of voltage, usually around 25 – 30 DC millivolts, provides the power to hold the pilot light valve open during normal operation. The types of metals used in the construction of the thermocouple depend upon the values of temperature they are to be subjected to.
If a higher value of voltage is required, a thermopile, which is manufactured from several series-aiding connected thermocouples, can provide voltages of typically 250 DC millivolts or 750 DC millivolts. Certain stand-alone gas fired furnaces and fire-places will utilize a thermopile to provide control circuit power to a low-voltage thermostat installed in the room.
2.14: Hydronic Heating Systems
20 Hydronic Heating Systems
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One of the simplest methods of heating a room is to pass warmed water through pipes in that room. If the ambient temperature in that room is lower than that of the water in the pipes, they will release some of that stored heat energy. If the water did not move, it would quickly reach equilibrium with the room and no more heat transfer would occur. By constantly cycling fresh, warm water through the pipes, and carrying away the cooled water, an energy transfer can take place, with water as the medium that carries the energy.
This system would require an external heating source, such as a gas-fired boiler or an electric boiler to heat the water. Once the water has collected this stored thermal energy, it is then cycled through the system, transferring heat energy in the desired locations. Radiators are usually installed near windows and points of high heat loss to release the stored energy.
2.15: Self Test 2
21 Self Test 2
Take the following self test as many times as you like.
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If using the print, PDF, or eBook copy of this book, navigate to the above link to complete the quiz. However, the quiz questions are also provided at the end of the book for offline use: Offline Copies of Chapter Quizzes. | textbooks/workforce/HVAC_and_Power_Plant_Operations/Basic_HVAC_(Lee)/02%3A_Heating/2.11%3A_Gas_Heat__Control.txt |
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03: Ventilation
22 Pressure Terms
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Static pressure: The force required to move air through various components, such as filters, dampers and diffusers. This represents a resistance to air flow.
Static pressure is the outward force of the air in the ducts and represents a waste or loss of available pressure. Anything that adds air resistance, such as corners in ducting and filters will increase the static pressure.
Velocity pressure: The force exerted by a moving air stream. It is produced in the direction of the moving air. This represents the useful value of pressure that moves air through the ductwork.
Total pressure: The sum of static and velocity pressure inside an HVAC system; the total opposition to airflow in a ducting system.
An air-handling unit will have a maximum value of pressure that it can produce. If static pressure is too high relative to velocity pressure, the fan will be unable to circulate air throughout the ducting system. Most air handling units will have a maximum pressure rating that they are designed to deliver.
In testing HVAC systems, it is sometimes necessary to test the pressure at various places. Direct measurements can give values for static or total pressure, from which the velocity pressure can then be derived.
3.02: Fans and Blowers
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Sometimes called the air-handler unit or the blower, the fan is the device which drives the treated air throughout the building. Usually driven by a single-phase AC motor in smaller applications, and a three-phase motor in larger commercial or industrial applications.
There are two main categories of fans, each with their own advantages and applications: the axial fan, which draws air parallel to the rotating axis and the centrifugal fan, which draws air at a right angle to its rotating axis.
3.03: Axial Fan
24 Axial Fan
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Axial fans are designed for moving low volumes of air under low static pressure conditions.
In their most basic shape an axial fan resembles an airplanes propeller, and simple household fans utilize this design.
While the propeller design is the simplest, there are other styles of axial fans. The tubeaxial, which is simply propeller-style blades installed in a ducting tube to help direct and focus air flow, and the vaneaxial, which incorporates air straightening vanes down behind the blades, and boasts the highest efficiency of the axial fans.
Due to their lower power requirements, axial fans are usually powered by single-phase AC motors which are either driven directly or via a belt system. They are generally quiet in operation and are favoured in places where noise levels are a factor, but are not suitable for moving large volumes of air.
These styles of fans are often used to drive fresh air over the condenser coils in rooftop units of air conditioning systems.
3.04: Centrifugal Fan
25 Centrifugal Fan
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Centrifugal fans are better suited to push larger volumes of air through ducting systems. They are designed to produce higher pressure for a given volume of air than an axial fan of the same horsepower rating. Any fan used to drive air throughout the system must produce enough total pressure to overcome the static pressure of the ducting system and drive air everywhere it is needed.
Drawing the intake air at 90 degrees relative to the outtake, the fan blades direct the air in an spinning, circular direction, accelerating it towards the exhaust vent.
Depending upon the application, the drive mechanism of the fan may be directly coupled, belt driven, or powered by a variable speed drive.
Centrifugal fans are noisier than an axial fan of equivalent horsepower, and so are often installed in areas where high noise levels are acceptable or noise dampening components can be installed.
Centrifugal fans can move large quantities of air, while overcoming all the resistive static pressure of the duct-work system. | textbooks/workforce/HVAC_and_Power_Plant_Operations/Basic_HVAC_(Lee)/03%3A_Ventilation/3.01%3A_Pressure_Terms.txt |
26 Fan Substitutions
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There are three important considerations to keep in mind when changing the motors of HVAC fans, if a change in speed or horsepower is also involved.
The first is that airflow varies directly with fan speed, so doubling the speed of the fan will double the airflow.
$\text{Fan Speed}=\text{Air Flow}$
The second is that static pressure varies with the square of the fan speed, so that doubling the fan speed will quadruple the static pressure in the ductwork.
$\text{Fan Speed}={\text{Static Pressure}}^{2}$
The third consideration is that electrical power consumed by the motor varies with the cube of the fan speed, so that it requires a motor with eight-times the horsepower rating of the previous motor to double the fan speed.
$\text{Fan Speed}={\text{Power Consumed}}^{3}$
This will result in a very significant change in the demand of the electrical draw of the motor. Be sure not to exceed the current, voltage, or horsepower ratings of any electrical circuits, or overcurrent devices.
3.06: Dampers
27 Dampers
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Dampers are devices installed in the ductwork of air systems to regulate the flow of air. They can be controlled manually or remotely and can be used to ensure a certain percentage of the return airflow is mixed with incoming air from outside. This helps ensure that healthy levels of fresh air are added to the recirculating air flow system.
Most sets of dampers consist of a U-channel frame with several connected sheet-metal blades which are driven by a small motor. The edges of the sheet-metal blades will have rubber seals to help provide a tighter barrier to air when in the closed position.
Dampers are divided into two categories depending upon how their blades rotate relative to each other. Opposed blade dampers are constructed so that adjacent blades rotate in opposite directions, while parallel blade dampers have all blades rotating in the same direction, similar to Venetian blinds.
Motor driven dampers that are part of larger commercial or industrial HVAC systems will have power-fail positions that they will revert to in the event of a loss of voltage.
Motor driven dampers are controlled by actuators, which contain a spiral spring inside their housing that tightens clockwise as the motor is driven. This spring provides the stored energy to return the sheet-metal blades back to their original position should electrical power be disconnected from the actuator. When installing actuators care must be taken to ensure that in the event of a power failure the spring in the actuator returns the damper blades to the desired default power-fail position.
Outside and exhaust dampers will generally revert to a normally-closed (NC) position, while return air dampers will revert to their normally-open (NO) position to ensure that any supply fans are not deprived of fresh air.
3.07: Self Test 3
28 Self Test 3
Take the following self test as many times as you like.
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04: Mechanical Cooling
29 Mechanical Cooling – General Applications
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Mechanical cooling has a wide range of applications; it is used in automobiles, rooftop HVAC units, coolers, refrigerators, freezers and even in the chiller units that produce the cold water for hydronic cooling coils. Mechanical cooling is utilized for the large scale cooling of entire buildings, or it can be used to keep the inside of the fridge cold and allow for the long term storage and freezing of food.
Air conditioning units use the basic Direct Expansion (DX) cooling cycle in a process that removes heat from one area where it is not desired, and transfers that heat to an area where it is quickly dissipated. The air conditioner itself does not create heat, nor does it destroy heat—it simply transfers heat from a room into a refrigerant, and then from inside the building to outside.
Hydronic chiller systems may use a DX system to bring large quantities of water below room temperature, and then pump this cooled water throughout the building to lower the average temperature. Often used in association with rooftop water coolers to rapidly release thermal energy collected in the building.
Heat pumps are a type of DX cooling system that allows for the refrigerant to flow in both directions through the system. By reversing the direction of the flow of refrigerant, a heat pump can go from cooling a house in the summer, to warming that house in the winter, all while using the same equipment. This can simplify the installation and allow a single system, rather than separate heating and cooling components, to regulate the temperature of the building.
4.02: Mechanical Cooling Principles
30 Mechanical Cooling – Principles
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Mechanical cooling, or refrigeration, refers to any method that uses energy to actively cool an area. Examples include refrigerators and freezers, air conditioner units and heat pumps. Regardless of the scale of the cooling system, whether air conditioning a building or keeping the inside of your refrigerator cold, all cooling systems are governed by the first two laws of thermodynamics:
1. Energy may be neither created nor destroyed, but may be changed from one form to another
Accordingly, thermal energy or heat may not be created to warm an area nor destroyed to cool an area. Instead we use heaters to convert either stored chemical energy (gas) or electrical energy into heat, or we use cooling systems to remove heat from a given area.
1. Thermal energy always flows spontaneously in the form of heat from regions of higher temperature to regions of lower temperature, increasing the entropy of the system.
An object or area that is hotter than the ambient temperature surrounding it will naturally release heat until equilibrium is established and there is no longer a temperature gradient. A bowl of hot soup will cool to room temperature over time. Conversely, objects that are colder than the ambient temperature will absorb thermal energy until they reach ambient temperature. This fundamental relationship underlies the principle behind many styles of mechanical cooling systems, including DX, or direct expansion cooling.
4.03: Hydronic Cooling Systems
31 Hydronic Cooling Systems
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One of the simplest methods of cooling a room is to pass chilled water through pipes in that room. If the ambient temperature in that room is higher than that of the water in the pipes, they will absorb some of that heat energy. If the water did not move, it would quickly reach equilibrium with the room and no more cooling would occur. By constantly moving fresh, cold water through the pipes, and carrying away the warmed water, an energy transfer can take place, with water as the medium that carries the energy.
This system would need some place to dissipate the thermal energy of the room. The water is usually driven to a unit mounted outside of the building, often installed on the rooftop of larger installations, and heat is dissipated into the ambient environment. This method requires that the ambient environment is cooler than the water in the pipes, because with out a temperature gradient, no thermal energy will spontaneously flow from the warmer water in the pipes to the cooler air surrounding it.
Once the water has dissipated its stored thermal energy, and its temperature drops, it is then cycled through the system again, to transfer more heat energy from one area to another.
Some hydronic cooling systems may run pipes deep underground where there is often a steady and reliable temperature gradient between surface and below ground temperatures. This provides a consistent, and energy efficient method to dissipate thermal energy.
This type of system will sometimes incorporate additional cooling components, such as direct expansion cooling (or DX cooling) to further lower the temperature of the chilled water before it returns to the room to continue the cooling process. | textbooks/workforce/HVAC_and_Power_Plant_Operations/Basic_HVAC_(Lee)/04%3A_Mechanical_Cooling/4.01%3A_Mechanical_Cooling__General_Applications.txt |
32 Gas Laws
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Before we can examine the inner workings of direct expansion cooling systems, it will help to have a basic understanding of how fluids and gasses behave under different conditions. Specifically we are concerned with how changes in pressure, temperature or volume will affect our cooling systems.
Pressure is defined as a force acting upon an area. Expressed mathematically
$\text{Pressure}=\dfrac{\text{Force}}{\text{Area}}$
Pressure is directly proportional to the force, in (N) newton’s and inversely proportional to the area, in (m2) square meters, upon which it acts. By changing either the force or the area, we can vary the pressure of a system.
Temperature is the thermal energy contained by a material as its atoms collide with each other. It is a representation of kinetic energy. The hotter an object is, the more kinetic energy it atoms have, and the more collisions will occur.
It takes energy to heat something, and a hot object will slowly cool by dissipating its kinetic energy to the outside environment.
Temperature is measured in either degrees Celsius (C°) or degrees kelvin (K°) . Kelvin is the base unit of temperature in the SI system.
Volume represent the given space that something occupies. When describing gasses or liquids we often describe the volume that they take up. measured in cubic centimetres (cm3) or more commonly, (L) liters.
When compared, we find that the temperature of a system is directly proportional to its pressure and inversely proportional to the volume that it occupies.
Expressed mathematically:
$\text{Temperature}=\dfrac{\text{Pressure}}{\text{Volume}}$
This equation is a simplification of more complex gas laws, but will serve to illustrate the relationships that we wish to focus on.
In our DX cooling systems we will control the volume and pressure of a medium, the refrigerant, to transfer heat from one place to another.
4.05: Phase Changes
33 Phase Changes
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We are relatively familiar with the three main forms of matter: solids, liquids and gasses. Since cooling systems make use of the changing properties of a refrigerant as it goes from liquid to gas form, it is useful to understand the relationships between temperature and heat energy in a system.
Solids are defined as having a low heat-energy level, meaning the atoms are locked in place and the object has a fixed volume and shape. For example a block of ice is water in its solid form.
As ice melts it becomes the liquid water that we are all familiar with. Its atoms are free to flow about, and it has a fixed volume, but will spread out to fill whatever container it is in, meaning its shape is not fixed.
As water is heated, it eventually boils and becomes a gas. In this state, its atoms are free to move about, and it has no fixed shape or volume. This is its highest energy level.
The relationship between the temperature of a medium versus the amount of heat energy added or removed from the environment is shown below.
It is important to note the flat portions of the graph labelled “Phase Change” are horizontal with respect to the temperature axis. This means that a significant amount of heat energy must be either added or removed from the surrounding environment in order to change a material from a solid to a liquid, or a liquid to a gas. This heat energy is sometimes referred to as latent heat.
Only once the material has completely changed its phase will the temperature continue to rise. Once the materials temperature starts to rise, the energy which is now added (or removed) from the system is called sensible heat, because a person could sense, or feel the difference in temperature.
Endothermic reactions such as melting or boiling take energy from the surrounding environment and use it to change the phase of the material in the cooling system.
Exothermic reactions such as freezing or condensing release energy from the system back into the environment.
Direct Expansion cooling systems use the boiling and condensing properties of a refrigerant to rapidly remove thermal energy from an area where it is undesirable, and dissipate it elsewhere. | textbooks/workforce/HVAC_and_Power_Plant_Operations/Basic_HVAC_(Lee)/04%3A_Mechanical_Cooling/4.04%3A_Gas_Laws.txt |
34 Direct Expansion Air Conditioning Systems
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Direct expansion, or DX cooling, uses the principles of thermodynamics to transfer heat from one area to another through the evaporation and condensation of a refrigerant, which serves as the medium through which heat is captured and removed from one area and released in another.
Air conditioners use this mechanism to move heat from inside a room to outside, meaning the air conditioning system must have a component installed inside the room or area to collect thermal energy, and another component outside the room to release that thermal energy to the environment.
Refrigerators and freezers use DX cooling to remove thermal energy from inside the freezer unit to the outside. They utilize the same components as an air conditioning system, though on a smaller scale and creating much colder temperatures.
There are four main components of any DX cooling system, plus a heat absorbent medium, often called the refrigerant, that regulate the transference of heat energy by creating the temperature and pressure differentials required for DX cooling:
• The refrigerant, which is the medium that flows through the system, collecting and dissipating heat in different areas;
• The compressor, which is an electrical motor load and supplies the energy to drive the refrigerant through the system;
• The evaporator, which collects heat from the area, and facilitates the boiling of the refrigerant;
• The condenser, which dissipates heat into the ambient environment by allowing the refrigerant to return to a liquid state;
• The expansion valve, which acts as a regulator between the high and low pressure side of the system and allows for the drop in pressure and temperature necessary to facilitate DX cooling.
The whole system forms a closed loop, and is powered by the motor driven compressor. This device supplies the energy that drives the cooling system, and is usually a single-phase electrical motor load.
The compressor drives the next most critical component, the refrigerant, throughout the system. The refrigerant must have the property of boiling below room temperature. There are several varieties of refrigerant in use today, each with their own unique properties, but all share the common trait of evaporating at low temperatures. It is the property of changing phase, i.e. boiling, at low temperatures, that allows the refrigerant to maximize its ability to absorb thermal energy from a room or area.
The two components which facilitate the transfer of heat to or from the refrigerant are the evaporator located in the area to be cooled, and the condenser, located where heat may be dissipated, commonly outside of the building. The majority of the heat energy is dissipated in the condenser, and in order for heat transfer to occur, the air surrounding the condenser coil must be at a lower temperature than the refrigerant. This is why the compressor raises the temperature and pressure of the refrigerant, thus ensuring that there is sufficient heat gradient between the outside air and the refrigerant.
Between the condenser and the evaporator is the expansion valve, which regulates the pressure of the refrigerant. By allowing the refrigerant to expand, we increase the volume of space the gas can occupy, and thus lower the number of collisions that the atoms will have. This results in a lowering of kinetic thermal energy.
$\text{Temperature}=\dfrac{\text{Pressure}}{\text{Volume}}$
Since the expansion valve lowers the pressure of the gas by allowing it to expand into the larger volume of the intake pipe feeding the evaporator, the refrigerant experiences a decrease in temperature. This is how we can actively make something colder than room temperature.
Refrigerants are designed to have a boiling point low enough to evaporate and turn into a gas at room temperature. For heat to transfer there has to be a temperature difference between the room and the refrigerant. If the cold refrigerant now flows through the evaporator coils, and air blown across the evaporator coils is at a higher ambient temperature, the colder refrigerant will absorb the heat, or thermal energy from the air, which has the same effect as cooling that air.
By constantly cycling additional cold refrigerant through the room, heat can be steadily removed from the desired area, and dissipated outside the building. | textbooks/workforce/HVAC_and_Power_Plant_Operations/Basic_HVAC_(Lee)/04%3A_Mechanical_Cooling/4.06%3A_Direct_Expansion_Air_Conditioning_Systems.txt |
35 The DX Cooling Cycle
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A step-by-step analysis of the forces acting upon the refrigerant as it passes through each of the four main components of a DX cooling system will help in our understanding of the process.
The Compressor
This is the component which drives the refrigerant throughout the system. It receives a low pressure, room temperature gas, and pumps the refrigerant through a valve into a much narrower diameter pipe and this restriction in volume, combined with the increased pressure of the refrigerant causes its temperature to rise rapidly. The refrigerant is a high temperature, high pressure gas as it is exiting the compressor valve.
The Condenser
As the refrigerant enters the condenser coil it is a high temperature, high pressure gas. The condenser coil has a large surface area that is exposed to the air. It will often be attached to a large metal grill to increase its available surface area, dissipating heat through conduction as well as convection. The refrigerant dissipates the thermal energy and condenses into a liquid as it moves through the coil. Most of the heat energy is dissipated at this stage, utilizing the Second Law of Thermodynamics to transfer heat from the refrigerant to the surrounding air. A fan can be incorporated into the cooling system to help circulate air across the condenser coils and take heat away from the system. Condenser units are often installed outdoors on rooftops for convenient heat dissipation.
The Expansion Valve
This component regulates the flow of refrigerant from the high pressure/temperature side of the system and the low pressure/temperature side. As the refrigerant enters the expansion valve it is a high pressure, room temperature liquid, and as it expands into the larger area beyond the valve, its pressure, and thus its temperature drops dramatically. This is when the refrigerant is at its coldest, as a low pressure, low temperature liquid. The amount of refrigerant that the valve lets through is controlled by a diaphragm, which is connected to a capillary type thermal sensor filled with a separate refrigerant. The sensing bulb is attached to the exit line of the evaporator. By sensing the temperature of the refrigerant as it leaves the evaporator, the expansion valve can let in more or less refrigerant at a given moment, thus raising or lowering the temperature of the refrigerant as it enters the evaporator.
The Evaporator
The evaporator coils are similar in design to the condenser coils but with the purpose of drawing heat from the surrounding air into the refrigerant. Again a large surface area helps to conduct heat from the air to the refrigerant. Fans can be used circulate the air and replace cooled air with warmer air. As the low pressure, low temperature liquid enters the evaporator coil and starts to absorb heat, it rapidly evaporates from a liquid to a gas. This phase shift draws energy from the surrounding air in the form of heat, and carries it away as the low pressure, room temperature gas is suctioned towards the compressor, where energy is added to drive the cycle again.
4.08: Self Test 4
36 Self Test 4
Take the following self test as many times as you like.
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https://opentextbc.ca/basichvac/?p=115
If using the print, PDF, or eBook copy of this book, navigate to the above link to complete the quiz. However, the quiz questions are also provided at the end of the book for offline use: Offline Copies of Chapter Quizzes. | textbooks/workforce/HVAC_and_Power_Plant_Operations/Basic_HVAC_(Lee)/04%3A_Mechanical_Cooling/4.07%3A_The_DX_Cooling_Cycle.txt |
Learning Objectives
Operate the Plant in the following modes and compute the Boiler Thermal Efficiency
• 230 MW Burning HFO
• 80% Load Burning Bio Fuel
• 80% Load Burning Coal
• 80% Load Burning Coal with soot built up.
Theory
First we define efficiency. There are many ways to present it, for example, efficiency is the ability to do something without wasting energy, effort or time. Put it mathematically, it is the ratio of useful output to thermal energy input. Layperson often uses the terms efficiency and effectiveness interchangeably however efficiency is to do with minimizing waste and effectiveness to do with maximizing output (more on this in Heat Exchangers Lab). Boiler efficiency is sometimes defined as combustion efficiency which is computed by the ratio of the burner’s capability to burn fuel completely to the unburnt fuel and excess air in the exhaust. Thermal efficiency on the other hand, indicates the heat exchanger’s (i.e. boiler’s) capacity to transfer heat from the combustion process to the water or steam in the boiler. In general, the maximum boiler efficiency attainable from a boiler depends on such factors as method of burning the fuel, design of the furnace and heat transfer surfaces. In addition, the type of fuel, boiler load and operational practices influence the boiler efficiency. In this lab, we focus on the fuel type, boiler load and best practices.
Boiler Thermal Efficiency
Next we express the Boiler Thermal Efficiency as follows:
$\eta_{b o i l e r}=\frac{\text{Energy to steam}}{\text {Energy from fuel}}$
Where energy to steam is the heat transfer required to form steam. Let,
• h2=specific enthalpy of steam formed, [kJ/kg],
• h1=specific enthalpy of feed water, [kJ/kg].
Because the steam is formed at constant pressure, heat transfer required to form 1 kg of steam in the boiler is
$\text{Energy to Steam}= (h_2-h_1) [kJ]$
Energy from fuel is computed from the mass of fuel used and its heat (calorific) value. For coal this is the heating value as measured in a bomb calorimeter and it corresponds to the internal energy of combustion. If
• mf= mass of fuel burned in a given time
• ms= mass of steam generated in the same time
• HV= heat value of fuel [kJ/kg]
• Energy from fuel= mf x HV [kJ]
Then we can write:
$\eta_{\text {boiler}}=\frac{m_{\mathrm{s}}\left(h_{2}-h_{1}\right)}{m_{f} H V} 100 \%$
Lab Instructions
You will run 4 different initial conditions in this lab:
• I10 230 MW Burning HFO
• I15 80% Load Burning Bio Fuel
• I14 80% Load Burning Coal
• I14 80% Load Burning Coal and use MD250 to set up soot variables.
For each condition collect the relevant data to compute the Boiler Thermal Efficiency.
Hints & Tips
For data collection, use trends as shown below:
Trends sample
In addition to various pressure, temperature and flow values, you will need to log the following tags in your trends:
• H00810 HFO heat value
• H00870 Pellet heat value (bio fuel)
• H00830 Coal heat value
To calculate the enthalpy values, you may use an app or online tool such as the Superheated Steam Table: https://goo.gl/GdVM4U
For the coal operation with soot built up, use MD250 and set malfunctions as follows:
MD250 malfunction settings.
Deliverables
Your lab report is to include the following:
• Trend plots: Supply all plots taken for each of the 4 conditions,
• Computation: Use MATLAB or MS Excel and calculate the boiler thermal efficiency for the 4 conditions specified,
• Conclusion: Write a summary (max. 500 words, in a text box if using Excel) comparing your results and suggestions for further study.
Further Reading:
• Fundamentals of Classical Thermodynamics SI Version by G. J. Van Wylen and R. E. Sonntag: Evaluation of Actual Combustion Processes.
• Thermal Engineering by H.L. Solberg, O.C. Cromer and A.R. Spalding: Capacity and Efficiency of Steam Generating Units.
• Basic Engineering Thermodynamics in SI Units by R. Joel: Boiler calculations.
1.02: Turbine Efficiency
Learning Objectives
Operate the Plant at the following generating capacities to compute the isentropic change in enthalpy and thermal efficiency for the HP turbine.
• 35% Load (I13),
• 80% Load (I14),
• 230 MW (I10).
Theory
Recall from the First and Second Law of Thermodynamics that the adiabatic process where entropy remains constant provides the maximum energy for work. As shown on the H-S coordinates, the difference in enthalpy, (H1-H2), is maximum when the lowest enthalpy (H2) is reached at the exit conditions. The ideal expansion is, therefore, a vertical line.
Turbine efficiency.
On the diagram above, T1, P1 and P2 are known process variables, for example, H1 is determined by using T1 and P1. H2 then can be found drawing a vertical line from P1 to P2 by following adiabatic isentropic expansion (expansion at constant entropy).
Non-ideal processes or real processes, however, do not present straight lines as shown on the Mollier diagram due to such factors as friction. If the expansion is not isentropic (i.e. entropy is not constant but it increases), the lowest enthalpy (H2) cannot be reached at the exit conditions, in other words, H2’ > H2. This means that ΔH for the ideal expansion is greater than ΔH for the non-ideal expansion between the same pressure boundaries. The internal turbine efficiency is therefore given by
$\eta_{\text {Turbine}}=\frac{\text {Actual change in enthalpy}}{\text {Isentr opic change in enthalpy}}$
$\eta_{\text {Turbine}}=\frac{\left(H_{1}-H_{2}\right)}{\left(H_{1}-H_{2}\right)}$
The difference in enthalpy H2’-H2 is called the reheat factor and is the basis for multi-stage turbines. As can be seen on the Mollier diagram, the pressure curves are divergent. This means that the higher the pressure drop in a single stage turbine the greater the reheat factor and in turn the lower the turbine efficiency. However, if the steam is expanded through multiple stages and between each stage the steam is reheated, higher turbine efficiencies can be achieved. We will see this effect later in the Power Plant Efficiency lab.
Lab Instructions
You will run 3 different initial conditions in this lab:
• 35% Load (I13),
• 80% Load (I14),
• 230 MW (I10).
For each condition collect the relevant data to compute the isentropic change in enthalpy for the HP turbine. Compare your results, which of the three conditions yield the most favourable results and why?
Hints & Tips
In addition to various pressure and temperature values; log the following tags in your trends:
• Z03020
• E03018
To calculate the enthalpy values, you may use an app or online tool such as the Superheated Steam Table: https://goo.gl/GdVM4U
Deliverables
Your lab report is to include the following:
• Trend plots: Supply all plots taken for each of the 3 conditions,
• Computation: Use MATLAB or MS Excel and calculate the turbine efficiency for the 3 conditions specified,
• Conclusion: Write a summary (max. 500 words, in a text box if using Excel) comparing your results and suggestions for further study.
Further Reading:
• Thermodynamics and Heat Power by I. Granet: Vapor power cycles. | textbooks/workforce/HVAC_and_Power_Plant_Operations/Book%3A_Sim_Labs_for_Thermodynamics_and_Thermal_Power_Plant_Simulator_(Beyenir_and_Boskovic)/1.01%3A_Boiler_Efficiency.txt |
Learning Objectives
Operate the Plant at full generating capacity and compute the Power Plant Efficiency when the plant is operating:
• Under normal conditions,
• With the cooling water temperature very high (lake water temperature: 35°C),
• Without regeneration.
Theory
Excluding hydroelectric power plants, most power generating plants employ a type of boiler and steam turbine. A schematic diagram of a simple steam power plant is shown below:
Schematic diagram of a steam power plant
High-pressure steam leaves the boiler and enters the turbine. The steam expands in the turbine and does work which enables the turbine to drive the electric generator. The exhaust steam leaves the turbine and enters the condenser where heat is transferred from the steam to cooling water. The pressure of the condensate leaving the condenser is increased in the pump thereby enabling the condensate to flow into the boiler. This thermodynamic cycle is known as the Rankine Cycle.
The Rankine Cycle Efficiency
As noted above, some heat is always lost from the steam to cooling water. In addition, feed pumps consume energy thus reducing the net work output. Rankine Cycle Efficiency then can be expressed as:
$\eta_{Rankine} = \frac{Net\ work\ output}{Heat\ supplied\ in\ the\ boiler}$
or
$\eta_{Rankine} = \frac{W_{Turbine}-W_{Pump}}{Q_{boiler}}$
referring to the diagram above and using the enthalpy values in the Rankine cycle, we can write:
$\eta_{Rankine} = \frac{(h_{1}-h_{2})-(h_{4}-h_{3})}{(h_{1}-h_{4})}$
Improvements to the Rankine Cycle Efficiency
Effect of Pressure and Temperature on the Rankine Cycle
If the exhaust pressure drops from P4 to P4‘ with the corresponding decrease in temperature at which heat is rejected in the condenser the net work is increased by area 1-4-4′-1′-2’-2-1 (see diagram below)
Effect of exhaust pressure
In a similar way, if the steam is superheated in the boiler, it is evident that the work is increased by area 3-3′-4′-4-3 (see diagram below):
Effect of superheating
Superheating the steam is done by increasing the time the steam is exposed to the flue gases. The result of superheating is that for a given power output, the plant using superheated steam will be of smaller size than that using dry saturated steam.
The Reheat Cycle
Above we noted that the efficiency of the Rankine cycle is increased by superheating the steam. If metals could be found that would allow us to reach higher temperatures, the Rankine cycle could be more efficient. To improve the efficiency, the reheat cycle has been developed which is shown schematically below:
Rankine Cycle with Reheat
In this cycle, the steam is expanded to some intermediate pressure in the turbine and is then reheated in the boiler, after which it expands in the low-pressure turbine to the exhaust pressure. Rankine Cycle with reheat thermal efficiency can be expressed as:
$\eta_{thermal} = \frac{W_{12}+W_{67}-W_{43}}{Q_{41}+Q_{26}}$
The Regenerative Cycle
Another variation from the Rankine cycle is the regenerative cycle, which involves the use of feedwater heaters. During the process between states 2 and 2′ the feedwater is heated and the average temperature is much lower during this process than during the vaporization process 2′-3. In other words, the average temperature at which heat is supplied in the Rankine cycle is lower than in the Carnot cycle 1′-2′-3-4-1′, and consequently the efficiency of the Rankine cycle is less than that of the corresponding Carnot cycle. The relationship between Carnot cycle and Rankine cycle is shown below.
Relationship between Carnot cycle and Rankine cycle
In the regenerative cycle, feedwater enters the boiler at some point between 2 and 2′. As a result, the average temperature at which heat is supplied is increased. A schematic of practical cycle is shown below:
Regenerative cycle
The Plant Thermal Efficiency
In order to calculate the overall plant thermal efficiency, we need to adjust the formulas above to incorporate heat added in the reheater sections of the boiler:
$\eta_{thermal} = \frac{W_{Turbines}-W_{Pumps}}{Q_{boiler}+Q_{Reheat1}+Q_{Reheat2}}$
Lab Instructions
Run the initial condition I10 230 MW_oil_auto:
• Draw a T-S diagram of the Rankine cycle (not to scale) including reheat and regeneration,
• Using Trend Group Directory, collect the relevant process values,
• Calculate the overall thermal efficiency of the plant:
• Under normal conditions,
• When the cooling water temperature is very high (Set the Variable List Page 0100, tag#: T00305 to 35°C),
• When all the steam extraction valves are closed (i.e. no regeneration and T00305 set to 10°C).
Hints & Tips
In this lab, you are essentially calculating the Rankine Cycle thermal efficiency. However, you need to take the reheat cycle into consideration and log the following tags in your trends:
• Q02395 Reheater 1 transferred heat
• Q02375 Reheater 2 transferred heat
For Boiler Feedwater Inlet Temperature, you may use the Startup Heat Exchanger Feedwater Outlet Temperature tag#: T02447.
For the second calculation, locate the Variable List Page 0100 as shown below:
Lake water temperature setting
For the third calculation, make sure you closed all steam extraction valves and set T00305 to 10°C:
No steam extraction
To calculate the enthalpy values, you may use an app or online tool such as the Superheated Steam Table: https://goo.gl/GdVM4U
Deliverables
Your lab report is to include the following:
• T-S diagram: As per instructions above,
• Trend plots: Supply all plots taken for this lab,
• Computation: Use MATLAB or MS Excel and calculate the overall thermal efficiency of the plant as per Lab Instructions.
• Conclusion: Write a summary (max. 500 words, in a text box if using Excel) comparing your results and suggestions for further study.
Further Reading:
• Applied Thermodynamics for Engineering Technologists by T. D. Eastop and A. McConkey: Steam Plant.
• Fundamentals of Classical Thermodynamics SI Version by G. J. Van Wylen and R. E. Sonntag: Vapor power cycles.
• Thermodynamics and Heat Power by I. Granet: Vapor power cycles. | textbooks/workforce/HVAC_and_Power_Plant_Operations/Book%3A_Sim_Labs_for_Thermodynamics_and_Thermal_Power_Plant_Simulator_(Beyenir_and_Boskovic)/1.03%3A_Power_Plant_Efficiency.txt |
Learning Objectives
Operate the Plant at full generating capacity and compare the NOx emissions when the plant is operating:
• Under normal conditions,
• During over fire air damper failure,
• During over burner air control failure,
• Burning poor quality fuel,
• With the DeNOx plant bypassed.
Theory
Combustion of coal generates considerable quantities of byproducts, some of which are considered pollutants. The byproducts are mostly water vapor which is what we see coming out of a power plant smokestack, carbon dioxide, and nitrogen that is readily available in the air we breathe, and they do not necessarily pose any direct health hazard. However, the emissions do carry small concentrations of pollutants into the atmosphere, which translate into large quantities of hazardous emissions due to the large amount of coal combusted. The main pollutants that can cause health problems are sulfur oxides, nitrogen oxides, particulate matter (see Combustion Analysis) and such trace elements as arsenic, lead and mercury.
During the combustion process in a coal-fired power plant, nitrogen from the coal and air is converted into nitric oxide (NO) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2); these nitrogen oxides are commonly known as NOx. NOx emissions contribute to the formation of acid rain.
NOx is primarily formed by two mechanisms: thermal NOx and fuel-bound NOx.
Thermal NOx formation takes place at high flame temperatures. Formation of thermal NOx increases exponentially with combustion temperature. Fuel-bound NOx formation is dependent upon the nitrogen content of the fuel.
The best way to minimize NOx formation is to reduce flame temperature, reduce excess oxygen, and/or to burn low nitrogen-containing fuels.
The DeNOx Plant Description
The purpose of the DeNOx plant is for removal of nitrogen oxide from the flue gases. The plant employs a selective catalytic reduction method. The medium used for the reduction is ammonia gas.
The DeNOx plant includes two selective catalytic reduction (SCR) reactors and an ash silo. Various dampers channel the flue gases either into or bypass the SCR-reactors.
DeNOx Plant Overview
Operation of the DeNOx Plant
The DeNOx plant is highly automatic, controlled by Programmable Logic Control sequences. The sequences are S701-Purge, S702/703-Start/stop Reactors, S704/705-Heating of Reactors, S706/707-Ammonia Injection, S708/709-Product Handling and S710/711-Soot Blowing.
Over Fire Air
To reduce NOx, a quantity of additional air above all burner planes is supplied. This over-fire-air (OFA) reduces NOx by enabling richer fuel mix in the high-temperature combustion zone at the burners (two-step combustion). Approximately 10 % of the combustion air is added as OFA air. OFA controller failure (MD200 malfunction 0881) is modeled in the simulator:
OFA controller failure.
Over Burner Air
To further reduce NOx generation, a portion of the secondary air is split off the main duct and directed into a third channel just above the burner. The damper controlling this over-burner-air is abbreviated OBA. OBA controller failure (MD180 malfunction 0780) is modeled in the simulator:
OBA controller failure.
Fuel Quality
In the simulator, the chemical composition of the coal or other fuels can be specified. The sum of the five components C, H, S, O and N should preferably add up to 100%, to avoid confusion, but it is not strictly necessary because the C, H, S, O and N setting is always recalculated to a 100% basis prior to using in other computations. Water and inert matter (ash/slag) should then be added. The water content varies much and has a great impact on the amount of preheating required by primary air. The simulator computes the lower heat value (including water/inert matter) and theoretical combustion air needed and flue gas produced. The air/flue gas values are given in ncm/kg (ncm=normal cubic meter).
In this lab, we will burn both default and lower quality coal for a comparison. Fuel data can be changed using Variable List page 0111 on MD180, for example:
Chemical composition of coal
Lab Instructions
Run the initial condition I14 80% Coal and setup trends for the following variables:
G02197 X17821 G17107 X17106 D17104
T17103 C08444 G08444 G08443 C08400
1. Stable operation: After 5 minutes of running a stable operation, freeze simulator and print the two trends. This is the reference point for the rest of the lab.
2. OFA damper failure: Switch to run mode and activate malfunction 0881 on MD200. After 5 minutes, freeze simulator and print the two trends. Before moving on to the next step deactivate the malfunction.
3. OBA control failure: Switch to run mode and activate malfunction 0780 on MD180. After 5 minutes, freeze simulator and print the two trends. Before moving on to the next step deactivate the malfunction.
4. Burning poor qualityfuel: Switch to run mode and access Variable List page 0111 on MD180. Set the new values as shown below. After 5 minutes, freeze simulator and print the two trends.
• X00820: 70.40
• X00821: 5.10
• X00822: 1.10
• X00823: 12.50
• X00824: 1.60
• X00825: 9.30
5. DeNOx plant bypassed: Switch to run mode and bypass the SCR 1 and SCR 2 on MD710 and MD720 respectively. After 5 minutes, freeze simulator and print the two trends.
Hints & Tips
Your trend windows should look like the following:
Trend sample 1: DeNOx plant data.
Trend sample 2: NOx stack data.
Make sure your trend printouts are labeled properly otherwise, data analysis will be very confusing.
Tabulate your data as shown below:
The deNOx plant data.
Percentage deviation can be expressed as
$Percentage\ deviation = \frac{Current\ Value-Reference\ Value}{Reference\ Value}100\%$
and tabulated as follows:
The deNOx plant deviation data.
Deliverables
Your lab report is to include the following:
• Trend plots: Supply all plots taken for this lab (make sure plots are labeled properly),
• Computation: Use MATLAB or MS Excel to process your data. Calculate the percentage deviation for each operation and plot your results,
• Conclusion: Write a summary (max. 500 words in a text box, if using Excel) comparing your results and suggestions for further study.
Further Reading:
• Thermal Power Plant Simulator Course Manual by BCIT: The DeNOx plant | textbooks/workforce/HVAC_and_Power_Plant_Operations/Book%3A_Sim_Labs_for_Thermodynamics_and_Thermal_Power_Plant_Simulator_(Beyenir_and_Boskovic)/1.04%3A_Emissions_of_NOx.txt |
Learning Objectives
Operate the Plant in full generating capacity and study the effect of heat exchanger surface area using the Low Pressure Feed Heater 3.
Theory
A heat exchanger is equipment in which heat exchange takes place between two working media that enter and exit at different temperatures. The main function of heat exchanger is to either remove heat from a hot working media or to add heat to the cold working media. Depending on direction of working media-fluid flow the heat exchanger is either parallel (concurrent) flow heat exchanger or counter flow heat exchanger (see Figures below).
Concurrent flow.
Counter current flow.
The terms are related to how the fluid flows through their respective flow passages relative to each other. If fluids flow in the same direction such as in Figure 1 it is termed a parallel flow. If fluids flow in opposite directions as in Figure 2 it is termed counter flow.
Parallel flow in heat exchangers occurs when both fluids enter the heat exchanger at their largest temperature difference. The temperature difference becomes less over the length of the heat exchanger. In the counter flow heat exchanger, fluids enter at opposite ends and therefore at different ends of the temperature scale Figure 2. The temperature difference between two fluids is relatively constant over the length of the exchanger.
The heat transfer process that occurs in any heat exchanger can be described by the following equations.
$Q_{hot} = m_{hot}c_{p hot}\Delta T_{hot}$
$Q_{cold} = m_{cold}c_{p cold}\Delta T_{cold}$
Considering the surface area involved in heat transfer, Newton’s Law of cooling states that the rate of heat loss is proportional to the difference in temperatures between the body and its surroundings and given by,
$Q = \alpha Area \Delta T$
where α is called the heat transfer coefficient [W/m2K], area is taken in m2 and ΔT is the temperature difference.
Furthermore Q, heat transferred between the hot water and cold water can be calculated as follows:
$Q = \frac{F(LMTD)}{R_{T}}$
Or
$Q = F(UA)(LMTD)$
where F is the correction factor which equals 1 for this SIMLAB (it takes values between 0.5 and 1). RT is the overall resistance, U, overall heat transfer coefficient and LMTD is the Log Mean Temperature Difference.
The overall resistances can be calculated using:
$R_{T}=R_{hf}+R_{w}+R_{cf}$
$R_{hf} = \frac{1}{A_{1}\alpha_{h}}$
$R_{w} = \frac{ln\frac{D_{2}}{D_{1}}}{2\pi L\lambda_{w}}$
$R_{cf} = \frac{1}{A_{2}\alpha_{c}}$
Heat transfer coefficients ah and ac can be calculated using the following expression for Nusselt number for hot and cold water:
For cooling
$\alpha_{h} = \frac{Nu_{h}\lambda_{h}}{D_{h}}$
$Nu_{h} = 0.3Re_{h}^{0.8}Pr_{h}^{0.3}$
For heating
$\alpha_{c} = \frac{Nu_{c}\lambda_{c}}{D_{c}}$
$Nu_{c} = 0.3Re_{c}^{0.8}Pr_{c}^{0.3}$
And the LMTD is given by the following correlation where 1 and 2 presents the ends of the heat exchanger:
$\Delta T_{LMTD} = \frac{\Delta T_{1}-\Delta T_{2}}{ln\frac{\Delta T_{1}}{\Delta T_{2}}}$
Heat Exchanger Effectiveness
Recall from the Boiler Efficiency Lab that efficiency is to do with minimizing waste and effectiveness to do with maximizing output. Here we define heat exchanger effectiveness as the ratio of actual heat transfer rate to the maximum possible heat transfer rate for the given temperatures.
$\epsilon = \frac{Q}{Q_{max}}$
$Q_{max} = C_{min}(T_{hi}-T_{ci})$
Where Cmin is defined either by cold or hot fluid whichever is smaller and it is defined by:
$C_{h} = m_{h}c_{ph}$
$C_{c} = m_{c}c_{pc}$
Lab Instructions
Run the initial condition I10 230 MW_oil_auto and setup trends for
Heat Area Factor C34201
Q Q34228
Tcold1 T24214
Tcold2 T34214
mcold G34213
Thot1 T34204
Thot2 T34227
mhot G34203
1. Heat Area Factor set to 0.5: Using MD420 and Variable List 4210 set C34201 to 0.5. Run the simulator with this setting for 15 minutes. Freeze and print the two trends.
2. Heat Area Factor set to 1: As in step 1, set C34201 to 1. This is the default setting for the Heat Area Factor (heat transfer coefficient x area). After 15 minutes of running the simulator, freeze simulator and print the two trends.
3. Heat Area Factor set to 1.5: This time, set C34201 to 1.5. Run the simulator with this setting for 15 minutes. Freeze and print the two trends.
Hints & Tips
As always, label your trends using descriptive names. In this lab, you are changing the Heat Area Factor (heat transfer coefficient x area) of LP Feed Heater 3 and comparing the temperature data. Your evaluation will be based on LMTD and Heat Exchanger Effectiveness values.
MD420 LP Feed Heater 3
Variable List 4210.
Deliverables
Your lab report is to include the following:
• Trend plots: Supply all plots taken for this lab, make sure they are labelled properly.
• Computation: Use MATLAB or MS Excel and calculate the LMTD and Heat Exchanger effectiveness values for the 3 tests.
• Conclusion: Write a summary (max. 500 words, in a text box if using Excel) comparing your results and suggestions for further study.
Further Reading:
• Applied Thermodynamics for Engineering Technologists by T. D. Eastop and A. McConkey: Heat Transfer. | textbooks/workforce/HVAC_and_Power_Plant_Operations/Book%3A_Sim_Labs_for_Thermodynamics_and_Thermal_Power_Plant_Simulator_(Beyenir_and_Boskovic)/1.05%3A_Heat_Exchangers.txt |
Learning Objectives
Operate the Plant at 80% capacity burning coal to
• Perform combustion analyses for two types of coal,
• Compare results.
Theory
In the Boiler Efficiency lab, we stated that Combustion Efficiency is defined as the ratio of the burner’s capability to burn fuel completely to the unburned fuel and excess air in the exhaust. In this lab, we will perform a combustion analysis.
Fossil fuels may be classified into solid, liquid and gaseous fuels. The vast majority of fuels are based on carbon (C), hydrogen (H2) or some combination of carbon and hydrogen called hydrocarbons.
During combustion, oxygen (O2) combines rapidly with C, H2, sulphur (S2) and their compounds in solid, liquid and gaseous fuels and results in the liberation of energy. Except for special applications such as oxyacetylene welding, in which a high-temperature flame is required, the O2 necessary for combustion is obtained from air. Air contains O2 and nitrogen (N2), plus negligible amounts of other gasses and for engineering purposes, may be considered to have the following percentage composition by mass:
O2: 23%
N2: 77%
The proportions in which the elements enter into the combustion reaction by mass are dependent upon the relative molecular weights as shown below:
Element Symbol Molecular Weight
Carbon C 12
Sulphur S2 32
Hydrogen H2 2
Oxygen O2 32
Nitrogen N2 28
Stoichiometric Combustion Theory
Complete combustion of simple hydrocarbon fuels forms carbon dioxide (C02) from the carbon and water (H20) from the hydrogen, so for a hydrocarbon fuel with the general composition CnHm, the combustion equation on a molar basis is as flows:
$C_{n}H_{m}+yO_{2}\rightarrow aCO_{2}+bH_{2}O$
Where the balance should be satisfied following the moles for any mathematcial equation:
Carbon balance:
$a=n$ kmol CO2/ kmol fuel
Hydrogen balance:
$2b=m$
$b = \frac{m}{2}$ kmol H2O/ kmol fuel
Oxygen balance:
$2y = 2a+b$
$y = a+\frac{b}{2}$ kmol O2/ kmol fuel
Considering that combustion occurs in air rather than in pure oxygen, the nitrogen in the air may react in the combustion process to produce nitrogen oxides. Beside, some fuels contain elements other than carbon, and these elements may react with oxygen during combustion. Also, combustion is not always complete, and the exhaust gases contain unburned and partially burned products in addition to C02 and H2O.
Air is composed of oxygen, nitrogen, and small amounts of carbon dioxide, argon, and other trace components. For the purposes of the further calculation it is perfectly reasonable to consider air as a mixture of 21% (mole basis) 02 and 79 % (mole basis) N2. Nitrogen will be considered as an “inert” gas in the combustion calculations. The stoichiometric relation for complete combustion of a hydrocarbon fuel, CnHm, becomes
$C_{n}H_{m}+y(O_{2}+\frac{79}{21}N_{2}\rightarrow aCO_{2}+bH_{2}O+cN_{2}$
The balance equations are:
Carbon balance:
$a=n$ kmol CO2/ kmol fuel
Hydrogen balance:
$2b=m$
$b = \frac{m}{2}$ kmol H2O/ kmol fuel
Oxygen balance:
$2y = 2a+b$
$y = a+\frac{b}{2}$ kmol O2/ kmol fuel
Nitrogen balance:
$y\frac{79}{21}=c$ kmol N2/kmol fuel
Flue gas compositions are presented in terms of mole fractions as kmol of product per kmol of fuel.
Example 1. Combustion of Octane in Air
Determine the stoichiometric air/ fuel mass ratio and product gas composition for combustion of octane ( C8H18) in air.
$C_{8}H_{18}+y(O_{2}+\frac{79}{21}N_{2}\rightarrow aCO_{2}+bH_{2}O+cN_{2}$
Carbon balance:
$a=n=8$ kmol CO2/ kmol fuel
Hydrogen balance:
$2b=18$
$b = \frac{18}{2}=9$ kmol H2O/ kmol fuel
Oxygen balance:
$2y = 2(8)+b$
$y = 8+\frac{9}{2}=12.5$ kmol O2/ kmol fuel
Nitrogen balance:
$y\frac{79}{21}=c=12.5\frac{79}{21}=47$ kmol N2/kmol fuel
The combustion equation becomes:
$C_{8}H_{18}+12.5(O_{2}+\frac{79}{21}N_{2}\rightarrow 8CO_{2}+9H_{2}O+47N_{2}$
Air/ fuel mass based ratio considering that 1 kmol fuel is 114 kg of fuel ( 8*12 + 18 *(1) = 114):
$12.5\frac{kmol\ O_{2}}{kmol\ fuel}\frac{1\ kmol\ fuel}{114\ kg\ fuel}32\frac{kg\ O_{2}}{kmol\ O_{2}}\frac{100\ kg\ air}{23\ kg\ O_{2}}=15.25\frac{kg\ air}{kg\ fuel}$
Flue gas composition on molar basis is:
Total number of kmol of flue gasses = kmol CO2 + kmol H2O + kmol N2 = 8 +9+ 47 = 64 kmol flue gasses/ kmol fuel
CO2 = 8/64 = 12.5 %
H2O = 9/64 = 14 %
N2 = 47/64 = 73.5%
Other components and impurities in the fuel make the calculation process more complicated. For example if sulfur exists in fuel it is usually combust into sulfur dioxide (SO2). Ash, the noncombustible inorganic (mineral) impurities in the fuel, undergoes a number of transformations at combustion temperatures, will be neglected in the further calculation (ash will be assumed to be inert).
For most solid and liquid fuels, the chemical composition is on a mass basis, as determined in the ultimate analysis.
Mass Based Chemistry of Combustion
The combustion reactions are written following the stoichiometric rules as defined above. The quantity of matter entering into a reaction is equal to the quantity of matter in the products of the reaction.
The reaction for the complete combustion of C may be written as follows:
C+O2=CO2
or, if molecular weights are used,
12+32=44
1 kg C + 2⅔ kg O2 = 3⅔ kg CO2
The complete combustion of H2 occurs as follows:
2H2 +O2 =2H2O
4+32=36
1 kg H2 + 8 kg O2 = 9 kg H2O
Sulphur burns as follows:
S +O2 =SO2
32+32=64
1 kg S + 1 kg O2 = 2 kg SO2
In addition, 1 kg of O2 (stoichiometric mass of O2) is contained in 1/0.232=4.3 kg air which is the stoichiometric mass of air. This air will contain 4.3-1=3.3 kg N2. Therefore we can write:
1 kg S + 4.3 kg air = 2 kg SO2+3.3 kg N2
Procedure
If the analysis of fuel is given by mass, follow the steps below:
1. Total O2 required: Determine the mass of O2 required for each constituent and find the total mass of O2 (Subtract any O2 which may be in the fuel)
2. Stoichiometric air: Stoichiometric mass of air = O2 required/0.232
3. Totalmass of combustion products: Determine the % mass of each combustion product. For example, given C content of 84.9%, CO2=84.9/100*2⅔=3.11% and find the total mass of combustion products.
4. Analysis of combustion products by mass: Suppose the total mass of combustion products in step 3 has been found as 12.09 kg/kg fuel, then CO2=3.11/12.09*100=25.74. This means that 25.74% of the flue gas is CO2. Repeat this calculation for each constituent.
Lab Instructions
Run the initial condition I14 80% Coal and setup trends for the following variables:
X00820 X00821 X00822 X00823 X00824 E23356
G02196 G02197 X32419 X02419 G00831 H00830
1. Burning default coal: After 10 minutes of running the simulator, freeze simulator and print the two trends. This is the reference point for the next step.
2. Burning poor qualitycoal: Switch to run mode and access Variable List page 0111 on MD180. Set the new values as shown below. After 10 minutes, freeze simulator and print the two trends.
• X00820: 70.40
• X00821: 5.10
• X00822: 1.10
• X00823: 12.50
• X00824: 1.60
• X00825: 9.30
3. Computation: Compute the following values for both types of fuels:
• Total O2 required
• Stoichiometric air
• Total mass of combustion products
• Analysis of combustion products by mass [%]: CO2, H2O, SO2, N2
4. Comparison: Compare your findings based on the following data:
• Furnace outlet SOx flow
• Furnace outlet NOx flow
• CO content in flue gas
• Oxygen content in flue gas
• Theoretical combustion air
• Coal Heat Value
Hints & Tips
In this lab, you are carrying out two combustion analyses. For data collection, set up your trends, a sample trend plot is shown below (Make sure your trend printouts are labeled properly otherwise, data analysis will be very confusing):
Sample data for coal
To change the fuel composition use the Variable List Page#: 0111 on MD180:
Chemical composition of coal
Deliverables
Your lab report is to include the following:
• Trend plots: Supply all plots taken for each of the 2 fuels,
• Computation: As per lab instructions above, perform combustion analyses using MATLAB or MS Excel.
• Conclusion: Write a summary (max. 500 words, in a text box if using Excel) comparing your results and suggestions for further study.
Further Reading:
• Basic Engineering Thermodynamics in SI Units by R. Joel: Combustion.
• Thermal Engineering by H.L. Solberg, O.C. Cromer and A.R. Spalding: Fossil fuels and their combustion. | textbooks/workforce/HVAC_and_Power_Plant_Operations/Book%3A_Sim_Labs_for_Thermodynamics_and_Thermal_Power_Plant_Simulator_(Beyenir_and_Boskovic)/1.06%3A_Combustion_Analysis.txt |
• TRV 295 - Chapter 1 - Introduction to Cultural Heritage Tourism Event Planning and Management. Authored by: Mike Gilley. License: CC BY: Attribution
1.02: Community Role and Stakeholders
• TRV 295 - Chapter 2 - Community Role & Stakeholders. Authored by: Mike Gilley. License: CC BY: Attribution
1.03: Cultural Heritage Focus and Contractual Services
• TRV 295 - Chapter 3: Cultural Heritage Focus & Contractual Services. Authored by: Mike Gilley. License: CC BY: Attribution
1.04: Vision Mission and Strategic Planning
• TRV 295 - Chapter 4 u2013 Vision, Mission, & Strategic Planning. Authored by: Mike Gilley. License: CC BY: Attribution
1.05: Site Selection and Planning
• TRV 295 - Chapter 5 u2013 Site Selection and Planning. Authored by: Mike Gilley. License: CC BY: Attribution
1.06: Technology Needs and Use
• TRV 295 - Chapter 6 u2013 Technology Needs and Use. Authored by: Mike Gilley. License: CC BY: Attribution
1.09: Event Safety and Risk Management
• TRV 295 - Chapter 9 - Event Safety & Risk Management. Authored by: Mike Gilley. License: CC BY: Attribution
1.10: Marketing and Promotion
Marketing & Promotion Presentation
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1.11: Customer Satisfaction
Customer Satisfaction Presentation
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1.12: Event Evaluation
Event Evaluation Presentation
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1.13: Budgeting and Sponsorship
Budgeting & Sponsorship Presentation
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1.01: What is Tourism
Before engaging in a study of tourism, let’s have a closer look at what this term means.
Definition of Tourism
There are a number of ways tourism can be defined, and for this reason, the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) embarked on a project from 2005 to 2007 to create a common glossary of terms for tourism. It defines tourism as follows:
Tourism is a social, cultural and economic phenomenon which entails the movement of people to countries or places outside their usual environment for personal or business/professional purposes. These people are called visitors (which may be either tourists or excursionists; residents or non-residents) and tourism has to do with their activities, some of which imply tourism expenditure (United Nations World Tourism Organization, 2008).
Using this definition, we can see that tourism is not just the movement of people for a number of purposes (whether business or pleasure), but the overall agglomeration of activities, services, and involved sectors that make up the unique tourist experience.
Tourism, Travel, and Hospitality: What are the Differences?
It is common to confuse the terms tourism, travel, and hospitality or to define them as the same thing. While tourism is the all-encompassing umbrella term for the activities and industry that create the tourist experience, the UNWTO (2020) defines travel as the activity of moving between different locations often for any purpose but more so for leisure and recreation (Hall & Page, 2006). On the other hand, hospitality can be defined as “the business of helping people to feel welcome and relaxed and to enjoy themselves” (Discover Hospitality, 2015, p. 3). Simply put, the hospitality industry is the combination of the accommodation and food and beverage groupings, collectively making up the largest segment of the industry (Go2HR, 2020). You’ll learn more about accommodations and F & B in Chapter 3 and Chapter 4, respectively.
Definition of Tourist and Excursionist
Building on the definition of tourism, a commonly accepted description of a tourist is “someone who travels at least 80 km from his or her home for at least 24 hours, for business or leisure or other reasons” (LinkBC, 2008, p.8). The United Nations World Tourism Organization (1995) helps us break down this definition further by stating tourists can be:
1. Domestic (residents of a given country travelling only within that country)
2. Inbound (non-residents travelling in a given country)
3. Outbound (residents of one country travelling in another country)
Excursionists on the other hand are considered same-day visitors (UNWTO, 2020). Sometimes referred to as “day trippers.” Understandably, not every visitor stays in a destination overnight. It is common for travellers to spend a few hours or less to do sightseeing, visit attractions, dine at a local restaurant, then leave at the end of the day.
The scope of tourism, therefore, is broad and encompasses a number of activities and sectors.
Spotlight On: United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO)
UNWTO is the United Nations agency responsible “for the promotion of responsible, sustainable and universally accessible tourism” (UNWTO, 2014b). Its membership includes 159 countries and over 500 affiliates such as private companies, research and educational institutions, and non-governmental organizations. It promotes tourism as a way of developing communities while encouraging ethical behaviour to mitigate negative impacts. For more information, visit the UNWTO website.
NAICS: The North American Industry Classification System
Given the sheer size of the tourism industry, it can be helpful to break it down into broad industry groups using a common classification system. The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) was jointly created by the Canadian, US, and Mexican governments to ensure common analysis across all three countries (British Columbia Ministry of Jobs, Tourism and Skills Training, 2013a). The tourism-related groupings created using NAICS are (in alphabetical order):
1. Accommodation
2. Food and beverage services (commonly known as “F & B”)
3. Recreation and entertainment
4. Transportation
5. Travel services
These industry groups (also commonly known as sectors) are based on the similarity of the “labour processes and inputs” used for each (Government of Canada, 2013). For instance, the types of employees and resources required to run an accommodation business whether it be a hotel, motel, or even a campground are quite similar. All these businesses need staff to check in guests, provide housekeeping, employ maintenance workers, and provide a place for people to sleep. As such, they can be grouped together under the heading of accommodation. The same is true of the other four groupings, and the rest of this text explores these industry groups, and other aspects of tourism, in more detail.
Figure 1.1 Front desk personnel, working their hardest.
It is typical for the entire tourist experience to involve more than one sector. The combination of sectors that supply and distribute the needed tourism products, services, and activities within the tourism system is called the Tourism Supply Chain. Often, these chains of sectors and activities are dependent upon each other’s delivery of products and services. Let’s look at a simple example below that describes the involved and sometimes overlapping sectoral chains in the tourism experience:
Figure 1.2 The tourism supply chain. [Long Description]
The original version of this chapter contained H5P content. You may want to remove or replace this element.
Before we seek to understand the five tourism sectors in more detail, it’s important to have an overview of the history and impacts of tourism to date.
Long Descriptions
Figure 1.2 long description: Diagram showing the tourism supply chain. This includes the phases of travel and the sectors and activities involved during each phase.
There are three travel phases: pre-departure, during travel, and post-departure.
Pre-departure, tourists use the travel services and transportation sectors.
During travel, tourists use the travel services, accommodations, food and beverage, recreation and entertainment, and transportation sectors.
Post-departure, tourists use the transportation sector.
[Return to Figure 1.2] | textbooks/workforce/Hospitality/Cultural_Heritage_Tourism_Event_Planning_and_Management_(Lumen)/1.01%3A_Introduction_to_Cultural_Heritage_Tourism.txt |
Origins of Tourism
Travel for leisure purposes has evolved from an experience reserved for very few people into something enjoyed by many. Historically, the ability to travel was exclusive and reserved for royalty and the upper classes. From ancient Roman times to the 17th century, young men of high standing were encouraged to travel through Europe on a “grand tour” (Chaney, 2000). Through the Middle Ages, many societies encouraged the practice of religious pilgrimage, as reflected in Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales and other literature. Prescribed even earlier, the Hajj or the annual pilgrimage to Mecca, has made travel for religious purposes become a default for every believer of Islam.
Figure 1.3 Hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia.
The word hospitality predates the use of the word tourism, and first appeared in the 14th century. It is derived from the Latin hospes, which encompasses the words guest, host, and foreigner (Latdict, 2014). The word tourist appeared in print much later, in 1772 (Griffiths and Griffiths, 1772). William Theobald suggests that the word tour comes from Greek and Latin words for circle and turn, and that tourism and tourist represent the activities of circling away from home, and then returning (Theobald, 1998).
Tourism Becomes Business
Cox & Kings, the first known travel agency, was founded in 1758 when Richard Cox became official travel agent of the British Royal Armed Forces (Cox & Kings, 2014). Almost 100 years later, in June 1841, Thomas Cook opened the first leisure travel agency, designed to help Britons improve their lives by seeing the world and participating in the temperance movement. In 1845, he ran his first commercial packaged tour, complete with cost-effective railway tickets and a printed guide (Thomas Cook, 2014).
The continued popularity of rail travel and the emergence of the automobile presented additional milestones in the development of tourism. In fact, a long journey taken by Karl Benz’s wife in 1886 served to kick off interest in auto travel and helped to publicize his budding car company, which would one day become Mercedes Benz (Auer, 2006). We take a closer look at the importance of car travel later in this chapter, and transportation within the tourism industry in Chapter 2.
Fast forward to 1952, the dawn of the jet age saw the first commercial air flights from London, England to Johannesburg, South Africa and Colombo, Sri Lanka (Flightglobal, 2002) that many also heralded as the start of the modern tourism industry. The 1950s also saw the creation of Club Méditérannée (Gyr, 2010) and similar club holiday destinations, the precursor of today’s all-inclusive resorts.
The decade that followed is considered to have been a significant period in tourism development, as more travel companies came onto the scene, increasing competition for customers and moving toward “mass tourism, introducing new destinations and modes of holidaying” (Gyr, 2010, p. 32).
Industry growth has been interrupted at several key points in history, including World War I, the Great Depression, and World War II. At the start of this century, global events thrust international travel into decline including the September 11, 2001 attack on the World Trade Center in New York City (known as 9/11), the war in Iraq, perceived threat of future terrorist attacks, and health scares including SARS, BSE (bovine spongiform encephalopathy), and the West Nile virus (Government of Canada, 2006). But perhaps one of the most debilitating crises that has severely impacted tourism is the more recent COVID-19 pandemic.
Figure 1.4 Cautious travel in the time of a pandemic.
At the turn of the twentieth century, the industry experienced a significant technological shift as increased internet use revolutionized the promotions and distributions of travel products and services. Through the 2000s, online travel bookings grew exponentially, and by 2018 global leader Expedia had expanded to include brands such as Hotels.com, Travelocity, Trivago, VRBO, Cheaptickets, and Expedia CruiseShip Centers, earning revenues of over \$11.2 billion (Expedia Inc., 2013).
A more in-depth exploration of the impact of the online marketplace, and other trends in global tourism, is provided in Chapter 14. | textbooks/workforce/Hospitality/Introduction_to_Tourism_and_Hospitality_in_BC_2e_(Westcott_and_Anderson)/01%3A_History_and_Overview/1.02%3A_Global_Overview.txt |
Origins of Tourism in Canada
Tourism has long been a source of economic development for our country. Some argue that as early as 1534 the explorers of the day, such as Jacques Cartier, were Canada’s first tourists (Dawson, 2004), but most agree the major developments in Canada’s tourism industry followed milestones in the transportation sector: by rail, by car, and eventually, in the skies.
Railway Travel: The Ties That Bind
Figure 1.5 Canadian Pacific 4-4-0 A-2-m, No. 136.
The dawn of the railway age in Canada came midway through the 19th century. The first railway was launched in 1836 (Library and Archives Canada, n.d.), and by the onset of World War I in 1914, four railways dominated the Canadian landscape: Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR), Canadian Northern Railway (CNOR), the Grand Trunk Railway (GTR), and the Grand Trunk Pacific (GTP). Unfortunately, their rapid expansion soon brought the last three into near bankruptcy (Library and Archives Canada, n.d.).
In 1923, these three rail companies were amalgamated into the Canadian National Railway (CNR), and together with the CPR, these trans-continentals dominated the Canadian travel landscape until other forms of transportation became more popular. In 1978, with declining interest in rail travel, the CPR and CNR were forced to combine their passenger services to form VIA Rail (Library and Archives Canada, n.d.).
The Rise of the Automobile
The rising popularity of car travel was partially to blame for the decline in rail travel, although it took time to develop. When the first cross-country road trip took place in 1912, there were only 16 kilometres of paved road across Canada (MacEachern, 2012). Cars were initially considered a nuisance, and the National Parks Branch banned entry of automobiles, but later slowly began to embrace them. By the 1930s, some parks, such as Cape Breton Highlands National Park, were actually created to provide visitors with scenic drives (MacEachern, 2012).
It would take decades before a coast-to-coast highway was created, with the Trans-Canada Highway officially opening in Revelstoke in 1962. When it was fully completed in 1970, it was the longest national highway in the world, spanning one-fifth of the globe (MacEachern, 2012).
Early Tourism Promotion
As early as 1892, enterprising Canadians like the Brewsters became the country’s first tour operators, leading guests through areas such as Banff National Park (Brewster Travel Canada, 2014). Communities across Canada developed their own marketing strategies as transportation development took hold. For instance, the town of Maisonneuve in Quebec launched a campaign from 1907 to 1915 calling itself “Le Pittsburg du Canada.” By 1935, Quebec was spending \$250,000 promoting tourism. Other provinces such as Ontario, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia followed suit, also enjoying the benefits of establishing provincial tourism bureaus (Dawson, 2004).
National Airlines
Our national airline, Air Canada, was formed in 1937 as Trans-Canada Air Lines. In many ways, Air Canada was a world leader in passenger aviation, introducing the world’s first computerized reservations system in 1963 (Globe and Mail, 2014). Through the 1950s and 1960s, reduced airfares saw increased mass travel. Competitors including Canadian Pacific (which became Canadian Airlines in 1987) began to launch international flights during this time to Australia, Japan, and South America (Canadian Geographic, 2000). By 2000, Air Canada was facing financial peril and forced to restructure. A numbered company, owned in part by Air Canada, purchased 82% of Canadian Airline’s shares, with the result of Air Canada becoming the country’s only national airline (Canadian Geographic, 2000). The 2000s saw Air Canada experiencing a roller-coaster performance from verging near bankruptcy in 2002, to reorganizations and fleet modernizations up to 2007, and another downturn due to the global recession in 2008 (ACE Aviation, 2011; Air Canada, 2007; CBC News, 2009). Air Canada experienced a number of transformations from interior and interior aircraft redesigns and further fleet upgrades from 2013 to 2017 (Air Canada, 2016). Once a rival airline, Air Transat was subsequently taken over by Air Canada in 2019 (CBC News, 2019). The near halt of the global tourism industry during the pandemic of COVID-19 in 2020 severely affected Air Canada, which posted a whopping \$1 billion loss in its first quarter, cutting thousands of jobs, slashing 90% of its flight schedule, and foreseeing a tough and later rebound (Reynolds, 2020).
Parks and Protected Areas
A look at the evolution of tourism in Canada would be incomplete without a quick study of our national parks and protected areas. The official conservation of our natural spaces began around the same time as the railway boom, and in 1885 Banff was established as Canada’s first national park. By 1911, the Dominion Forest Reserves and Parks Act created the Dominion Parks Branch, the first of its kind in the world (Shoalts, 2011).
Figure 1.6 Moraine Lake in the Canadian Rockies.
The systemic conservation and celebration of Canada’s parks over the next century would help shape Canada’s identity, both at home and abroad. Through the 1930s, conservation officers and interpreters were hired to enhance visitor experiences. By 1970, the National Park System Plan divided Canada into 39 regions, with the goal of preserving each distinct ecosystem for future generations. In 1987, the country’s first national marine park was established in Ontario, and in the 20 years that followed, 10 new national parks and marine conservation areas were created (Shoalts, 2011).
The role of parks and protected areas in tourism is explored in greater detail in Chapter 5 (Recreation) and Chapter 10 (Environmental Stewardship).
Global Shock and Industry Decline
As with the global industry, Canada’s tourism industry was impacted by world events such as the Great Depression, the World Wars, socio-political turmoil, and global outbreak of disease.
Global events such as 9/11, the SARS outbreak, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and the economic recession of 2008 took their toll on tourism receipts but have successfully seen short-term rebounds. However, nothing has been more impactful to the tourism industry as the corona virus of 2019 (COVID-19), which was first found in China in late 2019 and eventually declared as a pandemic by March 2020 as it spread globally. Tourism was placed in a standstill as global travel restrictions were imposed to prevent the spread of infection. Aggravated with a nose dive of consumer confidence in travel, many tourism businesses and operators big and small were forced to close. The UNWTO predicted a 60% to 70% drop in tourist numbers, as well as a loss of a staggering USD 910 billion to USD 1.2 trillion in export revenues, and up to 120 million jobs put at risk (UNWTO, 2020b). According to the UNWTO (2020b), COVID-19 created the worst crisis in the history of global tourism since records began in 1950.
Figure 1.7 Travellers wearing face masks in Marina Bay, Singapore.
Tourism in Canada Prior to COVID-19
In 2018, tourism created \$102 billion in total economic activity and 1.8 million jobs according to the Tourism Industry Association of Canada (2018a). Up to 2019, Canadian tourism reached its 3rd consecutive year of breaking records by welcoming 22.1 million inbound visitors (TIAC, 2020). Tourism is a major player in the workforce, where 1 in 11 jobs in the country is directly involved with travellers, as stated by TIAC (2018a).
Spotlight On: The Tourism Industry Association of Canada (TIAC)
Founded in 1930 and based in Ottawa, the Tourism Industry Association of Canada (TIAC) is the national private-sector advocate for the industry. Its goal is to support policies and programs that help the industry grow, while representing over 400 members including airports, concert halls, festivals and events, travel services providers, and businesses of all sizes. For more information, visit the Tourism Industry Association of Canada’s website.
The United States is Canada’s biggest tourism market, which we welcome more than all international travellers combined. Thanks to our immediate proximity, open borders, and ease of travel, we are actually both each other’s top market. As 68% of all inbound visitors to Canada in 2018, American travellers are also big spenders at \$663 per trip and typically seek natural attractions, historical sites, and food and drink when they enter the country (TIAC, 2018b).
Aside from the United States, Canada continues to see strong visitation from the United Kingdom, France, Mexico, Brazil, and China. In 2018, we welcomed 6.9 million travellers (excluding the US), more that doubling since 2011 (Statistics Canada, 2019). Canadians travelling domestically accounted for 78% of tourism revenues in the country, though spend less at \$244 per trip (TIAC, 2018c).
Spotlight On: Destination Canada
Housed in Vancouver, Destination Canada, previously the Canadian Tourism Commission (CTC), is responsible for promoting Canada in several foreign markets: Australia, China, France, Germany, India, Japan, Mexico, South Korea, the United Kingdom, and the United States. It works with private companies, travel services providers, meeting professionals, and government organizations to help leverage Canada’s tourism brand, For Glowing Hearts. For more information, visit the Destination Canada website.
As organizations like TIAC work to confront barriers to travel, Destination Canada is active abroad, encouraging more visitors to explore our country. In Chapter 8, we’ll delve more into the challenges and triumphs of selling tourism at home and abroad.
The great news for British Columbia is that once in Canada, most international visitors tend to remain in the province they landed in, and BC is one of three provinces that receives the bulk of this traffic (Destination Canada, 2019). In fact, BC’s tourism industry is one of the healthiest in Canada today. Let’s have a look at how our provincial industry was established and where it stands now. | textbooks/workforce/Hospitality/Introduction_to_Tourism_and_Hospitality_in_BC_2e_(Westcott_and_Anderson)/01%3A_History_and_Overview/1.03%3A_Canada_Overview.txt |
Origins of Tourism in BC
As with the history of tourism in Canada, it is often stated that the first tourists to BC were explorers. In 1778, Captain James Cook touched down on Vancouver Island, followed by James Douglas in 1842, a British agent who had been sent to find new headquarters for the Hudson’s Bay Company, ultimately choosing Victoria. Through the 1860s, BC’s gold rush attracted prospectors from around the world, with towns and economies springing up along the trail (PricewaterhouseCoopers, 2009).
Railway Travel: Full Steam Ahead!
The development of BC’s tourism industry began in earnest in the late 1800s when the CPR built accommodation properties along its newly completed trans-Canada route, capturing revenues from overnight stays to help alleviate their increasing corporate debt. Following the 1886 construction of small lodges at stops in Field, Rogers Pass, and Fraser Canyon, the CPR opened the Hotel Vancouver in May 1887 (Dawson, 2004).
Figure 1.8 A CP freight train passing through the Canadian Rockies.
As opposed to Atlantic Canada, where tourism promotion centred around attracting hunters and fishermen for a temporary infusion of cash, tourism in British Columbia was seen as a way to lure farmers and settlers to stay in the new province. Industry associations began to form quickly: the Tourist Association of Victoria (TAV) in February 1902, and the Vancouver Tourist Association in June of the same year (Dawson, 2004).
Many of the campaigns struck by these and other organizations between 1890 and 1930 centred on the province’s natural assets, as people sought to escape modern convenience and enjoy the environment. A collaborative group called the Pacific Northwest Travel Association (BC, Washington, and Oregon) promoted “The Pacific Northwest: The World’s Greatest Out of Doors,” calling BC “The Switzerland of North America.” Promotions like these seemed to have had an effect: in 1928, over 370,000 tourists visited Victoria, spending over \$3.5 million (Dawson, 2004).
The Great Depression and World War II
As the world’s economy was sent into peril during the Great Depression in the 1930s, tourism was seen as an economic solution. A newly renamed Greater Victoria Publicity Bureau developed strategies to promote tourism spending, with visitor revenues accounting for around 13.5% of BC’s income in 1930. By 1935, an organization known as the TTDA (Tourist Trade Development Association of Victoria and Vancouver Island) looked to create a more stable industry through strategies to increase visitors’ length of stay (Dawson, 2004).
In 1937, the provincial Bureau of Industrial and Tourist Development (BITD) was formed through special legislation with a goal of increasing tourist traffic. By 1938, the organization changed its name to the British Columbia Government Travel Bureau (BCGTB) and was granted a budget increase to \$105,000. In 1939, Vancouver welcomed the King and Queen of England and celebrated the opening of the Lions Gate Bridge, activities that reportedly bolstered tourism numbers (Dawson, 2004).
The December 1941 Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in Hawaii had negative repercussions for tourism in the Pacific Rim and was responsible for an era of decreased visitation to British Columbia, despite attempts by some to market the region as exciting. From 1939 to 1943, US visits to Vancouver dropped from over 307,000 to approximately 183,600. Just two years later, however, that number jumped to 369,250, as a result of campaigns like the 1943 initiative aimed at Americans that marketed BC as “comrades in war” (Dawson, 2004).
Post-War Rebound
We, with all due modesty, cannot help but claim that we are entering British Columbia’s half-century, and cannot help but observe that B.C. also stands for BOOM COUNTRY. —Phil Gagliardi, BC Minister of Highways, 1955 (Dawson, 2004, p.190)
A burst of post-war spending began in 1946, and although short-lived, was supported by steady government investment in marketing throughout the 1950s. As tourism grew in BC, however, so did competition for US dollars from Mexico, the Caribbean, and Europe. The decade that followed saw an emphasis on promoting BC’s history, its “Britishness,” and the commodification of Indigenous culture. The BCGTB began marketing efforts to extend the travel season, encouraging travel in September during prime fishing season. The bureau also promoted visitors to explore specific areas, including the Lower Fraser Valley, the Okanagan-Fraser Canyon Loop, and the Kamloops-Cariboo region (Dawson, 2004).
In 1954, Vancouver hosted the British Empire Games, investing in the construction of Empire Stadium. A few years later, an increased emphasis on events and convention business saw the Greater Vancouver Tourist Association change its name in 1962 to the Greater Vancouver Visitors and Convention Bureau (PricewaterhouseCoopers, 2009).
The ski industry was also on the rise: in 1961, the lodge and chairlift on Tod Mountain (now Sun Peaks) opened, and Whistler followed suit five years later (PricewaterhouseCoopers, 2009). Ski partners became pioneers of collaborative marketing in the province with the foundation of the Ski Marketing Advisory Committee (SMAC) supported by Tod Mountain and Big White, evolving into today’s Canada’s West Ski Area Association (Magnes, 2010). This pioneer spirit was evident across the ski sector: the entire sport of heliskiing was invented by Hans Gosmer of BC’s Canadian Mountain Holidays. The province also held the title of having 90% of the world’s heliskiing market share back in 2016 (McLeish, 2014).
The concept of collaboration extended throughout the province as innovative funding structures saw the cost of marketing programs shared between government and industry in BC. These programs were distributed through regional Destination Marketing Organizations (DMOs) and considered “the most constructive and forward looking plan of its kind in Canada” (Dawson 2004, p.194).
Tourism in BC continued to grow through the 1970s. In 1971, the Hotel Room Tax Act was introduced, allowing for a 5% tax to be collected on room nights with the funds collected to be put toward marketing and development. By 1978, construction had begun on Whistler Village, with Blackcomb Mountain opening two years later (PricewaterhouseCoopers, 2009). Funding programs in the late 1970s and early 1980s such as the Canada BC Tourism Agreement (CBCTA) and Travel Industry Development Subsidiary Agreement (TIDSA) allowed communities to invest in projects that would make them more attractive tourism destinations. In the mountain community of Kimberley, for instance, the following improvements were implemented through a \$3.1 million forgivable loan: a new road to the ski resort, a covered tennis court, a mountain lodge, an alpine slide, and nine more holes for the golf course (e-Know, 2011).
Figure 1.9 Snowboarders on a chairlift in Whistler.
Around the same time, the “Super, Natural British Columbia” brand was introduced, and a formal bid was approved for Vancouver to host a fair then known as Transpo 86 (later Expo 86). Tourism in the province was about to truly take off.
Expo 86 and Beyond
By the time the world fair Expo 86 came to a close in October 1986, it had played host to 20 million guests. Infrastructure developments, including rapid rail (SkyTrain), airport improvements, a new trade and convention centre at Canada Place (with a cruise ship terminal), and hotel construction, had positioned the city and the province for further growth (PricewaterhouseCooopers, 2009). The construction and opening of the Coquihalla Highway through to 1990 enhanced the travel experience and reduced travel times to vast sections of the province (Magnes, 2010).
By 2000, Vancouver International Airport (YVR) was named number one in the world by the International Air Transport Association’s survey of international passengers. Five years later, the airport welcomed a record 16.4 million passengers (PricewaterhouseCoopers, 2009).
Going for Gold
Figure 1.10 The crowd at the Canada vs. Switzerland men’s hockey game during the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics.
In 2003, the International Olympic Committee named Vancouver/Whistler as the host city for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. Infrastructure development followed, including the expansion of the Sea-to-Sky Highway, the creation of Vancouver Convention Centre West, and the construction of the Canada Line, a rapid transport line connecting the airport with the city’s downtown.
As BC prepared to host the Games, its international reputation continued to grow. Vancouver was voted “Best City in the Americas” by Condé Nast Traveller magazine three years in a row. Kelowna was named “Best Canadian Golf City” by Canada’s largest golf magazine, and BC was named the “Best Golf Destination in North America” by the International Association of Golf Tour Operators. Kamloops, known as Canada’s Tournament City, hosted over 100 sports tournaments that same year, and nearby Sun Peaks Resort was named the “Best Family Resort in North America” by the Great Skiing and Snowboarding Guide in 2008 (PricewaterhouseCoopers, 2009).
By the time the Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games took place, over 80 participating countries, 6,000 athletes, and 3 billion viewers put British Columbia on centre stage.
Spotlight On: Destination British Columbia
Destination BC is a Crown corporation founded in November 2012 by the Government of British Columbia works in collaboration with Destination Canada. Its mandate includes marketing the province as a tourist destination (at home and around the world), promoting the development and growth of the industry, providing advice and recommendations to the tourism minister on related matters, and enhancing public awareness of tourism and its economic value to British Columbia (Province of British Columbia, 2013b). Destination BC’s corporate site and their traveller website, called HelloBC, are both valuable sources of tourism information.
Tourism in BC Today
Building on the momentum generated by hosting the 2010 Winter Olympic Games, tourism in BC remains big business. In 2018, the industry generated \$20.5 billion in revenue.
The provincial industry is made up of over 19,329 businesses, the majority of which are SMEs (small to medium enterprises), and together they employ approximately 161,500 people (Destination BC, 2018). It may surprise you to learn that in British Columbia, tourism provides the highest Gross Domestic Product, or the total revenues produced in a period of time, in 2018—more than mining, oil and gas, agriculture, and forestry (Destination BC, 2018).
Spotlight On: The Tourism Industry Association of BC
Founded in 1993 as the Council of Tourism Associations, today the Tourism Industry Association of BC (TIABC) is a not-for-profit trade association comprising members from private sector tourism businesses, industry associations, and destination marketing organizations (DMOs). Its goal is to ensure the best working environment for a competitive tourism industry. It hosts industry networking events and engages in advocacy efforts as “the voice of the BC tourism industry.” Students are encouraged to join TIABC to take advantage of their connections and receive a discount at numerous industry events. For more information, visit the Tourism Industry Association of BC’s website.
One of the challenges for BC’s tourism industry, as long been argued, is fragmentation. Back in September 1933, an article in the Victoria Daily Times argued for more coordination across organizations in order to capitalize on what they saw as Canada’s “largest dividend payer” (Dawson, 2004). Today, more than 80 years later, you will often hear BC tourism professionals say the same thing.
On the other hand, some experts believe that the industry is simply a model of diversity, acknowledging that tourism is a compilation of a multitude of businesses, services, organizations, and communities. They see the ways in which these components are working together toward success, rather than focusing on friction between the groups.
Many communities are placing a renewed focus on educating the general public and other businesses about the value of tourism and the ways in which stakeholders work together. The following case study highlights this in more detail:
Take a Closer Look: Tourism Pays in Richmond, BC
The community of Richmond, BC, brings to life the far-reaching positive economic effects of tourism in action. Watch the short video called Tourism Pays to see what we mean!
A Vimeo element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: pb.libretexts.org/tour2/?p=46
Figure 1.11 The doorway to a boardroom in the Canadian Tourism College.
Throughout the rest of this textbook, you will have a chance to learn more about the history and current outlook for tourism in BC, with in-depth coverage of some of the triumphs and challenges we face as an industry. You will also learn about the Canadian and global contexts of the tourism industry’s development.
Video Attributions
• “Tourism Pays” by Tourism Richmond. All rights reserved. | textbooks/workforce/Hospitality/Introduction_to_Tourism_and_Hospitality_in_BC_2e_(Westcott_and_Anderson)/01%3A_History_and_Overview/1.04%3A_British_Columbia_Overview.txt |
As we have seen in this chapter, tourism is a complex system that is built up of industry sectors including accommodation, recreation and entertainment, food and beverage services, transportation, and travel services. It encompasses domestic, inbound, and outbound travel for business, leisure, or other purposes. And because of this large scope, tourism development requires participation from all walks of life, including private business, governmental agencies, educational institutions, communities, and citizens.
Recognizing the diverse nature of the industry and the significant contributions tourism makes toward economic and social value for British Columbians is important. There remains a great deal of work to better educate members of the tourism industry, other sectors, and the public about the ways tourism contributes to our province.
Given this opportunity for greater awareness, it is hoped that students like you will help share this information as you learn more about the sector. So let’s begin our exploration in Chapter 2 with a closer look at a critical sector: transportation.
Key Terms
• British Columbia Government Travel Bureau (BCGTB): the first recognized provincial government organization responsible for the tourism marketing of British Columbia
• Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR): a national railway company widely regarded as establishing tourism in Canada and BC in the late 1800s and early 1900s
• Destination BC: the provincial destination marketing organization (DMO) responsible for tourism marketing and development in BC, formerly known as Tourism BC
• Destination Canada: the national government Crown corporation responsible for marketing Canada abroad, formerly known as the Canadian Tourism Commission (CTC)
• Destination marketing organization (DMO): also known as a destination management organization; includes national tourism boards, state/provincial tourism offices, and community convention and visitor bureaus
• Diversity: a term used by some in the industry to describe the makeup of the industry in a positive way; acknowledging that tourism is a diverse compilation of a multitude of businesses, services, organizations, and communities
• Excursionist: same-day visitors in a destination. Their trip typically ends on the same day when they leave the destination.
• Fragmentation: a phenomenon observed by some industry insiders whereby the tourism industry is unable to work together toward common marketing and lobbying (policy-setting) objectives
• Hospitality: the accommodations and food and beverage industry groupings
• North American Industry Classification System (NAICS): a way to group tourism activities based on similarities in business practices, primarily used for statistical analysis
• Social Exchange Theory: describes how tourists and hosts’ behaviours change as a result of the perceived benefits and threats they create during interaction
• Travel: moving between different locations, often for leisure and recreation
• Tourism: the business of attracting and serving the needs of people travelling and staying outside their home communities for business and pleasure
• Tourism Industry Association of BC (TIABC): a membership-based advocacy group formerly known as the Council of Tourism Associations of BC (COTA)
• Tourism Industry Association of Canada (TIAC): the national industry advocacy group
• Tourism Supply Chain: The combination of sectors that supply and distribute the needed tourism products, services, and activities within the tourism system
• Tourist: someone who travels at least 80 kilometres from his or her home for at least 24 hours, for business or pleasure or other reasons; can be further classified as domestic, inbound, or outbound
• United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO): UN agency responsible for promoting responsible, sustainable, and universally accessible tourism worldwide
Exercises
1. List the three types of tourist and provide an example of each.
2. What is the UNWTO? Visit the UNWTO website, and name one recent project or study the organization has undertaken.
3. List the five industry groups according to the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS). Using your understanding of tourism as an industry, create your own definition and classification of tourism. What did you add? What did you take out? Why?
4. What is the difference between Tourism Services and Travel Trade?
5. Describe how the phenomenon of tourism can still happen even when tourists have gone back to their origin.
6. According to UNEP, what are the four types of negative environmental tourism impact? For each of these, list an example in your own community.
7. What major transportation developments gave rise to the tourism industry in Canada?
8. Historically, what percentage of international visitors to Canada are from the United States? Why is this an important issue today?
9. Name three key events in the history of BC tourism that resonate with you. Why do you find these events of interest?
10. Watch the Tourism Pays video feature on Richmond. Now think about the value of tourism in your community. How might this be communicated to local residents? List two ways you will contribute to communicating the value of tourism this semester.
11. Choose one article or document from the reference list below and read it in detail. Report back to the class about what you’ve learned. | textbooks/workforce/Hospitality/Introduction_to_Tourism_and_Hospitality_in_BC_2e_(Westcott_and_Anderson)/01%3A_History_and_Overview/1.05%3A_Conclusion.txt |
As you can already see, the impacts of the global tourism industry today are impressive and far reaching. Let’s have a closer look at some of these outcomes.
Tourism Impacts
Tourism can generate positive or negative impacts under three main categories: economic, social, and environmental. These impacts are analyzed using data gathered by businesses, governments, and industry organizations.
Economic Impacts
According to the 2019 edition of the UNWTO International Tourism Highlights report, international tourist arrivals reached 1.4 billion, a 5% increase in 2018. UNWTO Secretary-General Zurab Pololikashvili stated that the sheer growth of the industry was driven by a strong global economy, surge of the travel-ready middle class from emerging economies, technological advances, and more affordable travel costs among others (UNWTO, 2019). At the same time, the UNWTO (2019) reported export earnings from tourism, or the sum of international tourism receipts and passenger transport, reached a staggering USD 1.7 trillion. This demonstrates that the industry is a major economic engine of growth and development.
Europe has traditionally been the region with the highest tourism dollar spending with USD 570 billion, followed by Asia and the Pacific (USD 435 billion), the Americas (USD 334 billion), Middle East (USD 73 billion), and Africa (USD 38 billion). Asia has shown to have the strongest growths in both arrivals (+7%) and spending (+7%). Africa equally shared a +7% growth in arrivals, suggesting a new interest in travelling to the continent.
What are the trends that are motivating people to travel? The six consumer travel trends, according to the UNWTO (2019) include:
• Travel “to change” or focusing on more authentic travel, transformation, and living like a local.
• Travel “to show” or capturing “instagramable” moments, experiences, and visiting selfie-worthy destinations.
• Pursuit of a healthy life or engaging into active travel that involves walking, wellness, and sports tourism.
• Rise of the “access” economy.
• Solo travel and multigenerational travel as a result of single households and an aging population.
• Rising awareness on travel with sustainable advocacies, thoughtful consideration about climate change impacts, and plastic-free travel.
Social Impacts
Because tourism experiences also involve human interaction, certain impacts may occur. Generally, social impacts in tourism are related to guest-to-host or host-to-guest influences and changes. Studies of these encounters often relate to the Social Exchange Theory, which describe how tourists and hosts’ behaviours change as a result of the perceived benefits and threats they create during interaction (Nunkoo, 2015).
Positive social impacts in tourism include learning about different cultures, increasing tolerance and inclusion through LGBTQ+ travel, increasing amenities (e.g., parks, recreation facilities), investment in arts and culture, celebration of Indigenous peoples, and community pride. When developed conscientiously, tourism can, and does, contribute to a positive quality of life for residents and a deeper learning and appreciation for tourists.
Figure 1.12 LGBTQ+ travel is gaining momentum.
Unfortunately, tourism also has its shortcomings and is culpable for some detrimental impacts. However, as identified by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP, 2003a), negative social impacts of tourism can include:
• Change or loss of indigenous identity and values
• Culture clashes
• Physical causes of social stress (increased demand for resources)
• Ethical issues (such as an increase in sex tourism or the exploitation of child workers)
Some of these issues are explored in further detail in Chapter 12, which examines the development of Indigenous tourism in British Columbia.
Environmental Impacts
Tourism relies on, and greatly impacts, the natural environment in which it operates. In many cases, the environment is an essential resource that outdoor recreation and ecotourism cannot exist without. Even though many areas of the world are conserved in the form of parks and protected areas, tourism development can still have severe negative impacts from misuse, overuse, and neglect. According to UNEP (2003b), these can include:
• Depletion of natural resources (water, forests, etc.)
• Pollution (air pollution, noise, sewage, waste and littering)
• Physical impacts (construction activities, marina development, trampling, loss of biodiversity)
The environmental impacts of tourism knows no boundaries and can reach outside local areas and have detrimental effects on the global ecosystem. One example is increased emissions from necessary tourism elements such as transportation. Air travel for instance, is a major contributor to climate change. Chapter 10 looks at the environmental impacts of tourism in more detail.
Whether positive or negative, tourism is a force for change around the world that is capable of transforming the environment from micro- to macro-scales at a staggering rate. | textbooks/workforce/Hospitality/Introduction_to_Tourism_and_Hospitality_in_BC_2e_(Westcott_and_Anderson)/01%3A_History_and_Overview/1.06%3A_Impacts_of_Tourism.txt |
Before engaging in a study of tourism, let’s have a closer look at what this term means.
Definition of Tourism
There are a number of ways tourism can be defined, and for this reason, the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) embarked on a project from 2005 to 2007 to create a common glossary of terms for tourism. It defines tourism as follows:
Tourism is a social, cultural and economic phenomenon which entails the movement of people to countries or places outside their usual environment for personal or business/professional purposes. These people are called visitors (which may be either tourists or excursionists; residents or non-residents) and tourism has to do with their activities, some of which imply tourism expenditure (United Nations World Tourism Organization, 2008).
Using this definition, we can see that tourism is not just the movement of people for a number of purposes (whether business or pleasure), but the overall agglomeration of activities, services, and involved sectors that make up the unique tourist experience.
Tourism, Travel, and Hospitality: What are the Differences?
It is common to confuse the terms tourism, travel, and hospitality or to define them as the same thing. While tourism is the all-encompassing umbrella term for the activities and industry that create the tourist experience, the UNWTO (2020) defines travel as the activity of moving between different locations often for any purpose but more so for leisure and recreation (Hall & Page, 2006). On the other hand, hospitality can be defined as “the business of helping people to feel welcome and relaxed and to enjoy themselves” (Discover Hospitality, 2015, p. 3). Simply put, the hospitality industry is the combination of the accommodation and food and beverage groupings, collectively making up the largest segment of the industry (Go2HR, 2020). You’ll learn more about accommodations and F & B in Chapter 3 and Chapter 4, respectively.
Definition of Tourist and Excursionist
Building on the definition of tourism, a commonly accepted description of a tourist is “someone who travels at least 80 km from his or her home for at least 24 hours, for business or leisure or other reasons” (LinkBC, 2008, p.8). The United Nations World Tourism Organization (1995) helps us break down this definition further by stating tourists can be:
1. Domestic (residents of a given country travelling only within that country)
2. Inbound (non-residents travelling in a given country)
3. Outbound (residents of one country travelling in another country)
Excursionists on the other hand are considered same-day visitors (UNWTO, 2020). Sometimes referred to as “day trippers.” Understandably, not every visitor stays in a destination overnight. It is common for travellers to spend a few hours or less to do sightseeing, visit attractions, dine at a local restaurant, then leave at the end of the day.
The scope of tourism, therefore, is broad and encompasses a number of activities and sectors.
Spotlight On: United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO)
UNWTO is the United Nations agency responsible “for the promotion of responsible, sustainable and universally accessible tourism” (UNWTO, 2014b). Its membership includes 159 countries and over 500 affiliates such as private companies, research and educational institutions, and non-governmental organizations. It promotes tourism as a way of developing communities while encouraging ethical behaviour to mitigate negative impacts. For more information, visit the UNWTO website.
NAICS: The North American Industry Classification System
Given the sheer size of the tourism industry, it can be helpful to break it down into broad industry groups using a common classification system. The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) was jointly created by the Canadian, US, and Mexican governments to ensure common analysis across all three countries (British Columbia Ministry of Jobs, Tourism and Skills Training, 2013a). The tourism-related groupings created using NAICS are (in alphabetical order):
1. Accommodation
2. Food and beverage services (commonly known as “F & B”)
3. Recreation and entertainment
4. Transportation
5. Travel services
These industry groups (also commonly known as sectors) are based on the similarity of the “labour processes and inputs” used for each (Government of Canada, 2013). For instance, the types of employees and resources required to run an accommodation business whether it be a hotel, motel, or even a campground are quite similar. All these businesses need staff to check in guests, provide housekeeping, employ maintenance workers, and provide a place for people to sleep. As such, they can be grouped together under the heading of accommodation. The same is true of the other four groupings, and the rest of this text explores these industry groups, and other aspects of tourism, in more detail.
Figure 1.1 Front desk personnel, working their hardest.
It is typical for the entire tourist experience to involve more than one sector. The combination of sectors that supply and distribute the needed tourism products, services, and activities within the tourism system is called the Tourism Supply Chain. Often, these chains of sectors and activities are dependent upon each other’s delivery of products and services. Let’s look at a simple example below that describes the involved and sometimes overlapping sectoral chains in the tourism experience:
Figure 1.2 The tourism supply chain. [Long Description]
The original version of this chapter contained H5P content. You may want to remove or replace this element.
Before we seek to understand the five tourism sectors in more detail, it’s important to have an overview of the history and impacts of tourism to date.
Long Descriptions
Figure 1.2 long description: Diagram showing the tourism supply chain. This includes the phases of travel and the sectors and activities involved during each phase.
There are three travel phases: pre-departure, during travel, and post-departure.
Pre-departure, tourists use the travel services and transportation sectors.
During travel, tourists use the travel services, accommodations, food and beverage, recreation and entertainment, and transportation sectors.
Post-departure, tourists use the transportation sector.
[Return to Figure 1.2] | textbooks/workforce/Hospitality/Introduction_to_Tourism_and_Hospitality_in_BC_2e_(Westcott_and_Anderson)/01%3A_History_and_Overview/TEST_1.1%3A_What_is_Tourism.txt |
The transportation sector is vital to the success of our industry. Put simply, if we cannot move people from place to place — whether by air, sea, or land — we do not have an industry.
This chapter takes a broad approach, covering each segment of the transportation sector globally, nationally, and at home in British Columbia. Let’s start our review by taking a look at the airline industry.
According to the International Air Transport Association (IATA), in 2018, airlines transported more people than ever, 4.1 billion people across a network of 25,000 origin to destination (O-D) passenger journeys generating over 58 million jobs and \$2.7 trillion in business activity (International Air Transport Association, 2019).
Spotlight On: International Air Transport Association
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) is the trade association for the world’s airlines, representing around 240 airlines or 84% of total air traffic. It supports many areas of aviation activity and helps formulate industry policy on critical aviation issues (IATA, 2018). For more information, visit the International Air Transport Association website.
The first commercial (paid) passenger flight took place in Florida on New Year’s Day 1914 as a single person was transported across Tampa Bay (IATA 2014a). There have been a number of international aviation milestones since that flight, as illustrated in Table 2.1.
Table 2.1 Milestones in the commercial aviation industry[1]
Year Milestone
1919 KLM Koninklijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij or Royal Dutch Airlines) starts operations, making it the oldest airline still in operation.
1930 Boeing Air Transport (now known as United) introduces the first flight attendant.
1934 The first piece of airmail travels across the Atlantic via Deutsche Luft Hansa (now Lufthansa).
1939 The first passenger flight travels across the Atlantic on Pan American airlines.
1944 The Chicago Convention on International Civil Aviation takes place, giving rise to the aviation industry as we know it.
1952 The first passengers travel by commercial jet on British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC).
1971 The first low-cost carrier is introduced as Southwest Airlines enters the market.
1976 The Concorde enters service as the first supersonic aircraft.
1978 The United States deregulates the air industry.
1981 American Airlines introduces the first frequent flyer program.
2001 The 11th of September 2001 marks a turning point in international civil aviation; the first use of civil aircraft as weapons of mass destruction.
2007 Singapore Airlines introduces passenger service aboard the Airbus A380 (currently the world’s largest passenger aircraft).
2011 KLM operates the first passenger biofuel flights.
2020 The number of passenger jets in service is the lowest in 26 years with airlines worldwide slashing capacity to close to zero or not flying at all (January to April).
Rules and Regulations
Aviation is a highly regulated industry as it crosses many government jurisdictions. This section explores key airline regulations in more detail.
Open Skies
Figure 2.1 Open skies.
The term open skies refers to policies that allow national airlines to fly to, and above, other countries. These policies lift restrictions where countries have good relationships, freeing up the travel of passengers and goods.
Take a Closer Look: The 1944 Chicago Convention on International Civil Aviation
This document contains the original statements from the convention that created the airline industry as we know it, providing a preamble statement as well as detailed articles pertaining to a range of issues from cabotage to pilotless aircraft. Read the 1944 Chicago Convention on International Civil Aviation [PDF].
Canada’s approach to open skies is the Blue Sky Policy, first implemented in 2006. The National Airlines Council of Canada (NACC) and Canadian Airports Council (CAC) support the Blue Sky Policy.
While opening up air transport agreements (ATAs) with other jurisdictions is important, the Canadian government does not provide blanket arrangements, instead, negotiating “when it is in Canada’s overall interest to do so” (Government of Canada, 2014a). Some suggest the government should be more liberal with air access so more competitors can enter the market, potentially attracting more visitors to the country (Fu, Oum, & Zhang (2010); Gill & Raynor, 2003).
Taxes and Fees
For years, the aviation industry has argued that the high level of taxes and fees are unsustainable for the sector. According to a 2012 Senate study on issues related to the Canadian airline industry, Canadian travellers are being grounded by airline fees, fuel surcharges, security taxes, airport improvement fees, and other additional costs. Airports are charged rental fees by the Canadian government (\$4.8 billion from 1992 to 2004), which they pass on to the airlines, who in turn transfer the costs to travellers. Some think eliminating rental fees would make Canadian airports more competitive, and view rental and other fees as the reason 5 million Canadians went south of the border for flights in 2013, where passenger fees are 230% lower than in Canada (Hermiston & Steele, 2014).
Profitability
Running an airline is like having a baby: fun to conceive, but hell to deliver.
—C. E. Woolman, principal founder of Delta Air Lines (The Economist, 2011).
As the quote above suggested, airlines are faced with many challenges. In addition to operating in a strict regulatory environment, airlines yield extremely small profit margins. Passenger growth in 2017 was supported by a broad-based improvement in global economic conditions and by lower airfares, mainly earlier in the year. Lower fares have been a tailwind for passenger demand since late 2014 and have helped to drive the RPK/GDP multiplier above its long-term median level for three years in a row. In 2017 the industry accumulated \$ billion worldwide in revenues, although global profit margins were just 1.5% (IATA, 2014a). To put that into perspective, while the average airline earned 1.5%, Amazon’s profit margins were almost 14 times that at 20.15% (YCharts, 2014).
Passenger Load Factor
Key to airline profitability is the passenger load factor, which relates how efficiently planes are being used. The load factor for a single flight can be determined by dividing the number of passengers by the number of seats. Demand grew faster than capacity, increasing the passenger load factor by 0.7 percentage points in 2019.
Figure 2.2 An Airbus 380-800 takes off.
Passenger load factors in the airline industry reached a high of 80.3% in 2019, which was attributed to increased volumes and strong capacity management in key sectors (IATA, 2104a). One way of increasing capacity is by using larger aircraft. For instance, the introduction of the Airbus A380 model has allowed up to 40% more capacity per flight, carrying up to 525 passengers in a three-class configuration, and up to 853 in a single-class configuration (Airbus, 2014). Some carriers are now retiring the A380 model from their fleet (Airbus, 2020).
Ultra Low-Cost Carriers
Another key factor in profitability is the airline’s business model. In 1971, Southwest Airlines became the first low-cost carrier (LCC), revolutionizing the industry. The LCC model involved charging for all extras such as reserved seating, baggage, and on-board service, and cutting costs by offering less legroom and using non-unionized workforces. Typically, an LCC has to run with 90% full planes to break even (Owram, 2014). The high-volume, lower-service system is what we have become used to today, but at the time it was introduced, it was groundbreaking. Over the past several years, the model is now called an Ultra Low Cost Carrier (ULCC) with extremely low costs and unbundled services. Examples of Canadian ultra low-cost carriers include Swoop and Flair.
Ancillary Revenues
The LCC and ULCC models, combined with tight margins, led to today’s climate where passengers are charged for value-added services such as meals, headsets, blankets, seat selection, and bag checking. These are known in the industry as ancillary revenues. Profits from these extras rose from \$36 billion in 2012 to \$42 billion in 2013, or more than \$13 a passenger. An average net profit of only \$3.39 per passenger was retained by airlines (IATA, 2014a).
As you can see, airlines must strive to maintain profitability, despite thin margins, in an environment with heavy government regulation. But at the same time, they must be responsible for the safety of their passengers.
Air Safety and Security
IATA encourages airlines to view safety from a number of points, including reducing operational risks such as plane crashes, by running safety audit programs. They also advocate for improved infrastructure such as runway upgrades and training for pilots and other crew. Finally, they strive to understand emerging safety issues, including the outsourcing of operations to third-party companies (IATA, 2014a).
In terms of security, coordination between programs such as the Interpol Stolen and Lost Travel Documents initiative and other databases is critical (IATA, 2014a). As reservations and management systems become increasingly computerized, cyber-security becomes a top concern for airlines, who must protect IT (information technology) because their databases contain information about flights and passengers’ personal information. Unruly passengers are also a cause of concern, with over 8,000 incidents reported worldwide every year (IATA, 2014a).
Now that we have a better sense of the complexities of the industry, let’s take a closer look at air travel in Canada and the regional air industry.
Canada’s Air Industry
Figure 2.3 An Air Canada Jazz plane readies for takeoff.
In 1937, Trans-Canada Air Lines (later to become Air Canada) was launched with two passenger planes and one mail plane. By the 1950s, Canadian Pacific Airlines (CP Air) entered the marketplace, and an economic boom led to more affordable tickets. Around this time CP Air (which became Canadian Airlines in 1987) launched flights to Australia, Japan, and South America (Canadian Geographic, 2000). In 2001, Canadian Airlines International was acquired by Air Canada (Aviation Safety Network, 2012).
In 1996, the marketplace changed drastically with the entry of an Alberta-based LCC called WestJet. By 2014, WestJet had grown to become Canada’s second major airline with more than 9,700 staff flying to 88 destinations across domestic and international networks (WestJet, 2014).
As it grew, WestJet began to offer services such as premium economy class and a frequent-flyer program, launched a regional carrier, and introduced transatlantic flights with service to Dublin, Ireland, evolving away from the LCC model (Owram, 2014). With those changes, and in the absence of a true low-cost carrier, in 2014, some other companies, added ULCC such as Swoop in 2019 and Flair Airlines.
However, outside of Air Canada and WestJet, airlines in Canada have found it very challenging to survive, and some examples of LCC startups like Harmony Airways and Jetsgo have fallen by the wayside.
Challenges to Canada’s Air Industry
When looking at these failed airlines in Canada, three key challenges to success can be identified (Owram, 2014):
1. Canada’s large geographical size and sparse population mean relatively low demand for flights.
2. Canada’s higher taxes and fees compared with other jurisdictions (such as the United States) make pricing less competitive.
3. Canada’s two dominant airlines are able to price new entrants out of the market.
In addition to these factors, the European debt crisis, a slow US economic recovery, more cautious spending by Canadians, and fuel price increases led to a \$900 million industry loss in 2011 (Conference Board of Canada, 2012) prior to the industry returning to profitability in 2013.
Take a Closer Look: One Size Doesn’t Fit All
In 2013, a special report to the Canadian Senate explored the concept that one size doesn’t fit all when it comes to competitiveness in the country’s airline industry. The report contains general observations about the industry as well as a number of recommendations to stakeholders, including airport managers. Read the report: “One Size Doesn’t Fit All: the Future Growth and Competitiveness of Canadian Air Travel” [PDF].
Today, the Canadian airline industry directly employs roughly 141,000 people and is worth \$34.9 billion in gross domestic product. It supports 330 jobs for every 100,000 passengers and contributes over \$12 billion to federal and provincial treasuries, including over \$7 billion in taxes (Gill and Raynor, 2013). In 2019, Canadian airlines carried over 80 million passengers and are a critical component of Canada’s overall air transport and tourism sector and support over 630,000 jobs (NACC, 2019).
Let’s now turn our attention to the regional air market, focusing on British Columbia.
Regional Airlines
Transportation in BC has always been difficult: incomplete road systems and rugged terrain historically made travel between communities almost impossible. In 1927, a number of businessmen promised to change all that when they opened British Columbia Airways in Victoria with the purchase of a commercial airliner (Canadian Museum of Flight, 2014).
As commercial flying became more popular, and the province grew, regional airports started to spring up around BC as a means of delivering surveying equipment, forestry supplies, and workers. Many of these airports were legacies of Canada’s strategic position for the military. Fort Nelson’s airport, for instance, was established so the US Air Force could fuel aircraft bound for Russia in World War II (Northern Rockies Regional Airport, 2014).
In 1994, Transport Canada transferred all 150 airports under its control to local authorities under the National Airports Policy (NAP). This policy is considered to have been a turning point in the privatization of the airline industry in Canada. A 2004 study showed that after 10 years, 48% of these airports were not able to cover annual costs of operation, leading to concerns about the viability of small local airports in particular (InterVISTAS, 2005).
In 2012, the BC government released its aviation strategy, entitled Connecting with the World, which acknowledged the economic challenges for airports large and small. These range from Vancouver International Airport (YVR), which supports more than 61,000 jobs and creates more than \$11 billion in economic activity each year, through to regional and local airports. The strategy outlined a framework to remove barriers to aviation growth including potentially eliminating the two-cent-per-litre International Aviation Fuel Tax (British Columbia Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure, 2012).
Given a highly complex regulatory environment, razor-thin profit margins, and intense competition, the airline industry is constantly changing and evolving at global, national, and regional levels. But one thing is certain: air travel is here to stay.
On the other hand, the rail industry has been faced with significant declines since air travel became accessible to the masses. Let’s learn more about this sector.
1. Data source: IATA, 2014a. ↵ | textbooks/workforce/Hospitality/Introduction_to_Tourism_and_Hospitality_in_BC_2e_(Westcott_and_Anderson)/02%3A_Transportation/2.01%3A_Air.txt |
Figure 2.4 Mount Stephen House on the Canadian Pacific Railway, in Field, B.C., 1909.
In Chapter 1, we looked at the historic significance of railways as they laid the foundation for the modern tourism industry. That’s because in many places, including Canada and British Columbia, trains were an unprecedented way to move people across vast expanses of land. With the Canadian Pacific company opening up hotels in major cities, BC’s hospitality sector was born and rail travel emerged.
Profitability
However, starting in the 1940s and 1950s, the passenger rail industry began to decline sharply. In 1945, Canadian railways carried 55.4 million passengers, but just 10 years later passenger traffic had dropped to 27.2 million. The creation of VIA Rail in 1977 as a Canadian Crown corporation was an attempt by the government to ensure rail travel did not disappear, but in the years since its founding, VIA has struggled, relying heavily on federal subsidies in order to continue operations.
Between 1989 and 1990, VIA lost over 45% of its ridership when it cut unprofitable routes, focusing on areas with better potential for revenue and passenger volumes. From there, annual ridership has stabilized at around 3.5 million to 4.0 million passengers per year, slowly increasing throughout the 1990s and 2000s (Dupuis, 2011).
Despite this slight recovery, there are a number of challenges for passenger rail in Canada, which will likely require continued government support to survive. Three key challenges to a successful passenger rail industry are:
1. Passenger rail must negotiate with freight for the right-of-use of tracks.
2. There is a limited potential of routes (with the highest volume existing in the Quebec-Windsor corridor).
3. Fixed-cost equipment is ageing out, requiring replacement or upgrading.
High-speed rail seems like an attractive option, but would be expensive to construct as existing tracks aren’t suitable for the reasons given above. It’s also unlikely to provide high enough returns to private investors (Dupuis, 2011). This means the Canadian government would have to invest heavily in a rapid rail project for it to proceed. As of 2020, no such investment was planned.
Spotlight On: Rocky Mountaineer Rail Tours
Founded in 1990, Rocky Mountaineer offers three train journeys through BC and Alberta to Banff, Lake Louise, Jasper, and Calgary, and one train excursion from Vancouver to Whistler. In 2013, Rocky Mountaineer introduced Coastal Passage, a new route connecting Seattle to the Canadian Rockies that can be added to any two-day or more rail journey (Rocky Mountaineer, 2014). For more information, please visit the Rocky Mountaineer website.
While the industry overall has been in a decline, touring companies like Rocky Mountaineer have found a financially successful model by shifting the focus from transportation to the sightseeing experience. The company has weathered financial storms by refusing to discount their luxury product, instead, focusing on unique experiences. The long planning cycle for scenic rail packages has helped the company stand their ground in terms of pricing (Cubbon, 2010). The product-experience is stratified into two “World-Class Service” guest experience choices, namely the Silver Leaf and the Gold Leaf for their three rail routes.
Rail Safety
In Canada, rail safety is governed by the Railway Safety Act, which ensures safe railway operation and amends other laws that relate to rail safety (Government of Canada, 2014b). The Act is overseen by the Minister of Transport. It covers grade crossings, mining and construction near railways, operating certifications, financial penalties for infractions, and safety management.
The Act was revised in late 2014 in response to the massive rail accident in July 2013 in Lac-Mégantic, Quebec. A runaway oil train exploded, killing 47 people, and subsequently MM&A Railway and three employees, including the train’s engineer, were charged with criminal negligence (CBC News, 2014).
In addition to freight management issues, a key rail safety concern is that of crossings. As recently as April 2014, Transport Canada had to issue orders for improved safety measures at crossings in suburban Ottawa after a signal malfunctioned in the area (CTV News, 2014a). According to Operation Lifesaver Canada (2014), in 2011, there were 169 crossing collisions across Canada, with 25 fatalities and 21 serious injuries. In general, however, Canada’s 73,000 kilometres of railway tracks safely transport both people and goods. And while railways in Canada, and elsewhere, are being forced to innovate, companies like Rocky Mountaineer (see Spotlight On above) give the industry glimmers of hope.
The rail industry shares some common history with the cruise sector. Let’s now turn our focus to the water and learn about the evolution of travel on the high seas. | textbooks/workforce/Hospitality/Introduction_to_Tourism_and_Hospitality_in_BC_2e_(Westcott_and_Anderson)/02%3A_Transportation/2.02%3A_Rail.txt |
Figure 2.5 A cruise ship at sunset at the Breakwater District (formerly named Ogden Point), Victoria.
Travel by water is as old as civilization itself. However, the industry as we know it began when Thomas Newcomen invented the steam engine in 1712. The first crossing of the Atlantic by steam engine took place in 1819 aboard the SS Savannah, landing in Liverpool, England, after 29 days at sea. Forty years later, White Star Lines began building ocean liners including the Olympic-class ships (the Olympic, Britannic, and Titanic), expanding on previously utilitarian models by adding luxurious amenities (Briggs, 2008).
A boom in passenger ship travel toward the end of the 1800s was aided by a growing influx of immigrants from Europe to America, while more affluent passengers travelled by steamship for pleasure or business. The industry grew over time but, like rail travel, began to decline after the arrival of airlines. Shipping companies were forced to change their business model from pure transportation to “an experience,” and the modern cruise industry was born.
The Cruise Sector
We’ve come a long way since the Olympic class of steamship. Today, the world’s largest cruise ship, MS Oasis of the Seas, has an outdoor park with 12,000 plants, an 82-foot zip wire, and a high-diving performance venue. It’s 20 storeys tall and can hold 5,606 passengers and a crew of up to 2,394 (Magrath, 2014). A crew on a cruise ship will include the captain, the chief officer (in charge of training and maintenance), staff captain, chief engineer, chief medical officer, and chief radio officer (communication, radar, and weather monitoring).
Spotlight On: Cruise Lines International Association
Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) is the world’s largest cruise industry trade association with representation in North and South America, Europe, Asia, and Australasia. CLIA represents the interests of cruise lines and travel agents in the development of policy. CLIA is also engaged in travel agent training, research, and marketing communications (CLIA, 2014). For more information on CLIA, the cruise industry, and member cruise lines and travel agencies, visit the Cruise Lines International Association website.
Cruising the World
According to CLIA, 30 million passengers were expected to travel worldwide on 63 member lines in 2019. Projections for 2020 were 32 million passengers expected to cruise (CLIA, 2020). Given increased demand, 24 new ships were expected in 2014–15, adding a total capacity of over 37,000 passengers.
Over 55% of the world’s cruise passengers are from North America, and the leading destinations (based on ship deployments), according to CLIA, are:
• The Caribbean (37%)
• The Mediterranean (19%)
• Northern Europe (11%)
• Australia/New Zealand (6%)
• Alaska (5%)
• Asia (4%)
• South America (3%)
River Cruising
While mass cruises to destinations like the Caribbean remain incredibly popular, river cruises are emerging as another strong segment of the industry. The key differences between river cruises and ocean cruises are (Hill, 2013):
1. River cruise ships are smaller (400 feet long by 40 feet wide on average) and can navigate narrow passages.
2. River cruises carry fewer passengers (about 10% of the average cruise, or 200 passengers total).
3. Beer, wine, and high-end cuisine are generally offered in the standard package.
The price point for river cruises is around the same as ocean trips, with the typical cost ranging from \$2,000 to \$4,000, depending on the itinerary, accommodations, and other amenities.
From 2008 to 2013, river cruises saw a 10% annual passenger increase. Europe leads the subcategory, while emerging destinations include a cruise route along China’s Yangtze River. As the on-board experience differs greatly from a larger cruise (no play areas, water parks, or on-board stage productions), the target demographic for river cruises is 50- to 70-year-olds. According to Torstein Hagen, founder and chairman of Viking, an international river cruising company, “with river cruises, a destination is the destination,” although many river cruises are themed around cultural or historical events (Hill, 2013).
Figure 2.6 Uniworld’s River Beatrice in Passau, Germany.
Cruising in Canada
According to a study completed for the North West & Canada Cruise Association (NWCCA) and its partners, in 2012, approximately 1,100 cruise ship calls were made at Canadian cruise ports generating slightly more than 2 million passenger arrivals throughout the six-month cruise season (BREA, 2013). The study found three key cruise itineraries in Canada:
1. Canada/New England
2. Quebec (between Montreal and Quebec City and US ports)
3. Alaska (either departing from, or using, Vancouver or another BC city as a port of call)
These generated \$1.16 billion in direct spending. Cruising also generated almost 10,000 full- and part-time jobs paying \$397 million in wages and salaries. The international cruise industry also generated an estimated \$269 million in indirect business and income taxes in Canada, and the majority of this spending was in British Columbia (BREA, 2013).
Cruising in BC
BC’s rail history and cruise history are intertwined. As early as 1887, Canadian Pacific Railway began offering steamship passage to destinations such as Hawaii, Shanghai, Alaska, and Seattle. Ninety-nine years later, Vancouver’s Canada Place was built, with its cruise ship terminals, allowing the province to attract large ships and capture its share of the growing international cruise industry (Cruise BC, 2014).
Spotlight On: Cruise BC
Cruise BC is a partnership between BC port destinations designed to provide a vehicle for cooperative marketing and development of BC’s cruise sector. Their vision is that the West Coast and British Columbia’s coastal communities are recognized and sought out globally by cruise lines and passengers as a destination of choice. For more information, visit the Cruise BC website
This potential continues to grow as Nanaimo, Prince Rupert, Victoria, and Vancouver accounted for 57% of the Canadian cruise passenger traffic with 1.18 million passengers in 2012 (BREA, 2013).
Cruising isn’t the only way for visitors to experience the waters of BC. In fact, the vast majority of our water travel is done by ferry. Let’s take a closer look at this vital component of BC’s transportation infrastructure.
Ferries
Ferry service in British Columbia dates back to the mid-1800s when the Hudson’s Bay Company ran ships between Vancouver Island and the Mainland. Later, CP Rail and Black Ball ferries ran a private service, until 1958 when Premier W.A.C. Bennett announced the BC Ferry Authority would consolidate the ferries under a provincial mandate.
Figure 2.7 BC Ferries’ Spirit of Vancouver Island.
The MV Tsawwassen and the MV Sidney began regular service on June 15, 1960, and BC Ferries was officially launched with two terminals and around 200 employees. Today, there are 37 vessels, 47 destinations, and more than 5,000 employees in the summer peak season (BC Ferries, 2019). In late 2019, BC Ferries introduced the world’s most advanced electric battery hybrid ferries to serve inter-island routes.
BC isn’t the only destination where ferries make up part of the transportation experience. In 2011, Travel + Leisure Magazine profiled several notable ferry journeys in the article “World’s Most Beautiful Ferry Rides,” including:
• An 800-mile ferry voyage through Chile’s Patagonian fjords
• A three-mile trip from the Egyptian Spice Market to Istanbul, Turkey
• Urban ferry rides including Hong Kong’s Victoria Harbour, Australia’s Sydney Harbour, and New York City’s Staten Island Ferry
The article also featured the 15-hour trip from Port Hardy to Prince Rupert on British Columbia’s coast (Orcutt, 2011).
While cruising is often a pleasant and relaxing experience, there are a number of safety concerns for vessels of all types.
Cruise and Ferry Safety
One of the major concerns on cruise lines is disease outbreak, specifically the norovirus (a stomach flu), which can spread quickly on cruise ships as passengers are so close together. The US Centers for Disease Control’s (CDC) vessel sanitation program is designed to help the industry prevent and control the outset, and spreading, of these types of illnesses (Briggs, 2008).
Accidents are also a concern. In 2006, the BC Ferries vessel MV Queen of the North crashed and sank in the Inside Passage, leaving two passengers missing and presumed dead. The ship’s navigating officer was charged with criminal negligence causing their deaths (Keller, 2013). More recently, a “hard landing” at Duke Point terminal on Vancouver Island caused over \$4 million in damage. BC Ferries launched a suit against a German engineering firm in late 2013, alleging a piece of equipment failed, making a smooth docking impossible. The Transportation Safety Board found that staff aboard the ship didn’t follow proper docking procedures, however, which contributed to the crash (Canadian Press, 2013).
Spotlight On: The Transportation Safety Board
The Transportation Safety Board (TSB) investigates marine, pipeline, rail, and air incidents. It is an independent agency that reviews an average of 3,200 events every year. It does not determine liability; however, coroners and medical examiners may use TSB findings in their investigations. The head office in Quebec manages 220 staff across the country. For more information, visit the Transportation Safety Board website.
We’ve covered the skies, the rails, and the seas. Now let’s round out our investigation of transportation in tourism by delving into travel on land. | textbooks/workforce/Hospitality/Introduction_to_Tourism_and_Hospitality_in_BC_2e_(Westcott_and_Anderson)/02%3A_Transportation/2.03%3A_Water.txt |
While much of this text has placed significance on the emergence of the railways as critical to the development of our industry, BC’s roadways have also played an integral role. Our roads have evolved from First Nations trails, to Fur Trade and Gold Rush routes, to Wagon Roads and Trunk Roads — finally becoming the highway system we know today (British Columbia Ministry of Transportation and Highways, n.d.).
Take a Closer Look: Frontier to Freeway: A Short Illustrated History of the Roads in British Columbia
This short book, available as a PDF, provides an overview of the integral importance of BC’s evolving roadways in our transportation sector. Read here: Frontier to Freeway: A Short Illustrated History of the Roads in British Columbia [PDF].
Today, land-based travel is achieved through a complex web of local transit, taxis, rentals, walking, and short-term sightseeing. This section briefly explores these options.
Scenic and Sightseeing Travel
It’s common for visitors to want to explore a community and appreciate the sights. We’ve already learned a little about the rail-based sightseeing company, Rocky Mountaineer. Many destinations also offer short-term, hop-on-hop-off bus and trolley tours. Others feature trams and trolleys. Outside of impromptu excursions, sightseeing tours are often put together by inbound tour operators. You can learn more about tour operators, and the sightseeing sector, in Chapter 7.
Transit and Destination Infrastructure
Vancouver’s Tourism Master Plan acknowledges the importance of transportation infrastructure for the tourism industry. Priorities for future development by the city include (Tourism Vancouver, 2013):
• Improving accessibility for people with disabilities
• Creating a transit loop between downtown attractions
• Supporting ferries in False Creek
• Providing late-night transit
• Investigating and implementing a public bike share
• Developing more transit options along the Broadway corridor
• Working with taxi companies to explore a strategic plan for taxi operations
• Enhancing walkability by implementing recommendations from the Pedestrian Safety Study and Action Plan
These action items were developed in consultation with industry stakeholders as well as residents, and reflect the interrelated elements that make up a destination’s transportation infrastructure.
Rentals and Taxis
Figure 2.8 A Lincoln Town Car in San Francisco.
Today, when travellers aren’t using their own cars, automobile travel is traditionally split between rental vehicles, taxis (including limousines), or ride sharing.
Rentals
In North America, there are three main brands that represent approximately 85% of the rental car business: Enterprise (includes National and Alamo), Hertz (includes Dollar and Thrifty), and Avis. One of the reasons that brands have consolidated over time is the high fixed cost of operation as vehicles are purchased, maintained, and disposed of. Fierce competition means prices are checked and updated thousands of times a day. The business is also highly seasonal, with high traffic in summer and spring, and so fleet management is critical for profitability. Rental companies tend to use enplanements (the numbers of passengers travelling by air), as a measurement of market trends that influence rental usage (DBRS, 2010).
Taxis
In BC, taxi licences are issued by the BC Passenger Transportation Board. In Vancouver, the right to operate a taxi is based on a permit system, and each permit costs the original holder \$100. But because of the limited number of permits available, those who hold one are able to auction it off for over \$800,000 and keep the profit. As a result, passengers in Vancouver paid an average of 73% more for the equivalent trip in Washington, D.C. Drivers from areas outside the city depositing passengers in Vancouver are also not permitted to pick up fares on the return trip, having to drive across their boundaries (Proctor, 2014).
Ridesharing appslike Uber, which allow people to find a ride using their mobile phone, have emerged to exert influence on car travel in key destinations. In most major cities where ridesharing is available, these apps have rapidly undercut the taxi industry. In SanFransico for example, according to the city’s transit authority, per month, trips by taxi have plummeted from 1,424 in 2012 to 504 in 2014, even though taxi operators maintain a monopoly over rides from the airport (Kuittinen, 2014). In New York City, however, the price of medallions (similar to Vancouver’s taxi permits) continues to hover above \$950,000. In large markets like Manhattan, passengers continue to hail cabs on the street at the moment, with e-hails (electronic taxi hails) at 0.17% of the market (Brustein & Winter, 2014). The City of Vancouver opted to force Uber to roll back after its initial release, and in 2014 placed the app on a six-month moratorium after pressure from taxi operators who cited threats to the values of their licences as well as safety and monitoring concerns (CTV News, 2014b). However, in January 2020, Uber and Lyft ride-hailing was launched in Vancouver. The Passenger Transportation Board announced on Jan. 23, 2020 that it had approved Uber’s application to operate in the Lower Mainland and Whistler, as soon as the company secures the appropriate insurance. Ride-hailing began in Vancouver shortly thereafter (Vancouver Sun, January 23, 2020). As well, the Passenger Transportation Board announced in early February 2020, that it had approved Kabu’s application to operate in the Lower Mainland, Whistler and the Greater Victoria area, as soon as the company secures the appropriate insurance. Kabu is based out of Richmond, B.C. and had been operating across the Greater Vancouver area since 2016 but paused operations in September 2019 when the company submitted its PTB application.
Uber is available in hundreds of cities internationally so you may already be familiar with the app, or may even already have it downloaded to your phone. Uber offers a variety of vehicles, with UberX being the most affordable, standard sedan option all the way up to Select which includes more stylish rides. As this and other examples illustrate, the transportation sector is vulnerable to regulatory, technological, operational, and business trends. Let’s look at these in more detail. | textbooks/workforce/Hospitality/Introduction_to_Tourism_and_Hospitality_in_BC_2e_(Westcott_and_Anderson)/02%3A_Transportation/2.04%3A_Land.txt |
This section explores issues directly relating to transportation today including fuel cost, labour, and environmental impacts. For more information on one of the biggest trends in tourism, online travel agencies (OTAs), and how online bookings impact the transportation sector, please see Chapter 7.
Fuel Cost
When it comes to moving people, fuel cost is critical. The cost of jet fuel is one of the single highest factors in airline profitability. In 2013, the average cost was around \$125 per barrel, which was \$5 less than the previous year (IATA, 2014a). Cruise ships consume a lower grade of diesel than do land vehicles, but they consume a lot of it. The QE2, for example, consumes roughly 380 tonnes of fuel every day if travelling at 28.5 knots (Briggs, 2008).
Labour
As in all tourism-related sectors, cyclical labour shortages can significantly impact the transportation industry. In the aviation sector, a forecast found that by 2032 the world’s airlines will need 460,000 additional pilots and 650,000 new maintenance technicians to service current and future aircraft. The drive to find employees also extends to the maritime sector, where the International Maritime Organization (IMO) launched a “Go to sea!” campaign to attract more workers to the field (PWC, 2012).
Environmental Impacts
In addition to fuel and labour costs, and regulations we’ve covered already, the transportation sector has a significant impact on the natural environment.
Air Impacts
According to the David Suzuki Foundation (2014), the aviation industry is responsible for 4% to 9% of climate change impacts, and greenhouse gas emissions from flights have risen 83% since 1990. Airline travel has a greater emissions impact than driving or taking the train per passenger kilometre, which caused a bishop in the UK to famously declare that “Making selfish choices such as flying on holiday [is] a symptom of sin” (Barrow, 2006).
Rail Impacts
Rail travel is widely regarded as one of the most environmentally friendly modes of transportation due to its low carbon dioxide emissions. Railways come under fire outside of the tourism realm, however, as freight shipping can produce hazards to resident health including an increased risk of developing cancer and noise pollution (The Impact Project, 2012).
Cruise Impacts
Cruise ships can generate significant pollution from black water (containing human waste), grey water (runoff from showers, dishwashers, sinks), bilge water (from the lowest compartment of the ship), solid waste (trash), and chemical waste (cleaners, solvents, oil). One ship can create almost a million litres of grey water, over 113,000 litres of black water, and over 140,000 litres of bilge water every day. Depending on the regulations in the operating areas, ships can simply dump this waste directly into the ocean. Ballast tanks, filled to keep the ship afloat, can be contaminated with species which are then transported to other areas, disrupting sensitive ecosystems (Briggs, 2008).
Land Impacts
A recent study found that the impact of travel on land is highly dependent on the number of passengers. Whereas travelling alone in a large SUV can have high emissions per person (as high as flying), increasing the number of passengers, and using a smaller vehicle, can bring the impact down to that of train travel (Science Daily, 2013).
For more information on the environmental impacts of the transportation sector, and how to mitigate these, read Chapter 10.
Weather
As you’ve learned, the transportation sector can have an effect on climate change, and changes in weather have a strong effect on transportation. According to Natural Resources Canada (2013), some of these include:
• More drastic freeze-thaw cycles, destroying pavement and causing ruts in asphalt
• Increased precipitation causing landslides, washing out roads, and derailing trains
• Effects and costs of additional de-icing chemicals deployed on aircraft and runways (over 50 million litres were used worldwide in 2013)
• Delayed flights and sailings due to increased storm activity
• Millions of dollars of infrastructure upgrades required as sea levels increase and flood structures (replacing or relocating bridges, tunnels, ports, docks, dykes, helipads and airports)
The threat of climate change could significantly impact sea-level airports such as YVR, and some 50 additional registered airports across Canada that sit at five metres or less above sea level (Natural Resources Canada, 2013).
For this reason, it’s important that the sector continue to press for innovations and greener transportation choices, if only to ensure future financial costs are kept at bay.
Figure 2.9 A flight grounded at Baltimore Airport due to severe weather. | textbooks/workforce/Hospitality/Introduction_to_Tourism_and_Hospitality_in_BC_2e_(Westcott_and_Anderson)/02%3A_Transportation/2.05%3A_Trends_and_Issues.txt |
Tourism, freight, and resource industries such as forestry and mining sometimes compete for highways, waterways, and airways. It’s important for governments to engage with various stakeholders and attempt to juggle various economic priorities — and for tourism to be at the table during these discussions.
That’s why in 2015 the BC Ministry of Transportation released its 10-year plan, B.C. on the Move. Groups like the Tourism Industry Association of BC actively polled their members in order to have their concerns incorporated into the plan. These included highway signage and wayfaring, the future of BC Ferries, and urban infrastructure improvements. This is the report card from the first year of the 10-year plan: B.C. on the Move Report Card, 2015/16 [PDF].
This chapter has taken a brief look at one of the most complex, and vital, components of our industry. Chapter 3 covers accommodations and is just as essential.
Key Terms
• Ancillary revenues: money earned on non-essential components of the transportation experience including headsets, blankets, and meals
• Blue Sky Policy: Canada’s approach to open skies agreements that govern which countries’ airlines are allowed to fly to, and from, Canadian destinations
• Cruise BC: a multi-stakeholder organization responsible for the development and marketing of British Columbia as a cruise destination
• Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA): the world’s largest cruise industry trade association with representation in North and South America, Europe, Asia, and Australasia
• International Air Transport Association (IATA): the trade association for the world’s airlines
• Low-cost carrier (LCC): an airline that competes on price, cutting amenities and striving for volume to achieve a profit
• National Airports Policy (NAP): the 1994 policy that saw the transfer of 150 airports from federal control to communities and other local agencies, essentially deregulating the industry
• Open skies: a set of policies that enable commercial airlines to fly in and out of other countries
• Passenger load factor: a way of measuring how efficiently a transportation company uses its vehicles on any given day, calculated for a single flight by dividing the number of passengers by the number of seats
• Railway Safety Act: a 1985 Act to ensure the safe operation of railways in Canada
• Ridesharing apps: applications for mobile devices that allow users to share rides with strangers, undercutting the taxi industry
• Transportation Safety Board (TSB): the national independent agency that investigates an average of 3,200 transportation safety incidents across the country every year
• Ultra-low cost carrier (ULCC): an airline that competes on price, cutting amenities and striving for volume to achieve a profit
Exercises
1. When did the first paid air passenger take flight? What would you say have been the three biggest milestones in commercial aviation since that date?
2. If a flight with 500 available seats carries 300 passengers, what is the passenger load factor?
3. Why is it difficult for new airlines to take off in Canada?
4. How did some of BC’s regional airports come into existence? What are some of the challenges they face today?
5. How much economic activity is generated by YVR every year?
6. What are the key differences between river cruises and ocean cruises? Who are the target markets for these cruises?
7. Which cities attract more than 50% of the cruise traffic in Canada?
8. What are the priorities for transportation infrastructure development as outlined in Vancouver’s Tourism Master Plan? What other transportation components would you include in your community’s tourism plan?
9. What are some of the environmental impacts of the transportation sector? Name three. How might these be lessened?
Case Study: Air North
Founded in 1977 by Joseph Sparling and Tom Wood, Air North is a regional airline providing passenger and cargo service between Yukon and destinations including BC, Alberta, and Alaska. In 2012, Air North surpassed one million passengers carried. Employing over 200 people, the airline is owned in significant part by the Vuntut Development Corporation, the economic arm of the Vuntut Gwitchin First Nation (VGFN). In fact, one in 15 Yukoners owns a stake in the airline (Air North, 2015).
The ownership model has meant that economic returns are not always the priority for shareholders. As stated on its website, “the maximization of profit is not the number one priority,” as air service is a “lifeline” to the VGFN community. For this reason, service and pricing of flights is extremely important, as are employment opportunities.
Visit the corporate information portion of the Air North website and answer the following questions:
1. What is the number one priority of Air North? How is the company structured to ensure it can meet its goals in this area?
2. What does Air North consider to be its competitive advantage? How does this differ from other airlines?
3. Describe the investment portfolio of the Vuntut Development Corporation. What types of companies does it own? Why might they have selected these types of initiatives?
4. List at least three groups that have a stake in the airline. What are their interests? Where do their interests line up, and where do they compete?
5. In your opinion, would this regional airline model work in your community? Why or why not? | textbooks/workforce/Hospitality/Introduction_to_Tourism_and_Hospitality_in_BC_2e_(Westcott_and_Anderson)/02%3A_Transportation/2.06%3A_Conclusion.txt |
In essence, hospitality is made up of two services: the provision of overnight accommodation for people travelling away from home, and options for people dining outside their home. We refer to the accommodation and food and beverage services sectors together as the hospitality industry. This chapter explores the accommodation sector, and Chapter 4 details the food and beverage sector.
Figure 3.1 The view from a balcony at the Westin Bayshore hotel in downtown Vancouver.
In Canada, approximately 25% to 35% of visitor spending is attributed to accommodation, making it a substantial portion of travel expenditures.
There were 8,289 hotels, motels and resorts with a total of 460,688 rooms across Canada in 2019. Direct spending on overnight stays was \$21.9 billion, and the year’s average occupancy rate was 65%. Across the country the sector employed 309,800 people directly or indirectly on a full-time or part-time basis (Hotel Association of Canada, 2019). In 2018, Tourism HR Canada continued to project labour supply shortages in the tourism and hospitality sector and recommended a range of actions to help fill job vacancies and help the sector reach its full potential.
In order to understand this large and significant sector, we will explore the history and importance of hotels in Canada, and review the hotel types along with various ownership structures and operational considerations. To complete the chapter, we will identify accommodation alternatives and specific trends that are affecting the accommodation sector today.
Spotlight On: The Hotel Association of Canada
The Hotel Association of Canada (HAC) is the national trade organization advocating on behalf of hotels, motels and resorts in Canada. Founded over 100 years ago, the association also provides programs and resources, discounts with vendors, and industry research including statistics monitoring and an extensive member database. For more information, visit the Hotel Association of Canada website.
The History of Hotels in Canada
As we learned in Chapter 2, travel in Europe, North America, and Australia developed with the establishment of railway networks and train travel in the mid-1800s. The history of Canada’s grand hotels is also the story of Canada’s ocean liners and railways. Until the use of personal cars became widespread in the 1920s and 1930s, and taxpayer-funded all-weather highways were created, railways were the only long-distance land transportation available in Canada.
Both of Canada’s railway companies established hotel divisions: Canadian Pacific Hotels and Canadian National Hotels (Canada History, 2013). The first hotels were small and included Glacier House in Glacier National Park, BC, and Mount Stephen House in Field, BC. The hotel business was firmly established when both companies recognized the business opportunity in the growth of tourism, and they soon became rivals, building grand hotels in select locations close to railway stops.
Spotlight On: Canadian Pacific Hotels
Under the guidance of Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) chief engineer and visionary William Cornelius Van Horne, a hotel empire was born (Canada History, 2013). Van Horne was a pioneer of tourism, and like Thomas Cook in the UK, he saw the potential for tourism that was made possible by the railway. Van Horne was famously quoted in 1886, “If we can’t export the scenery, we’ll import the tourists.” In 1999, many historic CPR properties joined the Fairmont brand when Canadian Pacific Resorts and Hotels bought the Fairmont Brand. For more information, visit the Fairmont website.
Figure 3.2 The Banff Springs Hotel today.
Banff Springs Hotel opened in 1888, and other hotels soon followed, including the Château Frontenac in Quebec City (1893), the Royal York in Toronto (1929), and the Hotel Vancouver (1939). These hotels remain in operation today and are landmarks in their destinations, functioning as accommodations and as local attractions due to their historic significance and outstanding architecture.
Through the 1950s and 1960s, an increase in motor traffic saw the rise of the motel. The word motel, used less commonly today, comes from the term “motorist’s hotel,” used to denote a hotel that provides ample parking and rooms that are easily accessible from the parking lot. Traditionally, these structures were designed with all the rooms facing the parking lot, and relied heavily on motor traffic from nearby highways (Diffen, 2015).
Today, there are a number of hotel types, which can be classified in multiple ways. Let’s explore these classifications in more detail.
Hotel Types
Hotels are typically referred to by hotel type or category. The type of hotel is determined primarily by the size and location of the building structure, and then according to the function, target market, service level, other amenities, and industry standards.
Take a Closer Look: Hotelier
The magazine Hotelier, available online and is a resource relied on by many industry professionals across Canada. Featuring profiles on current trends and initiatives, information about specific brands and properties, Hotelier is a good resource for students wanting more information about the sector in a dynamic format. Accessed on June 30, 2020 Hotelier had articles like Housekeeping Will Take Centre Stage in the New Normal and Tourism HR Canada Launches Recovery Toolkit. Take a look today, can you predict some of the topical articles that Hotelier may be covering?
Read breaking news and updates and find out about upcoming events. Subscribe at the Hotelier Magazine website.
Classifications
Table 3.1 A summary of hotel types based on size (number of rooms), level of service, and other variables
[Skip Table]
Type of Classification Examples of Classifications
Size (number of rooms)
• Under 50 rooms
• 50 to 150 rooms
• 150 to 299 rooms
• 300 to 600 rooms
• More than 600 rooms
Location
• Airport hotel
• Casino hotel
• City centre hotel
• Resort hotel
Level of service
• Economy/limited service
• Luxury service
• Mid-level service
Market and function
• Airport hotel
• All-inclusive resort
• Bed and breakfast
• Business hotel
• Boutique hotel
• Casino
• Conference centre
• Convention centre
• Extended-stay hotel
• Resort hotel
• Suite hotel
• Timeshare and condominium hotel
• Motel
Ownership and affiliation
• Chain with a brand affiliation
• Independent
Amenities
• Accessibility
• Airport
• Beach
• Casino
• City centre
• Childcare
• Fitness club
• Golf
• Pool
• Ski
• Spa
• Tennis
• Weddings
Industry standards
• AAA Diamond Rating
• CAA Diamond Rating
• Canada Select Star Rating
• Canadian Star Quality Accommodation
• Green Key Eco Rating
• Trip Advisor Traveller’s Choice
Brand categories and standards Marriott has five brand categories (with examples below):
Luxury: Ritz Carlton
Distinctive Luxury: W Hotels
Premium: Delta Hotels
Distinctive Premium: Le Meridien
Select: Four Points
Competitive set is a marketing term used to identify a group of hotels that include the competitors that a hotel guest is likely to consider as an alternative. These can be grouped by any of the classifications listed in Table 3.1, such as size, location, or amenities offered. There must be a minimum of three hotels to qualify as a competitive set.
Figure 3.3 A wedding on the rooftop of the Pan Pacific Hotel in Vancouver, adjacent to the Vancouver Convention Centre East, Canada Place.
Business hotels, airport hotels, budget hotels, boutique hotels, convention hotels, and casino hotels are some examples of differentiated hotel concepts and services designed to meet a specific market segment. As companies continue to innovate and compete to capture defined niche markets within each set, we can expect to see the continued expansion of specific concepts. For example, hotels found close to, or even within, convention facilities are a great match for meetings and events, as well as the SMERF market (social, military, educational, religious, and fraternal segment of the group travel market). There are also some dynamic new brands in Canada including Hotel Zed located in Victoria and Kelowna, BC. The Hotel Zed concept brand message is ‘We are rebels against the ordinary’. This brand is funky, colourful, playful and approachable.
Spotlight On: British Columbia Hotel Association
The British Columbia Hotel Association (BCHA) represents over 800 member hotels and associate members associate members representing 80,000 rooms and more than 60,000 employees. The association produces an annual industry trade show and seminar series, and publishes InnFocus magazine for professionals in the trade. For more information, visit the BC Hotel Association website.
Table 3.2 outlines the characteristics of specific hotel types that have evolved to match the needs of a particular traveller segment. As you can see, hotels adapt and diversify depending on the markets they want and need to attract and retain to stay in business.
Table 3.2 Hotel characteristics based on market type
[Skip Table]
Market Segment Traveller Type Characteristics
Commercial Business
• High-volume corporate accounts in city properties
• Stronger demand Monday through Thursday
• Most recession-proof of the market segments
• Lower average daily rate (ADR) than other segments
Leisure Leisure
• Purpose for travel includes sightseeing, recreation, or visiting friends and relatives
• Stronger demand Friday and Saturday nights and all week during holidays and the summer
• Includes tour groups in major cities and tourist attractions
Meetings and groups Corporate groups, associations, SMERF
• Includes meetings, seminars, trade shows, conventions, and gatherings of over 10 people
• Peak convention demand is spring or fall
• Proximity to a conference centre and meeting and banquet space increase this market
Extended stay Business and leisure
• Often offers kitchen facilities and living room spaces
• Bookings are more than five nights
• Often business related (e.g., natural resource extraction, construction projects, corporate projects)
• Leisure demand driven by a variety of circumstances including family visiting relatives or completing home renovations, snowbirds escaping the winter
Let’s now take a closer look at three types of hotel that have emerged to meet specific market needs: budget hotels, boutique hotels, and resorts.
Budget Hotels
The term budget hotel is challenging to define, however most budget properties typically have a standardized appearance and offer basic services with limited food and beverage facilities. Budget hotels were first developed in the United States and built along the interstate highway system. The first Holiday Inn opened in the United States in 1952; the first Quality Motel followed in 1963.
In Europe, Accor operates the predominant European-branded budget rooms. The Accor Economy brand includes: Breakfree, ibis, ibis Styles, ibis budget, greet, JO&JOE and hotelF1. These budget brands offer comfort, modern design, and breakfast on site; ibis Styles is all inclusive, with one price for room night, breakfast, and internet access (Accor, 2020).
The budget brands by Accor are an example of a shift toward the budget boutique hotel style. A relatively new category of hotel, budget boutique is a no-frills boutique experience that still provides style, comfort, and a unique atmosphere.
Boutique Hotels
Figure 3.4 A picture of a welcome gift and note for a returning guest at the Magnolia Hotel and Spa, posted online by the guest.
Canada currently has no industry standards to define boutique hotels, but these hotels generally share some common features. These include having less than 100 rooms and featuring a distinctive design style and on-site food and beverage options (Boutique Hotel Association, n.d.). As a reflection of the size of the hotel, a boutique hotel is typically intimate and has an easily identifiable atmosphere, such as classic, luxurious, quirky, or funky.
According to Bill Lewis, general manager for the Magnolia Hotel and Spa in Victoria “Boutique hotels are all about their smaller size, sense of style, and personalized nature.” He further notes that “the individual style of boutique hotels really provides a differentiated experience than that of the larger branded properties which have seen considerable consolidation in the last number of years. Our guests really appreciate this luxurious and intimate experience which our size and staffing levels allow us to achieve” (personal communication, 2020).
Resorts
A resort is a full-service hotel that provides access to or offers a range of recreation facilities and amenities. A resort is typically the primary provider of the guest experience and will generally have one signature amenity or attraction (Brey, 2009).
Examples of signature amenities include skiing and mountains, golf, beach and ocean, lakeside, casino and gaming, all inclusiveness, spa and wellness, marina, tennis, and waterpark. In addition, resorts also offer secondary experiences and a leisure or retreat-style environment.
Take a Closer Look: Condé Nast Best Hotels and Resorts in Canada
Condé Nast Traveler has many well-regarded “best of” lists, one of which is the Best Hotels and Resorts in the US and Canada. In 2020, 6 of the top 10 were located in BC, with the Wickaninnish Inn and Brentwood Bay Resort & Spa earning first and second place. You can read the rest of the list at Condé Nast Best Hotels and Resorts in the US and Canada for 2020.
Now that we understand the classifications of hotel types, let’s gain a deeper understanding of the various ownership structures in the industry.
Ownership Structures
There are several ownership models employed in the sector today, including independent, management contract, chains and franchise agreements, fractional ownership, and full ownership strata units. This section explains each of these in more detail and provides examples of each.
Independent
Figure 3.5 The exterior of the Wedgewood Hotel in downtown Vancouver.
An independent hotel is financed by one individual or a small group and is directly managed by its owners or third-party operators. The term independent refers to a management system that is free from outside control.
There are a number of very well-established independently branded hotels. These hotel companies have developed their own standards, support systems, policies and procedures, and best practices in all areas of the business. Independent hotels have the flexibility to customize or adjust their systems to position their property for success, and the location, product, service, experience, sales and marketing, and brand are all necessary for that success (Cabañas, 2014). An example of an independent hotel is the Wedgewood Hotel and Spa in Vancouver, founded by Eleni Skalbania, and currently co-owned by her youngest daughter, Elpie Markinakis Jackson (Wedgewood, 2020).
Management Contract
Another business model is a management contract. This is a service offered by a management company to manage a hotel or resort for its owners. Owners have two main options for the structure of a management contract. One is to enter into a separate franchise agreement to secure a brand and then engage an independent third-party hotel management company to manage the hotel. SilverBirch Hotels is an example of a hotel management company that manages independent hotels and hotels operating under different major franchise brands, such as Marriott International (SilverBirch Hotels, 2020).
Figure 3.6 The iconic Fairmont Empress Hotel, purchased in 2014 by Nat and Flora Bosa.
A slightly different option is for owners to select a single company to provide the brand and the expertise to manage the property. Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts and Fairmont Hotels and Resorts are companies that provide this option to owners. In 2014, the iconic Fairmont Empress hotel was purchased by Vancouver developer Nat Bosa and his wife Flora, who continued to retain Fairmont as the management company after the purchase (Meiszner, 2014).
Selecting a brand affiliation is one of the most significant decisions hotel owners must make (Crandell, Dickinson, & Kante, 2004). The brand affiliation selected will largely determine the cost of hotel development or conversion of an existing property to meet new brand standards. The affiliation will also determine a number of things about the ongoing operation including the level of services and amenities offered, cost of operation, marketing opportunities or restrictions, and the competitive position in the marketplace. For these reasons, owners typically consider several branding options before choosing to operate independently or selecting a brand affiliation.
Chains and Franchise Agreements
Figure 3.7 A room at the Coast Bastion Hotel in Nanaimo.
Another managerial and ownership structure is franchising. A hotel franchise enables individuals or investment companies (the franchisee) to build or purchase a hotel and then buy or lease a brand name to operate a business and become part of a chain of hotels using the franchisor’s hotel brand, image, goodwill, procedures, controls, marketing, and reservations systems (Rushmore, 2005).
A well-known franchise in BC is Coast Hotels. A franchisee with Coast Hotels becomes part of a network of properties that use a central reservations system with access to electronic distribution channels, regional and national marketing programs, central purchasing, and brand operating standards (Coast Hotels, 2020). A franchisee also receives training, support, and advice from the franchisor and must adhere to regular inspections, audits, and reporting requirements.
Selecting a franchise structure may reduce investment risk by enabling the franchisee to associate with an established hotel company. Franchise fees can be substantial and a franchisee must be willing to adhere to the contractual obligations with the franchisor (Migdal, n.d.; and Rushmore, 2005). Franchise fees typically include an initial fee paid with the franchise application, and then continuing fees paid during the term of the agreement. These fees are sometimes a percentage of revenue but can be set at a fixed fee. Franchise fees generally range from 4% to 7% of gross rooms revenue (Crandell et al., 2004).
Fractional Ownership
In a fractional ownership model, developers finance hotel builds by selling units in one-eighth to one-quarter shares. This financing model was very popular in BC from the late 1990s to 2008 (Western Investor, 2012). Examples of fractional ownership include the Sun Peaks Ski Resort in Kamloops and the Penticton Lakeside Resort.
In this model, owners have an ownership interest, owning a ‘fraction’ of the unit they purchased. Owners can place their unit in a rental pool. The investment return for owners is based on the term of the contract they have for their unit, the strata fees, and the hotel’s occupancy. Managing fractional ownership can be very time consuming for hotel owners or management companies as each hotel unit can have up to eight owners. If occupancy rates are too low, an owner may not be able to cover the monthly strata fees. For the hotel management company, attaining occupancy rate targets is necessary to ensure that the balance of revenue is sufficient to cover the hotel’s operating expenses.
Figure 3.8 The Sun Peaks Resort hotel.
Developers now anticipate that fractional ownership will not be used to finance new hotel builds in the future due to poor performance. There have been some high-profile collapses for hotel developers in BC, and between 2002 and 2012 fractional hotel owners experienced asset depreciation (Western Investor, 2012). It is uncertain how the market will perform.
Full Ownership Strata Units
Figure 3.9 The Rosewood Hotel Georgia, a restored historic hotel in downtown Vancouver.
In this financing model, hotel developers finance a new hotel build with the sale of full ownership strata units. The sale of the condominium units finances the hotel development. Examples include the Fairmont Pacific Rim and the Rosewood Hotel Georgia.
Take a Closer Look: The BC Hospitality Foundation
The BC Hospitality Foundation (BCHF) was created to help support hospitality (accommodation and food and beverage) professionals in their time of need. It has expanded to become a provider of scholarships for students in hospitality management and culinary programs. To raise funds for these initiatives, the foundation hosts annual events including auctions and a golf tournament. For more information, visit the BC Hospitality Foundation website.
No matter what the ownership model, it’s critical for properties to offer a return on investment for owners. The next section looks at ways of measuring financial performance in the sector.
Financial Performance
According to hotel consultant Betsy McDonald from HVS International Hotel Consultancy, the “industry rule of thumb is that a hotel room must make \$1 per night for every \$1,000 it takes to build or buy. If the hotel costs \$125,000 per [room], the room has to rent for \$125 per night on average and you need 60% to 70% occupancy to break even” (McDonald, 2011).
Several terms and formulas are used to evaluate revenue management strategies and operational efficiency:
Occupancy is a term that refers to the percentage of all guest rooms in the hotel that are occupied at a given time.
Average daily rate (ADR) is a calculation that states the average guest room income per occupied room in a given time period. It is determined by dividing the total room revenue by the number of rooms sold.
Revenue per available room (RevPAR) is a calculation that combines both occupancy and ADR in one metric. It is calculated by multiplying a hotel’s ADR by its occupancy rate. It may also be calculated by dividing a hotel’s total room revenue by the total number of available rooms and the number of days in the period being measured.
Costs per occupied room (COPR) is a figure that states all the costs associated with making a room ready for a guest (linens, cleaning costs, guest amenities).
These terms and measurements allow hotel staff and management to track the success of the operation and to compare against competitors and regional averages.
Spotlight On: The Top 50 Report: The Canadian Hotel Industry Continues to Thrive
Hotelier Magazine produced a special report in 2018 on the top sales in Canadian Hotels. At the top of the list was Four Seasons recording an estimated \$5,188.8 billion in gross sales in 2016. Read the associated article online at The Top 50 Report: The Canadian Hotel Industry Continues to Thrive.
Across all ownership models, most properties have operational aspects in common. But before we take a closer look at the roles within a typical hotel, let’s review an important part of the accommodations sector in Canada and BC: camping and recreational vehicle (RV) stays. | textbooks/workforce/Hospitality/Introduction_to_Tourism_and_Hospitality_in_BC_2e_(Westcott_and_Anderson)/03%3A_Accommodation/3.01%3A_Hotels.txt |
Figure 3.10 A group of campers enjoy the sky at dusk from their tents.
A significant portion of travel accommodation is also provided in campgrounds and recreational vehicles (RVs). As the Canadian and BC tourism brands are closely tied to the outdoors, and these are two options that immerse travellers in the outdoor experience, it is no surprise that these two types of accommodation are popular options.
In 2017, 2.1 million Canadian RV owners took an estimated 8.2 million trips by RV. Canadians who rented RVs took an estimated 612,000 trips bringing the collective total number of RV trips in Canada to 8.8 million (Devehish, 2018). In BC, economic activity associated with RVing generated approximately \$3.3 billion.
Spotlight On: Camping and RVing British Columbia Coalition
The Camping and RVing British Columbia Coalition (CRVBCC) represents campground managers and brings together additional stakeholders including the Recreation Vehicle Dealers Association of BC and the Freshwater Fisheries Society. Their aim is to increase the profile of camping and RV experiences throughout BC, achieving this through a website, a blog, and media outreach. For more information, visit the Camping and RVing British Columbia Coalition website.
According to the Camping and RVing British Columbia Coalition (CRVBCC, 2014), BC is home to 340 vehicle accessible campgrounds managed by the BC Society of Park Facility Operators.
Turning to camping, across the country there are approximately 3,000 independently owned and operated campgrounds welcomed guests for camping in both RVs and tents in Canada. In BC there are over 1,500 campgrounds (Camping & RV in BC, 2020). Seven national parks within the province contain an additional 14 campgrounds, and the BC Recreation Sites and Trails Branch manages more than 1,200 backcountry sites including campgrounds and other facilities. Another 300 private RV parks and campgrounds play host to a mixture of longer-stay residents and overnight guests. Destination British Columbia inspects and approves over 500 campgrounds across the province.
Spotlight On: The BC Lodging and Campgrounds Association
The BC Lodging and Campgrounds Association (BCLCA) was founded in 1944 to represent the interests of independently owned campgrounds and lodges. It provides advocacy and collaborative marketing, and promotes best practice among members. For more information, visit the BC Lodging and Campgrounds Association website.
Chapter 5 provides more in-depth information about the importance of the recreation sector to BC. For now, let’s move our discussion forward by taking a closer look at the common organizational structure of many accommodation businesses.
3.03: Operations
The organizational structures of operations and the number of roles and levels of responsibility vary depending on the type and size of accommodation. They are also determined by ownership and the standards and procedures of the management company. In this section, we explore the organizational structure and roles that are typically in place in a full-service hotel with under 500 rooms. These can also apply to smaller properties and businesses such as campgrounds — although in these cases several roles might be fulfilled by the same person.
Guest Services
Figure 3.11 Vicky welcomes guests to the front desk of the Delta Burnaby Hotel.
Before we turn to examples of specific operational roles, let’s take a brief look at the importance of guest services, which will be covered in full in Chapter 9.
The accommodation sector provides much more than tangible products such as guest rooms, beds and meals; service is also crucial. Regardless of their role in the operation, all employees must do their part to ensure that each guest’s needs, preferences, and expectations are met and satisfied.
In some cases, such as in a luxury hotel, resort hotel, or an all-inclusive property, the guest services may represent a person’s entire vacation experience. In other cases, the service might be less significant, for example, in a budget airport hotel where location is the key driver, or a campground where guests primarily expect to take care of themselves.
In all cases, operators and employees must recognize and understand guest expectations and also what drives their satisfaction and loyalty. When the key drivers of guest satisfaction are understood, the hotel can ensure that service standards and business practices and policies support employees to deliver on these needs and that guest expectations are satisfied or exceeded.
Spotlight On: 4Hoteliers
4Hoteliers compiles world news for hotel, travel, and hospitality professionals. It features recent news releases and articles and a free e-newsletter distributed three times per week. For more information, or to subscribe, visit the 4Hoteliers website.
General Manager and Director of Operations
In most properties, the general manager or hotel manager serves as the head executive. Division heads oversee various departments including managers, administrative staff, and line-level supervisors. The general manager’s role is to provide strategic leadership and planning to all departments so revenue is maximized, employee relations are strong, and guests are satisfied.
The director of operations is responsible for overseeing the food and beverage and rooms division. This role is also responsible for providing guidance to department heads to achieve their targets and for directing the day-to-day operations of their respective departments. The director of operations also assumes the responsibilities of the general manager when he or she is absent from the property.
Accounting
The controller is responsible for overall accounting and finance-related activities including accounts receivable, accounts payable, payroll, credit, systems management, cash management, food and beverage cost control, receiving, purchasing, food stores, yield management, capital planning, and budgeting.
Engineering and Maintenance
The chief engineer is the lead for the effective operation and maintenance of the property on a day-to-day basis, typically including general maintenance, heating, ventilation and air conditioning, kitchen maintenance, carpentry, and electrical and plumbing (Fairmont Hotels and Resorts, 2020). The chief engineer is also responsible for preventive maintenance and resource management programs.
Food and Beverage Division
Figure 3.12 A guest enjoys breakfast in her room at the Pan Pacific Hotel in Vancouver.
The food and beverage director is responsible for catering and events, in-room dining, and stand-alone restaurants and bars. The executive chef, the director of banquets, and the assistant managers responsible for each restaurant report to the director of food and beverage. The director assists with promotions and sales, the annual food and beverage budget, and all other aspects of food and beverage operations to continually improve service and maximize profitability.
Human Resources
The human resources department provides guidance and advice on a wide range of management-related practices including recruitment and selection, training and development, employee relations, rewards and recognition, performance management, diversity and inclusion and health and safety.
Rooms Division
Front Office
Reporting to the director of rooms, the front office manager, sometimes called the reception manager, controls the availability of rooms and the day-to-day functions of the front office. The front desk agent reports to the front office manager and works in the lobby or reception area to welcome the guests to the property, process arrivals and departures, coordinate room assignments and pre-arrivals, and respond to guest requests.
Housekeeping
Reporting to the director of rooms, the executive housekeeper manages and oversees housekeeping operations and staff including the housekeeping manager, supervisor, house persons, and room attendants. An executive housekeeper is responsible for implementing the operating procedures and standards. He or she also plans, coordinates, and schedules the housekeeping staff. Room audits and inspections are completed regularly to ensure standards are met (go2HR, 2020a).
Reporting to the housekeeping supervisor, room attendants complete the day-to-day task of cleaning rooms based on standard operating procedures and respond to guest requests. Reporting to the housekeeping supervisor, house persons clean public areas including hallways, the lobby, and public restrooms, and deliver laundry and linens to guest rooms.
Reservations
Large full-service hotels typically have a reservations department, and the reservations manager reports directly to the front office manager. The guest’s experience starts with the first interaction a guest has with a property, often during the reservation process. Reservations agents convert calls to sales by offering the guest the opportunity to not only make a room reservation but also book other amenities and activities.
Today, with online and website reservations available to guests, there is still a role for the reservations agent, as some guests prefer the one-to-one connection with another person. The extent to which the reservations agent position is resourced will vary depending on the hotel’s target market and business strategy.
Sales and Marketing
The sales and marketing director is responsible for establishing sales and marketing activities that maximize the hotel’s revenues. This is typically accomplished by increasing occupancy and revenue opportunities for the hotel’s accommodation, conference and catering space, leisure facilities, and food and beverage outlets. The sales and marketing manager is responsible for coordinating marketing and promotional activities and works closely with other hotel departments to ensure customers are satisfied with all aspects of their experience (go2HR, 2020b).
Catering and Conference Services
In larger full-service hotels with conference space, a hotel will have a dedicated catering and conference services department. The director of this department typically reports to the director of sales and marketing. The catering and conference services department coordinates all events held in the hotel or catered off-site. Catering and conference events and services range from small business meetings to high-profile conferences and weddings.
Figure 3.13 The culinary team at Café Pacifica in the Pan Pacific prepares food for a special event.
Now that we have a sense of the building blocks of a typical hotel operation, let’s look at some trends affecting the sector. | textbooks/workforce/Hospitality/Introduction_to_Tourism_and_Hospitality_in_BC_2e_(Westcott_and_Anderson)/03%3A_Accommodation/3.02%3A_Camping_and_RV_Accommodation.txt |
The accommodation sector is sensitive to shifting local, regional, and global economic, social, and political conditions. Businesses must be flexible to meet the needs of their different markets and evolving trends. These trends affect all hotel types, regions, and destinations differently. However, overall, hoteliers must respond to these trends in a business landscape that is increasingly competitive, particularly in markets where the supply base is growing faster than demand (Hotelier, 2018). As the digital revolution continues to change the way we work and spend our free time, hoteliers are adapting to respond to what guests expect in their interactions with a hotel, from the booking experience right through to leaving guest reviews and sharing their experience with others.
The Sharing Economy: Airbnb
Airbnb began in 2008 when the founders rented their air mattresses to three visitors in San Francisco (Fast Company, 2012). In fact, the name Airbnb is derived from “air mattress bed and breakfast.” However, Airbnb is not only for couch surfers or budget-conscious travellers; it includes a wide range of spaces in locations all over the world. Since 2008, the Airbnb online marketplace has grown rapidly. In 2014 Airbnb had more than 1 million listings worldwide and 30 million guests who used the service (Melloy, 2015). By 2019, Airbnb was widely considered the world’s largest lodging brand reporting over 7 million listings worldwide, in 100,000 cities, in over 220 countries (Airbnb, 2020).
Figure 3.14 Airbnb has transformed the short-term rental industry.
This and other innovations have changed the accommodation landscape as never before. Ten to 15 years ago online travel agents were a major innovation that changed the distribution and sale of rooms. But they still had to work with existing hotels, whereas Airbnb has enabled new entrants into the industry and thus increased supply.
On the supply side, Airbnb enables individuals to share their spare space for rent; on the demand side, consumers using Airbnb benefit from increased competition and more choice. In 2008, an unanswered question was to what extent Airbnb would impact the hospitality industry and tourism destinations. A study completed in 2014 in Austin, Texas, indicated that lower-end hotels, and hotels not catering to business travellers, were more vulnerable to increased competition from rentals enabled by firms like Airbnb than were hotels without these characteristics (Zervas, Preserpio, & Byers, 2015).
Airbnb is an example of a shift to the sharing economy, an economic model in which people rent beds, cars, boats, and other underutilized assets directly from each other, all coordinated via the internet (TheEconomist, 2013). Airbnb is the most prominent example of this model. It provides a platform for travellers and manages all aspects of the relationship using digital platforms that include the Airbnb app, mobile and website.
When hosts create an account, they set the price and write the descriptions to advertise the space to guests (Airbnb, 2020). At Airbnb, the host who rents out the space controls the price, the description of the space, and the guest experience. The host also makes the house rules and has full control over who books the space. Airbnb provides the digital platforms for all aspects of the host and guest interaction and for these services charges hosts a 3.5% service fee. As well, both hosts and guests can rate each other and write reviews (Airbnb, 2020).
One criticism of Airbnb from the hospitality industry is that Airbnb does not follow the same operating regulations as those required for hotels. Another comes from homeowners in apartment complexes who object to neighbours repeatedly renting out their homes to short-term Airbnb guests. Airbnb rentals have also created pressure on the rental housing marketing in popular tourism destinations leading to less long-term rental inventory and higher rental prices.
In February, 2018, the BC provincial government and Airbnb reached an agreement that Airbnb would collect municipal (MRDT) and provincial (PST) taxes, and remit these to the province generating a reported \$42.9 million for 2018 (CBC, 2018).
Distribution and Online Travel Agents
Online travel agents (OTAs) are a valuable marketing and third-party distribution resource for hotels and play a significant role in online distribution (Inversini & Masiero, 2014). In 2020, OTAs (for example, Expedia, Hotels.com, Kayak.com) had a 24% share of transient reservations in North American markets.
OTAs offer global distribution so that each hotel and chain can be available to anyone. Smaller independent hotels that do not have the global marketing and sales resources of a larger chain are able to gain exposure, sell rooms, and build their reputation through online guest ratings and reviews. OTAs also help hotels offer combined value and packaging options that are attractive to many consumers (for example, booking and search options for hotels, car rentals, air fare, attractions, and travel packages). Customized searches, travel guidance, and rewards points are also available when booking through an OTA. If a hotel or chain has an exceptional product and service, OTAs share guest ratings, which can increase the number of reservations and referrals.
The general industry guidance for hotels using OTAs is to ensure that this distribution channel is part of a broader sales strategy, coupled with sound customer relationship management practices. Some large chains have also improved supplier direct bookings. In 2016, Hilton launched a loyalty program and a book direct campaign “Stop clicking around” (TravelClick, n.d.). Commissions for OTAs are in the region of 15% and hoteliers will continue to advance their capabilities to offer online supplier direct bookings (TravelClick, n.d.). This will require investment in streamlined apps and improved mobile sites to simplify and improve the user experience and booking process (Berelowitz, 2018).
Table 3.3 provides an overview of some of the distribution channels that are available to hoteliers.
Table 3.3 Distribution channels and benefits
[Skip Table]
Distribution Channel Benefits
Hotel website or brand website (e.g., HotelName.com)
• Consumers prefer to book directly with the property
• Instills consumers with the trust to book
• Reduces or eliminates booking fees
Online travel agent (OTA)
• Generates a billboard effect
• Works well when OTAs are the most relevant channel to the hotel’s target market
Central reservations office (CRO)
• Centralised reservation requests by phone
Global distribution system (travel agents)
• Increases exposure to bookings through travel agents
• Helps capture consumers who continue to use traditional channels
Direct to the hotel
• Walk-ins
• Phone reservations
For more on marketing in the services sector, see Chapter 8.
Mobile Devices & Smart Technologies
Mobile devices have placed everything at our fingertips. Guest are booking stays on their smart phones and the traditional touch points in hotels are changing. Guests are looking for ‘frictionless’ check in and check out, digital locking systems and ‘smart’ automated energy saving devices. Smart technology can now not only improve guest experiences but also reduce operational costs. For example, with smart reserved parking, hotels can use smart sensors and hotel apps to give guests the choice of reserving their parking space in advance of their arrival, reducing the cost of operating a manual parking inventory (Attala, 2019).
No longer seeking the same ‘touch points’ the hotel and lodging industry must continue to find ways to connect with their guests through mobile devices, touch screens, voice activated technologies and more.
Figure 3.15 A group of travellers on their mobile phones at baggage claim in an airport. | textbooks/workforce/Hospitality/Introduction_to_Tourism_and_Hospitality_in_BC_2e_(Westcott_and_Anderson)/03%3A_Accommodation/3.04%3A_Trends_and_Issues.txt |
The accommodation sector, and the hotel sector in particular, encompasses multiple business models and employs hundreds of thousands of Canadians. A smaller, but important growing segment in BC is that of camping and RV accommodators.
As broader societal trends continue and morph, they will continue to impact the accommodations marketplace and consumer. Owners and operators must stay abreast of these trends, continually altering their business models and services to remain relevant and competitive.
Now that we have a better sense of the accommodation sector, let’s visit the other half of the hospitality industry: food and beverage services. Chapter 4 explores this in more detail.
Key Terms
• Average daily rate (ADR): average guest room income per occupied room in a given time period
• BC Hospitality Foundation (BCHF): created to help support hospitality professionals in their time of need; now also a provider of scholarships for students in hospitality management and culinary programs
• BC Hotel Association (BCHA): the trade association for BC’s hotel industry, which hosts an annual industry trade show and seminar series, and publishes InnFocus magazine for professionals
• BC Lodging and Campgrounds Association (BCLCA): represents the interests of independently owned campgrounds and lodges in BC
• Camping and RVing British Columbia Coalition (CRVBCC): represents campground managers and brings together additional stakeholders including the Recreation Vehicle Dealers Association of BC and the Freshwater Fisheries Society
• Competitive set: a marketing term used to identify a group of hotels that include all competitors that a hotel’s guests are likely to consider as an alternative (minimum of three)
• Costs per occupied room (CPOR): all the costs associated with making a room ready for a guest (linens, cleaning costs, guest amenities)
• Fractional ownership: a financing model that developers use to finance hotel builds by selling units in one-eighth to one-quarter shares
• Franchise: enables individuals or investment companies to build or purchase a hotel and then buy or lease a brand name under which to operate; also can include reservation systems and marketing tools
• Franchisee: an individual or company buying or leasing a franchise
• Franchisor: a company that sells franchises
• Hotel Association of Canada (HAC): the national trade organization advocating on behalf of over 8,500 hotels
• Hotel type: a classification determined primarily by the size and location of the building structure, and then by the function, target markets, service level, other amenities, and industry standards
• Motel: a term popular in the last century, combining the words “motor hotel”; typically designed to provide ample parking and easy access to rooms from the parking lot
• Occupancy: the percentage of all guest rooms in the hotel that are occupied at a given time
• Revenue per available room (RevPAR): a calculation that combines both occupancy and ADR in one metric
• Sharing economy: an internet-based economic system in which consumers share their resources, typically with people they don’t know, and typically in exchange for money
• SMERF: an acronym for the social, military, educational, religious, and fraternal segment of the group travel market
Exercises
1. On a piece of paper, list as many types of accommodation classifications (e.g., by size) as you can think of. Name at least five. Provide examples of each.
2. When researching a franchisor, the cost of the franchise must be carefully considered. What other factors would you consider to determine the value of a franchise fee?
3. How should lower-end hotels and hotels that do not cater to business travellers respond to increased competition from rentals enabled by firms like Airbnb?
4. A hotel earns \$3,000 on 112 rooms. What is its ADR?
5. That same hotel has an occupancy of 75%. What is its RevPAR?
6. How many independent campgrounds are there across Canada?
7. How many vehicle-accessible campsites are there in BC?
8. Airbnb enables hosts to rate their guests after a stay. Consider some other types of accommodation and list the pros and cons of rating guests.
9. Draw an organizational chart for a 60-room boutique hotel, listing all the staff required to run the operation. Put the most influential people (e.g., the general manager) at the top and work your way down. How would you structure this differently from a larger full-service hotel? What would you keep the same?
10. Read Condé Nast Best Hotels and Resorts in the US and Canada for 2020. Now find two other “best of” lists for BC, Canada, or global accommodations. What do the winners have in common? List at least three things. Now try to find at least two differences.
Case Study: Hotel for Dogs – Philanthropy and Media Coverage
In 2014, the media was taken by storm with a story about a hotel in North Carolina that combined philanthropy with their business model. The property expanded on the trend of allowing dogs in hotels by fostering rescues from a nearby shelter and allowing guests to adopt them. Guests appreciated the warm interactions with the animals and several dogs were adopted as a result (Manning, 2014).Not only did the property provide a valuable service and enhance the guest experience, but the story was repeated across multiple media outlets, creating publicity for the hotel.
This is an example of a current trend: allowing pets in hotels. Now choose from one of the following trends, and research it to answer the questions that follow:
• Carbon offset programs
• Personalization
• Reputation management
• Digital concierge
• Smart hotels
• Healthy and organic foods
• Online experiences
• Frictionless touch points
• Sharing economy
• Green certified
• Augmented reality
1. Why do you think this trend has emerged? What market is it helping to serve?
2. Find an example of a hotel that has responded to your chosen trend and explain how the trend has informed or changed the hotel’s business strategy or practice.
3. Are there any trends that are not listed above that you think should be added? Try to name at least two. Why are these important accommodation trends today? | textbooks/workforce/Hospitality/Introduction_to_Tourism_and_Hospitality_in_BC_2e_(Westcott_and_Anderson)/03%3A_Accommodation/3.05%3A_Conclusion.txt |
According to Statistics Canada, the food and beverage sector comprises “establishments primarily engaged in preparing meals, snacks and beverages, to customer order, for immediate consumption on and off the premises” (Government of Canada, 2012). This sector is commonly known to tourism professionals by its initials as F&B.
The food and beverage sector grew out of simple origins: as people travelled from their homes, going about their business, they often had a need or desire to eat or drink. Others were encouraged to meet this demand by supplying food and drink. As the interests of the public became more diverse, so too did the offerings of the food and beverage sector.
In 2014, Canadian food and beverage businesses accounted for 1.1 million employees and more than 88,000 locations across the country with an estimated \$71 billion in sales, representing around 4% of the country’s overall economic activity. Many students are familiar with the sector through their workplace, because Canada’s restaurants provide one in every five youth jobs in the country — with 22% of Canadians starting their career in a restaurant or foodservice business. Furthermore, going out to a restaurant is the number one preferred activity for spending time with family and friends (Restaurants Canada, 2014a).
For a perspective on how sales are distributed across the country by province, and how different foodservice operations perform in terms of revenue (sales dollars collected from guests), look at Tables 4.1 and 4.2. A key factor in the below results is the higher population base in Ontario and Quebec. Economic growth or decline also impacts results and vary from province to province year over year.
In terms of sales (Table 4.2), Ontario is the leader with almost \$28 billion. Quebec, BC, and Alberta occupy the next three spots with revenues ranging from \$9 billion to \$13 billion, and the other provinces had sales of \$2 billion apiece or less. Over the last five years, BC has shown greater growth in revenues along with third more units (restaurants) than neighbouring Alberta, leading to identical average sales per unit.
Foodservice sales in British Columbia rose by a solid 7.9% in 2018 over 2017. Alberta boasts the highest average unit volume at \$838,666 per year, more than \$100,000 over the national average due to greater disposable income and no provincial sales tax on meals. In BC, improved economic growth lifted total foodservice sales by a healthy 7.9% for the strongest annual growth since 2006 (Restaurants Canada, 2019). Since 2018 Alberta has seen a significant decline in its economy due to the energy sector collapse tied to the price of crude oil.
Table 4.1 Performance by province for commercial foodservice — units
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Province Foodservice Units Totals Average Volume/Unit (\$)
Newfoundland and Labrador 1,168 737,301
Prince Edward Island 413 663,259
Nova Scotia 2,260 750,458
New Brunswick 1,708 714,521
Quebec 22,736 594,147
Ontario 38,317 747,468
Manitoba 2,621 794,425
Saskatchewan 2,673 717,449
Alberta 11,277 838,666
British Columbia 14,550 838,444
Canada 97,939 735,915
Data source: Statistics Canada, Restaurants Canada 2019
Table 4.2 below indicates the profit margins per province. Profit is the amount left when expenses (including corporate income tax) are subtracted from sales revenue. A higher profit margin means that a greater percentage of sales are retained by the business owner, and a lower percentage is lost to operating and other costs.
Table 4.2 Performance by province for commercial foodservice — sales
[Skip Table]
Province Sales Growth Sales Pre-tax Profit Margin (% of operating revenue)
2018-19 Forecast (%) 2018-17 Actual (%) 2018 (\$ millions)
Newfoundland and Labrador 1.6% .2% \$861.2 4.1%
Prince Edward Island 4.3% 6.3% \$273.9 6.9%
Nova Scotia 3.9% 5.6% \$1,696.0 5.0%
New Brunswick 3.1% 3.0% \$1,220.4 6.0%
Quebec 4.2% 5.2% \$13,508.5 4.4%
Ontario 4.6% 5.7% \$28,640.7 3.8%
Manitoba 3.4% 2.4% \$2,082.2 4.8%
Saskatchewan 3.8% 1.6% \$1,917.7 5.3%
Alberta 3.0% 2.4% \$9,457.6 4.4%
British Columbia 4.8% 7.9% \$12,199.4 4.7%
Canada 4.2% 5.2% \$72,074.8 4.3%
Data source: Statistics Canada, Restaurants Canada 2019
The provincial variations in total sales and profit margins are due to several factors including:
• The relative level of economic activity
• Minimum wage levels, which have increased in several provinces including Alberta and British Columbia
• Provincial sales taxes
• Cultural differences
• Weather
• Municipal taxes
• Percentage of the market held by chains versus independents
• Number of units (restaurants)
• The density of units relative to the local population
• Number of tourists or business travellers
Now that we have a sense of the relative performance of F&B operations by province, and some influences on success, let’s delve a little deeper into the sector. | textbooks/workforce/Hospitality/Introduction_to_Tourism_and_Hospitality_in_BC_2e_(Westcott_and_Anderson)/04%3A_Food_and_Beverage_Services/4.01%3A_Food_and_Beverage_Sector_Performance.txt |
Figure 4.1 The Keg at the Station is in a former train station in New Westminster, B.C.
While there are many ways to analyze the sector, in this chapter we take a market-based, business-operation approach based on the overall Canadian market share from the Restaurants Canada Market Review and Forecast (Restaurants Canada, 2019). The following sections explore the types of food service operations in Canada.
There are two key distinctions: commercial foodservice, which comprises operations whose primary business is food and beverage, and non-commercial foodservice establishments where food and beverages are served but are not the primary business.
Let’s start with the largest segment of F&B operations, the commercial sector.
Commercial Operators
Commercial operators make up the largest segment of F&B in Canada with just over 80% market share (Restaurants Canada, 2019). It is made up of quick-service restaurants, full-service restaurants, catering, and drinking establishments. Let’s look at each of these in more detail.
Quick-Service Restaurants
Formerly known as fast-food restaurants, quick-service restaurants, or QSRs, makeup 44.4% of total food sales in Canada (Restaurants Canada, 2019). This prominent portion of the food sector generally caters to both residents and visitors and is represented in areas that are conveniently accessed by both. Brands, chains, and franchises dominate the QSR landscape. While the sector has made steps to move away from the traditional fast-food image and style of service, it is still dominated by both fast food and food fast; in other words, food that is prepared and purchased quickly, and generally consumed quickly.
Take a Closer Look: The First McDonald’s In Canada
The first McDonald’s restaurant in Canada opened in Richmond, BC, in 1967. Located on No. 3 Road, it featured a sleek almost space-age design. To see a picture of the location, visit McDonald’s: Then and Now.
Convenience and familiarity are key in this sector. Examples of QSRs include:
• Drive-through locations
• Stand-alone locations
• Locations within retail stores
• Kiosk locations in shopping centres
• High-traffic areas, such as major highways or commuter routes
Full-Service Restaurants
With 44.2% of the market share (Restaurants Canada, 2019), full-service restaurants are perhaps the most fluid of the F&B operation types, adjusting and changing to the demands of the marketplace. Consumer expectations are higher here than with QSRs (Parsa, Lord, Putrevu, & Kreeger, 2015). The menus offered are varied, but in general, reflect the image of the restaurant or consumer’s desired experience. Major segments include fine dining, family/casual, ethnic, and upscale casual.
Figure 4.2 A rhubarb pavlova with local Pemberton strawberries is served at Araxi Restaurant + Bar, a fine dining establishment in Whistler.
Fine dining restaurants are characterized by highly trained chefs preparing complex food items, exquisitely presented. Meals are brought to the table by experienced servers with sound food and beverage knowledge in an upscale atmosphere. The concept of fine dining has evolved over the years. It was once mandatory to have table linens, fine china, crystal stemware, and silver-plate cutlery in order to be referred to as a fine dining establishment. Service was often very formal and reserved with minimal personal interaction between guests and servers. The table was often embellished with fresh flowers and candles as well. Today the best restaurants focus on the quality of preparation, presentation, and flavor of the food utilizing the best and where possible local ingredients. Servers who are engaged, customer-centric, and well informed are sought after by the best restaurants.
In British Columbia, many of the finest restaurants feature wine lists heavily showcasing British Columbia food and wine. Tablescapes are kept simple, with excellent quality flatware and stemware and minimal fuss with centerpieces and generally no linen tablecloths.
In these businesses, the average cheque, which is the total sales divided by the number of guests served, is quite high (often reviewed with the cost symbols of three or four dollar signs- \$ \$ \$ or \$ \$ \$ \$).
Bishop’s in Vancouver is one of BC’s best known and longest operating fine dining restaurants. Since opening in 1985, this 45-seat restaurant has served heads of state including Bill Clinton and Boris Yeltsin and has won awards including the Best of Vancouver. John Bishop was awarded the Governor General’s Award in 2010 (Georgia Straight, 2015).
Family/casual restaurants are characterized by being open for all three meal periods. These operations offer affordable menu items that span a variety of customer tastes. They also have the operational flexibility in menu and restaurant layout to welcome large groups of diners. An analysis of menus in family/casual restaurants reveals a high degree of operational techniques such as menu item cross-utilization, where a few key ingredients are repurposed in several ways. Service is often very casual and friendly. Both chain and independent restaurant operators flourish in this sector. Popular chain examples in BC include White Spot, Ricky’s All Day Grill, Boston Pizza, and The Old Spaghetti Factory. Independents include the Red Wagon Café in Vancouver, the Bon Voyage Restaurant near Prince George, and John’s Place in Victoria.
Figure 4.3 The interior of the Old Spaghetti Factory, a popular family chain, in Gastown, Vancouver. This location opened in 1970 and has stood the test of time.
Ethnic restaurants typically reflect the owner’s cultural identity. The growth and changing nature of this sector reflect the acceptance of various ethnic foods within our communities. Ethnic restaurants generally evolve along two routes: toward remaining authentic to the cuisine of the country of origin, or toward larger market acceptance through modifying menu items (Mak, Lumbers, Eves, & Chang, 2012). Food is often the medium for this sense of belonging (Koc & Welsh, 2001; Laroche, Kim, Tomiuk, & Belisle, 2005). The authenticity of the experience often drives the customer’s decision. The driving force behind these operations is the Chef’s background, their commitment to the quality of the product, innovative preparation mixed with exceptional technique, and knowledgeable service staff to bring it to the consumer.
Take a Closer Look: The 38 Essential Vancouver Restaurants
Vancouver is widely regarded as one of the great food cities of the world, peppered with exceptional restaurants lead by outstanding Chefs. Many of the city’s best restaurants are ethnically based and lauded for both their creativity and flavors. This EATER article called “The 38 Essential Vancouver Restaurants” highlights and maps locations of some of Vancouver’s diverse culinary offerings.
Figure 4.4 The exterior of Vij’s, the flagship restaurant of Vikram Vij’s ethnic dining legacy.
Upscale casual restaurants emerged in the 1970s, evolving out of a change in social norms. Consumers began to want the experience of a fun social evening at a restaurant with good value (but not cheap), in contrast to the perceived stuffiness of fine dining at that time. These restaurants are typically dinner houses, but they may open for lunch or brunch depending on location. Examples in BC include the Keg, Earls, Cactus Club, Brown’s Social House, and Joey Restaurants. A closer examination of popular restaurant menus will show many items suitable for sharing amongst groups of people. Family style sharing platters that are passed back and forth between multiple diners. This adds to the desire for patrons to feel relaxed and comfortable while dining out with family or friends.
Catering and Banqueting
Catering makes up only 7.9% of the total share of F&B in Canada (Restaurants Canada, 2019) and comprises food served by catering companies at banquets and special events at a diverse set of venues. Note that banqueting pertains to catered food served on-premise, while catering typically refers to off-premise service. At a catered event, customers typically eat at the same time, as opposed to restaurant customers who are served individually or in small groups. The catering and banqueting experience has evolved tremendously to the point where guests who attend events expect restaurant-quality food and service. In keeping with this concept, the event planner will coordinate with the catering establishments that guests who attend the planned events have a choice of options for each course served. While surcharges may apply to meals because of the option choices the expectation is every bit as high from the customer.
Catering businesses (whether on-site or at special locations) are challenged by the episodic nature of events and the issues of food handling and food safety with large groups. Catering businesses include:
• Catering companies
• Conference centres
• Conference hotels
• Wedding venues
• Festival food coordinators
Spotlight On: Diner en Blanc
An interesting public event with a dining focus is Diner en Blanc, which is held in cities around the globe including Vancouver and Victoria. The Vancouver event has been running since 2011. The original concept was developed in Paris in 1988. Diners wear all white and bring their table, chair, and place settings with them to a secret location announced only hours before. Participants have the option to bring their own food or purchase a catered meal. Alcoholic beverages are also available for purchase on-site.
For more information, visit the Dîner en Blanc website.
Figure 4.5 Dîner en Blanc Vancouver’s first event at Jack Poole Plaza.
While beverages make up part of almost every dining experience, some establishments are founded on beverage sales. Let’s look at these operations next.
Alcohol and Cannabis
With a 3.5% market share (Restaurants Canada, 2019), the drinking establishment sector comprises bars, wine bars, cabarets, nightclubs, and pubs. In British Columbia, all businesses and premises selling alcohol must adhere to the BC Liquor Control and Licensing Act. At the time this chapter was written, significant changes were taking place in the regulations governing drinking establishments, but some general conditions have remained stable.
In BC, liquor licenses are divided into liquor primary and food primary. As the name suggests, a liquor primary license is needed to operate a business that is in the primary business of selling alcohol. Most pubs, nightclubs, and cabarets fall into this category. A food primary license is required for an operation whose primary business is serving food. Some operations, such as pubs, will hold a liquor primary license even though they serve a significant volume of food. In this case, the license allows for diverse patronage.
One noteworthy change to the licensing of pubs in BC is that children are permitted in them if they are accompanied and attended by responsible adults. While not universally adopted by pubs to date, this change in legislation is an example of the fluctuating social norms to which the sector must respond.
Figure 4.6 The Six Mile Pub in Victoria. Established in 1855, it is British Columbia’s oldest public house.
On October 17, 2018, the Cannabis Act was introduced as law in Canada. which meant it became legal to consume marijuana and to sell marijuana in Canada. The Cannabis Act is in place to regulate such activities. In the 2019 Chef Survey Results conducted by Restaurants Canada Cannabis/CBD infused drinks ranked #1 and Cannabis/CBD infused food ranked #2 as the items Chef’s felt would be the next big thing in the restaurant business (Restaurants Canada, 2019).
The Cannabis Act was put into place on October 17th, 2018. For more information, see Government of Canada Cannabis Laws and Regulations.
Together the commercial ventures of QSRs, full-service restaurants, catering functions, and drinking establishments make up just over 80% of the market share. Now let’s look at the other 20% of businesses, which fall under the non-commercial umbrella.
Non-Commercial
The following non-commercial entities earn just under 20% share of the foodservice earnings in Canada (Restaurants Canada, 2019b). While these make up a smaller share of the market, there are some advantages inherent in these business models. Non-commercial operations cater predominantly to consumers with limited selection or choice given their occupation or location. This type of consumer is often referred to as a captured patron. In a tourism capacity such as in airports or on cruise ships, the accepted price point for these patrons is often higher for a given product, increasing profit margins.
Institutional
Often run under a predetermined contract, this sector includes:
• Hospitals
• Universities, colleges, and other educational institutions
• Prisons and other detention facilities
• Corporate staff cafeterias
• Cruise ships
• Airports and other transportation terminals and operations
Accommodation Foodservice
These include hotel restaurants and bars, room service, and self-serve dining operations (such as a breakfast room). Hotel restaurants are usually open to the public and reliant on this public patronage in addition to business from hotel guests. Collaborations between hotel chains and restaurant chains have seen the reliable pairing of hotels and restaurants, such as the combination of Sandman Hotels and Moxie’s Grill and Bar.
Vending and Automated Foodservices
While not generally viewed as part of the food and beverage sector, automated and vending services do account for significant sales for both small and large foodservice and accommodation providers. Vending machines are located in motels, hotels, transportation terminals, sporting venues, or just about any location that will allow for the opportunity for an impulse or convenient purchase.
Business Performance for Types of Food and Beverage Operators
Figure 4.7 Share of the market for different restaurant segments. [Long Description]
As mentioned, the commercial sector comprises the majority of dollars earned. Figure 4.9 illustrates the difference between the share of traffic and the share of dollars for each sub sector. We know that QSRs are much more economical and generally much busier than full-service restaurants. How do that traffic and low prices translate into market share for the different segments?
Figure 4.9 shows that QSRs attract two-thirds of all the traffic while earning less than half of the total dollars. Family/midscale and casual dining each attract half the dollars of QSR, but they do that from much lower shares of the traffic. Meanwhile, fine dining is patronized by less than 1% of the total restaurant traffic but earns 4.2% of the dollars. The growing force of convenience stores, department stores, and other retail establishments obtain a respectable 11.5% of traffic and 10.6% of the restaurant dollar.
As you can see, while QSRs attract the greatest number of guests, the ratio of dollars earned per transaction is significantly less than that of the fine-dining sector. This makes sense, of course, because the typical QSR earns relatively little per guest but attracts hundreds of customers, while a fine dining restaurant charges high prices and serves a select few guests each day.
Sales Per Segment
Table 4.3a Commercial sector sales and market shares for 2017–2018
[Skip Table]
Type of Restaurant 2017 Final (\$ millions) Segment Market Share (%) 2018 Projected (\$ millions) Segment Market Share (%)
QSR 30,464.2 44.5 32,027.8 44.4
Full-service 30,206.0 44.1 31,863.3 44.2
Caterers 5,400.5 7.8 5,688.2 7.9
Drinking Places 2,438.5 3.5 2,495.5 3.5
Total Commercial \$68,509.2 N/A \$72,074.8 N/A
Table 4.3b Non-commercial sector sales and market shares for 2017–2018
[Skip Table]
Type of Restaurant 2017 Final (\$ millions) Segment Market Share (%) 2018 Projected (\$ millions) Segment Market Share (%)
Accommodation 6,934.0 40.8 7,508.0 40.5
Institutional 4,735.0 27.9 5,125.0 27.6
Retail 2,569.9 15.1 2,936.3 15.8
Other 2,748.6 16.2 2,972.9 16
Total Non-Commercial \$16,987.5 N/A \$18,542.2 N/A
The sales revenues for the various segments are shown in Table 4.3. Note that QSRs and full-service restaurants are almost equal in their sales and almost completely dwarf the other commercial sectors of caterers and drinking places. It is also noteworthy that the commercial components have four times the sales volume of the non-commercial components.
Table 4.4. Average cheque size per person in Canada[1]
[Skip Table]
Channel 2016 2017 2018
Quick Service Rest. \$5.64 \$5.75 \$5.94
Midscale dining \$12.47 \$12.82 \$13.01
Casual dining \$17.56 \$17.85 \$18.24
Fine dining \$43.59 \$43.63 \$44.16
Retail foodservice \$4.76 \$4.82 \$4.94
Total foodservice \$7.78 \$7.93 \$8.15
Source: The NDP Group, 12 months ending December each year.
Long Descriptions
Figure 4.7 long description: Bar graph displaying market share by restaurant segment. The data is described in the following table:
Market Share by Restaurant
[Skip Table]
Metric Quick Service Restaurants Family/Midscale Casual Dining Fine Dining Retail
Share of Traffic 64.5% 13.2% 10.1% 0.7% 11.5%
Share of Dollars 45.8% 20.6% 22.5% 4.2% 6.9%
[Return to Figure 4.7]
1. The average cheque size includes taxes but excludes tips. ↵ | textbooks/workforce/Hospitality/Introduction_to_Tourism_and_Hospitality_in_BC_2e_(Westcott_and_Anderson)/04%3A_Food_and_Beverage_Services/4.02%3A_Types_of_Foodand_Beverage_Providers.txt |
Now that we’ve classified the sector based on business type and looked at relative performance, let’s look at F&B from another perspective: customer type. The first way to classify customers is to divide them into two key markets: residents and visitors.
The first of these, the resident group, can be further divided based on their purpose for visiting an F&B operator. For one group, food or drink is the primary purpose for the visit. For example, think of a group of friends getting together at a local restaurant to experience their signature sandwich. For another group, food and drink is the secondary purpose, added spontaneously or as an ancillary activity. For example, think of time-crunched parents whisking their kids through a drive-through on their way from one after-school activity to the next. Here the food and beverage providers offer an expedient way to access a meal.
Figure 4.8 A visitor to Nanaimo eats a signature “Nanaimo bar” in front of a Nanaimo bar, the Jingle Pot Pub.
Foodservice providers also service the visitor market, which presents unique challenges as guests will bring with them the tastes and eating habits of their home country or region. Most establishments generally follow one of two directions. One is to cater completely to visitors from the day the doors open, with an operational and market focus on tourists. The other is to cater primarily to residents.
Sometimes a local foodservice provider can continue to cater to the resident market over time. In other cases, often because of financial pressures, the business shifts its focus away from the residents to better cater to visitors’ tastes. These changes, when they do occur, generally happen over time and can lead to questions of authenticity of the local offerings (Smart, 2003; Heroux, 2002; Mak, Lumbers, Eves, & Chang, 2012).
Take a Closer Look: The Science of Addictive Food
For some time, one secret recipe for success in the food sector, particularly the fast-food portion of the sector, was simple: salt, sugar, and fat — and lots of it. There is a science behind these additives and why consumers keep coming back to satisfy their cravings. To view a CBC special on the science of addictive food, watch The Science of Addictive Food.
It is clear that the food and beverage sector must remain responsive to consumers’ needs and desires. This is made evident by the emergence of health-concious eating in North America over the last two decades. The influence of books such as Fast Food Nation (Schlosser, 2012) and documentaries such as Super Size Me have created mainstream awareness about what goes into our food and our bodies. As many developed nations, including Canada, struggle with health-care concerns including hypertension, diabetes, and obesity, food operators are taking note and developing new health-conscious menus. Programs like BC’s Informed Dining initiative are helping consumers understand their options (see the Spotlight On below).
Spotlight On: Informed Dining
The Informed Dining program was created by Healthy Families BC to help consumers gain a better understanding of the ingredients in their food and their role in daily healthy eating habits and guidelines. For more information, visit the Informed Dining web page.
This awareness, coupled with an increasing interest and desire for more authentic foods produced without using herbicides and pesticides, free of genetically modified ingredients, and even free of carbohydrates or gluten, has placed pressure on the sector to respond, and many have (Frash, DiPietro, & Smith, 2014). Consumers are more aware of the plight of farmers and producers from faraway places and the support for fair trade practices. At the same time, there is a heightened desire for more locally grown products, and a general awareness of nutrition and the quality of products that are harvested in season and closer to home.
Take a Closer Look: Cittaslow Designation for Cowichan Bay
The community of Cowichan Bay on Vancouver Island was awarded the Cittaslow Designation, which helps acknowledge its focus on sustainable practices and local food harvesting best practice. For more information on the designation and community efforts, watch Cittaslow Cowichan Bay.
Consumer consciousness regarding the source and distribution of food has created a movement that champions sustainable and locally grown foods. While this trend does have its extremes, it is founded on the premise that eating food that has been produced nearby leads to better food quality, sustainable food production processes, and increased enjoyment. This has led to a number of restaurants that incorporate these concepts in their menu planning and marketing.
In addition to this trend toward “conscious consumerism” (LinkBC, 2014, p.4), F&B professionals must be highly aware of the importance of special diets including gluten-free, low-carb, and other dietary restrictions (LinkBC, 2014).
All of these influences are continuously shaping the food and beverage sector. Before we explore additional trends and issues in the sector, let’s review the core considerations for profitability in foodservice operations.
Figure 4.9 Officials announce more funding for B.C. farmers’ markets, which have become increasingly popular due to changing consumer tastes. | textbooks/workforce/Hospitality/Introduction_to_Tourism_and_Hospitality_in_BC_2e_(Westcott_and_Anderson)/04%3A_Food_and_Beverage_Services/4.03%3A_Types_of_Food_and_Beverage_Customers.txt |
Profitability
While many factors influence the profitability of foodservice operations, key considerations include type of business, location, cost control, and profit margin, sales and marketing strategies, and human resources management. We’ve already examined the different types of operations and their relative profit margins. Let’s look at the other profitability considerations in more detail.
Key statistics show that operating revenues grew by 31% nationally from 2012 to 2017. Conversely, operating expenses rose by 31%, during the same period. The average pre-tax profit in 2017 was \$30,370 or 4.3% of operating revenue. By many industry standards, this is a dangerously low profit as a percentage of revenues. Any number of situations could easily erode this profit including rent increases, unexpected maintenance repairs, and increased taxes. The cost of goods and the minimum wage increases were contributing factors in impacting operating expenses in all regions of the country. Economic slowdowns in Alberta and Newfoundland, directly linked to the Energy Sector were major contributors to substandard growth in these two provinces.
Full-service restaurants remain the least profitable category of food service on average. Caterers remain the most profitable sector with a pre-tax profit margin of 7.2% nationally, despite having the highest labor costs as a percentage of operating revenue (Restaurants Canada, 2019).
Location
The selection of the correct location for a restaurant is often cited as the most critical factor in an operation’s success (or failure) in terms of profitability. Prior to opening, site analysis is required to determine the amount of traffic (foot traffic and vehicle traffic), proximity to competing businesses, visibility to patrons, accessibility, and presence (or absence) of desired patrons (Ontario Restaurant News, 1995).
Cost Control
According to Restaurants Canada, QSRs have the highest profit margin at 5.1%, while full-service restaurants have a margin of 3.5%. There will be significant variances from these percentages at individual locations even within the same brand (2014b).
A number of costs influence the profitability of a food and beverage operation. Key operating expenses in the restaurant business food cost are food cost, beverage cost beverage costs and payroll. These are commonly known as prime costs. Managing the prime costs primary costs. to an appropriate and agreed upon level is critical to the success of any operation. Other expenses include property rental, utilities, maintenance costs, advertising, legal fees, insurance and depreciation of equipment assets. In addition to these big-ticket items, there is the cost of reusable products operating supplies such as cutlery, glassware, china, and linen in full-service restaurants. The percentages of expenses to revenue will vary greatly by sector, location, and province.
Given that most operations have both a service side (interacting directly with the consumer) and the production side (preparing food or drink to be consumed), the primary costs incurred during these activities often determine the feasibility or success of the operation. This is especially true as the main product (e.g., food and drink) is perishable; ordering the correct amount requires skill and experience. Managing your inventory once on site is of equal importance.
Sales and Marketing
The two principal considerations for sales and marketing in this sector are market share and revenue maximization. Most F&B operations are constrained by finite time and space, so management must constantly seek ways to increase revenue from the existing operation or increase the share of the available market. Examples of revenue maximization include upselling existing consumers (e.g., asking if they want fries with their meal; offering dessert, specialty drinks pre and post-dinner), and using outdoor or patio space (even using rain covers and heaters to extend the outdoor season). Examples of increasing market share in the fast-food sector include extending special offers to new, first-time customers through social media or targeted direct mail.
In today’s cluttered marketplace, being noticed is a constant goal for most companies. Converting that awareness into patronage is a challenge for most operators. Restaurant reviews have been a part of the food and beverage sector for a long time. With the increase of online reviews by customers at sites like Yelp, Urbanspoon, and TripAdvisor, and sharing of experiences via social media, operators are becoming increasingly aware of their web presence (Kwok & Yu, 2013). For this reason, all major food and beverage operators carefully monitor their online reputation and their social media presence.
The digital marketplace for food is creating a world of ways to drive incremental business while leveraging fixed costs and creating new ways for restaurateurs to think out of the box about their business.
—Dan Park, General Manager and Head of Uber Eats Canada (Restaurants Canada Food Service Facts 2019)
One of the keys to a strong reputation, both in-person and online, is the management of human resources.
Staffing and Human Resources
Figure 4.10 Winner of Top Chef Canada Matthew Stowe and patron at a new Cactus Club restaurant opening.
Appropriately staffing an food and beverage operation involves attracting the right people, hiring them, training them, and then assigning them to the right tasks for their skills and abilities. Many businesses operate outside the traditional work-week hours; indeed, some operate on a 24-hour schedule. Creating the right team, employing them in accordance with legal guidelines, and keeping up with the demands of the businesses are challenges that can be addressed by a well-thought-out and implemented human resources plan.
People who have long-lasting careers in the sector find the fluctuating conditions appealing; no two days are the same, and the fast-paced and energetic social environment can be motivating. Many positions provide meaningful rewards and compensation that can lead to long-term careers.
One topic of discussion in food and beverage human resources is that of gratuities (tipping). In Canada, restaurants are obligated to pay staff minimum wage, and gratuities are paid by the customer as an expression of their gratitude for service. This is not the model in countries like Australia, where service staff is paid a higher professional wage and prices are raised to accommodate this.
Take a Closer Look: Tipping and Its Alternatives
In 2008, Michael Lynn and Glenn Withiam wrote a paper discussing the role of tipping and potential alternatives. While the paper focuses particularly on the United States (where wages are structured differently from Canada), it raises some good questions about consumer preference and impact on businesses (Lynn & Withiam, 2008). For instance, do tips actually improve service? These questions can apply to food and beverage businesses but also other tourism operations within the service context. It also offers some suggestions for further research. Read the paper Tipping and Its Alternatives [PDF].
In British Columbia, tips are considered income for tax purposes but are not considered wages as they are not paid by the employer to the employee. A restaurant owner cannot use tips to cover business expenses (e.g., require an employee to use his or her tips to cover the cost of broken glassware). Employers are also not permitted to charge staff for the cost of diners who do not pay (known as a dine-and-dash). They can, however, require front-of-house staff pool their gratuities, or pay individually, to ensure back-of-house staff receives a percentage of the tips (British Columbia Ministry of Jobs, Tourism and Skills Training, n.d.). This is also commonly known as a tip-out.
The Ministry of Labour’s website explains what constitutes a tip pool: “A tip pool is a collection of employees’ tips that is redistributed among some or all of the employer’s employees. This includes tip outs, which are payments from one employee to other employees because it is required by their employer’s policy. An employer may withhold, make a deduction or require an employee to give them a portion of their tips and other gratuities if the amount that is collected will be redistributed as part of a tip pool.” However, employers are prohibited from sharing in the tip pool (Restaurants Canada, 2019).
There have been experiments with gratuity models in recent years. One example is a restaurant on Vancouver Island, which tried an all-inclusive pricing model upon opening in 2014 but reverted three months later to the traditional tipping model due to consumer demand and resistance to higher prices (Duffy, 2014). While many in the industry would prefer to operate with a no-tip policy, the consumers are not prepared to pay the higher menu price required to facilitate the process. | textbooks/workforce/Hospitality/Introduction_to_Tourism_and_Hospitality_in_BC_2e_(Westcott_and_Anderson)/04%3A_Food_and_Beverage_Services/4.04%3A_Operations.txt |
In addition to having to focus on the changing needs of guests and the specific challenges of their own businesses, food and beverage operators must deal with trends and issues that affect the entire industry. Let’s take a closer look at these.
Industry Influencers
• Plant-based diets, healthy options
• Sustainable practices
• Evolution of home delivery
• Government influence
• Health and safety
• The power of technology
• Changing venues
Plant-Based Diets, Healthy Options
Plant-based diets are neither trend nor fad, they are viable, sustainable dietary options based on environmental practices, well being, nutrition, and personal choice.
For a combination of environmental, ethical, and health reasons plant-based foods have surged in popularity in Canada. A study by Dalhousie University found that 6.4 million Canadians are following a diet that either limits animal products intake (often termed flexitarian), or eliminates it altogether (Restaurants Canada, 2019).
The desire for plant-based foods will continue to grow driven by concern for the environment. Further proof of this is the number of quick-service restaurants now featuring plant-based products on their menus.
Sustainable Practices
In hand with plant-based diets is the continued drive to reduce our impact on the environment, through recycling, composting, donating leftover food, or water and energy conservation. In a survey of Restaurants Canada’s members, 80% said that environmental practices are important to the success of their businesses.
When incorporating environmental practices into your business, the planet is only one of the beneficiaries. When we are talking about sustainability we’re essentially talking about reducing-energy, water, waste-which also means lower operating costs and keeping dollars in your pocket.
—Janine Windsor, President Leaders in Environmentally Accountable Foodservice (Restaurants Canada 2019 Food Service Facts)
Evolution of Home Delivery
The mention of home food delivery ten years ago would have been about pizza delivery and Asian food. Arguably the hottest trend in foodservice has nothing to do with ingredients or regional cuisine. Instead, it’s the explosive growth of in-home delivery. Consumers are demanding variety and selection and delivery apps give them access to their favourite restaurants at home.
Delivery foodservice sales by digital (online and mobile apps) or traditional telephone totalled more than \$4.3 billion in 2018, a staggering 44% increase over 2017 (Restaurants Canada).
While the popularity and accessibility of home delivery from your favourite restaurant has grown tremendously not all operators are enthusiastic over this growth. Many say home delivery has impacted the number of guests in their restaurants, which makes sense. The main concern lies with the profitability, with the majority believing the profit margin is slight. Regardless operators will need to figure out how to make this work and give the consumer what they want.
Examples of home delivery options:
• Skip the Dishes
• Hello Fresh
• Chef’s Plate
• makegoodfood.ca
Government Influence
Each level of government affects the sector in different ways. The federal government and its agencies have influence through income tax rates, costs of employee benefits (e.g., employer share of Canada Pension Plan and Employment Insurance deductions), and support for specific agricultural producers such as Canadian dairy and poultry farmers, which can lead to an increase in the price of ingredients such as milk, cheese, butter, eggs, and chicken compared to US prices (Findlay, 2014; Chapman, 1994).
Provincial governments also impact the food and beverage sector, in particular with respect to employment standards; minimum wage; sales taxes (except Alberta); liquor, wine, and beer wholesale pricing (Smith, 2015); and corporate income tax rates.
Municipal governments have an ever-increasing impact through property and business taxes, non-smoking bylaws, zoning and bylaw restrictions, user fees, and operating hours restrictions.
Spotlight On: Restaurants Canada
When Restaurants Canada was founded in 1944, it was known as the Canadian Restaurant Association, and later the Canadian Restaurant and Foodservices Association. Today, the organization represents over 30,000 operations including restaurants, bars, caterers, institutions, and suppliers. It conducts and circulates industry research and offers its members cost savings on supplies, insurance, and other business expenses. For more information, visit the Restaurants Canada website.
Over time, the consequence of these government impacts has resulted in independent and chain operators alike joining forces to create a national restaurant and foodservice association now named Restaurants Canada (see Spotlight On above). At the provincial level, BC operators rely on the British Columbia Restaurant & Foodservices Association (BCRFA).
Spotlight On: BC Restaurant & Foodservices Association (BCRFA)
For more than 40 years, the BCRFA has represented the interests of the province’s foodservice operators in matters such as wages, benefits, liquor licenses, and other relevant matters. Today, it offers benefits to over 3,000 members on both the supply and the operator side. For more information, visit the BC Restaurant and Foodservices Association website.
Health and Safety
Figure 4.11 A sign in a Starbucks location encouraging staff to wash their hands to prevent the spread of germs.
Food and beverage providers hold a distinct position within our society; they invite the public to consume their offerings, both on and off premises. In doing so, all food and beverage operators must adhere to standardized public safety regulations. Each province has regulations and legislation that apply in their jurisdiction. In BC, this is addressed by the FoodSafe and Serving It Right programs, and compliance with the Occupiers Liability Act. These regulations and legislation are enacted in the interest of public health and safety.
Take a Closer Look: Health and Safety Training
Food and beverage professionals are strongly encouraged to take both FoodSafe and Serving It Right courses. These certifications are necessary to advance into specific and leadership roles in the industry. For instance, Serving It Right is required by all licensees, managers, sales staff, and servers in licensed establishments. In addition, individuals may require Serving It Right for a special occasion license. To sign up for an online program or course near you, visit FoodSafe and Serving It Right.
FoodSafe is the provincial food safety training program designed for the foodservice industry (FoodSafe, 2009). Serving It Right is a mandatory course that is completed through self-study and is required for anyone serving alcohol in a commercial setting. Its goal is to ensure that licensees, managers, and servers know their legal responsibilities and understand techniques to prevent over-service and related issues (go2HR, 2014).
In broad terms, BC’s Occupiers Liability Act covers the responsibilities of the occupier of a property to ensure the safety of visitors. Additional local health bylaws set standards of operation for health and safety under the direction of the medical officers of health. Public health inspectors regularly visit food and beverage operations to evaluate compliance. In some communities, these inspection results are posted online.
Collectively, the food and beverage industry in BC has an excellent reputation for ensuring the health and safety of its patrons, the general public, and its employees.
The Power of Technology
Technology continues to play an ever-increasing role in the sector. It is most noticeable in QSRs where many functions are automated in both the front of house and back of house. In the kitchen, temperature sensors and alarms determine when fries are ready and notify kitchen staff. Out front, remote printers or special screens ensure the kitchen is immediately notified when a server rings in a purchase. WiFi enables credit/debit card hand-held devices to be brought directly to the table to process transactions, saving steps back to the serving station.
Canadians are interacting with restaurants using their smartphones and tablets in a variety of ways. We are seeing more consumers use rewards and claim special deals and make reservations through an app or website (Restaurants Canada 2019).
• 58% are looking up directions/locations/hours of operation
• 34% used rewards/special deals
• 29% ordered items for pick-up
• 25% ordered items for delivery
• 19% made a reservation through an app/website
Other trends include automated services such as that offered by Open Table, which provides restaurants with an online real-time restaurant reservation system so customers can make reservations without speaking to anyone at the restaurant (Open Table, 2015). And now smartphone apps will tell customers what restaurants are nearby or where their favorite chain restaurant is located.
Take a Closer Look: Automated Cooking in Asia
In Singapore Changi Airport, a quick-service restaurant is using automated woks. The cook adds the ingredients and can attend to other duties until the item is ready for service. Check out a video of a cook using an automated wok. And in China, there are robots that are shaving noodles by hand.
Changing Venues
The following trends related to the changing nature of food and beverage venues, including the emerging importance of the third space, and the increased mainstream presence of non-permanent locations such as street vendors and pop-up restaurants.
The Third Space
The third space is a concept that describes locations where customers congregate that are neither home (the first space) nor work or school (the second space). Many attribute the emergence of these spaces to the popularity of coffee shops such as Starbucks. In the third space, operators must create a comfortable venue for customers to “hang out” with comfortable seating, grab and go F&B options, WiFi, and a relaxed ambience. Providing these components has been shown as a way to increase traffic and customer loyalty (Mogelonski, 2014).
Taking It to the Street
Street food has always been a component of the foodservice industry in most big cities. These operations are often run by a single owner/operator or with minimal staff and serve hot food that can be eaten while standing. According to research firm IBISWorld, in 2011 the “street food business — which includes mobile food trucks and nonmechanized carts, is a \$1 billion industry that has seen an 8.4 percent growth rate from 2007 to 2012” (Entrepreneur, 2011) with 78% of owners having no more than four employees.
Recently, in North America, where climate and weather allow, there has been a noticeable increase in both the number and type of street food vendors. In the city of Vancouver alone there are over 100 permitted food cart businesses, searchable by an app and sortable list — and the city uses the terms streetfood vendor, food cart, and food truck interchangeably (City of Vancouver, 2014).
Figure 4.12 Tacofino (closest), Pig on the Street, and Mom’s Grilled Cheese food trucks welcome crowds to their portable kitchens in downtown Vancouver.
Pop-up restaurants have also emerged, facilitated in part by the prevalent use of social media for marketing and location identification. Pop-ups are temporary restaurants with a known expiry date, which also tend to have the following in common (Knox, 2011):
• A well-known or up-and-coming chef at the helm
• An interesting, but stationary, location (a warehouse, a park, the more unusual the better)
• Staff who are adept at promotion and word-of-mouth
• Strong local foodie (food and beverage enthusiast) population-based in the area
• Involvement from local artists or musicians to add to the experience
As popular they are with consumers, the ways in which pop-ups deviate from restaurants has aggravated some critics, causing Bon Appétit magazine to declare that “pop-ups are not supposed to be restaurants,” and that “pop-up restaurants are over” (Duckor, 2013). Statements like these are further evidence that food and beverage services trends are dynamic and ever-changing. | textbooks/workforce/Hospitality/Introduction_to_Tourism_and_Hospitality_in_BC_2e_(Westcott_and_Anderson)/04%3A_Food_and_Beverage_Services/4.05%3A_Trends_and_Issues.txt |
The food and beverage sector is a vibrant and multifaceted part of our society. Michael Hurst, famous restaurateur and former chair of the US National Restaurant Association, championed the idea that all guests should be received with the statement “Glad you are here” (Tripp, 1992; Marshall 2001). That statement is the perfect embodiment of what F&B is to the hospitality industry — a mix of service providers who welcome guests with open arms and take care of their most basic needs, as well as their emotional well-being.
Take a Closer Look: Michael Hurst
Michael Hurst preached to students, industry participants, and university colleagues alike, saying that “The most precious gift you can give your Guests is the gift of Friendship” (Tripp, 1992; Marshall 2001). To learn more about this legendary character, visit In My Opinion: Michael E. Hurst [PDF].
The social fabric of our country, its residents, and visitors will change over time, and so too will F&B. What will not change in spite of how we divide the segments — into tourists or locals — is that the sector is at its best when food and beverages are accompanied by a social element, extending from your dining companions to the front and back of the house.
So far, we have covered the transportation, accommodation, and food and beverage sectors. In the next two chapters, we’ll explore the recreation and entertainment sector, starting with recreation in Chapter 5.
Key Terms
• Assets: items of value owned by the business and used in the production and service of the dining experience
• Average cheque: total sales divided by number of guests served
• Back of house: food production areas not accessible to guests and not generally visible; also known as heart of house
• BC Restaurant & Foodservices Association (BCRFA): representing the interests of more than 3,000 of the province’s foodservice operators in matters including wages, benefits, liquor licences, and other relevant matters
• Beverage costs: beverages sold in liquor-licensed operations; this usually only includes alcohol, but in unlicensed operations, it includes coffee, tea milk, juices, and soft drinks
• Captured patrons: consumers with limited selection or choice of food or beverage provider given their occupation or location
• Commercial foodservice: operations whose primary business is food and beverage
• Cross-utilization: when a menu is created to make multiple uses of a small number of staple pantry ingredients, helping to keep food costs down
• Dine-and-dash: the term commonly used in the industry for when a patron eats but does not pay for his or her meal
• Ethnic restaurant: a restaurant based on the cuisine of a particular region or country, often reflecting the heritage of the head chef or owner
• Family/casual restaurant: restaurant type that is typically open for all three meal periods, offering affordable prices and able to serve diverse tastes and accommodate large groups
• Fine dining restaurant: licensed food and beverage establishment characterized by high-end ingredients and preparations and highly trained service staff
• Food and beverage (F&B): type of operation primarily engaged in preparing meals, snacks, and beverages, to customer order, for immediate consumption on and off the premises
• Food cost: price including freight charges of all food served to the guest for a price (does not include food and beverages given away, which are quality or promotion costs)
• Food primary: a licence required to operate a restaurant whose primary business is serving food (rather than alcohol)
• Foodie: a term (often used by the person themselves) to describe a food and beverage enthusiast
• Front of house: public areas of the establishment; in quick-service restaurants, it includes the ordering and product serving area
• Full-service restaurants: casual and fine dining restaurants where guests order food seated and pay after they have finished their meal
• Liquor primarylicence: the type of licence needed in BC to operate a business that is in the primary business of selling alcohol (most pubs, nightclubs, and cabarets fall into this category)
• Non-commercial foodservice: establishments where food is served, but where the primary business is not food and beverage service
• Operating supplies: generally includes reusable items including cutlery, glassware, china, and linen in full-service restaurants
• Pop-up restaurants: temporary restaurants with a known expiry date hosted in an unusual location, which tend to be helmed by a well-known or up-and-coming chef and use word-of-mouth in their promotions
• Primary costs: food, beverage, and labour costs for an F&B operation
• Profit: the amount left when expenses (including corporate income tax) are subtracted from sales revenue
• Quick-service restaurant (QSR): an establishment where guests pay before they eat; includes counter service, take-out, and delivery
• Restaurants Canada: representing over 30,000 food and beverage operations including restaurants, bars, caterers, institutions, and suppliers
• Revenue: sales dollars collected from guests
• Third space: a term used to describe F&B outlets enjoyed as “hang out” spaces for customers where guests and service staff co-create the experience
• Tip-out: the practice of having front-of-house staff pool their gratuities, or pay individually, to ensure back-of-house staff receive a percentage of the tips
• Upscale casual restaurant: emerging in the 1970s, a style of restaurant that typically only serves dinner, intended to bridge the gap between fine dining and family/casual restaurants
Exercises
1. Looking at Table 4.1, what was the average volume of sales per F&B establishment in BC in 2019? What was it for Alberta? What about the national average? What might account for these differences? List at least three contributing factors.
2. Looking at the same table, how many F&B “units” were there in BC in 2019?
3. What are the two main classifications for food and beverage operations and which is significantly larger in terms of market share?
4. Should gratuities be abolished in favor of all-inclusive pricing? Consider the point of view of the server, the owner, and the guest in your analysis.
5. Think of the concept of the third space, and name two of these types of operations in your community.
6. Have you worked in a restaurant or foodservice operation? What are the three important lessons you learned about work while there? If you have not, interview a classmate who has experience in the field and find out what three lessons he or she would suggest.
7. What is your favourite restaurant? What does it do so well to have become your favorite? What would you recommend it do to improve your dining experience even more?
8. What was your all-time best restaurant dining experience? Compare and contrast this with one of your worst dining experiences. For each of these, including a description of:
1. The food
2. The behaviour of restaurant staff
3. Ambience (music, decor, temperature, the comfort of chairs, lighting)
4. The reason for your visit
5. Your mood upon entering the establishment
Case Study: Restaurant Behaviour – Then and Now
The following story made the rounds via social media in late 2014. While the claim has not been verified, it certainly rings true for a number of F&B professionals who have experienced this phenomenon. The story is as follows: A busy New York City restaurant kept getting bad reviews for slow service, so they hired a firm to investigate. When they compared footage from 2004 to footage from 2014, they made some pretty startling discoveries. So shocking, in fact, that they ranted about it in an anonymous post on Craigslist:
We are a popular restaurant for both locals and tourists alike. Having been in business for many years, we noticed that although the number of customers we serve on a daily basis is almost the same as ten years ago, the service seems very slow. One of the most common complaints on review sites against us and many restaurants in the area is that the service was slow and/or they needed to wait too long for a table. We’ve added more staff and cut back on the menu items but we just haven’t been able to figure it out.
We hired a firm to help us solve this mystery, and naturally the first thing they blamed it on was the employees needing more training and the kitchen staff not being up to the task of serving that many customers.
Like most restaurants in NYC we have a surveillance system, and unlike today where it’s digital, 10 years ago we still used special high capacity tapes to record all activity. At any given time we had 4 special Sony systems recording multiple cameras. We would store the footage for 90 days just in case we needed it for something.
The investigators suggested we locate some of the older tapes and analyze how the staff behaved ten years ago versus how they behave now. We went down to our storage room but we couldn’t find any tapes at all.
We did find the recording devices, and luckily for us, each device has 1 tape in it that we simply never removed when we upgraded to the new digital system!
The date stamp on the old footage was Thursday July 1, 2004. The restaurant was very busy that day. We loaded up the footage on a large monitor, and next to it on a separate monitor loaded up the footage of Thursday July 3 2014, with roughly the same amount of customers as ten years before.
We carefully looked at over 45 transactions in order to determine what has been happening:
Here’s a typical transaction from 2004:
Customers walk in. They are seated and are given menus. Out of 45 customers 3 request to be seated elsewhere.
Customers spend 8 minutes on average before closing the menu to show they are ready to order.
Waiters shows up almost instantly and takes the order.
Appetizers are fired within 6 minutes; obviously the more complex items take longer.
Out of 45 customers 2 sent their items back.
Waiters keep an eye on their tables so they can respond quickly if the customer needs something.
After guests are done, the check is delivered, and within 5 minutes they leave.
Average time from start to finish: 1 hour, 5 minutes.
Here’s what happened in 2014:
Customers walk in. Customers get seated and are given menus, and out of 45 customers 18 request to be seated elsewhere.
Before even opening the menu most customers take their phones out, some are taking photos while others are texting or browsing.
Seven of the 45 customers had waiters come over right away, they showed them something on their phone and spent an average of five minutes of the waiter’s time. Given this is recent footage, we asked the waiters about this and they explained those customers had a problem connecting to the WIFI and demanded the waiters try to help them.
After a few minutes of letting the customers review the menu, waiters return to their tables. The majority of customers have not even opened their menus and ask the waiter to wait a bit.
When customers do open their menus, many place their phones on top and continue using their activities.
Waiters return to see if they are ready to order or have any questions. Most customers ask for more time.
Finally a table is ready to order. Total average time from when a customer is seated until they place their order is 21 minutes.
Food starts getting delivered within 6 minutes; obviously the more complex items take way longer.
26 out of 45 customers spend an average of 3 minutes taking photos of the food.
14 out of 45 customers take pictures of each other with the food in front of them or as they are eating the food. This takes on average another 4 minutes as they must review and sometimes retake the photo.
9 out of 45 customers sent their food back to reheat. Obviously if they didn’t pause to do whatever on their phone the food wouldn’t have gotten cold.
27 out of 45 customers asked their waiter to take a group photo. 14 of those requested the waiter retake the photo as they were not pleased with the first photo. On average this entire process between the chit chatting and reviewing the photo taken added another 5 minutes and obviously caused the waiter not to be able to take care of other tables he/she was serving.
Given in most cases the customers are constantly busy on their phones it took an average of 20 more minutes from when they were done eating until they requested a check.
Furthermore once the check was delivered it took 15 minutes longer than 10 years ago for them to pay and leave.
8 out of 45 customers bumped into other customers or in one case a waiter (texting while walking) as they were either walking in or out of the restaurant.
Average time from start to finish: 1:55
We are grateful for everyone who comes into our restaurant, after all there are so many choices out there. But can you please be a bit more considerate?
Now it’s your turn. Imagine you are the restaurant operator in question and answer the questions below.
1. What could you, as the owner, try to do to improve the turnover time? Come up with at least three ideas.
2. Now put yourself in the position of a server. Do your ideas still work from this perspective?
3. Lastly, look at your typical customer. How will he or she respond to your proposals? | textbooks/workforce/Hospitality/Introduction_to_Tourism_and_Hospitality_in_BC_2e_(Westcott_and_Anderson)/04%3A_Food_and_Beverage_Services/4.06%3A_Conclusion.txt |
In this chapter, we discuss the concept of recreation in tourism and hospitality. Recreation can be defined as the pursuit of leisure activities during one’s spare time (Tribe, 2011) and can include vastly different activities such as golfing, sport fishing, and rock climbing. Defining recreation as it pertains to tourism, however, is more challenging.
Figure 5.1 Climbers in Squamish, B.C.
Let’s start by exploring some recreation-based terms that are common in the tourism industry. Outdoor recreation can be defined as “outdoor activities that take place in a natural setting, as opposed to a highly cultivated or managed landscape such as a playing field or golf course” (Tourism BC, 2013, p. 47). This term is typically applied to outdoor activities that individuals engage in and that are located close to their community. When these activities are further away, and people must travel some distance to participate in them, they are often described as adventure tourism.
According to the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), adventure tourism is “a trip that includes at least two of the following three elements: physical activity, natural environment, and cultural immersion” (UNWTO, 2014, p.12). Examples of adventure tourism in BC include river rafting, helicopter skiing, and rock climbing.
Take a Closer Look: Adventure Travel Trade Association
The Adventure Travel Trade Association (ATTA) actively engages in research about the Adventure Tourism industry. More information and industry reports can be found at the Adventure Travel Trade Association website.
Adventure tourism can be “soft” or “hard.” Differentiating between the two is somewhat subjective, but is loosely based on the level of experience required, the level of fitness required, and the degree to which the participant is exposed to risk (UNWTO, 2014). Examples of soft adventure include wildlife viewing or moderate hiking, whereas river rafting or outdoor rock climbing would usually be considered hard adventure.
Another term that is used, one that overlaps with the definitions of outdoor recreation and adventure tourism, is nature-based tourism, which refers to “those tourism experiences that are directly or indirectly dependent on the natural environment” (Tourism BC, 2005b, p.6). This term is often used to describe activities that are closely connected to nature, such as whale watching, birding, or self-propelled travel such as hiking and kayaking. Nature-based tourism can be either hard or soft adventure tourism.
As you can see, there are challenges in classifying recreation in tourism. For instance, if people kayak near their home or community, it may be considered outdoor recreation. If they travel afar for that same activity, it likely is designated as adventure tourism. If the kayaking is done in protected, mild conditions, it would be considered soft adventure, but if done in a challenging and risky river descent, it may be classified as hard adventure. Generally, the further away from established infrastructure and medical assistance, the harder the adventure activity.
Of course, each of the above scenarios of kayaking could be considered nature-based tourism if it is strongly linked to the natural environment. Ultimately, categorization is based on a combination of several factors, including manner of engagement in the activity (risk exposure, experience requirement, group or solo activity), the distance travelled to access the activity, and the type of environment (proximity to nature, level of challenge involved) that that the activity occurs in.
A 2013 adventure tourism market study discovered that people who travel for adventure experiences tend to be well-educated, with 48% holding a four-year degree or higher credential. They value natural beauty and rank this as the highest factor when choosing a destination, and the most cited reasons for their travel are relaxation “relaxation, exploring new places, time with family, and learning about different cultures” (UNWTO, 2014, p.15).
Globally, it is estimated that the continents of Europe, North America, and South America account for 69% of adventure tourism, or US\$263 billion in adventure travel spending. Adventure tourists tend to be seen as high-value visitors, with as much of 70% of their expenditures remaining in the communities visited (UNWTO, 2014).
The size, extent, and economic contribution of recreation, outdoor recreation, and adventure tourism in British Columbia is also substantial. The rest of this chapter explores the sector in the province in more detail. | textbooks/workforce/Hospitality/Introduction_to_Tourism_and_Hospitality_in_BC_2e_(Westcott_and_Anderson)/05%3A_Recreation/5.01%3A_Overview.txt |
Studies have shown that nearly all residents of BC partake in some kind of outdoor recreation activity during any given year. Approximately 85% of those participants indicate that these recreational activities were very important to them (Tourism BC, 2013).
Spotlight On: Outdoor Recreation Council of BC
The Outdoor Recreation Council of BC (ORC) describes itself as “promoting access to and responsible use of BC’s public lands and waters for public outdoor recreation” (Outdoor Recreation Council of BC, 2014). The Council promotes the benefits of outdoor recreation, represents the community to government and the general public, advocates and educates about responsible land use, provides a forum for exchanging information, and connects different outdoor recreation groups. For more information, visit the Outdoor Recreation Council of BC website.
It is estimated that there are approximately 2,200 outdoor/adventure tourism operators in BC. In 2001, this accounted for 21,000 jobs and \$556 million in direct wages. The last sector-wide study in 2005 estimated that business revenues in outdoor adventure tourism accounted for approximately \$854 million in annual business revenues (Tourism BC, 2013). Given the growth of adventure tourism over the last decade, it is likely these numbers have risen.
Take a Closer Look: Outdoor Adventure Sector Profile
Outdoor Adventure: Tourism Sector Profile, a report produced by Destination BC, includes information on the size, type, and characteristics of tourism companies in this sector.
This section covers two key types of recreation and tourism, with a focus on British Columbia:
1. Land-based recreation and tourism
2. Water-based recreation and tourism
It’s not possible to detail all the recreational activities available in BC, but by the end of this section, you will have an understanding of some of the key unique activities available in the province.
Land-Based Recreation and Tourism
Golf Courses and Resorts
A 2009 economic impact study found that more than six million Canadians participate in the game of golf each year, making this sport the number one outdoor recreational activity in Canada based on participation. Golf also directly employs more than 155,000 people and contributes more than \$11 billion directly to Canada’s gross domestic product. BC has over 300 golf course facilities, and with over \$2 billion annually in direct economic activity, the golfing industry in the province is the fourth largest in Canada (Strategic Networks Inc., 2009).
Golf is a significant tourism attraction in BC; in 2007 the province was chosen as the “Best Golf Course Destination in North America” by the International Association of Golf Tour Operators (Destination BC, 2014c). Part of the draw is the diverse environment; golfers can choose from lush coastal forests to desert environments, and many courses have a viewscape of mountains or the ocean.
A 2006 study by Destination Canada formally the Canadian Tourism Commission (CTC) detailed both demographic and economic factors related to the Canadian golf industry. Significant findings included that there were more than 3.4 million golf travellers in Canada annually, and that of those travellers, approximately 34% travelled to BC. In addition, the Canadian golf participation rate (for the total Canadian population) was 21.5%, which is among the highest golf participation rates of any country in the world. Golfing provides an opportunity to attract significant tourism revenue as the average golf traveller has a much higher than average income level, with up to 50% of all golf travellers earning \$100,000 or more per annum (Tourism BC, 2009b).
Spotlight On: British Columbia Golf Marketing Alliance
The British Columbia Golf Marketing Alliance is a strategic alliance that represents 58 regional and destination golf resorts in BC. The purpose of the alliance is to grow the game of golf in BC and achieve recognition nationally and internationally as a leading golf destination. The alliance supports and distributes information about research, lobbying efforts, and golf industry events. For more information, visit the Allied Golf Association of BC website.
Mountain Resorts and Nordic Centres
Resorts in British Columbia range from smaller eco-lodges to large ski areas. Mountain resorts and nordic centres are part of the larger resort tourism sector, which in 2004 was valued at \$1.9 billion (Tourism BC, 2011c).
Mountain Resorts
BC’s many world-class facilities and high-quality snow conditions provide mass appeal for downhill skiing and snowboarding. Many of mountain resorts have diversified to offer summer operations, including mountain bike parks, hiking, and sight seeing. Mountain resorts in BC can be separated into two principal categories: destination resorts and regional resorts. Destination mountain resorts are often significantly larger and offer a greater range of amenities such as on mountain accommodation and food services; they are also generally marketed to out-of-area and international visitors. Examples of a destination resort would include Whistler Blackcomb Ski Resort. On the other hand, regional mountain resorts are usually smaller in size and capacity, have fewer amenities, and often cater more directly to the local community (Tourism BC, 2011c) such as Whitewater Ski Resort in the Kootenay Rockies.
Spotlight On: Canada West Ski Areas Association
Ski areas in Western Canada (Alberta and BC) are represented by the Canada West Ski Areas Association (CWSAA), which has a diverse mandate that includes marketing, advocacy, environmental stewardship, and risk management. For more information, visit the Canada West Ski Areas Association website.
The aggregate economic value of destination mountain resorts is significant; one study by Tourism BC found that 13 of these resorts were responsible for generating approximately 1.1 billion in revenue, or 8% of the total provincial tourism revenues in 2008. Additionally, they provided the equivalent of 14,267 full-time equivalent jobs (Tourism BC, 2011c). Furthermore, BC’s top mountain resorts have received many prestigious awards (Tourism BC, 2011c, p. 11):
• Whistler Blackcomb has consistently been named the #1 ski resort in North America.
• In 2009, Sun Peaks was named one of the “Top 20 Ski Resorts in North America” by
Condé Nast Traveler.
• Big White Ski Resort was recognized in 2009 as a “Top 5 Family Resort” by the UK-based Sunday Times.
The publicity that these resorts receive has undoubtedly reflected positively on the rest of the BC tourism industry.
Spotlight On: Hello BC Skiing and Snowboarding in BC
Destination BC offers a specific mountain resort marketing website for destination resorts in BC. For more information, visit the Skiing and Snowboarding page on Hello BC, the Destination BC traveller site.
Nordic Centres
Nordic skiing, also commonly known as cross-country skiing, is a low-risk, low-impact winter sport popular across Canada. It differs from backcountry skiing in that participants ski on groomed trails typically maintained as part of an established facility (Cross Country BC, n.d.).
Spotlight On: Whistler Sport Legacies
Leading up to the 2010 Winter Olympics held in Vancouver and Whistler, there was much debate about the need for a continuing legacy from the event. Whistler Sport Legacies is an example of a recreational, tourism, and sport legacy that can emerge out of a mega event such as the Olympics. For more information, visit the Whistler Sport Legacies website.
With more than 50 cross-country ski centres across BC, and a season that often exceeds that of downhill skiing (November to May in many areas), the sport attracts large numbers of local and inbound recreation enthusiasts. Trail networks have been developed in both stand-alone environments, as well as in partnership with large mountain resorts such as Silver Star in Vernon, Sun Peaks in Kamloops, Cypress Mountain above Vancouver, and Rossland in the Kootenays. Many of these trail networks offer both groomed and track-set trails, and many are lit for night skiing.
Spotlight On: Silver Star’s Sovereign Lake Nordic Centre
Located just outside Vernon, Sovereign Lake is Canada’s largest daily groomed trail network that includes 105 kilometres of trails varying from green (easy) to black diamond (most difficult); a further trail expansion is planned for 2015. For more information, visit Sovereign Lake’s website.
Backcountry Skiing and Snowboarding
Backcountry skiing and snowboarding (sometimes called split boarding) offers a recreational activity in a wilderness setting, away from any established mountain resorts, lifts, or trails. BC is regarded as a world-class destination for backcountry access, and has seen considerable and sustained growth in this sector (Porteus, 2013). The motivator for pursuing this activity for most people is primarily the lure of fresh, untracked snow in a beautiful mountain setting. Some backcountry skiers and snowboarders combine this activity with helicopter or snowcat skiing.
Spotlight On: Backcountry Lodges of British Columbia Association
The Backcountry Lodges of British Columbia Association (BLBCA) represents backcountry lodges in the province. Its consumer site features a find-a-lodge function, profiles for summer and winter lodges, the ability to check conditions in various backcountry areas, and consumer content including a blog and videos. For more information, visit the Backcountry Lodges of BC Association website.
Helicopter skiing transports skiers and snowboarders by helicopter to the backcountry. It is typically a professionally guided activity, with packages ranging in duration from a single day to weeks. The skiing/snowboarding is often packaged with a luxury lodge accommodation, gourmet meals, and access to spa treatments.
Heliskiing was pioneered in Canada by Swiss mountain guide Hans Gmoser, who founded the company Canadian Mountain Holidays, which has grown to be the largest heliskiing company in the world (Canadian Mountain Holidays, n.d.). Today, there are close to 20 helicopter skiing companies in BC, which represents the largest concentration of commercial operations in the world (HeliCat Canada, n.d.).
Snowcat skiing is alpine skiing accessed by travelling to the top of the ski area in a snowcat (an enclosed cab vehicle on tracks). As with heliskiing, this activity also has its commercial roots in BC. Snowcat skiing was pioneered in 1975 by Selkirk Wilderness Skiing as an alternative to both lift-serviced and helicopter-accessed riding and skiing (Selkirk Wilderness Skiing, n.d.). It is typically a guided activity due to the avalanche risk associated with the terrain. As with heliskiing, snowcat skiers have the option of choosing single-day or multi-day vacation packages. During the winter of 2015, there were 11 established snowcat skiing operations in BC (HeliCat Canada, n.d.).
Spotlight On: Avalanche Canada
This organization provides public avalanche forecasts and education for any backcountry travellers venturing into avalanche terrain. This vital service is provided to the public free of charge, as Avalanche Canada is a not-for-profit society dedicated to a vision of eliminating avalanche injuries and fatalities in Canada. In addition to the website, it provides training programs and shares safety best practice. For more information, visit Avalanche Canada.
Guides for these operations are typically certified by either the Association of Canadian Mountain Guides (ACMG) or the Canadian Ski Guide Association (CSGA). Both organizations assess the guides for their expertise in technical skills, avalanche forecasting, risk management and emergency response before issuing certification. The process is extensive and rigorous, taking much time and commitment for guides to become fully certified.
Spotlight On: HeliCat Canada
Based in Revelstoke, BC, HeliCat Canada is an industry organization that represents heliskiing and snowcat skiing operators in Canada. It provides regulation, advocacy, and marketing for the operators. Since 1978, the organization has worked closely with government and industry to develop operations guidelines. For more information, visit the HeliCat Canada website.
Off-Road Recreational Vehicles
An off-road recreational vehicle (ORV) is any vehicle designed to be driven off road that is not included within any other vehicle classification framework. This includes snowmobiles, all-terrain vehicles (ATVs), and dirt bikes (British Columbia Ministry of Forest, Lands and Natural Resource Operations, 2014). ORV use is recognized as a considerable contributor to the BC economy, owing primarily to recreational users, but also from tourist visits.
Recreational snowmobiling in BC is represented by the British Columbia Snowmobile Federation (BCSF). The BCSF’s mandate is to represent recreational snowmobile clubs through advocacy, education, and stewardship (BCSF, n.d.). Commercial snowmobiling is represented by the British Columbia Commercial Snowmobile Operators Association (BCCSOA), a group of snowmobile tour operators who have mobilized to support marketing, product development, and government advocacy initiatives (BCCSOA, n.d.).
ORV use has long been the subject of conflict between non-motorized and motorized recreational users of the wilderness. Non-motorized users claim that motorized users negatively impact the wilderness through noise pollution and environmental damage by degrading trails and scaring wildlife (Webster, 2013). Recently, wilderness tourism operators who hold Crown land tenure to operate in remote areas have complained that ORVs negatively affect their visitors’ experiences. Some of these conflicts may now be mitigated through the implementation of the Off-Road Vehicle Act, which was passed in 2014. This Act requires mandatory registration of ORVs, and includes elements that promote safety, enforcement of regulations, education, and outreach (British Columbia Ministry Forest, Lands and Natural Resource Operations, 2014).
Guest Ranchers and Hunting Outfitters
Guest and Dude Ranches
Guest ranches and dude ranches offer personal and home-like vacation experiences centered on horseback riding and an authentic ranch experience. These operators typically offer accommodation in a ranch-type environment, and include as part of the experience the opportunity to participate in ranch activities such as horse riding and cattle wrangling. Other services and activities may also be available, such as spa treatments, hiking, canoeing, and fishing (BC Guest Ranchers Association, n.d.).
Spotlight On: The British Columbia Guest Ranchers Association
The British Columbia Guest Ranchers Association (BCGRA) represents guest and dude ranch operators in the province. It serves and represents its members through cooperative marketing, advertising, development of operational standards, and member pricing on liability insurance plans (BCGRA, n.d.). For more information, visit the British Columbia Guest Ranchers Association website.
A 2011 study of guest ranches by Tourism BC found that there were 57 operating ranches in the province. Most of these were small operations with one to five employees and serving fewer than 1,000 clients per year (Tourism BC, 2011a). There are also large operations such as the Hills Health Guest Ranch located near 100 Mile House, which can accommodate hundreds of guests at one time. The ranch features a full on-site spa and two dining rooms, and hosts a multitude of special events each year. Two other examples of unique guest ranch operations are the Siwash Lake Ranch in south-central BC, a “high-end” exclusive resort featuring executive-chef prepared meals, and the Echo Valley Ranch and Spa in the BC interior, offering an alternative therapy spa and gold-panning excursions.
Hunting Outfitters
Hunting is a traditional recreational activity in BC, and it is also one of the original tourism products in the province (GOABC, n.d.). BC is fortunate to have a vast amount of wilderness available for hunting activities. The exact size of the hunting market is difficult to quantify, but in 2003, a study found that 5,000 non-resident hunting licences were sold in BC, contributing \$46 million to the provincial economy (CTC, 2012).
Some people choose self-guided hunting activities, but to hunt certain species, a guide outfitter must be hired. Guide outfitters are licensed by the BC Government to provide commercial hunting services for non-residents. This commercial hunt service directly employs more than 2,000 BC residents and generates approximately \$116 million in economic activity annually (GOABC, n.d.). Many of these outfitters are small family operations based in rural areas; they are a source valuable economic activity in areas with limited resources (GOABC, n.d.).
Spotlight On: Guide Outfitters Association of BC
Guide Outfitters Association of BC (GOABC) was established in 1966 to promote and preserve the interests of guide outfitters who take hunters out into wildlife habitat. GOABC is also the publisher of Mountain Hunter magazine. Its website outlines a code of conduct and standards for guide outfitters as well as a wildlife DNA collection program to help provide insight into animal populations. For more information, visit the Guide Outfitters Association of BC website.
Cycling
Cycling is a popular recreational activity in BC thanks to a variety of terrain, spectacular scenery, and favourable weather conditions, with approximately 44% of residents participating each year (Tourism BC, 2013). Cycling also attracts out-of-province visitors. One study from 2008 reported that out of 5.6 million Canadians who travelled to BC over a two-year period, almost one million (17%) had participated in a cycling activity (Tourism BC, 2009).
Spotlight On: Cycling Destinations
Several BC destinations have developed cycling as a key tourism product. For example, the Salt Spring Island group Island Pathways helped make the island more bike-friendly in recent years by installing bike racks, developing a map with bike routes, encouraging local transportation to accommodate bikes, and establishing local bike rentals and service. For more information, visit Salt Spring Island Cycling.
Another great example of cycling tourism is the Kettle Valley Railway in the Okanagan, built on an abandoned rail bed. This 600-kilometre trail network includes a multitude of tunnels and trestles, and is most often travelled by cycling. Sections of the trail system are also now included in the Trans Canada Trail. For more information, visit the Kettle Valley Railway website.
Cycling can be generalized into two styles: road cycling and mountain biking.
Road cycling appeals to those who want to travel on paved roads on bikes designed for travelling long distances efficiently and effectively. Road cycling may refer to racing, both recreational and professional, or cycle touring, where cyclists travel by bike on single- or multi-day trips. Given the multitude of rolling hills, mountain passes, and stunning vistas, BC is regarded as a premier cycle touring destination (Destination BC, 2014b).
Mountain biking generally involves riding on unpaved routes and trails either specially designed for biking or for multipurpose use. BC’s reputation as a prime mountain biking destination has grown because of the unique array of trails available, ranging from the steep, challenging routes of Vancouver’s North Shore, to the high alpine cross-country routes found in the South Chilcotin Mountains (Tourism BC, 2011b).
Take a Closer Look: Western Mountain Bike Tourism Association
The Western Mountain Bike Tourism Association (MBTA) is a valuable resource for operators or communities seeking to develop or promote mountain biking tourism in their area. It can be found at Mountain Bike Tourism Association website.
Over the years, mountain biking has grown from being a fringe activity to a mainstay of the tourism economy. In fact, the growth potential of mountain biking is so highly regarded that the BC Government now considers it as one of the top growth areas in the outdoor adventure sector (Tourism BC, 2011b).
Indeed, numerous mountain winter resorts such as Whistler Blackcomb, Silverstar, and Kicking Horse have developed mountain biking trail infrastructure and lift-accessed biking to provide off-season activities. World-class mountain biking races such as the BC Bike Race bring thousands of riders through small communities for mountain biking. The economic impact of these events is significant. Over the course of a single four-month season in the Sea-to-Sky Corridor in 2016 (including the communities of North Vancouver, Squamish, Whistler and Pemberton), the economic contribution of mountain biking to local economies was \$70.6 million (Western Canada Mountain Bike Tourism Association, 2016).
Spotlight On: GranFondo Whistler
The GranFondo Whistler is a road biking race from Vancouver to Whistler that now attracts upward of 7,000 participants each year. For more information, visit RBC GranFondo.
Camping and Hiking
In 2012, over 19.3 million people visited BC provincial parks, including 16.8 million day visitors, many of whom used the parks for hiking and exploration in addition to picnics, swimming, and other outdoor activities. Of these visitors, 2.3 million were overnight campers, generating \$15.5 million in user fees, with an average guest satisfaction rating of 82% (BC Parks, 2012). As discussed in Chapter 3, there are also a number of private camping providers in the province.
Wildlife Viewing
Given the diversity and richness of our natural environment, it is not surprising that there is a thriving wildlife viewing industry in BC. This includes whale, bird, and bear watching as well as travelling to view the northern lights or alpine flowers (CTC, 2007). One study conducted by the Destination BC established that within BC, approximately 37% of tourists took part in wildlife viewing while visiting. Significantly, for 13% of visitors, the primary motivation for their travel to BC was wildlife viewing (CTC, 2007).
Spotlight On: Wilderness Tourism Association of British Columbia
The Wilderness Tourism Association of British Columbia (WTA) provides industry support and advocacy for those operators offering nature-based tourism products. For more information, visit the Wilderness Tourism Association of BC website.
Whale watching occurs along the coast of BC, with tours sometimes leaving from major urban centres, but more commonly from smaller communities such as Telegraph Cove on northern Vancouver Island. Tours are typically by boat, on vessels ranging from open, 10-passenger Zodiacs, to comfortable cabin cruisers with inside seating. The most commonly observed whale is the orca, one of the province’s most distinctive animals. Other whales like the humpback, minke, and Pacific grey are also frequently encountered. The province’s vast diversity of marine life is a key attraction of the tours; in addition to whale watching, a typical tour may encounter bald eagles, sea lions, porpoises, and a variety of sea birds (Destination BC, 2014,d).
Take a Closer Look: Mammal Viewing Guidelines
Marine mammal viewing in Canada has grown in popularity to the point where the federal government has established marine wildlife viewing guidelines. These establish parameters such as safe viewing distances and time limits and are enforceable by law when breached. In addition, the ‘see a blow, go slow” campaign, developed by the Marine Education and Research Society (MERS) has been promoted to recreational boaters and commercial whale watchers alike. For more information, visit:
The Department of Fisheries and Oceans marine wildlife viewing guidelines can be viewed on their website.
The Marine Education and Research Society (MERS) runs a “See a blow? Go slow!” campaign on their website.
Bear viewing — whether for black bears, grizzly bears, or the rare kermode bear — is also popular. Black bears are common across all regions of BC. Grizzly bears are more likely to be found in remote and mountainous regions; they have an estimated population in the province of approximately 16,000. Kermode bears, also called spirit bears, are a subspecies of black bears with a genetic trait that produces white fur instead of black. They are found primarily in the Great Bear Rainforest of the Central Coast, and figure prominently in the spiritual traditions of BC’s Coastal First Nations. The spirit bear is also BC’s official animal (Destination BC, 2014a).
Figure 5.2 A bear in Bute Inlet, B.C.
Tourism operators that offer bear viewing typically operate in remote regions of BC. They may utilize raised viewing areas or operate from a boat-based platform, and offer accommodation at night. The season is typically limited to May through October, with the highest chances of viewing success during the salmon spawning season in the fall.
Spotlight On: Commercial Bear Viewing Association of BC
Bear viewing is a complex activity with potential for physical risk to visitors and impacts to the bears. The Commercial Bear Viewing Association of BC (CBVA) sets standards for operators offering bear viewing. For more information, visit the Commercial Bear Viewing Association website.
Now that we’ve explored some of the key land-based tourism and recreational experiences in BC, let’s turn to the water.
Water-Based Recreation and Tourism
Water-based recreation and tourism in BC are extensive and varied. The coastline of more than 25,000 kilometres in length provides ideal opportunities for coastal recreation and tourism (BC Adventure, n.d.), as well as inland, fresh water-based activities on lakes and rivers. Activities include scuba diving, boat tours, sport fishing, paddle sports (sea kayaking, river kayaking, canoeing, sailing, stand up paddleboarding (SUP), and more. Following is an overview of a few core water-based activities offered by BC tourism operators, as well as a brief description of their economic contributions and related industry organizations.
Figure 5.3 Kayakers waiting near whitewater rapids.
Scuba Diving
BC waters offer scuba divers a rich diversity of marine life such as giant Pacific octopuses, wolf eels, sixgill sharks, soft corals, and cloud sponges. As well, a variety of dive sites are available, including marine parks, protected natural areas, sunken naval vessels, artificial reefs, historic wrecks, and even a submerged fuselage of a Boeing 737 airliner (Dive Industry Association of BC, n.d.).
A 2004 study conducted by the Dive Industry Association of BC found that the dive industry in BC consisted of 116 operators offering services to tourists and residents alike. The many segments of the industry include manufacturers, distributers, dive charters, dive shops, and instructional centres. The study estimated that gross revenues from this industry at \$15 million, although this number failed to account for other indirect spending such as trip-related accommodation and transportation. It is likely that the actual economic value of this subsector is actually significantly larger (Ivanova, 2004).
Spotlight On: Dive Industry Association of British Columbia
Established in 2002, the Dive Industry Association of British Columbia (DIABC) is a not-for-profit that represents and supports the recreational diving industry in BC. Funded in part by matching donations from Destination BC, their diverse membership includes dive shops, tour operators, and individual dive guides. For more information, visit the Dive Industry Association of BC website.
Sport Fishing and Lodges
There is a long and rich history of sport fishing in BC. Anglers are drawn to the province’s tidal waters (for salmon and halibut) and to freshwater rivers and lakes (for trout, steelhead, and sturgeon). The annual rate of recreational participation is significant; a 2009 study estimated that there are nearly 600,000 anglers (either fresh or saltwater) in any given year in BC (Tourism BC, 2009). Furthermore, non-resident anglers contributed almost \$6 million by way of licensing fees, and an additional \$46 million in non-fishing expenditures to the economy of BC. The British Columbia Fishing Resorts and Outfitters Association (BCFROA) represents commercial freshwater resorts and outfitters and delivers advocacy, conservation, and marketing efforts on behalf of its members (BCFROA, n.d.).
Paddle Sports
River rafting, canoeing, sea kayaking, and standup paddle boarding (SUP) are common activities for both recreationists and tourists alike in BC. Collectively, these sports fall under the paddle sports category, which encompasses any activity that takes place in small boats propelled by paddles (Education Scotland, n.d.). Although all paddle sports are popular recreational activities, two of the more sizable and commercially productive paddle sports subsectors are river rafting and sea kayaking.
River rafting operators can be found on many rivers across BC. Product offerings may range from a three-hour adrenaline-fueled tour on the famous Fraser River to a 14-day wilderness exploration down the UNESCO World Heritage Tatshenshini-Alsek Rivers in northern BC. These trips consist primarily of three types of rafting: paddle rafting, motorized rafting, and float trips (Destination BC, n.d.).
Commercial rafting in BC is represented by the British Columbia River Outfitters Association (BCROA), which acts as a regulatory and marketing organization for river rafting in the province. Guides are required to be certified at one of three levels: guide, senior guide, or trip leader. Each river in BC that is commonly rafted has an extensive set of safety requirements called “provisions” listed by the BCROA. These provisions set out the minimum level of guide required, acceptable water levels ranges, and type of equipment needed for each river excursion (BCROA, n.d.).
Figure 5.4 A rafting trip with Canadian Outback Adventures and Events near Squamish, B.C.
A 2005 study conducted by Tourism BC identified 59 operators offering river rafting trips in the province. With an average of 5.5 employees, these operations are typically small in comparison to other industry subsectors. Collectively, however, they provided services to 216,000 customers and contributed almost \$15 million in gross revenues to the BC economy in 2005. The same study also indicated that up to 75% of participants had travelled to join in the activity, indicating that they can predominantly be classified as adventure tourists (Tourism BC, 2007a).
Sea kayaking in BC has grown into a sizable recreational and commercial industry in recent years. The province is highly regarded internationally for its long coastline punctuated by many inlets and fjords. Kayaking trips may be as short as an afternoon harbour tour, or as long as a seven-day wilderness exploration to the remote regions of Vancouver Island. Noteworthy areas for sea kayakers include Pacific Rim National Park on western Vancouver Island, Johnstone Strait on northern Vancouver Island, and Gwaii Haanas National Park in Haida Gwaii.
A 2005 report entitled British Columbia’s Sea Kayaking Sector identified more than 114 operators offering rentals, instruction, day tours, or multi-day tours. These operators reported gross revenues of approximately \$14 million in 2005 (Tourism BC, 2005a). A 2013 ecotourism survey conducted by Raincoast Conservation reflected growth of the sea kayaking sector with half (49%) of operators having grown between 2008-2013 (Raincoast Conservation, 2015).
Spotlight On: The Sea Kayak Guides Alliance of B.C.
Commercial operators offering tours are represented by the Sea Kayak Guides Alliance of B.C. (SKGABC), which represents more than 600 individual and company members working in the commercial sea kayaking industry. It provides operating standards, guide certification, advocacy, and government liaison services for its members.
For more information, visit the Sea Kayak Guides Alliance of BC website.
Small Ship Tours
British Columbia’s diverse and largely inaccessible coastline provides opportunities for boat-based tourism aboard small vessel, safari-like expeditions on the BC coast that are world-renowned for the wildlife, nature, and indigenous cultural experiences (Wilderness Tourism Association, n.d.).
Figure 5.5 Some small ship tour operators in B.C. provide safari-like experiences, like this zodiac tour off the San Juan Islands in Washington State.
The Small Ship Tour Operators Association of British Columbia (SSTOA) is comprised of seven 100% Canadian owned and operated, small-ship based travel companies that specialize in providing niche wilderness travel experiences for small groups of 6–24 passengers, along the British Columbia and Alaska coastline. In particular, they operate in the Vancouver Island, Haida Gwaii, and Great Bear Rainforest regions (Wilderness Tourism Association, n.d.). This is a relatively small industry with a higher price point and generally appealing to a different market than other previously mentioned activities and those who appreciate the comforts while exploring remote regions. | textbooks/workforce/Hospitality/Introduction_to_Tourism_and_Hospitality_in_BC_2e_(Westcott_and_Anderson)/05%3A_Recreation/5.02%3A_Recreation_and_Adventure_Tourism_in_BC.txt |
As shown throughout this chapter, recreation and adventure tourism play predominant roles in the tourism and hospitality industry in BC. However, there are challenges that impact the viability of this sector, as well as barriers that limit the growth. These topics are discussed briefly here.
Land and Water Use
Outdoor recreation and adventure tourism operators rely heavily on intact pristine environments and healthy ecosystems. The ‘use’ of British Columbia’s vast wilderness and access to these wilderness areas for tourism operators is an ongoing challenge. Some zones across the province are set aside for recreation, such as provincial and national parks. However, when it comes to conducting commercial operations in these same places, gaining access often involves an extensive permitting process that may impose restrictions on the type of activity, how the activity is carried out and the number of visitors allowed.
In addition, parks are generally limited to non-motorized activities, thus presenting barriers for tourism operators that seek to offer mechanized recreation. Operators using Crown land for commercial activities also require authorization from the provincial government; in some instances, priority may be given to resource extraction or development rather than outdoor operators. The permitting process can be onerous and time consuming, which for small operators, may be a barrier to growth (Wilderness Tourism Association, 2005).
Environmental issues are discussed in detail in Chapter 10.
Environmental Impacts
Figure 5.6 Prohibiting certain recreational activities can help protect sensitive environments. [Long Description]
Environmental impacts from climate change, deforestation, and resource extraction all have significant potential to affect this sector of the tourism economy. On a local scale, competition with resource extraction for wilderness areas is a vital issue; without reliable access to pristine wilderness, many operators are facing threats to their sustainability (Wilderness Tourism Association, 2005). Indeed, conflicts with the oil and gas industry, forestry, and mining are constant management challenges for wilderness tourism operators. On a global scale, climate change threatens tourism in BC in many ways, including irregular and insufficient snowfall for winter operations, the pine beetle epidemic sweeping through the province’s forests, and climate-related stress impacting prime wildlife viewing of species such as whales and bears. Environmental issues are discussed in detail in Chapter 10.
Risk Management
Concerns over risk management and litigation are ongoing for any operator that offers activities with an element of risk, which is common in recreation and adventure tourism. When lawsuits in adventure tourism occur, they are often extensively publicized by the media, creating a perception of risky, dangerous, and irresponsible adventure operators. This can negatively affect the sector through rising insurance rates, increasing governmental regulation, challenging certification requirements, and permitting difficulties when interfacing with land management agencies.
With the popularity of backcountry skiing, snowboarding, snowmobiling, snowshoeing, and other winter sports on the rise in BC, the number of participants accessing backcountry areas is increasing (Mitsui, 2013). This is becoming a concern for long-time backcountry enthusiasts as well as safety monitors. As winter and summer backcountry equipment becomes more readily accessible, people are able to equip themselves without having received advanced safety training.
The increase of backcountry users will continue to expose users to possible dangerous situations. The best scenario is to ensure users receive proper training and education before they venture into the backcountry areas.
Other elements of risk and liability are discussed further in Chapter 11.
Long Descriptions
Figure 5.6 long description: Sign with pictograms with red slashes through them, banning various recreational activities. This sign proclaims:
• No alcoholic beverages
• No smoking
• No glass containers
• No dogs or pets
• No motor vehicles
• No littering
• No open fires
• No camping
• No diving
• No baseball
• No boat launching
• No vendors
[Return to Figure 5.6] | textbooks/workforce/Hospitality/Introduction_to_Tourism_and_Hospitality_in_BC_2e_(Westcott_and_Anderson)/05%3A_Recreation/5.03%3A_Trends_and_Issues.txt |
Despite some of the challenges faced by recreation, outdoor recreation, and adventure tourism, the industry as a whole remains an exciting, dynamic, and growing sector of the BC tourism economy. Employment opportunities abound, and the potential for economic contribution to the province, protection of wilderness areas, and diversification of rural economies away from resource extraction are exciting prospects. BC is uniquely positioned to maintain positive growth in this area, contingent upon government support to address the barriers and challenges listed above. Students looking to develop professionally in this field should strive to gain both hands-on experience in a specialized activity, and a strong tourism focused education; this combination will offer the best chance to open doors to a long-term career in this exciting industry.
Now that we understand the importance of recreation to the tourism industry, especially in BC, let’s explore Chapter 6, which looks at entertainment, the other half of this industry classification.
Key Terms
• Adventure tourism: outdoor activities with an element of risk, usually somewhat physically challenging and undertaken in natural, undeveloped areas
• Association of Canadian Mountain Guides (ACMG): Canada’s only internationally recognized guiding association, offering a range of certifications
• Avalanche Canada: a not-for-profit society that provides public avalanche forecasts and education for backcountry travellers venturing into avalanche terrain, dedicated to a vision of eliminating avalanche injuries and fatalities in Canada
• British Columbia Golf Marketing Alliance: a strategic alliance representing 58 regional and destination golf resorts in BC with the goal of having BC achieve recognition nationally and internationally as a leading golf destination
• British Columbia Guest Ranchers Association (BCGRA): an organization offering marketing opportunities and development support for BC’s guest ranch operators
• British Columbia Snowmobile Federation (BCSF): an organization offering snowmobile patrol services, lessons on operations, and advocating for the maintenance of riding areas in BC
• Canada West Ski Areas Association (CWSAA): founded in 1966 and headquartered in Kelowna, BC, CWSAA represents ski areas and industry suppliers and provides government and media relations as well as safety and risk management expertise to its membership
• Canadian Ski Guide Association (CSGA): founded in British Columbia, an organization that runs a training institute for professional guides, and a separate non-profit organization representing CSGA guide and operating members
• Commercial Bear Viewing Association of BC (CBVA): promoters of best practices in sustainable viewing, training, and certification for guides, and advocating for land use practices.
• Destination mountain resorts: large-scale mountain resorts where the draw is the resort itself; usually the resort offers all services needed in a tourism destination
• Dive Industry Association of BC: a marketing and advocacy organization protecting the interests of divers, dive shops, guides, dive instructors, and diving destinations in BC
• Guide Outfitters Association of BC (GOABC): established in 1966 to promote and preserve the interests of guide outfitters, who take hunters out into wildlife habitat; publishers of Mountain Hunter magazine
• Nature-based tourism: tourism activities where the motivator is immersion in the natural environment; the focus is often on wildlife and wilderness areas
• Off-road recreational vehicle (ORV): any vehicle designed to travel off of paved roads and on to trails and gravel roads, such as an ATV (all-terrain vehicle) or Jeep
• Outdoor recreation: recreational activities occurring outside; generally in undeveloped areas
• Outdoor Recreation Council of BC (ORC): a not-for-profit organization that promotes the benefits of outdoor recreation, represents the community to government and the general public, advocates and educates about responsible land use, provides a forum for exchanging information, and connects different outdoor recreation groups
• Recreation: activities undertaken for leisure and enjoyment
• Regional mountain resorts: small resorts where the focus is on outdoor recreation for the local communities; may also draw tourists
• Sea Kayak Guides Alliance of BC: representing more than 600 members in the commercial sea kayaking industry, providing operating standards, guide certification, advocacy, and government liaison services
• Western Canada Mountain Bike Tourism Association (MBTA): a not-for-profit organization working toward establishing BC, and Western Canada, as the world’s foremost mountain bike tourism destination
• Wilderness Tourism Association (WTA): an organization that advocates for over 850 nature-based tourism operators in BC, placing a priority on protecting natural resources for continued enjoyment by visitors and residents alike
Exercises
1. Compare and contrast the terms recreation, outdoor recreation, and adventure tourism. How can we differentiate between each of these terms?
2. Do you believe that ORV tourism operators should be considered nature-based tourism? Explain.
3. What is the difference between a regional mountain resort and a destination mountain resort?
4. Of the smaller subsectors of tourism economy discussed in this chapter, name three that are commonly found in small, rural communities. What is their significance to the local community?
5. Name a well-known destination for mountain biking in BC. What is the attraction of that area?
6. Why is backcountry skiing/snowboarding sometimes considered a risky activity? Explain. How can these risks be mitigated?
7. List three industry organizations described in this chapter that represent outdoor tourism subsectors. What general services do they offer to those they represent?
8. What unique advantages does BC offer for recreation, outdoor recreation, and adventure tourism?
9. Review the section Trends and Issues. What suggestions would you give to the BC Government to support tourism in this subsector?
Case Study: The Wild Within
BC has long been romanticized as a destination that is intrinsically linked to recreation and nature, and our tourism product has traditionally relied on outdoor assets and the promotion of recreation. In late 2014, Destination British Columbia launched a video and set of corresponding marketing materials that sought to expand on the “Super, Natural” brand promise for the province. Watch the video “The Wild Within: British Columbia, Canada.”
On your own or as part of a team, consider the following:
1. What natural elements are being promoted?
2. What recreational activities are featured in the video?
3. Which industry groups or associations are needed to support these activities? Name at least five.
4. What are the advantages of promoting BC’s natural elements as a pillar of marketing campaigns?
5. What are the disadvantages? How might these be mitigated?
After answering these questions, come up with a quick design for a marketing piece that profiles one recreational activity in your local community. This could be a web page, a brochure, an app, a poster, or another marketing piece. Be sure to visit the Destination BC brand page to make sure your ideas fit in with “The Wild Within” concept and brand. | textbooks/workforce/Hospitality/Introduction_to_Tourism_and_Hospitality_in_BC_2e_(Westcott_and_Anderson)/05%3A_Recreation/5.04%3A_Conclusion.txt |
When travellers enter Canada, there is a good chance they will be asked at the border, “What is the nature of your trip?” Whether the answer is for business, leisure, or visiting friends and relatives, there’s a possibility that travellers will participate in some of the following activities (as listed in the Statistics Canada International Travel Survey):
• Attend a festival or fair, or other cultural events
• Visit a zoo, aquarium, botanical garden, historic site, national park, museum, or art gallery
• Watch sports or participate in gaming
These activities fall under the realm of entertainment as it relates to tourism. Documenting every activity that could be on a tourist’s to-do list would be nearly impossible, for what one traveler would find entertaining, another may not. This chapter focuses on the major components of arts, entertainment, and attractions, including motion pictures, video exhibitions, and wineries; all activities listed under the North American Industry Classification System we learned about in Chapter 1.
Festival and Major Events Canada (FAME) released a report in 2019 detailing the economic impacts of the 17 largest festivals and events in Quebec, which amounted to a whopping \$378 million in tourist spending. Let’s take a closer look at this segment of the sector and its impact across Canada.
Figure 6.1 A labyrinth of light at the 2008 Winter Solstice Lantern Festival in Vancouver.
Festivals
The International Dictionary of Event Management defines a festival as a “public celebration that conveys, through a kaleidoscope of activities, certain meanings to participants and spectators” (Goldblatt, 2001, p. 78). Other definitions, including those used by the Ontario Trillium Foundation and the European Union, highlight accessibility to the general public and short duration as key elements that define a festival.
Search “festivals in Canada” online and over 900 million results will appear. To define these activities in the context of tourism, we need to consider two fundamental questions, “Who are these activities aimed at?” and “Why are they being celebrated?”
The broad nature of festivals has lead to the development of classification types. For instance, funding for the federal government’s Building Communities through Arts and Heritage Program is available under three categories, depending on the type of festival:
1. Local festivals funding is provided to local groups for recurring festivals that present the work of local artists, artisans, or historical performers.
2. Community anniversaries funding is provided to local groups for non-recurring local events and capital projects that commemorate an anniversary of 100 years (or greater, in increments of 25 years).
3. Legacy funding is provided to community-initiated capital projects that restore or transform event spaces and places. Eligible projects are those that commemorate a 100th anniversary (or greater, in increments of 25 years) of a significant local historical event or local historical personality.
Funds awarded in BC ranges from \$2000 for the Nelson History Theatre Society’s Arts and Heritage Festival in 2012 (Government of Canada, 2014a) to \$100,200 for the Vancouver International Film Festival in 2017 (Government of Canada, 2017). In 2017-2018, federal funding from the Canada Arts Presentation Fund, Canada Cultural Spaces Fund, and Canada Cultural Investment Fund resulted in \$183 million in infrastructure and program development funds to support organizations that professionally present arts festivals or performing arts series (Government of Canada, 2019).
Spotlight On: International Festivals and Events Association
Founded in 1956 as the Festival Manager’s Association, the International Festivals and Events Association (IFEA) supports professionals who produce and support celebrations for the benefit of their communities. Membership is required to access many of their resources. For more information, visit the International Festivals and Events Association website.
Festivals and events in BC celebrate theatre, dance, film, crafts, visual arts, and more. Just a few examples are Bard on the Beach, Vancouver International Improv Festival, Cornucopia, and the Cowichan Wine and Culinary Festival.
Figure 6.2 Guests at Cornucopia, Whistler’s celebration of food and wine.
Spotlight On: Cornucopia, Whistler’s Celebration of Wine and Food
For the “epicurious, cornucopia is food + drink unleashed.” Dubbed “so wild you can taste it” this 11-day event showcases tasting events, drink seminars, chef lunches and demos, avant-garde parties and more. For additional information, visit Cornucopia.
Events
An event is a happening at a given place and time, usually of some importance, celebrating or commemorating a special occasion. To help broaden this simple definition, categories have been developed based on the scale of events. These categories, presented in Table 6.1, overlap and are not hard and fast, but help cover a range of events.
Table 6.1 Event types, characteristics, and examples
[Skip Table]
Event Type Characteristics Examples
Mega-event: those that yield high levels of tourism, media coverage, prestige, or economic impact for the host community or destination.
• So large it affects economies
• Gains global media coverage
• Highly prestigious
• Usually developed with a bidding process
• Has major positive and negative impacts
• 1 million+ visits
• Capital costs in excess of \$500 million
• Considered “must see”
• Olympic Games/ Paralympic Games
• Commonwealth Games
• FIFA World Cup
• World fairs and expositions
• Economic summits
Special event: outside the normal activities of the sponsoring or organizing body.
• One-time or infrequent
• Specific ritual, presentation, performance, or celebration
• Planned and created to mark a special occasion
• National days and celebrations
• Important civic occasions
• Unique cultural performances
• Royal weddings
• Diamond jubilees
Hallmark event: possesses such significance in terms of tradition, attractiveness, quality or publicity, that it provides the host venue, community, or destination with a competitive advantage.
• Identified with the location or synonymous with place name
• Gains widespread recognition/awareness
• Creates a competitive tourism advantage
• The Carnival of Brazil (Rio de Janeiro)
• Mardi Gras (New Orleans)
• Oktoberfest (Munich)
Festival: (as defined above) public celebration that conveys, through a kaleidoscope of activities, certain meanings to participants and spectators.
• Celebration and reaffirmation of community or culture
• Artistic content
• Religious or ritualistic
• Music, dance, and drama are often featured
• Lollapalooza
• Junkanoo (Nassau, Bahamas)
Local community event: generated by and for locals; can be of interest to visitors, but tourists are not the main intended audience.
• Involves the local population
• A shared experience to their mutual benefit
• Fundraisers
• Picnics
• Barbeques
Data source: Getz, 2005.
Events can be extremely complex projects, which is why, over time, the role of event planners has taken on greater importance. The development of education, training programs, and professional designations such as CMPs (Certified Meeting Planners), CSEP (Certified Special Events Professional), and CMM (Certificate in Meeting Management) has led to increased credibility in this business and demonstrates the importance of the sector to the economy. Furthermore, there are a variety of event management certifications and diplomas offered in BC that enable future event and festival planners to gain specific skills and knowledge within the sector.
Various tasks involved in event planning include:
• Conceptualizing/theming
• Logistics and planning
• Human resource management
• Security
• Marketing and public relations
• Budgeting and financial management
• Sponsorship procurement
• Management and evaluation
But events aren’t just for leisure visitors. In fact, the tourism industry has a long history of creating, hosting, and promoting events that draw business travelers. The next section explores meetings, conventions, and incentive travel, also known as MCIT. | textbooks/workforce/Hospitality/Introduction_to_Tourism_and_Hospitality_in_BC_2e_(Westcott_and_Anderson)/06%3A_Events_Culture_Heritage_and_Sport_(Entertainment)/6.01%3A_Festivals_and_Events.txt |
According to the Meetings Mean Business Canada Coalition (MMB Canada), business events are big business. In 2017, Canadian business events:
• Delivered at least \$33 billion to Canada’s economy
• Created over 229,000 employment opportunities
• Ranked 6th out of 50 countries in economic impact
The business events industry in Canada is as big as agriculture and forestry, and it provides nearly twice the number of jobs that telecommunications and utilities do (MMB Canada, 2017).
Take a Closer Look: Meetings Mean Business Canada Coalition (MMB Canada) Canada Economic Impact Study
To learn more about the impact of business events in Canada, watch the MMB Canada Economic Impact Study video.
There are several types of business events. Conventions generally have very large attendance, and are held annually in different locations. They also often require a bidding process. Conferences have specific themes, and are held for smaller, focused groups. Trade shows/trade fairs can be stand-alone events, or adjoin a convention or conference. Finally, seminars, workshops, and retreats are examples of smaller-scale MCIT events.
Spotlight On: The Meetings Mean Business Canada Coalition
The Meetings Mean Business Canada Coalition (MMB Canada), the operating name of the Business Events Industry Coalition of Canada (BEICC), is the national voice of the meetings and events industry in Canada, comprising organizations dedicated to the betterment and promotion of the meetings and events industry. For more information, visit the MMB Canada website.
As meeting planners became more creative, meeting and convention delegates became more demanding about meeting sites. No longer are hotel meeting rooms and convention centres the only type of location used; non-traditional venues have adapted and become competitive in offering services for meeting planners. These include architectural spaces such as airplane hangars, warehouses or rooftops, and experiential venues such as aquariums, museums and galleries (Cornacchio, 2019).
Spotlight On: Meeting Professionals International
Meeting Professionals International (MPI), founded in 1972, is a membership-based professional development organization for meeting and event planners. For more information, visit the Meeting Professionals International website or the Meeting Professionals International: BC Chapter website.
Incentive Travel
For many people new to the travel industry, incentive travel is an unfamiliar concept. The Society for Incentive Travel Excellence (SITE) has explained that incentive travel is “a self-funding marketing activity that employs unique travel experiences to reward people who achieve exceptional business performance” (2020). Unlike other types of business events, incentive travel is focused on fun, food, and other activities rather than education and work.
Sectors that use incentive travel include insurance, finance, technology, pharmaceutical, and auto manufacturers and dealers. The incentive travel market is extremely competitive and demanding. When rewarding high-performance staff, Fortune 500-type companies are looking for the most luxurious and unique travel experiences and products available.
Take a Closer Look: SITE Crystal Awards
SITE holds annual awards for the best in unique, memorable incentive experiences. In 2019, the winner for Most Effective Incentive/Marketing Campaign, “2018 Living Legends Incentive Program” was the Creative Group. To see the list of other winners, and for more information, visit the SITE Crystal Awards website.
Figure 6.3 Pan Pacific Hotel and the Vancouver Convention Centre.
Convention Centres
No discussion of business events would be complete without noting the importance of convention centres — very large venues that can host thousands of delegates.
Key success factors for convention venues include:
• Air access to the destination
• Quality hotels close to or adjacent to the venue
• Quality venue space
• Relative cost of the destination and venue
• Attractiveness of the destination
BC is home to a number of convention centres, including those in Kelowna, Nanaimo, Penticton, Prince George, and Victoria. The signature venue for the province is the Vancouver Convention Centre, which underwent a significant expansion prior to the 2010 Winter Olympics.
Spotlight On: The Vancouver Convention Centre
The Vancouver Convention Centre is owned and managed by the BC Pavilion Corporation (PavCo), a Crown corporation. Its team of approximately 800 staff collaborate to host an exciting schedule of year-round events. With its unique “scratch kitchen” that uses fresh, local products, an extensive recycling program, and its legendary “green roof,” the centre is known for its beautiful views and commitment to sustainability. For more information, visit the Vancouver Convention Centre website.
With an understanding of the scope of festivals and events, as well as examples of the venues that host them, let’s turn our attention to the diverse number of attractions that contribute to the tourism entertainment sector. | textbooks/workforce/Hospitality/Introduction_to_Tourism_and_Hospitality_in_BC_2e_(Westcott_and_Anderson)/06%3A_Events_Culture_Heritage_and_Sport_(Entertainment)/6.02%3A_Meetings_Conventions_and_Incentive_Travel_%28MCIT%29.txt |
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:
1. 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)
2. Amusement/entertainment attractions: maintain and provide access to amusement or entertainment facilities (e.g., arcades; amusement, theme, and water parks)
3. 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)
4. 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)
5. 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 of Indigenous heritage sites, visitation can also lead to an opportunity for reconciliation. However, the cost of an attraction, such as a museum, gallery, or park, is typically only a fraction of the total travel cost.
The rest of this chapter explores various types of attractions in more detail.
Cultural/Heritage Tourism
The phrase cultural/heritage tourism can be interpreted in many ways. Destination Canada, formally the Canadian Tourism Commission has defined it as tourism occurring “when participation in a cultural or heritage activity is a significant factor for traveling. Cultural tourism includes performing arts (theatre, dance, and music), visual arts and crafts, festivals, museums and cultural centres, and historic sites and interpretive centres” (LinkBC, 2012). Food is also an integral part of the cultural tourism scene.
Figure 6.4 A “pioneer” at the Barkerville historic site near Quesnel, B.C.
Take a Closer Look: The First Government of Canada Survey of Heritage Institutions
In 2018, the Department of Canadian Heritage released its Survey of Heritage Institutions, which provides aggregate financial and operating data to governments and cultural associations. It aims to gain a better understanding of not-for-profit heritage institutions in Canada in order to aid in the development of policies and the administration of programs. View the full version of the report at Government of Canada Survey of Heritage Institutions: 2017 [PDF].
A 2018 Government of Canada survey of heritage institutions found:
• Revenues for all non-profit heritage institutions in Canada exceeded \$2.5 billion in 2015, a 23% increase over 2011. British Columbia was ranked fourth in earnings, at \$225 million or 9% of the national total
• Three provinces — Ontario (43%), Quebec (25%), and Alberta (9%) — had the largest share of heritage institutions
• Museums generated the most revenue for the heritage sector, at \$1.1 billion (44%) in 2015, followed by art galleries (22%), archives (15%), zoos and gardens (13%) and finally historic sites (6%). Accounting for various levels of government, they contributed an additional \$1.3 billion in 2015
• Roughly 50% of heritage institutions charged admission, and the average adult entry fee was \$9.91 in 2015
In 2015, the heritage sector employed over 36,300 people, an increase of 15% since 2011. Volunteers at heritage institutions outnumbered paid staff by approximately three to one, with approximately 115,650 volunteers. The amount of time they donated (over 6.6 million hours) contributed to huge savings for institutions. These statistics indicate that volunteerism is a critical success factor for Canadian heritage institutions.
Overall physical attendance at heritage institutions totalled over 75 million visits in 2015, an increase of 34% from 2011. In addition, as museums and galleries digitize their holding for online access, heritage experienced some 200 million virtual visitors.
Performing Arts
Performing arts generally include theatre companies and dinner theatres, dance companies, musical groups, and artists and other performing arts companies. These activities and entities contribute to a destination’s tourist product offering and are usually considered an aspect of cultural tourism.
British Columbia has 4.7% of the total number of cultural workers in Canada, the second highest concentration, of which performing arts represents some 55% (Hill Strategies, 2019, p.1). Across Canada, there are 726,600 cultural workers.
Spotlight On: Made in BC
Made in BC: Dance On Tour is a not-for-profit organization committed to bringing touring dance performances, dance workshops, and other dance events to communities around British Columbia for the benefit of residents and visitors alike. Originally intended to showcase BC performers, it also brings touring groups from other regions to the province. For more information, visit the Made in BC website.
Art Museums and Galleries
Art museums and galleries may be public, private, or commercial. Both art museums and public galleries present works of art to the public, exhibiting a diverse range of art from more well-known artists to emerging artists. Exhibitions are assembled and organized by a curator who oversees the installation of the works in the gallery space. However, art museums and public galleries have different mandates, and therefore offer different visitor experiences.
Art museums collect historical and modern works of art for educational purposes and to preserve them for future generations. Public galleries, on the other hand, do not generally collect or conserve works of art. Rather, they focus on exhibitions of contemporary works as well as on programs of lectures, publications, and other events.
A few examples of the art museums and public galleries in BC are the Vancouver Art Gallery, the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, Two Rivers Gallery in Prince George, and the Kelowna Art Gallery.
Many of the smaller galleries have formed partnerships within geographic regions to share marketing resources and increase visitor appeal. One example includes the self-guided Art Route Tour in Haida Gwaii.
Museums
The term museum covers a wide range of institutions from wax museums to sports halls of fame. No matter what type of museum it is, many are now asking if museums are still relevant in today’s high-tech world. In response, museums are using new technology to expand the visitor experience. One example is the Royal BC Museum, which hosts an online Learning Portal, lists recent related tweets on its home page, and is home to an IMAX theatre playing IMAX movies that relate to the museum exhibits.
Spotlight On: Canadian Museums Association
The Canadian Museums Association (CMA) is the national organization for the advancement of Canada’s museum community. The CMA works for the recognition, growth, and stability of the sector. Canada’s 2,500 museums and related institutions preserve Canada’s collective memory, shape national identity, and promote tolerance and understanding. For more information, visit the Canadian Museums Association website.
Data from the 2011 Survey of Heritage Institutions in Canada found that attendance at heritage institutions totalled over 75 million visits in 2015, up 34% since 2011. Of that number, there were 14.1 million to art galleries, 15.4 million to heritage sites and another 31 million visits to museums being the most popular (Government of Canada, 2017).
Spotlight On: British Columbia Museums Association
Founded in 1957 and incorporated in 1966, the British Columbia Museums Association (BCMA) provides a unified voice for the institutions, trustees, professional staff, and volunteers of the BC museum and gallery community. For more information, visit the British Columbia Museums Association website.
British Columbia is home to over 200 museums, including Vancouver’s Museum of Anthropology and Victoria’s Royal BC Museum, both with impressive displays of Indigenous art and culture. Smaller community museums include the Fraser River Discovery Centre in New Westminster, and the Zeballos Heritage Museum.
Botanical Gardens
A botanical garden is a garden that displays native and non-native plants and trees. It conducts educational, research, and public information programs that enhance public understanding and appreciation of plants, trees, and gardening (Canadensis, 2014).
Canadian botanical gardens host an estimated 4.5 million visitors per year and are important science and educational facilities, providing leadership in plant conservation and public education (Botanic Gardens Conservation International, 2014). British Columbia is home to notable botanical gardens such as Vancouver’s Stanley Park, The Butchart Gardens near Victoria, UBC’s Botanical Garden, and VanDusen Botanical Garden, to name just a few.
Zoos
Zoos all over the world are facing many challenges. An article The Atlantic entitled “Is the Future of Zoos No Zoos at All?” discusses how the increased use of technology by biologists, such as habitat cameras (nest cams, bear den cams), GPS trackers, and live web feeds of natural behaviours, has transformed the zoo experience into “reality zoo TV” (Wald, 2014). There is also growing opposition to zoos from organizations such as PETA, who claim that zoo enclosures deprive animals of the opportunity to meet their basic needs and develop relationships (PETA, 2014).
Spotlight On: Canada’s Accredited Zoos and Aquariums
Canada’s Accredited Zoos and Aquariums (CAZA) was founded in 1975. It represents the 33 leading zoological parks and aquariums in Canada and promotes the welfare of, and encourages the advancement and improvement of, related animal exhibits in Canada as humane agencies of recreation, education, conservation, and science. For more information, visit the Canada’s Accredited Zoos and Aquariums website.
Canada’s Accredited Zoos and Aquariums (CAZA) work in support of ethical and responsible facilities. Examples of CAZA members in BC include the BC Wildlife Park in Kamloops, the Greater Vancouver Zoo, and the Vancouver Aquarium (Canada’s Accredited Zoos and Aquariums, 2014).
Canadian zoos with high attendance levels include the Toronto Zoo with over 1.3 million guests in 2010 (Toronto Zoo, 2010), and the Vancouver Aquarium with over 1 million visitors in 2013 (Vancouver Aquarium 2013). In 2013, the Calgary Zoo employed almost 300 full- and part-time staff and an additional 99 seasonal employees (Calgary Zoo, 2013).
Amusement and Theme Parks
Figure 6.5 Wave spinners at Vancouver’s Playland amusement park.
While cultural and heritage attractions strive to present information based on historic and evolving cultures and facts, amusement parks are attractions that often work to create alternate, fanciful realities. Theme parks have a long history dating back to the 1500s in Europe, and have evolved ever since. Today, it is hard not to try to compare any amusement park destination to Disneyland and Disney World. Opened in 1955 in sunny California, Disneyland set the standard for theme parks. The Pacific National Exhibition (PNE) in Vancouver is considered one of BC’s most recognizable amusement parks and recently celebrated its 100-year anniversary (PNE, 2015).
Canada’s ability to compete with US theme parks is hampered by our climate. With a much shorter summer season, the ability to attract investment in order to sustain large-scale entertainment complexes is limited, as is the market for these attractions. It’s no wonder that in 2011 profitable Canadian amusement parks only saw an average net profit of \$73,200, with 34% of firms failing to turn a profit that year. BC has only 22 amusement parks, and more than half of these are considered small, with under 100 employees (Government of Canada, 2014d).
Spotlight On: International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions
The International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions (IAAPA) is the largest international trade association for permanently situated amusement facilities worldwide. Dedicated to the preservation and prosperity of the amusement industry, it represents more than 4,300 facility, supplier, and individual members from more than 97 countries, including most amusement parks and attractions in the United States. For more information, visit the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions website.
Motion Picture and Video Exhibitions
The film industry in Canada, and particularly in BC, has gained international recognition in part through events such as the Toronto International Film Festival, Montreal World Film Festival, and Vancouver International Film Festival. According to the Motion Picture Association — Canada (2013) these festivals attracted an estimated audience of 1.9 million in 2011, as well as over 18,000 industry delegates. Festival operations, visitor spending, and delegate spending combined totalled \$163 million that year and generated 2,000 jobs (full-time equivalents).
There are no statistics available on film-induced tourism in Canada, but several notable feature films and television series have been shot here and have drawn loyal fans to production locations. In BC, some of these titles include Reindeer Games and Double Jeopardy (Prince George), Roxanne (Nelson), The Pledge (Fraser Canyon), Battlestar Galactica (Kamloops), The Twilight Saga, Smallville, and Supernatural (Greater Vancouver).
Spotlight On: The Whistler Film Festival
Founded in 2001, the Whistler Film Festival has grown to become one of Canada’s premier events for promoting the development of Western Canada’s film industry and an emerging venue in the international circuit. The festival, held during the first weekend in December, attracts an audience of over 8,200 and more than 500 industry delegates to the ski resort of Whistler, British Columbia, for seminars, special events, and the screening of over 80 independent films from Canada and around the world. For more information, visit the Whistler Film Festival website.
Spectator Sports and Sport Tourism
Spectator sports and the growing field of sport tourism also contribute significantly to the economy and have become a major part of the tourism industry. According to the Canadian Sport Tourism Alliance (2013), sport tourism is any activity in which people are attracted to a particular location to attend a sport-related event as either a:
• Participant
• Spectator
• Visitor to sport attractions or delegate of sports sector meetings
In 2012, the sport tourism industry in Canada surpassed \$5 billion in spending. The domestic market is the largest source of sport tourists, accounting for 84% of all spending, followed by overseas markets (10.8%) and US visitors (5.3% of sport tourism revenues) (Canadian Sport Tourism Alliance, 2014).
Spotlight On: Canadian Sport Tourism Alliance
The Canadian Sport Tourism Alliance (CSTA) was created in 2000 to market Canada internationally as a preferred sport tourism destination and grow the sport tourism industry in Canada. The purpose of the alliance was to increase Canadian capacity to attract and host sport tourism events. The alliance has over 400 members including 142 municipalities, 200+ national and provincial sport organizations, and a variety of product and service suppliers to the industry. For more information, visit the Canadian Sport Tourism Alliance website.
In British Columbia, sport tourism is supported through the Ministry of Community, Sport and Cultural Development, which invests in event hosting and the ViaSport program (formerly known as Hosting BC). Building on the success of the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, the program has a goal to maintain BC’s profile and reputation as an exceptional major event host. One success story is Kamloops, dubbed the Tournament Capital of Canada, which has made sport tourism a central component of its economy and welcomes over one million visitors to its tournament centre facility each year. And since 1977, the BC Winter and Summer Games have moved around the province, drawing attendees and creating volunteer opportunities for up to 3,200 community members.
Take a Closer Look: The Sport Tourism Guide
The Sport Tourism Guide from Destination BC’s Tourism Business Essentials series covers topics including understanding sport tourism, industry trends, event bidding and hosting, balance sheets, economic impacts, case studies, best practices, and links to additional information. For more information, read the Sport Tourism Guide [PDF].
Gaming
According to the Canadian Gaming Association, gaming is one of the largest entertainment industries in Canada. It has larger revenues than those generated by magazines and book sales, drinking establishments, spectator sports, movie theatres, and performing arts combined (Canadian Gaming Association, 2011).
Figure 6.6 Vancouver’s Edgewater Casino, which shut down in 2017.
In 2017, the association released an national economic benefits report stating that the industry produced a total of \$17.1 billion in annual revenue and reinforced that gaming is an important employer in addition to providing significant economic returns to Canadians (Canadian Gaming Association, 2017).
The British Columbia Lottery Corporation (BCLC) is a Crown Corporation that manages socially responsible gaming in BC. According to the BC Lottery Corporation in 2019, the BCLC, via multiple betting channels and distribution channels, provided:
• 17 casino facilities
• two main horse racetracks
• approximately 3,528 lottery outlets (retailers)
• 3 bingo halls including 18 community gaming centres (or CGCs)
Gaming at these facilities and online generated \$1.4 billion in net tax revenue to the province of BC, which was reinvested into the heath care system and distributed to communities through a series of grants (BC Lottery Corporation, 2019).
Spotlight on: The BC Lottery Corporation (BCLC)
The BC Lottery Corporation (BCLC) is a provincial Crown corporation that operates under the provincial Gaming Control Act. It is responsible for operating lottery, casino, online, and bingo gaming in BC. For more information, visit the BC Lottery Corporation website.
The gaming industry is growing and the BCLC monitors the marketplace, noting that consumer behaviour and expectations are shifting. Advances in technologies allow consumers to enjoy more digital gaming experiences while those looking for more social interaction can enjoy land based casino gambling with enhanced amenities such as expanded food and beverage options. (BC Lottery Corporation, 2019).
Agritourism, Culinary Tourism, and Wine Tourism
Let’s now have a closer look at the world of farms, food and wine in the entertainment and tourism industries.
Agritourism
The Canadian Farm Business Management Council defines agritourism as “travel that combines rural settings with products of agricultural operations within a tourism experience that is paid for by visitors” (SOTC, 2011). In other words, rural and natural environments are mixed with agricultural and tourism products and services.
Agritourism products and services can be categorized into three themes:
1. Fixed attractions such as historic farms, living farms, museums, food processing facilities, and natural areas
2. Events based on an agricultural theme such as conferences, rodeos, agricultural fairs, and food festivals
3. Services such as accommodations (B&Bs), tours, retailing (farm produce and products), and activities (fishing, hiking, etc.) that incorporate agricultural products and/or experiences
The local food movement is growing in popularity; agritourism presents a great opportunity to use farm resources to create experiences for visitors, whether they be for entertainment, education, or as venues for business/meeting events. In BC, examples of agritourism businesses include Salt Spring Island Cheese, and the Okanagan Lavender and Herb Farm near Kelowna (HelloBC, 2014).
The three primary agricultural regions in BC are:
1. The Fraser Valley (outside of Vancouver)
2. The Cowichan Valley (on Vancouver Island)
3. The Okanagan Valley (in the southern central part of BC)
A number of self-guided circle tours and other experiences are available in these and other areas, including annual festivals and events. Some examples of farm tours can be viewed at the BC Agriculture in the Classroom Foundation.
Culinary Tourism
Culinary tourism refers to “any tourism experience in which one learns about, appreciates, and/or consumes food and drink that reflects the local, regional, or national cuisine, heritage, culture, tradition, or culinary techniques” (Ontario Culinary Tourism Alliance, 2013). The United Nations World Tourism Organization has noted that food tourism is a dynamic and growing segment, and that over one-third of tourism expenditures relate to food (UNWTO, 2012).
Culinary tourism in Canada began to gain traction as a niche in 2002 when Destination Canada, formerly the Canadian Tourism Commission, highlighted it within the cultural tourism market. According to a Ryerson University study, the average culinary tourist spends twice the amount of a generic tourist (Grishkewich, 2012).
For examples of farm fresh meals, artisan drinks etc. visit the Hello BC visitor web page Food, Drink and Wellness. Organizations such as the UNWTO see food-making and wine-making as a key part of maintaining and preserving cultural traditions in addition to promoting local economic development. Culinary (or sometimes referred to as gastronomy) tourism and wine tourism are closely related and often promoted together. Wine tourism will be explored next.
Wine Tourism
The North American Industrial Classification System (NAICS) defines wine tourism as the “tasting, consumption, or purchase of wine, often at or near the source, such as wineries.” It also includes an educational aspect and festivals focusing on the production of wine (Agriculture and Agri-food Canada, 2014).
According to the 2015 Wine Tourism in Canada report [PDF], Canada welcomes over 3 million visitors annually to 550 Canadian wineries with an annual annual economic impact worth 6.8 billion. Nationally three key grape regions exist: British Columbia, Ontario and Nova Scotia with the majority of production in Ontario and British Columbia (Canadian Vintners Association/Tourism Industry of Canada, 2015).
Similar to France’s AOC and Italy’s DOC wine production quality controls, BC and Ontario use VQA (Vintners Quality Alliance) to assure quality and knowledge the wine is grown and produced.
Figure 6.7 Saturna Vineyards on Saturna Island, B.C.
The BC wine industry has grown significantly since the 90’s when only around 17 wineries were in existence. Today, there are more than 280 wineries in BC, ranging from small family-run vineyards to large estate operations. According to the British Columbia Wine Institute’s quick facts, BC’s wine industry generated \$2.8 billion in 2019 to the provincial economy and welcomes over a million visitors annually (British Columbia Wine Institute, 2020).
Canada makes great wine, which is a surprise to many international visitors. Many think of Canada as cold and snowy and just too cool to produce great wine. However, BC’s combination of extreme heat during the warmer months and cooler winters creates intense, fruit forward quality wines. BC wines receive many prestigious international wine awards (British Columbia Wine Industry, 2019).
Take a Closer Look: Wine & Food Tourism Strategy 2016-2019
For more information on the wine and food sectors in British Columbia, read this 2016 report that speaks to the wine and food tourist, industry key insights and other important information: British Columbia Wine Institute Wine and Food Tourism Strategy 2016–2019 [PDF] found on the Wines of British Columbia website.
Industry experts agree that agritourism, culinary tourism, and wine tourism will continue to attract lucrative visitors and play a growing role in BC’s tourism economy. | textbooks/workforce/Hospitality/Introduction_to_Tourism_and_Hospitality_in_BC_2e_(Westcott_and_Anderson)/06%3A_Events_Culture_Heritage_and_Sport_(Entertainment)/6.03%3A_Attractions.txt |
So far in this chapter, we’ve looked at entertainment experiences from wine to gambling, from farm-fresh foods to museums and galleries, and at many things in between. But the entertainment sector doesn’t exist in a perfect world. Now let’s examine some of the trends and issues in the sector today. Festivals, events, and other entertainment experiences can have significant positive and negative impacts on communities and guests.
Impacts of Entertainment
Each type of festival, event, or attraction will have an impact on the host community and guests. Table 6.2 lists some of the positive impacts that can be built upon and celebrated. It also lists some of the potential negative impacts event coordinators should strive to limit.
Table 6.2 Positive and negative impacts of entertainment activities (festivals, events, attractions) on the guest and host communities
[Skip Table]
Type of Impact Positive Impacts Negative Impacts
Social and Cultural
• Shared experience
• Revitalizing traditions
• Building community pride
• Assisting community groups
• Expanding cultural perspectives
• Community alienation
• Negative community image
• Bad behaviour
• Substance abuse or addiction
• Social dislocation
Physical and Environmental
• Increasing environmental awareness
• Ensuring infrastructure legacy
• Improved transport/communications
• Urban transformation and renewal
• Climate change
• Environmental damage
• Pollution
• Destruction of heritage
• Noise disturbance
• Traffic congestion
Political
• International prestige
• Improved profile
• Promotion of investment in the host community
• Social cohesion
• Development of event/administrative skills
• Risk of event failure
• Misallocation of funds
• Lack of accountability
• Propaganda purposes
• Loss of ownership and control
• Legitimization of political ideology
Tourist and Economic
• Destination promotion
• Increased tourist visits
• Extended length of visitor stay
• Higher economic yield
• Increased tax revenue
• Permanent and temporary job creation
• Community resistance to tourism
• Loss of authenticity
• Damage to reputation
• Exploitation
• Inflated prices
• Opportunity costs
Technology
The role of technology has shifted much of the guest experience from the physical to the virtual. Online gambling, virtual exhibits, and live streaming animal habitat cams are just a few of the new ways that visitors can be entertained, often without having to visit the destination. As this type of experience continues to thrive, the sector must constantly adapt to capture revenues and attention.
6.05: Conclusion
Across Canada and within BC, the range of activities to entertain and delight travellers runs from authentic explorations of cultural phenomena to pure amusement. Those working in the entertainment tourism sector know that providing a friendly, welcoming experience is a key component in sustaining any tourism destination. Whether through festivals, events, attractions, or new virtual components, the tourism industry relies on entertainment to complete packages and ensure guests, whether business or leisure travellers, increase their spending and enjoyment.
Thus far we’ve explored the key sectors of transportation, accommodation, food and beverage, and recreation and entertainment. The final sector, travel services, brings these all together, and is explored in more detail in Chapter 7.
Key Terms
• Agritourism: tourism experiences that highlight rural destinations and prominently feature agricultural operations
• Art museums: museums that collect historical and modern works of art for educational purposes and to preserve them for future generations
• Botanical garden: a garden that displays native and/or non-native plants and trees, often running educational programming
• British Columbia Lottery Corporation (BCLC): the rown corporation responsible for operating casinos, lotteries, bingo halls, and online gaming in the province of BC
• Business Events Industry Coalition of Canada (BEICC): an advocacy group for the meetings and events industry in Canada
• Canadian Sport Tourism Alliance (CSTA): created in 2000, an industry organization funded by the Canadian Tourism Commission to increase Canadian capacity to attract and host sport tourism events
• Community gaming centres (CGCs): small-scale gaming establishments, typically in the form of bingo halls
• Conferences: business events that have specific themes and are held for smaller, focused groups
• Conventions: business events that generally have very large attendance, are held annually in different locations each year, and usually require a bidding process
• Culinary tourism: tourism experiences where the key focus is on local and regional food and drink, often highlighting the heritage of products involved and techniques associated with their production
• Cultural/heritage tourism: when tourists travel to a specific destination in order to participate in a cultural or heritage-related event
• Entertainment: (as it relates to tourism) includes attending festivals, events, fairs, spectator sports, zoos, botanical gardens, historic sites, cultural venues, attractions, museums, and galleries
• Event: a happening at a given place and time, usually of some importance, celebrating or commemorating a special occasion; can include mega-events, special events, hallmark events, festivals, and local community events
• Festival: a public event that features multiple activities in celebration of a culture, an anniversary or historical date, art form, or product (food, timber, etc.)
• Incentive travel: a global management tool that uses an exceptional travel experience to motivate and/or recognize participants for increased levels of performance in support of organizational goals
• International Festivals and Events Association (IFEA): organization that supports professionals who produce and support celebrations for the benefit of their respective communities
• Meetings, conventions, and incentive travel (MCIT): all special events with programming aimed at a business audience
• Meeting Professionals International (MPI): a membership-based professional development organization for meeting and event planners
• Public galleries: art galleries that do not generally collect or conserve works of art; rather, they focus on exhibitions of contemporary works as well as on programs of lectures, publications, and other events
• Society for Incentive Travel Excellence (SITE): a global network of professionals dedicated to the recognition and development of motivational incentives and performance improvement
• Sport tourism: any activity in which people are attracted to a particular location as a participant, spectator, or visitor to sport attractions, or as an attendee of sport-related business meetings
• Tourist attraction: place of interest that pulls visitors to a destination and is open to the public for entertainment or education
• Trade shows/trade fairs: can be stand-alone events, or adjoin a convention or conference and allow a range of vendors to showcase their products and services either to other businesses or to consumers
• Wine tourism: tourism experiences where exploration, consumption, and purchase of wine are key components
Exercises
1. Review the categories of events. What types of events have you ever attended in person? What types of events are held in your community? Try to list at least one for each category.
2. Should the government (municipal, provincial, federal) support festivals and events? Why or why not?
3. Aside from convention centres, where else can meetings, conventions, and conferences be held? Use your own creative ideas to list at least five other venues.
4. What are some of the main sources of revenue for attractions (both mainstream and cultural/heritage attractions)? What are the main expenses?
5. Should private sector investors receive government funding for tourism entertainment facilities? Should they be required to contribute their revenues to the community? Why or why not?
6. Name a cultural or heritage attraction in your community. Where does its revenue come from? What are its major expenses? Who are its target markets? Based on this information, make three key recommendations for sustaining its business.
7. Do you agree with certain animal rights groups that zoos should be shut down? Why or why not?
Case Study: Merridale Estate Cidery
Purchased by husband and wife team Janet Docherty and Rick Pipes in 2000, Merridale Estate Cidery is located in the Cowichan Valley on Vancouver Island. The cidery itself was established by the previous owner in 1990 who planted apple trees in the location, which is considered ideal by many for its terrain and climate. With the purchase of the cidery, Janet and Rick undertook an extensive renovation in order to transform the facility into an agritourism attraction. They expanded the cellar and tasting rooms and created the Cider House in 2003 from which they began running tours and tastings. From there they added:
• The Farmhouse Store with retail sales of their cider product, local agriculture products, and BC arts and crafts
• The Bistro and Orchard Cookhouse, two distinct food and beverage operations
• The Brick Oven Bakery (producing artisanal baked goods in its on-site brick oven)
• Yurts (two cabin-style tents) for onsite accommodation
The cidery is now a destination for special events such as weddings. It also runs an InCider Club for frequent purchasers of its products.
Visit the Merridale website and answer the following questions:
1. What is Merridale’s core business?
2. Who are its customers?
3. Merridale comprises food and beverage, retail, accommodations, and is an attraction. How would you classify it as a tourism operation?
4. Is Merridale a seasonal operation? What would you consider to be its peak season? How has it extended revenue-earning opportunities?
5. Merridale’s slogan is “Apples Expressed.” Does this tagline capture its essence? Why or why not?
6. Consider Merridale’s products, experiences, and markets. What partners should the cidery work with, either globally or locally, to attract business? Name at least three.
7. Do you think Merridale should add components, or eliminate components, from its business? Explain your answer. | textbooks/workforce/Hospitality/Introduction_to_Tourism_and_Hospitality_in_BC_2e_(Westcott_and_Anderson)/06%3A_Events_Culture_Heritage_and_Sport_(Entertainment)/6.04%3A_Trends_and_Issues.txt |
The travel services sector helps travellers arrange and reserve their vacation or business trips (StatsCan, 2018). This sector is made up of businesses and organizations that work in a coordinated effort to provide travellers with seamless arrangements to maximize their travel experience. Go2HR describes travel services experiences and employment opportunities as follows:
Within this sector, you have the flexibility of working in various capacities with event and conference planning organizations, travel companies and organizations, as well as associations, government agencies and companies that specialize in serving the needs of the tourism sector as a whole. (go2HR, Essential Tips – Travel Services, 2020)
Before we move on, let’s explore the term travel services a little more. As detailed in Chapter 1, Canada, the United States, and Mexico have used the NAICS guidelines, which define the tourism industry as consisting of transportation, accommodation, food and beverage, recreation and entertainment, and travel services (Tourism HR Canada, 2020). These five sectors are defined and further detailed in B.C. by the B.C. government (BC Government, 2014) and go2HR on their website (go2HR, Career Explorer, 2020).
For many years, however, the tourism industry was classified into eight sectors: accommodations, adventure and recreation, attractions, events and conferences, food and beverage, tourism services, transportation, and travel trade (Yukon Department of Tourism and Culture, 2020; go2HR, 2020, What is Tourism? – Travel Services).
Figure 7.1 The homepage of HelloBC.com, a site where consumers can research and plan their trip to British Columbia.
Tourism services support industry development and the delivery of guest experiences, and some of these are missing from the NAICS classification. To ensure you have a complete picture of the tourism industry in BC, this chapter will cover both the NAICS travel services activities and some additional tourism services.
First, we’ll review the components of travel services as identified under NAICS, as well as exploring popular careers within:
1. Travel agencies (brick and mortar)
2. Online Travel Agencies/OTA
3. Tour operators
4. Destination marketing organizations (DMOs)
5. Other Organizations
Following these definitions and descriptions, we’ll take a look at some other support functions that fall under tourism services. These include sector organizations, tourism and hospitality human resources organizations, training providers, educational institutions, government branches and ministries, economic development and city planning offices, and consultants.
Finally, we’ll look at issues and trends in travel services, both at home, and abroad.
While the application of travel services functions are structured somewhat differently around the world, there are a few core types of travel services in every destination. Essentially, travel services are those processes used by guests to book components of their trip. Let’s explore these services in more detail.
Travel Agencies
Figure 7.2 A travel agency in the United Kingdom.
A travel agency is a business that operates as the intermediary between the travel industry (supplier) and the traveller (purchaser). Part of the role of the travel agency is to market prepackaged travel tours and holidays to potential travellers. The agency can further function as a broker between the traveller and hotels, car rentals, and tour companies (Goeldner & Ritchie, 2003). Travel agencies can be small and privately owned or part of a larger entity.
A travel agent is the direct point of contact for a traveller who is researching and intending to purchase packages and experiences through an agency. Travel agents can specialize in certain types of travel including specific destinations; outdoor adventures; and backpacking, rail, cruise, cycling, or culinary tours, to name a few. These specializations can help travellers when they require advice about their trips. Some travel agents operate at a fixed address and others offer services both online and at a bricks-and-mortar location. Travellers are then able to have face-to-face conversations with their agents and also reach them by phone or by email. To promote professionalism within the travel industry, travel counsellors can apply for a specialized diploma or certificate in travel from ACTA (ACTA, 2020a; go2HR, 2020a).
Today, travellers have the option of researching and booking everything they need online without the help of a travel agent. As technology and the internet are increasingly being used to market destinations, people can now choose to book tours with a particular agency or agent, or they can be identified as seeking Domestic Independent Travel (DIT) or Foreign Independent Travel (FIT), by creating their own itineraries from a number of suppliers.
Online Travel Agents (OTAs)
Increasing numbers of travellers are turning to online travel agents (OTAs), companies that aggregate accommodations and transportation options and allow users to choose one or many components of their trip based on price or other incentives. Examples of OTAs include iTravel2000, Booking.com, Expedia.ca, Hotwire.com, and Kayak.com. OTAs continue to gain popularity with the travelers; in 2012, they reported online sales of almost \$100 billion (Carey, Kang, & Zea, 2012) and almost triple that figure, upward of \$278 billion, in 2013 (The Economist, 2014).
In early 2015 Expedia purchased Travelocity for \$280 million, merging two of the world’s largest travel websites. Expedia became the owner of Hotels.com, Hotwire, Egencia, and Travelocity brands, facing its major competition from Priceline (Alba, 2015).
Although OTAs can provide lower-cost travel options to travellers and the freedom to plan and reserve when they choose, they have posed challenges for the tourism industry and travel services infrastructure. As evidenced by the merger of Expedia and Travelocity, the majority of popular OTA sites are owned by just a few companies, causing some concern over lack of competition between brands. Additionally, many OTAs charge accommodation providers and operators a commission to be listed in their inventory system. Commission-based services, as applied by Kayak, Expedia, Hotwire, Hotels.com, and others, can have an impact on smaller operators who cannot afford to pay commissions for multiple online inventories (Carey, Kang & Zea, 2012). Being excluded from listings can decrease the marketing reach of the product to potential travellers, which is a challenge when many service providers in the tourism industry are small or medium-sized businesses with budgets to match.
While the industry and communities struggle to keep up with the changing dynamics of travel sales, travellers are adapting to this new world order. One of these adaptations is the ever-increasing use of mobile devices for travel booking. The Expedia Future of Travel Report found that 49% of travellers from the millennial generation (which includes those born between 1980 and 1999) use mobile devices to book travel (Expedia Inc., 2014), and these numbers are expected to continue to increase. Travel agencies are reacting by developing personalized features for digital travellers and mobile user platforms (ETC Digital, 2014). With the number of smartphone users expected to reach 1.75 billion in 2014 (CWT Travel Management Institute, 2014) these agencies must adapt as demand dictates.
Figure 7.3 This is what a computer looked like in 1996. Less than 25 years later, you can access the world from your mobile phone.
A key feature of travel agencies’ (and to a growing extent transportation carriers) mobile services includes the ability to have up-to-date itinerary changes and information sent directly to consumers’ phones (Amadeus, 2014). By using mobile platforms that can develop customized, up-to-date travel itineraries for clients, agencies and operators are able to provide a personal touch, ideally increasing customer satisfaction rates.
Take a Closer Look: PATA — The Future of Travel is Personalisation at Scale
“The industry has changed monumentally over the past decade. The rise of meta-search websites and sharing economy services like Airbnb is giving travellers more control and choice than ever before. However, this is nothing compared to the changes that are on the horizon as technologies like mobile, AR, AI, and VR become mainstream.
One thing is certain; the pace of change is accelerating. Against this backdrop, the travel industry as a whole will need to fundamentally shift its focus to continuous innovation.” (PATA, 2019)
Despite the growth and demand for OTAs, brick and mortar travel agencies are still in demand by travellers (IBISWorld, 2019) as they have both an online presence and physical locations. The COVID-19 pandemic may see an increase in travellers relying on personal contact with brick and mortar travel agencies but at a distance through mail and phone.
Tour Operators
Figure 7.4 A group tours the Columbia ice field in Alberta.
A tour operator packages all or most of the components of an offered trip and then sells them to the traveller. These packages can also be sold through retail outlets or travel agencies (CATO, 2020; Goeldner & Ritchie, 2003). Tour operators work closely with hotels, transportation providers, and attractions in order to purchase large volumes of each component and package these at a better rate than the traveller could if purchasing individually. Tour operators generally sell to the leisure market.
Inbound, Outbound, and Receptive Tour Operators
Tour operators may be inbound, outbound, or receptive:
• Inbound tour operators bring travellers into a country as a group or through individual tour packages (e.g., a package from China to visit Canada).
• Outbound tour operators work within a country to take travellers to other countries (e.g., a package from Canada to the United Kingdom).
• Receptive tour operators (RTOs) are not travel agents, and they do not operate the tours. They represent the various products of tourism suppliers to tour operators in other markets in a business-to-business (B2B) relationship. Receptive tour operators are key to selling packages to overseas markets (Destination BC, 2020) and creating awareness around possible product.
Destination Marketing Organizations
Destination marketing organizations (DMOs) include national tourism boards, state/provincial tourism offices, and community convention and visitor bureaus around the world. DMOs promote “the long-term development and marketing of a destination, focusing on convention sales, tourism marketing and service” (Destinations BC, 2020).
Spotlight On: Destinations International
Destinations International is the global trade association for official DMOs. It is made up of over 600 official DMOs in 15 countries around the world. DMAI provides its members with information, resources, research, networking opportunities, professional development, and certification programs. For more information, visit the Destinations International website.
With the proliferation of other planning and booking channels, including OTAs, today’s DMOs are shifting away from travel services functions and placing a higher priority on destination management components.
Working Together
One way tour operators, DMOs, and travel agents work together is by participating in familiarization tours (FAMs for short). These are usually hosted by the local DMO and include visits to different tour operators within a region. FAM attendees can be media, travel agents, RTO representatives, and tour operator representatives. FAMs are frequently low to no cost for the guests as the purpose is to orient them to the tour product or experience so they can promote or sell it to potential guests.
Other Organizations
The majority of examples in this chapter so far have pertained to leisure travellers. There are, however, specialty organizations that deal specifically with business trips.
Spotlight On: Global Business Travel Association (GBTA) Canada
“GBTA Canada is the voice of the Canadian business travel industry. We believe in providing the business travel and meetings community with a global platform to serve as a resource library for their peers, to implement world-class Conferences, workshops and virtual meetings, and to foster an interactive network of innovation and support.” The GBTA state that their economic impact contributes \$23.5 billion CAD in Canadian business travel (Economic Impact Study) and “\$435+ billion CAD of business travel and meetings expenditures represented globally.” Visit the GBTA website.
Business Travel Planning and Reservations
Unlike leisure trips, which are generally planned and booked by end consumers using their choice of tools, business travel often involves a travel management company, or its online tools. Travel managers negotiate with suppliers and ensure that all the trip components are cost effective and comply with the policies of the organization.
Many business travel planners rely on global distribution systems (GDS) to price and plan components. GDS combine information from a group of suppliers, such as airlines. In the past, this has created a chain of information from the supplier to GDS to the travel management company. Today, however, there is a push from airlines (through the International Air Transport Association’s Resolution 787) to dissolve the GDS model and forge direct relationships with buyers (BTN Group, 2014).
Destination Management Companies
According to the Association of Destination Management Executives International (ADMEI), a destination management company (DMC) specializes in designing and implementing corporate programs, and “is a strategic partner to provide creative local experiences in event management, tours/activities, transportation, entertainment, and program logistics” (ADMEI, 2020). The packages produced by DMCs are extraordinary experiences rather than general business trips. These are typically used as employee incentives, corporate retreats, product launches, and loyalty programs. DMCs are the one point of contact for the client corporation, arranging for airfare, airport transfers, ground transportation, meals, special activities, and special touches such as branded signage, gifts, and decor (ADMEI, 2020). The end user is simply given (or awarded) the package and then liaises with the DMC to ensure particular arrangements meet his or her needs and schedule.
As you can see, travel services range from online to personal, and from leisure to business applications. Now that you have a general sense of the components of travel services, let’s look at some examples in Canada and BC. | textbooks/workforce/Hospitality/Introduction_to_Tourism_and_Hospitality_in_BC_2e_(Westcott_and_Anderson)/07%3A_Travel_Services/7.01%3A_Components_of_Travel_Services.txt |
Travel Agencies
Travel agencies are the retail side of the industry. Working in cooperation with suppliers throughout the distribution chain, travel agencies provide an important link for the consumer to connect with the best options for a successful trip. Planning vacations or business trips can be complicated matters and qualified agents can help the traveller with professional services.
In British Columbia and elsewhere in Canada, advocacy for travel service organizations and professional certification for individuals is provided by the Association of Canadian Travel Agencies (ACTA). ACTA is an industry-led, membership-based organization that aims to ensure customers have professional and meaningful counselling. Membership is optional, but it does offer the benefit of ensuring customers receive the required services and that the travel agencies have a membership board for reference and industry resources (ACTA, 2020b).
Spotlight On: Travelcuts Travel Agency
Travelcuts is 100% Canadian owned and operated. As a student, you may have seen its locations on or around campus. With a primary audience of post-secondary students, professors, and alumni, Travel CUTS specializes in backpack-style travel to a variety of destinations. It is a full-service travel agency that can help find flights for travel, book tours with a variety of companies including GAdventures or Intrepid Travel, assist in booking hostels or hotels, and even help with a “Live and Work Abroad” program. For more information, visit Travelcuts website.
Although travel agencies may be located in a specific community, the agencies and their representatives may operate internationally, within Canada, within BC, or across regions. In Vancouver alone there are over 650 travel agencies available to the searching traveller (Travel Agents in BC, 2020). Examples of some of the more recognized larger travel agencies and agents operating in BC include the British Columbia Automobile Association (BCAA), Marlin Travel, and Flight Centre.
Tour Operators
Many different types of tour operators work across BC and Canada. Tour operators can specialize in any sector or a combination of sectors. A company may focus on ski experiences, as is the case with Destination Snow, or perhaps wine tours in the Okanagan, which is the specialty of Distinctly Kelowna Tours. These operators specialize in one area but there are others that work with many different service providers.
Spotlight On: Canadian Association of Tour Operators
The Canadian Association of Tour Operators (CATO) is a membership-based organization that serves as the voice of the tour operator segment and engages in professional development and networking in the sector. For more information, visit the Canadian Association of Tour Operators website.
Tour operators can vary in size, niche market, and operation capacity (time of year). An example of a niche BC tour operator is Prince of Whales Whale Watching in Victoria. Prince of Whales offers specialty whale-watching tours year-round in a variety of boat sizes, working with the local DMO and other local booking agents to sell tours as part of packages or as a stand-alone service to travellers. It also works to sell its product directly to the potential traveller through its website, reservation number, and in-person sales agents (Prince of Whales, 2020).
Figure 7.5 Whales off of Victoria, B.C.
An example of a large RTO representing Canada is Jonview. Operators of all kinds frequently work closely with a number of destination marketing organizations, as evidenced during Canada’s West Marketplace, which is a trade marketplace hosted by Destination BC and Travel Alberta. Each year the location of the marketplace alternates between Alberta and BC (past locations have included Kelowna and Canmore). This event provides an opportunity for Alberta and BC sellers (tour operators, local accommodation, activities, and DMOs) to sell their products to international RTOs who in turn work with international tour operators and travel agents to repackage the travel products. In a span of 10-minute sessions, sellers market and promote their products in hopes of having an RTO pick up the package for future years.
On a national scale, Rendez-vous Canada is a tourism marketplace presented by the Destination Canada (formally the Canadian Tourism Commission) that brings together more than 1,500 tourism professionals from around the world for a series of 12- minute sessions where they can learn more about Canadian tours and related services (Canadian Tourism Commission, 2020).
Let’s now look a little closer at the role of BC destination marketing organizations (DMOs) in providing travel services.
Destination Marketing Organizations
At the national level, Destination Canada is responsible for strategic marketing of the country. It works with industry and government while providing resources for small and medium-sized businesses in the form of toolkits. In BC, there a variety of travel service providers available to help with the planning process including Destination BC/HelloBC, regional destination marketing organizations (RDMOs), and local DMOs.
Destination BC/HelloBC
HelloBC is the official travel service platform of Destination BC, British Columbia’s provincial DMO. HelloBC.com offers access to festival activities, accommodation, transportation options, and trip ideas. This website is complemented by a social media presence on TripAdvisors (HelloBC, 2014a).
To assist with trip planning, HelloBC features a booking agent system, offering discounts and special deals created in partnership with operators. Although the site can process these value-added components, it does not handle accommodation bookings, instead directing the interested party to the reservation system of a chosen provider.
Figure 7.6 Cyclists make a stop at a Visitor Centre, identifiable by its distinctive blue and yellow logo.
In addition to operating HelloBC, Destination BC also oversees a network of 136 Visitor Centres that can be identified by the blue and yellow logo. These are a source of itinerary information for the FIT and a purchase point for travellers wishing to book trip components (HelloBC, 2014b,c).
Regional Destination Marketing Organizations
BC is divided into six regional destination marketing organizations, or RDMOs: these are: Vancouver, Coast, & Mountains; Vancouver Island; Thompson Okanagan; Northern British Columbia; Cariboo Chilcotin Coast; and the Kootenay Rockies (HelloBC, 2020d). Along with Destination BC, these RDMOs work to market their designated region.
Figure 7.7 A tour group in the Kootenay Rockies.
Housed within the HelloBC online platform, each RDMO has an online presence and travel guide specific to the region as well as a regional social media presence. These guides are important as they allow regional operators to participate in the guide and consumer website in order to encourage visitation to the area and build their tourism operations.
Take a Closer Look: BC’s Regional DMOs
For more information on each RMDO, visit the following consumer and industry websites. Similar to Destination Canada and Destination BC these DMOs provide services for both consumers (travellers) and industry.
Vancouver Island
Consumer: Vancouver Island
Industry: Vancouver Island
Thompson Okanagan
Consumer: Okanagan
Industry: Okanagan
Northern British Columbia
Consumer: Northern BC
Industry: Northern BC
Cariboo Chilcotin Coast
Consumer: Cariboo Chilcotin Coast
Industry: Cariboo Chilcotin Coast
Kootenay Rockies
Consumer: Kootenay Rockies
Industry: Kootenay Rockies
Community Destination Marketing Organizations
Community destination marketing organizations (CDMOs) are responsible for marketing a specific destination or area, such as Whistler or Kimberley. Travel services typically offered include hotel search engines, specific destination packages and offers, discounts, events and festival listings, and other information of interest to potential visitors. In the absence of a CDMO, sometimes these services are provided by the local chamber of commerce or economic development office.
Spotlight On: Tourism Tofino
Tourism Tofino is the local DMO for the Tofino area, located on the west side of Vancouver Island. Tofino is a destination region that attracts travellers to Pacific Rim National Park, surfing opportunities, storm watching, and the Pacific Ocean. As part of its marketing tactics, Tourism Tofino offers visitors key planning tools on the landing site. To encourage shoulder season visitation, storm-watching deals are highlighted, which also allows visitors to inquire directly with the accommodation provider and/or tour operator. For more information, visit the Tourism Tofino website.
Complementing BC’s Visitor Centre network mentioned earlier, local visitor centres are managed by individual communities. Visitor centres may be housed in gateway buildings at strategic locations, in historic or cultural buildings, or at an office located in town.
Other Systems and Organizations
A number of customized and targeted reservation systems are used by BC DMOs and other organizations. One example is the BC campground reservation online booking systems. BC Parks, Parks Canada, and private campground operators all use different proprietary reservation systems. Both BC Parks reservations and Parks Canada reservations open on a specific date in the spring for bookings later in the year. These systems let visitors review what a site looks like through photos or video and pick which site they would like to book in the campground. Many campgrounds also offer a first-come-first-served system, as well as overflow sites, to accommodate visitors who may not have reserved a site.
In the business market, there are several companies in BC and Canada that facilitate planning and booking. SAP Concur is an example of a expense management company widely used in British Columbia and Canada by organizations including CIBC, Kellogg’s, and Pentax. It provides services including efficiency software for use by employees, expense and invoicing software for use by managers, and a mobile application that ensures clients can take the technology on the go. Its services have contributed to client savings, such as reducing the travel expenses (Concur, 2020).
So far we’ve looked at travel services as defined by go2HR and NAICS. Next let’s have a closer look at additional services generally considered to be part of the tourism economy. | textbooks/workforce/Hospitality/Introduction_to_Tourism_and_Hospitality_in_BC_2e_(Westcott_and_Anderson)/07%3A_Travel_Services/7.02%3A_Travel_Services_in_Canada_andBC.txt |
Many organizations can have a hand in tourism development. These include:
• Sector-specific associations
• Tourism and hospitality human resources organizations
• Training providers
• Educational institutions
• Government branches and ministries in land use, planning, development, environmental, transportation, consumer protection, and other related fields
• Economic development and city planning offices
• Consultants
The rest of this section describes Canadian and BC-based examples of these.
Sector-Specific Associations
Numerous not-for-profit and arm’s-length organizations drive the growth of specific segments of our industry. Examples of these associations can be found throughout this textbook in the Spotlight On features, and include groups like:
These can serve as regulatory bodies, advocacy agencies, certification providers, and information sources.
Tourism and Hospitality Human Resource Support
Tourism HR Canada — formally the Canadian Tourism Human Resource Council (CTHRC) — is a national sector council responsible for best practice research, training, and other professional development support on behalf of the 174,000 tourism businesses and the 1.75 million people employed in tourism-related occupations across the country. In BC, an organization called go2HR serves to educate employers on attracting, training, and retaining employees, as well as hosts a tourism job board to match prospective employees with job options in tourism around the province.
Training Providers
Throughout this textbook, you’ll see examples of not-for-profit industry associations that provide training and certification for industry professionals. For example, the Association of Canadian Travel Agents offers a full-time and distance program to train for the occupation of certified travel counsellor. Closer to home, an organization called WorldHost, a division of Destination BC, offers world-class customer service training.
You’ll learn more about training providers and tourism human resources development in Chapter 9.
Educational Institutions
British Columbia is home to a number of high-quality public and private colleges and universities that offer tourism-related educational options. Training options at these colleges and universities include certificates, diplomas, degrees and masters-level programs in adventure tourism, outdoor recreation, hospitality management, and tourism management. For example, whether students are learning how to manage a restaurant at Camosun College, gaining mountain adventure skills at College of the Rockies, or exploring the world of outdoor recreation and tourism management at the University of Northern BC, tomorrow’s workforce is being prepared by skilled instructors with solid industry experience.
Spotlight On: Emerit
Emerit is Canada’s award winning training resource developed by Tourism HR Canada in collaboration with tourism industry professionals from across Canada. For more information on Emerit, visit the go2HR website.
Government Departments
At the time this chapter was written, there were at least eight distinct provincial government ministries that had influence on tourism and hospitality development in British Columbia. These are:
• Tourism, Arts, and Culture
• Advanced Education, Skills, and Training
• Transportation and Infrastructure
• Environment & Climate Change Strategy
• Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations & Rural Development
• Indigenous Relations & Reconciliation
• Jobs, Economic Development, & Competitiveness
• Labour
• Public Safety & Solicitor General
Ministry names and responsibilities may change over time, but the functions performed by provincial ministries are critical to tourism operators and communities, as are the functions of similar departments at the federal level.
At the community level, tourism functions are often performed by planning officers, economic development officers, and chambers of commerce.
Consultants
A final, hidden layer to the travel services sector is that of independent consultants and consulting firms. These people and companies offer services to the industry in a business-to-business format, and they vary from individuals to small-scale firms to international companies. In BC, tourism-based consulting firms include:
• IntraVISTAS: specializing in aviation and transportation logistics advising
• Chemistry Consulting: specializing in human relations and labour market development
• Beattie Tartan: a public-relations and reputation management firm
For many people trained in specific industry fields, consulting offers the opportunity to give back to the industry while maintaining workload flexibility. | textbooks/workforce/Hospitality/Introduction_to_Tourism_and_Hospitality_in_BC_2e_(Westcott_and_Anderson)/07%3A_Travel_Services/7.03%3A_Tourism_Services.txt |
Now that we have an understanding of the travel and tourism services providers in BC, let’s review some of the current trends and issues in the sector.
Budgets
In the travel services sector, providers such as OTAs and business travel managers must constantly be aware of price sensitivity. Many tourism services organizations are not-for-profit entities that rely on membership dues, donations, grants, and government funding to survive. As the economic climate becomes strained and budgets are tightened, all groups are increasingly forced to demonstrate return on investment to stakeholders. As some of the benefits of travel services are difficult to define, groups must innovate and articulate or face extinction.
The challenge of budget constraints came to life in late 2014 when Destination BC announced it was shutting down its Visitor Centres at Vancouver International Airport and reviewing five other gateway locations including Peace Arch and Golden. While the airport locations welcomed over 180,000 visitors per year, analysis performed by Destination BC showed guests were asking non-tourism questions, and the centres’ value was questioned. Closing the centres at the airport, it was determined, would save \$500,000 per year — but some in the industry were left wondering why they weren’t consulted prior to the announcement (Smyth, 2014).
Technology
Figure 7.9 Tablets, laptops, and mobile phones put reservations and booking options at the traveller’s fingertips.
As discussed earlier, online travel agencies have revolutionized the sector in a short span of time. Online travel bookings and marketing accounts for roughly one-third of all global e-commerce, and according to many these continue to rattle the sector.
Take a Closer Look: The Trouble with Travel Distribution
This report, by McKinsey & Company, addresses the widespread impact of technological innovations on the travel services sector. To view the report online, see The trouble with travel distribution.
The acceptance by tech savvy travellers of online purchases will further increase the need for the industry to examine the best opportunities to reach these travellers. The interaction between humans and technology have “become more natural, contextual, and ubiquitous” and are constantly being enhanced in more ways than one (Deloitte Development LLC, 2019). Keeping in mind that travel services pertain to the planning and reserving of trip components, recent beneficial technological improvements include the following (Orfutt, 2013):
• Real-time and automated inventory management, ensuring operators and travellers alike are working with accurate information when planning and booking
• A pollution and weather detection chip that would help tour operators, transportation providers, and visitors anticipate, and plan for changes in conditions
• Personalized information presented to visitors to help them narrow their choices in the trip planning process, ensuring users are not overwhelmed with information, and making the most of limited screen size on mobile devices and tablets
• Social technologies and on-the-go information sharing, allowing users to plan at the last minute as they travel
• Virtual assistant holograms and tablets carrying information that can replace humans during the travel experience (for instance, at airport arrivals and visitor centres)
• The technical expansion of the internet into the Internet of Things (IoT), and
• The use of automated systems and robotics that provide services for the traveller.
These innovations will continue to increase as more advances are made and industry blends technology and travel experiences. This leads to significant implications for the marketing of travel products and experiences, which is explored more in Chapter 8. | textbooks/workforce/Hospitality/Introduction_to_Tourism_and_Hospitality_in_BC_2e_(Westcott_and_Anderson)/07%3A_Travel_Services/7.04%3A_Trends_and_Issues.txt |
Travellers continue to seek authentic experiences. The tools they use to research and book these experiences are constantly changing due to innovations in technology. Destinations are also challenged by limited financial resources and strong competition for tourist dollars from other iconic and even lesser known locations. The personalisation of travel suggests that independent travel will have a stronger presence than group travel, however, we must always consider the type of traveller. The travel services sector is being forced to innovate at a startling rate.
In the past, face to face consultations with a travel agent was paramount for booking both leisure and business travel. Technology and global circumstances, such as pandemics, financial collapses, and terrorism, have put pressure on tourism and travel services. With the development of OTAs and emerging and disruptive technologies, the travel services landscape is constantly changing.
So far we have discussed the elements of the five sectors of tourism: transportation, accommodation, food and beverage, recreation and entertainment, and travel services. With this foundation in place, let’s delve deeper into the industry by learning more about how these sectors are promoted to customers in Chapter 8 on services marketing.
Key Terms
• Association of Canadian Travel Agencies (ACTA): a trade organization established in 1977 to ensure high standards of customer service, engage in advocacy for the trade, conduct research, and facilitate travel agent training
• Canada’s West Marketplace: a partnership between Destination BC and Travel Alberta, showcasing BC travel products in a business-to-business sales environment
• Canadian Association of Tour Operators (CATO): a membership-based organization that serves as the voice of the tour operator segment and engages in professional development and networking in the sector
• Community destination marketing organization (CDMO): a DMO that represents a city or town
• Destination management company (DMC): a company that creates and executes corporate travel and event packages designed for employee rewards or special retreats
• Destination marketing organizations (DMOs): also known as destination management organizations; includes national tourism boards, state/provincial tourism offices, and community convention and visitor bureaus
• Familiarization tours (FAMs): tours provided to overseas travel agents, travel agencies, RTOs, and others to provide information about a certain product at no or minimal cost to participants — the short form is pronounced like the start of the word family (not as each individual letter)
• Fully independent traveller (FIT): a traveller who makes his or her own arrangements for accommodations, transportation, and tour components; is independent of a group
• HelloBC: online travel services platform of Destination BC providing information to the visitor and potential visitor for trip planning purposes
• Inbound tour operator: an operator who packages products together to bring visitors from external markets to a destination
• Online travel agent (OTA): a service that allows the traveller to research, plan, and purchase travel without the assistance of a person, using the internet on sites such as Expedia.ca or Hotels.com
• Outbound tour operator: an operator who packages and sells travel products to people within a destination who want to travel abroad
• Receptive tour operator (RTO): someone who represents the products of tourism suppliers to tour operators in other markets in a business-to-business (B2B) relationship
• Regional destination marketing organization (RDMO): in BC, one of the five DMOs that represent a specific tourism region
• Tour operator: an operator who packages suppliers together (hotel + activity) or specializes in one type of activity or product
• Tourism services: other services that work to support the development of tourism and the delivery of guest experiences
• Travel agency: a business that provides a physical location for travel planning requirements
• Travel agent: an individual who helps the potential traveller with trip planning and booking services, often specializing in specific types of travel
• Travel services: under NAICS, businesses and functions that assist with the planning and reserving components of the visitor experience
• Visitor centre: a building within a community usually placed at the gateway to an area, providing information regarding the region, travel planning tools, and other services including washrooms and Wi-Fi
Exercises
1. Explain, either in words or with a diagram, the relationship between an RTO, tour operator, and travel agent.
2. What type of services does HelloBC provide to the traveller? List regional services from your area that are currently offered.
3. Who operates the provincial network of Visitor Centres? Where are these centres located?
4. List the RDMOs operating within BC. How do each of these work to provide information to the traveller?
5. List two positives and two negatives of OTAs within the travel services industry.
6. With an increase growth in mobile technology, how are travel services adapting to suit the needs and/or demands of the traveller?
7. Choose an association that is representative of the sector you might like to work in (e.g., accommodations, food and beverage, travel services). Explore the association’s website and note three key issues it has identified and how it is responding to them.
8. Choose a local tourism or hospitality business and find out which associations it belongs to. List the associations and their membership benefits to answer the question, Why belong to this group?
Case Studies
Case Study One: BC Government Response to COVID-19 for Community Destination Marketing Organizations that participate in the Resort Municipality Initiative (RMI)
Read the news release B.C. government announces over \$10 million for resort municipalities.
1. Will or was this response be enough for the DMO’s to sustain themselves?
2. Will or was tourists return to these iconic BC tourism sites?
3. What was the impact to the local economies at these RMI destinations?
Case Study Two: Travel Agencies Operating in British Columbia
Readings:
Consumer protection is a key part of provincial and federal government departments. The travel industry in BC is licensed through the provincial governments Consumer Protection BC.
Research the website listed above to prepare a report on how this department protects travellers based on the BC Travel Industry Act.
Case Study Three: Online Travel Agents Sue Skiplagger.com
In late 2014, an online travel agent and airline combined forces to sue a 22-year-old and his company Skiplagged.com. Skiplagged helped users find less expensive flights by uncovering “hidden city” tickets. These are flights with stopovers in multiple locations, whereby the passenger gets off at one of the stopover cities rather than the final destination (Harris and Sasso, 2014). Hidden city tickets work when the cost to travel from point A to point B to point C is less expensive than a trip from point A to point B. Passengers book the entire flight but get off at the stopover. This practice is generally forbidden by airlines because of safety concerns and challenges to logistics as it renders passenger counts inaccurate, causing potential delays and fuel miscalculations. If discovered, it can result in a passenger having his or her ticket voided.
The lawsuit against Skiplagged founder Aktarer Zaman stated that the site “intentionally and maliciously … [promoted] prohibited forms of travel” (Harris and Sasso, 2014). Orbitz (an OTA) and United Airlines claimed that Zaman’s website unfairly competed with their business, while making it appear these companies were partners and endorsing the activity by linking to their websites.
Based on this case summary, answer the following questions:
1. What are the dangers and inconveniences of having passengers deplane partway through a voyage? In addition to those listed here, come up with two more.
2. Could this lawsuit and the ensuing publicity result in unintended negative consequences for United and Orbitz? What might these be?
3. On the other hand, could the suit have unintended positive results for Skiplagged.com? Try to name at least three.
4. Should Zaman be held responsible for facilitating this type of travel already in practice? Or should passengers bear the responsibility? Why or why not?
5. Imagine your flight is delayed because a passenger count is inaccurate and fuel must be recalculated. What action would you take, if any?
6. Look up the case to see what updates are available (United Airlines Inc. v. Zaman, 14-cv-9214, U.S. District Court, Northern District of Illinois (Chicago). Was the outcome what you predicted? Why or why not? | textbooks/workforce/Hospitality/Introduction_to_Tourism_and_Hospitality_in_BC_2e_(Westcott_and_Anderson)/07%3A_Travel_Services/7.05%3A_Conclusion.txt |
Figure 8.1 A vintage ad marketing the cost-effectiveness of Econo-Travel hotels from the July 1978 National Geographic. [Long Description]
Marketing is a continuous, sequential process through which management plans, researches, implements, controls, and evaluates activities designed to satisfy the customers’ needs and wants, and meet the organization’s objectives. According to Morrison (2010), services marketing “is a concept based on a recognition of the uniqueness of all services; it is a branch of marketing that specifically applies to the service industries” (p. 767). In general, the aims of marketing are to “create value for customers,” “build strong relationships” and “capture value from customers in return” (Kotler, Armstrong, Trifts, & Cunningham, 2014, p. 2).
Marketing in the tourism and hospitality industry requires an understanding of the differences between marketing goods, services, and experiences. To be successful in tourism marketing, organizations need to understand the unique characteristics of their tourism experiences, the motivations and behaviours of travelling consumers, and the fundamental differences between marketing goods, services, and experiences.
Until the 1930s, the primary objective of businesses was manufacturing, with little thought given to sales or marketing. In the 1930s, a focus on sales became more important; technological advances meant that multiple companies could produce similar goods, creating increased competition. Even as companies began to understand the importance of sales, the needs and wants of the customer remained a secondary consideration (Morrison, 2010).
In 1944, the first television commercial, for Bulova watches, reached 4,000 sets (Davis, 2013). The decades that followed, the 1950s and 1960s, are known as an era when marketing began to truly take off, with the number of mediums expanding and TV ad spending going from 5% of total TV revenues in 1953 to 15% just one year later (Davis, 2013).
Figure 8.2 A 1970s Peter Max–designed ad for the American Cancer Society, urging people to not smoke.
The era from approximately 1950 to around 1970 was known as a time of marketing orientation (Morrison, 2010). Customers had more choice in product, which required companies to shift focus to ensure that consumers knew how their products matched specific needs. This was also the time when quality of service and customer satisfaction became part of organizational strategy. We began to see companies develop internal marketing departments, and in the 1960s, the first full-service advertising agencies began to emerge.
Societal marketing emerged in the 1970s when organizations began to recognize their place in society and their responsibility to citizens (or at least the appearance thereof). This change is demonstrated, for example, by natural resource extraction companies supporting environmental management issues and implementing more transparent policies. This decade saw the emergence of media we are familiar with today (the first hand-held mobile phone was launched in 1973) and the decline of traditional marketing through vehicles such as print; the latter evidenced by the closure of LIFE Magazine in 1972 amid complaints that TV advertising was too difficult to compete with (Davis, 2013).
The 1990s ushered in the start of the online marketing era. E-commerce (electronic commerce) revolutionized every industry, perhaps impacting the travel industry most of all. Tourism and hospitality service providers began making use of this technology to optimize marketing to consumers; manage reservations; facilitate transactions; partner and package itineraries; provide (multiple) customer feedback channels; collect, mine, analyze, and sell data; and automate functions. The marketing opportunities of this era appeared limitless and paved the way for the maturation of social media marketing and a number of other marketing shifts including the increased use of big data, mobile technology, and short- and long-form video content in marketing, as well as a more empowered and engaged consumer. Table 8.1 summarizes the evolution of marketing over the last century and beyond.
Table 8.1 Evolution of marketing in the 20th century and beyond
[Skip Table]
Timeframe Marketing Era
1920–1930 Production orientation
1930–1950 Sales orientation
1950–1960 Marketing department (marketing orientation, internal agency)
1960–1970 Marketing company (marketing orientation, external agency)
1970–Present Societal marketing
1990–Present Online marketing
2000–Present Social media marketing
2010–Present Several competing and interwoven trends (big data, customer-centricity, content strategy, mobile, etc.)
Data source: Morrison, 2010; Callahan 2020
Typically, the progression of marketing in tourism and hospitality has been 10 to 20 years behind other sectors. Some in the industry attribute this to the traditional career path in the tourism and hospitality industry where managers and executives worked their way up the ranks (e.g., from bellhop to general manager) rather than through a post-secondary business education that is more the norm today. It was previously commonly believed that to be a leader in this industry one had to understand the operations inside-out, so training and development of managers was based on technical and functional capabilities, rather than marketing savvy. And, as we’ll learn next, marketing services and experiences is distinct and sometimes more challenging than marketing goods. For these reasons, most businesses in the industry have been developing marketing skills for only about 30 years (Morrison, 2010).
Long Descriptions
Figure 8.1 long description: A black-and-white advertisement. A man holds up a calculator looking skeptical. He says, “Are you kidding me? A big double bed, television, air conditioning, and only \$12.95 a night? It doesn’t compute.” A hotel staff member stands behind him looking pleased and says, “Please, sir. Economy is our first name.” At the bottom of the ad, it says, “Econo-Travel: Motor Hotels and Lodges. Economy is our first name.” [Return to Figure 8.1] | textbooks/workforce/Hospitality/Introduction_to_Tourism_and_Hospitality_in_BC_2e_(Westcott_and_Anderson)/08%3A_Services_Marketing/8.01%3A_The_Evolution_of_Marketing.txt |
Figure 8.3 Selling a moment like this one, captured over the holidays in Victoria’s inner harbour, is different from selling a tube of toothpaste.
There are four key differences between goods and services. According to numerous scholars (cited in Lovelock & Patterson, 2015) services are:
1. Intangible
2. Heterogeneous
3. Inseparable
4. Perishable
The rest of this section details what these concepts mean.
Intangibility
Tangible goods are ones the customer can see, feel, and/or taste ahead of payment. Intangible services, on the other hand, cannot be “touched” beforehand. An airplane flight is an example of an intangible service because a customer purchases it in advance and doesn’t “experience” or “consume” the product until he or she is on the plane.
Heterogeneity
While most goods may be replicated identically, services are never exactly the same; they are heterogeneous. Variability in experiences may be caused by location, time, topography, season, the environment, amenities, events, and service providers. Because human beings factor so largely in the provision of services, the quality and level of service may differ between vendors or may even be inconsistent within one provider. We will discuss quality and level of service further in Chapter 9.
Inseparability
A physical good may last for an extended period of time (in some cases for many years). In contrast, a service is produced and consumed at the same time. A service exists only at the moment or during the period in which a person is engaged and immersed in the experience. When dining out at a restaurant, for instance, the food is typically prepared, served, and consumed on site, except in cases where customers utilize takeout or food courier options such as Skip the Dishes.
Figure 8.4 These empty seats represent lost revenue for the airline.
Perishability
Services and experiences cannot be stored; they are highly perishable. In contrast, goods may be held in physical inventory in a lot, warehouse, or a store until purchased, then used and stored at a person’s home or place of work. If a service is not sold when available, it disappears forever. Using the airline example, once the airplane takes off, the opportunity to sell tickets on that flight is lost forever, and any empty seats represent revenue lost (Figure. 8.4).
8.03: Planning for Services Marketing
To ensure effective services marketing, tourism marketers need to be strategic in their planning process. Using a tourism marketing system requires carefully evaluating multiple alternatives, choosing the right activities for specific markets, anticipating challenges, adapting to these challenges, and measuring success (Morrison, 2010). Tourism marketers can choose to follow a strategic management process called the PRICE concept, where they:
• P: plan (where are we now?)
• R: research (where would we like to be?)
•
I: implement (how do we get there?)
• C: control (how do we make sure we get there?)
• E: evaluate (how do we know if we got there?)
In this way, marketers can be more assured they are strategically satisfying both the customer’s needs and the organization’s objectives (Morrison, 2010). The relationship between company, employees, and customers in the services marketing context can be described as a services marketing triangle (Morrison, 2010), which is illustrated in Figure 8.5.
Figure 8.5 Services marketing triangle (adapted from Morrison, 2010). [Long Description]
In traditional marketing, a business broadcasts messaging directly to the consumer. In contrast, in services marketing, employees play an integral component. The communications between the three groups can be summarized as follows (Morrison, 2010):
1. External marketing: promotional efforts aimed at potential customers and guests (creating a promise between the organization and the guest)
2. Internal marketing: training, culture, and internal communications (enabling employees to deliver on the promise)
3. Interactive marketing: direct exchanges between employees and guests (delivering the promise)
The direct and indirect ways that a company or destination reaches its potential customers or guests can be grouped into eight concepts known as the 8 Ps of services marketing.
8 Ps of Services Marketing
The 8 Ps are best described as the specific components required to reach selected markets. In traditional marketing, there are four Ps: price, product, place, and promotion. In services marketing, the list expands to the following (Morrison, 2010):
• Product: the range of product and service mix offered to customers
• Place: how the product will be made available to consumers in the market, selection of distribution channels, and partners
• Promotion: specific combination of marketing techniques (advertising, personal sales, public relations, etc.)
• Pricing: part of a comprehensive revenue management and pricing plan
• People: developing human resources plans and strategies to support positive interactions between hosts and guests
• Programming: customer-oriented activities (special events, festivals, or special activities) designed to increase customer spending or length of stay, or to add to the appeal of packages
• Partnership: also known as cooperative marketing, increasing the reach and impact of marketing efforts
• Physical evidence: ways in which businesses can demonstrate their marketing claims and customers can document their experience such as stories, reviews, blog posts, or in-location signage and components
It is important that these components all work together in a seamless set of messages and activities known as integrated marketing communications to ensure the guests receive a clear message and an experience that meets their expectations.
Integrated Marketing Communications
Figure 8.6 During the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, many marketing partners came together to deliver an integrated experience to guests, including shopping malls disguised as igloos.
Integrated marketing communications (IMC) involves planning and coordinating all the promotional mix elements (including online and social media components) to be as consistent and mutually supportive as possible. This approach is much superior to using each element separately and independently.
Tour operators, attractions, hotels, and destination marketing organizations will often break down marketing into separate departments, losing the opportunity to ensure each activity is aligned with a common goal. Sometimes a potential visitor or guest is bombarded with messaging about independent destinations within a region, or businesses within a city, rather than one consistent set of messages about the core attributes of that destination.
It is important to consider how consumers use various and multiple channels of communication and reach out to them in a comprehensive and coherent fashion. As a concept, IMC is not new, but it is more challenging than ever due to the numerous social media and unconventional communication channels now available. Each channel must be well maintained and aligned around the same messages, and selected with the visitor in mind. Too often businesses and destinations deploy multiple channels and end up neglecting some of these, rather than ensuring key platforms are well maintained (Eliason, 2014).
In order to better understand our guests, and the best ways to reach them, let’s take a closer look at the consumer as the starting and focal point of any marketing plan.
Long Descriptions
Figure 8.5 long description: The services marketing triangle. At each triangle point is the company, customers, and employees. Between the company and its employees is internal marketing; between the company and its customers is external marketing; and between the employees and the customers is interactive marketing. [Return to Figure 8.5] | textbooks/workforce/Hospitality/Introduction_to_Tourism_and_Hospitality_in_BC_2e_(Westcott_and_Anderson)/08%3A_Services_Marketing/8.02%3A_Differences_Between_Goods_and_Services.txt |
Customers use their senses to see, hear, smell, and touch (and sometimes taste) to decipher messages from businesses, deciding on a product or service based on their perception of the facts rather than, at times, the actual facts. A number of factors have been shown to impact the choices the consumer makes, including personal factors, which reflect needs, wants, motivations, previous experience, and a person’s lifestyle, and interpersonal factors, such as culture, social class, family, and opinion leaders.
Perception Is Reality
The area of perception can be further broken down to screens and filters, biases, selective retention, and closure (Morrison, 2010). Let’s look at these concepts in more detail.
Figure 8.7 All people view things through their own perceptual filters.
The world is filled with things that stimulate people. People are exposed to thousands of messages every day. Some stimuli come from the people around us; for example, a person on the bus might be wearing a branded cap, the bus may have advertising pasted all over it, and free newspapers distributed at the bus station could be filled with advertising. The human brain cannot absorb and remember all of these messages; people will screen out most of the stimuli they are exposed to. They may remember a piece or segment of a message they have seen or heard.
Take a Closer Look: 100 BC Moments Vending Machine
As part of a 2012 integrated campaign, Destination BC (then operating as Tourism BC) created a vending machine that offered users the opportunity to experience moments that could be part of their visit to British Columbia. At 14 feet tall, this vending machine dispensed free items like bikes, surfboards, and discounts on flights to encourage people to travel British Columbia. This experiential innovation was a way to provide a tangible element to intangible services. It was complemented by an online and social media campaign using the hashtag #100BCMoments and special web landing page at 100BCMoments.com. A video of the San Francisco installation earned hundreds of thousands of views on YouTube; cutting through the clutter both in person and online. Watch it here: “Giant Tourism BC Vending Machine comes to San Francisco” on YouTube.
Figure 8.8 A “vending machine” in San Francisco entices people to experience 100 BC Moments.
Perceptual Biases
Everyone has perceptual biases; each person sees things from his or her own unique view of the world. An advertising message can be received and changed to something very different from the marketer’s intended statement.
Selective Retention
Once messages have made it through the screens, filters, and biases, they still may not be retained for long. Customers will practise selective retention, holding on only to the information that supports their beliefs and attitudes.
Closure
Figure 8.9 People use multiple filters to process information.
The brain does not like incomplete images. There is a state of psychological tension present until the image is complete (closure). Where information is unavailable to round out the images, the mind adds the missing data. Over time, through the use of imagery and music (such as jingles), messages are ingrained in a customer’s mind, and he or she automatically adds the company’s name, whether it is mentioned or not.
Applying Psychology to Marketing
Marketers may determine a degree of predictability about customer perceptions.
Customers are likely to:
• Screen out information that they are already familiar with
• Notice and retain information to satisfy a need they are aware of (want)
• Purchase services that reflect the image they perceive themselves to project
• Notice and retain things out of the norm
• Attach credibility to personal information rather than commercially generated information
Customers are less likely to:
• Use perceptual biases to distort information received on an interpersonal basis
• Absorb complicated information that requires effort to comprehend
• Notice and retain information about a competitive service or product if they are satisfied with another brand
Tourism marketers are in the business of reminding and making customers aware of their needs. Customers have to be motivated to act on satisfying their wants and needs, while marketers need to trigger the process by supplying objectives and potential motives.
Spotlight On: Tourism Victoria’s Visitor Centre
Tourism Victoria’s Visitor Centre is a member of the Visitor Centre Network. Staff are available to provide travellers with tourist information, assistance, and advice. The Tourism Victoria Visitor Centre provides travellers with a wide range of services, including professional visitor counselling, helpful travel information and literature, and accommodation reservations (Tourism Victoria, 2020).
Consumer Decision-Making Process
Figure 8.10 The Victoria Visitor Centre (at the base of the tower), located in downtown’s bustling harbour, helps consumers through the decision-making process.
In 1968, Kollat, Blackwell and Engel released the first edition of a book called Consumer Behavior where they identified a distinct five-step pattern for consumer decision-making (1972). These steps are: need recognition, information search, pre-purchase evaluation, purchase, and post-purchase evaluation.
Here are some critical components at each stage:
• Need recognition: For this process to start there needs to be a stimulus; a need must be triggered and identified.
• Information search: The customer begins to consult different sources of information; personal (marketer dominated) and intrapersonal (non-marketer) factors will likely be used.
• Pre-purchase evaluation: After researching the choices, the customer starts to evaluate options using both objective criteria, such as price and location, and subjective criteria, such as the perceived status of the product or service.
• Purchase: The customer intends to buy the product or service that best matches the criteria, although he or she can still be influenced by a number of factors, such as friends and family who disagree with the purchase, or a change in personal finances.
• Post-purchase evaluation: After use, the customer evaluates the purchase against expectations; if these don’t match, the customer will be either dissatisfied (expectations not met) or impressed (expectations exceeded). For this reason, it’s best for hospitality and tourism providers to “under promise” and “over deliver.”
Spotlight On: BC Ferries Vacations
BC Ferries Vacations offers over 100 unique travel packages to 40 destinations, connecting travellers to unbeatable scenery, accommodations, and activities. With world-class hotels, activities, and adventures to choose from, travellers can experience BC’s pristine wildlife or urban coastal culture with each customized vacation package. BC Ferries Vacation’s travel experts help travellers create a personalized vacation complete with ferry reservations to bring all-in-one convenience, quality, and value. And, in partnership with some of BC’s best hotels, BC Ferries Vacations is able to provide customers with the best rates, customer service, and overall experiences, whether travelling to Vancouver, Victoria, the north coast, or to remote and amazing destinations in-between (BC Ferries Services, 2020).
In order to reach consumers and stimulate need, tourism marketers can employ a number of traditional and online channels. These are detailed in the next section. | textbooks/workforce/Hospitality/Introduction_to_Tourism_and_Hospitality_in_BC_2e_(Westcott_and_Anderson)/08%3A_Services_Marketing/8.04%3A_Consumer_Behaviour_in_Tourism_and_Hospitality.txt |
Marketers have more choices than ever when it comes to broadcasting their message to consumers. Potential travellers and guests will respond, in varying degrees, to traditional channels and emerging online communications tools. There are many choices in marketing and communication channels, each with strengths and weaknesses. Determining the right mix, frequency, and message depends heavily on establishing objectives, completing research, performing a situational analysis, and creating a positioning approach (Morrison, 2010). Let’s take a closer look at communications channels that may form part of the marketing mix.
Traditional Channels
Mass Media
Mass media is best described as the use of channels that reach very large markets. Examples include national newspapers and radio or television advertising. The immediate advantage of using mass media is the ability to reach multiple target markets in significant numbers. Disadvantages include the high expense and difficulty in effective target marketing and measuring return.
Figure 8.11 This is an out-of-home ad for Grouse Mountain, in a downtown Vancouver rapid transit station, targeting people working in the area. Note the special web address for the campaign: grousemountain.com/night-ski.
Out-Of-Home (OOH)
Out-of-home (OOH) channels refer to four major categories: billboards, transit, alternative outdoor, and street furniture. OOH advertising plays an important role in the tourism and hospitality industry as it provides an opportunity to inform travellers in unfamiliar territory. Transit advertising includes airports, rail, and taxi displays. Alternative outdoor refers to arenas, stadiums, and digital media. Street furniture includes bus shelters, kiosks, and shopping malls.
Take a Closer Look: Tourism Business Essentials: Travel Media Relations Guide
Travel journalists, freelance writers, social influencers, editors, and broadcasters play an important role in ensuring a destination is well represented in the press. As part of their travel media relations strategy, Destination BC uses tools such as Familiarization Trips (FAMs), the Visiting Journalist Program, one-on-one consultation with a Travel Media Specialists, and a Travel Media Relations Guide. The Travel Media Relations Guide outlines how to invite, host, and follow up with media in the best way possible. To read the guide, visit Travel Media Relations Guide [PDF].
Print Media
Print media includes newspapers, magazines, journals, and directories. There is an increased trend away from traditional purchased print advertising toward editorial features, as these are more trusted by consumers. A print ad and an editorial feature created together is known as an advertorial.
Spotlight On: Beattie Tartan
In 2017, Britain’s Beattie Communications Group merged with Canada’s No. 1 travel public relations firm, the Tartan Group, to become one of the world’s most successful integrated communications consultancies, serving tourism and hospitality clients including Clayoquot Wilderness Resort, Harmony Hotel, Inn at Laurel Point, and Hotel Zed. The staff have extensive experience working in the industry, and the organization has relationships with multiple tourism associations and press groups. For more information, visit the Beattie Tartan Website.
Online Channels
Figure 8.12 This is a web page detailing cross-promotion and partnership between the Fairmont Empress Hotel and Helijet. Consumers are being offered this transportation option next to the hotel booking info.
As discussed in Chapter 7, the internet is nearly twice as important as travel agents as an information source for travel (Deloitte, 2015). There are an estimated 4.5 billion people around the globe with internet access, and social media has become truly integrated into the travel and hospitality industry. TripAdvisor and similar sites have become the customer’s first point of connection with tourism and hospitality products and experiences. This can be both an opportunity and a threat: an opportunity to open the channels of communication, but a threat if negative information about the travel or hospitality organization is widely spread. As online distribution expands, empowered and savvy travellers are unbundling the booking component and self-booking directly (Deloitte, 2015).
Internet and mobile technology are referred to as interactive media. For tourism and hospitality businesses, an online presence is crucial: it’s cost effective, it provides global reach, it allows a business to be available 24/7, and it provides a reciprocal communication platform for customers. An online presence can also produce instant access to critical consumer data such as click through rates on websites, views of social media posts and pages, paths-to-purchase, and much more.
Social Media and Reputation Management
There are also challenges with online marketing, including being noticed within the volume of information customers are exposed to, and loss of control in delivering a message. Despite these challenges, as more consumers seek real-time information online, tourism marketers are responding with increasingly sophisticated online marketing strategies, such as search engine optimization, personalized content, and social media monitoring and analytics.
Social Media
Social media is a broad term that refers to web-based and mobile applications used for social interaction and the exchange of content (Zheng & Gerritsen, 2014). Social networking is the act of using social media to “communicate directly with people you’re already connected to or with whom you wish to be connected with” (Zheng & Gerritsen, 2014, p. 28). Unlike traditional media such as newspapers, magazines, and television, social media is largely powered by user-generated content. This refers to content created and shared by consumers rather than by marketers, journalists, experts, and other paid professionals, although they too contribute to social networks. Influencers also play a major role in generating content and hype about tourism products, services, and experiences, ultimately affecting consumer purchasing decisions. Tourism marketers are increasingly leveraging influencer authority, knowledge, and relationships to reach and capture new markets.
Word of Mouth in the Age of Social Media
Social networking has transformed how many people interact with businesses and share experiences with others, in a communication channel known as electronic word of mouth where customers share directly with each other in an online environment. Consumers now have a variety of channels (e.g., Twitter, Instagram, Facebook) and formats (e.g., videos, blogs, reviews) on which to leave ratings, express preferences, and share stories. Many of these platforms have large audiences, and much of this commentary is made in real time, on a smartphone, while the customer is still in the business.
Advertising and Trust
Social networks, and review sites in particular, are used more and more to seek information and advice on things to do and products and services to purchase. Travellers and locals alike check out these sites for ideas on where to stay, eat, relax, shop, and explore. These channels are highly trusted. A survey of over 28,000 consumers in 56 countries found that consumers trust the advice of people they know (92%) and consumer opinions posted online (70%) more than any other advertising source (Nielsen, 2012). A more recent survey of over 31,000 consumers in 36 countries confirmed that personal recommendations and internet sties are the most important planning sources for travellers (Skift, 2014).
Online Reviews = Business Success
Research shows a direct correlation between consumer reviews and purchase decisions. A 2019 survey by BrightLocal found that 92% of consumers made decisions based on online reviews and 76% trusted online reviews as much as personal recommendations (BrightLocal, 2019). A 2011 study conducted by Harvard Business School found that, for independent restaurants, a one-star increase in Yelp ratings led to a 5% to 9% increase in revenue (Luca, 2011). According to a study by the Cornell Center for Hospitality Research, if a hotel increases its review score on Travelocity by 1 point on a 5-point scale, it can raise its price by 11.2% without affecting demand (Anderson, 2012). Finally, a report published by TripAdvisor and Oxford Economics claims that TripAdvisor was responsible for \$US 546 billion in traveller spending in 2017 alone (Tourism Economics, 2020).
Understanding Customer Needs
As we have discussed, service plays an important role in shaping customer impressions, where the ultimate goal of a tourism or hospitality business is to exceed expectations. Every customer has different wants and needs, but virtually all customers expect the following basic needs to be taken care of:
• Quality
• Value
• Convenience
• Good service
To fully satisfy customers, businesses must deliver in all four areas. If they meet the basic needs listed above, they’ll create a passive customer — one who is satisfied, but not likely to write a review or mention a business to others.
Figure 8.13 This unhappy customer is likely to broadcast news of her bad experience across multiple platforms.
On the other hand, failure to deliver on the promise can result in a disappointed customer undoing all the efforts of the marketing plan. For this reason, the entire process must be well coordinated and well executed. | textbooks/workforce/Hospitality/Introduction_to_Tourism_and_Hospitality_in_BC_2e_(Westcott_and_Anderson)/08%3A_Services_Marketing/8.05%3A_Reaching_the_Consumer.txt |
The Role of Destination BC
Destination BC is responsible for marketing the Super Natural British Columbia brand to the world (British Columbia Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture, 2020). As we learned in the last chapter, this provincial destination marketing organization has been mandated to fulfill several key marketing and leadership responsibilities critical to the long-term sustainable growth of the provincial tourism industry. This includes marketing British Columbia domestically, nationally, and internationally as a tourist destination (Destination BC, 2020a). Destination BC’s 2020–2023 corporate strategy articulates its aspiration to share the transformative power of BC experiences with the world by focusing on key markets, paths to purchase, visitor dispersion, and key partnerships (Destination BC, 2020b).
Take a Closer Look: Online Reputation Management
This guide from Destination BC’s Tourism Business Essentials series helps businesses understand how to manage their online reputation and includes tips for responding to reviews and other best practice. To get a copy of the guide, visit the Online Reputation Management Guide [PDF].
Market Segmentation
Tourism marketers, including the team at Destination BC, choose target markets for their efforts through market segmentation techniques, where potential visitors are separated by:
• Demographics
• Countries of origin
• Trip purposes
• Trip planning and arrangements
• Psychographics and lifestyles
• Special interests
• Technology uses
Destination Canada’s award-winning Explorer Quotient program provides tourism marketers with detailed psychographic and travel motivations information (Destination Canada, 2013). It allows destinations and experiences to market themselves to target audiences based on psychographic profiles (their psychological tendencies) rather than geographic segments.
Take a Closer Look: EQ (Explorer Quotient)
Destination Canada’s EQ tool allows businesses to segment their customers in a new and innovative way. EQ offers a range of online resources from an EQ Quiz (so you can identify what type of traveller you are) to business toolkits and more. Explore this new tourism marketing tool by visiting the Explorer Quotient toolkit [PDF].
BC’s Tourism and Hospitality Key Markets
BC’s key target tourism markets can be broken down into three main categories: nearby markets, top priority markets, and emerging markets (BC Ministry of Tourism, Arts and culture, 2020).
Nearby markets are BC, Alberta, and Washington State, which are characterized by high volume and strong repeat visitation. Marketing activities to these areas are led by the regions, communities, and/or sectors such as ski. Top priority markets of Ontario, California, Germany, Japan, United Kingdom, South Korea, and Australia are characterized by high revenue and high spending per visitor. Marketing efforts here are led by Destination BC. Emerging markets, which include China, India, and Mexico, are monitored and explored by Destination BC.
Performance Measurement and Evaluation
In order to measure its success in the realm of destination marketing, Destination BC has introduced a tool called the net promoter score (NPS), a metric designed to monitor customer engagement. The NPS indicates the likelihood of travellers recommending a destination to friends, family, or colleagues. NPS is based on responses to the question, How likely are you to recommend [British Columbia] as a travel destination to a friend, family member, or colleague? Responses are scored from 0 = “not at all likely” to 10 = “extremely likely.” Respondents are divided into three categories:
• Detractors (scores of 0 to 6): Unhappy visitors, unlikely to tell others to visit and might even damage the reputation of a destination through negative word of mouth
• Passives (scores of 7 or 8): Marginally satisfied visitors not excited enough to tell others about their travel experience
• Promoters (scores of 9 or 10): Loyal enthusiasts likely to return and rave about their travel experience
NPS is calculated by subtracting the percentage of detractors from the percentage of promoters: NPS = % of detractors — % of supporters. The intention to recommend a travel destination, reported by the NPS, is a proxy measure of overall satisfaction with the travel experience. Satisfaction with the travel experience and the intention to recommend greatly increase the likelihood of a return visit to British Columbia. And word-of-mouth advocacy, either face-to-face or through social media, is critical for attracting first-time visitors to British Columbia.
Destination BC uses NPS as a performance measurement tool (among others) to help determine the overall effectiveness of online and integrated marketing communications strategies (Destination BC, 2020c). Furthermore, Destination BC has developed the Remarkable Experiences program to “shift thinking beyond a tourism product to consider how a business can deliver local, authentic experiences that are designed with the BC traveller in mind” (Destination BC, 2020d).
Spotlight On: Indigenous Tourism BC
As cited on their website: Indigenous Tourism BC (ITBC) honours the value of Indigenous knowledge in tourism. More than 200 distinct Indigenous communities, with more than 30 living languages, offer unique perspectives and thriving Indigenous businesses ready to host visitors in major urban centres, down fast rivers, before hereditary totem poles, in award-winning cafes and restaurants, and on pristine beaches under the stars. Indigenous tourism hosts in British Columbia invite visitors to come and share their love for this land. Recognizing that indigenous tourism experiences are a primary draw for many visitors, ITBC aims to grow this industry in a “sustainable, authentic, and culturally rich” way. For more information, visit the Indigenous Tourism BC website.
Effective planning, research, customer understanding, integrated marketing communications, and using online customer service strategies to support effective marketing are fundamental requirements for successful services marketing. However, it is critical that marketers understand the key trends and issues that will help to identify tomorrow’s marketing strategies (Government of Canada, 2012).
8.07: Trends and Issues
Figure 8.14 Social media trends are just one of the influences that marketers need to monitor.
Tourism marketers in B.C. need to monitor trends in the following areas that may impact the success of their marketing efforts:
• Demographic shifts (aging population, the rise of millennials), and socioeconomics (cultural changes, economic decline/growth)
• Political, economic, and geographic changes (emerging or declining economies)
• Trip purpose (growth of multipurpose trips and microtrips)
• Psychographic changes (special interests, healthy lifestyles, sustainability)
• Behavioural adaptations (free independent travel, decreasing brand loyalty)
• Product-related trends (emerging niches)
• Distribution channels (online travel agencies, virtual travel)
Remaining abreast of information in these areas is critical to the success of any services marketing plan, which should be continually monitored and adapted as the landscape changes. | textbooks/workforce/Hospitality/Introduction_to_Tourism_and_Hospitality_in_BC_2e_(Westcott_and_Anderson)/08%3A_Services_Marketing/8.06%3A_Bringing_it_All_Together.txt |
Effective services marketing in the tourism and hospitality sector requires marketers to gain a solid understanding of the differences between the marketing of goods, services, and experiences. Successful organizations use market research to learn the preferences and behaviours of key customer segments. Through a strategic planning process, organizations and destinations develop a marketing orientation designed to identify customer needs and trigger their wants, while striving to meet organizational objectives. Activities are designed to support integrated marketing communications across multiple platforms with reciprocal communications — that is, not just broadcasting information, but having conversations with customers. Savvy marketers will leverage these conversations to keep up with evolving customer interests while seeking an understanding of emerging trends in order to anticipate needs and wants. Engaged marketers also know that social media and integrated marketing communications must be complemented with remarkable customer service, which ultimately supports successful marketing strategy.
Chapter 9 will delve further into the components of delivering exceptional customer service as a key component of industry success.
Key Terms
• 8 Ps of services marketing: refers to product, place, promotion, pricing, people, programming, partnership, and physical evidence
• Advertorial: print content (sometimes now appearing online) that is a combination of an editorial feature and paid advertising
• Customer needs: gaps between what customers have and what they would like to have
• Customer wants: needs of which customers are aware
• E-commerce: electronic commerce; performing business transactions online while collecting rich data about consumers
• Emerging markets: markets for BC that are monitored and explored by Destination BC — China, India, and Mexico
• Heterogeneous: variable, a generic difference shared by all services
• Influencers: individuals with a strong online presence and following who can use their knowledge, authority, and relationships with followers to share brand-aligned content and inspire travellers to visit or purchase
• Intangible: untouchable, a characteristic shared by all services
• Integrated marketing communications (IMC): planning and coordinating all the promotional mix elements and internet marketing so they are as consistent and as mutually supportive as possible
• Interactive media: online and mobile platforms
• Interpersonal factors: the influence of cultures, social classes, family, and opinion leaders on consumers
• Marketing: a continuous, sequential process through which management plans, researches, implements, controls, and evaluates activities designed to satisfy the customers’ needs and wants, and its own organization’s objectives
• Marketing orientation: the understanding that a company needs to engage with its markets in order to refine its products and services, and promotional efforts
• Market segmentation: specific groups of people with a similar profile, allowing marketers to target their messaging
• Mass media: the use of channels that reach very large markets
• Nearby markets: markets for BC, identified by Destination BC as BC, Alberta, and Washington State, characterized by high volume and strong repeat visitation; sometimes referred to as ‘short haul’ markets
• Net promoter score (NPS): a metric designed to monitor customer engagement, reflecting the likelihood that travellers will recommend a destination to friends, family, or colleagues
• Out-of-home (OOH): channels in four major categories: billboards, transit, alternative outdoor, and street furniture
• Passive customer: a guest who is satisfied (won’t complain, but won’t celebrate the business either)
• Perishable: something that is only good for a short period of time, a characteristic shared by all services
• Personal factors: the needs, wants, motivations, previous experiences, and objectives of consumers that they bring into the decision-making process
• PRICE concept: an acronym that helps marketers remember the need to plan, research, implement, control, and evaluate the components of their marketing plan
• Psychographics: psychological characteristics, such as an individuals attitudes, beliefs, values, motivations, and behaviours
• Print media: newspapers, magazines, journals, and directories
• Services marketing: marketing that specifically applies to services such as those provided by the tourism and hospitality industries; differs from the marketing of goods
• Services marketing triangle: a model for understanding the relationship between the company, its employees, and the customer; differs from traditional marketing where the business speaks directly to the consumer
• Social media: refers to web-based and mobile applications used for social interaction and the exchange of content
• Societal marketing: marketing that recognizes a company’s place in society and its responsibility to citizens (or at least the appearance thereof)
• Tangible: goods the customer can see, feel, and/or taste ahead of payment
• Top priority markets: markets for BC identified as a top priority for Destination BC — ‘long haul’ markets such as Ontario and California, as well as international markets such as Germany, Japan, United Kingdom, South Korea, Australia — characterized by high revenue and high spend per visitor
• Tourism marketing system: an approach that guides the planning, execution, and evaluation of tourism marketing efforts (PRICE concept is an approach to this)
• Word of mouth: information about a service experience passed along orally or through other social information sources from past customers to potential customers
Exercises
1. Fill in the blanks for the acronym PRICE. During a successful marketing planning process, management will:
1. P
2. R
3. I
4. C
5. E
2. Should services be marketed exactly the same as manufactured products and packaged goods? Why or why not?
3. Name at least three reasons for tourism marketers to do marketing research.
4. Why is segmentation so important to effective marketing?
5. What does integrated marketing communications achieve?
6. What stages do customers usually go through when they make decisions about buying travel services?
7. Name the three types of market priorities for British Columbia’s tourism experiences (according to Destination BC). What geographic segments are found in each?
8. What is the net promoter score (NPS) for a destination with 20% detractors and 80% supporters?
9. Why is delivering great experiences an important part of services marketing? Give five reasons.
10. Take the Explorer Quotient (EQ) test. Review the EQ profile document to learn more about your traveller type.
1. What characteristics do you agree with, which ones do you not? Why?
2. Select one of the experiences (preferably in BC) matched to your profile and determine how it fits your type.
3. How does the website of that company market to your traveller type? What visuals or key words do they use to get your attention?
Case Study 1: The Wickaninnish Inn
Located in Tofino, the Wickaninnish Inn (or “the Wick,” as it’s affectionately known) is a world-recognized high-end property famous for offering four seasons of luxury experiences on BC’s “wild coast.” But how does the Wick stay top-of-mind with tourism consumers? A quick look at their marketing mix offers some answers:
• Product: The inn has long been a leader in offering experiences that go above and beyond a room in a luxury hotel, starting with their storm-watching packages in the late fall, a time that was once their off-season.
• Place: Reservations can be made online on the inn’s website, via a toll-free number, through OTA sites including TripAdvisor (where reviews are constantly monitored in order to engage with customers), and other reservation services including the HelloBC program. The staff constantly engages with, and monitors their customers, tracking trends in traveller purchasing behaviour to ensure it is front and centre with the inn’s target markets.
• Promotion: The inn has a well-maintained, visually rich website and social media presence on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Pinterest, Google+, and Flickr (a presence that shifts constantly depending on where consumers can be found online). Its site features a media page with blogs, press releases, and high-resolution photos and videos to ensure journalists can easily post a story at any time.
• Pricing: The inn has a comprehensive revenue management and pricing plan that includes packaging and promotions for all seasons. The pricing reflects offering value to guests, while confidently staying at the higher end of the scale.
• People: Not only does the inn attract and train staff who deliver on its promise of exceptional experiences, the Wick also has a multi-person team responsible for sales, marketing, and media (blogging, press releases, photography, hosting familiarization tours).
• Programming: Programs include packaging under themes such as elopement, natural, seasonal, romantic, spa, and culinary. Many packages include the involvement of hotel personnel such as an elopement coordinator or concierge to help guests plan specific value-added and memorable components of their experience, such as a last-minute wedding (Wickaninnish Inn, 2020).
• Partnership: The Wick partners with other experience providers and events such as the Tofino Saltwater Classic — a fishing tournament hosted by Brendan Morrison of the Vancouver Canucks. By supporting the event as a platinum sponsor (Tofino Saltwater Classic, 2020), the representatives from the inn meet new potential guests and solidifies its place in the community.
• Physical evidence: In addition to familiarization tours, the media team ensures the inn is considered for a number of high-profile awards, and celebrates wins by broadcasting these as they occur (e.g., Travel and Leisure Awards World’s Best Winner 2014). Prize logos are placed on the inn’s home page online, in print ads, and in physical locations on the property. The inn also has a regular consumer newsletter that celebrates achievements and shares promotions with past and future guests.
Thinking about this example, answer the following questions:
1. Imagine the inn received a review on TripAdvisor that showed a customer was not satisfied. How might it deal with this?
2. Visit the Wickaninnish Inn’s website. Who are the target customers? How is this conveyed on the site?
3. What are the prices for packages and accommodations? What does the price signal to you about the experience you might have at this hotel?
4. Do an online search for “Wick Inn” using your favourite search engine. What are the first five links that come up? How do these present the property? What hand does the inn’s staff have in these results?
5. Look at the community of Tofino as it is presented online and name five potential partners for the Wick.
Case Study 2: Crisis Communication
Destination BC has faced its fair share of marketing challenges over the years including an ongoing homelessness crisis, devastating fires and, in 2020, the novel coronavirus pandemic. What can we learn about how they respond(ed) to these crises and communicate(d) with their range of stakeholders? The service marketing triangle can be a useful tool to examine Destination BCs response to the coronavirus pandemic:
• Internal marketing: Destination BC, in tandem with regional DMOs, provided regular bulletins, up-to-date website content, 24-hour email and call center assistance, live webinars and more to help industry partners access provincial and federal resources and align their consumer-facing messaging with provincial and federal travel guidelines.
• External marketing: In the early stages of the pandemic, Destination BC worked with provincial health authorities and regional DMOs, to leverage social media such as Twitter to send simple, clear messages directly to visitors and residents. For example, in March 2020, at the height of the crisis, they released messages with the hashtag: #ExploreBCLater… In early May 2020, as provincial restrictions lessened, they released messages with the hashtag: #ExploreBCLocal… And, as restrictions continued to lift in late May 2020, they revived a staple hashtag: #BCTourismMatters.
• Interactive marketing: Industry partners did their part by making the difficult decision to close their doors to visitors or operate in alignment with the provincial health guidelines. For example, Butchart Gardens provided a COVID-19 update on their website reminding visitors to enjoy the beauty of the gardens while maintaining appropriate physical distance (2m), following directional arrows on pathways, and listening to staff. Though regularly changing, these guidelines at time of publication can be found on the Butchart Gardens’ website.
Thinking about this example, answer the following questions:
1. Analyze Destination BCs response. What did they do well and what could they have done differently during this particular crisis, or others?
2. How did Did Destination BC use various communication channels to create, enable, and deliver on their promise to keep people safe and businesses solvent during the coronavirus pandemic?
3. Visit California had a series of devastating fires in the late 2010s. Even though 99% of California’s wine country was still intact during a good portion of this time, the press was sending out the message that “Wine Country” had become “Fire Country”. What role does the media have on visitor perceptions of destinations?
4. Look for examples online of how Visit California, like Destination BC, may have utilized the services marketing triangle to control the media narrative and deliver on its promise of safe and secure travel. As a starting point, you might look at Visit California’s Grateful Table experience, Share the Love video, Power of Love public service announcement, or West Coast Travel Facts to answer this question. | textbooks/workforce/Hospitality/Introduction_to_Tourism_and_Hospitality_in_BC_2e_(Westcott_and_Anderson)/08%3A_Services_Marketing/8.08%3A_Conclusion.txt |
Overview
While there are many other factors that contribute to the success of a tourism business, one of the easiest to control is customer service levels.
Many of BC’s tourism operations have mastered high and consistent customer service levels. Why and how are they able to do this? What are the characteristics of exceptional customer service and the benefits to the business and the employees? How does technology apply to customer service and how is it constantly evolving?
This chapter will answer these questions as we explore the fundamentals of customer service in the context of a competitive global tourism environment. We will interview experienced tourism professionals, as well study the success of BC’s own customer service program, SuperHost, which has been training BC hospitality professionals for over 35 years.
We will be introducing concepts such as Total Quality (TQ), Net Promoter score and Customer lifetime value (CLV) used to measure customer service impact.
Figure 9.1 A family getting their regular drink at the local coffee shop, where they are provided with prompt and courteous service.
Customer service delivery and experience in today’s economy is becoming increasingly significant owing to change in demographics and psychographics. Words such as “authenticity”, “unique,” “one of a kind,” and “memorable” are being widely used by BC hospitality and tourism businesses to describe their customer experience.
Experience in the hospitality and tourism industry is a word that has been defined by various authors since 1982 until now. In the published article from Godovykh & Tasci (2020), the literature review explores the definition of the word “experience” spanning across various periods of time (Table 9.1).
Table 9.1 The evolution of “experience”
Authors Defined “Experience” as
Holbrook and Hirschman (1982, p. 132) “a steady flow of fantasies, feelings, and fun”
Pine and Gilmore (1998, p. 99) “…are inherently personal, existing only in the mind of an individual who has been engaged on an emotional, physical, intellectual, or even spiritual level”
Prahalad and Ramaswamy (2004, p. 8) “an environment in which consumers can have active dialogue and co-construct personalized experiences”
Gentile, Spiller, & Noci (2007, p. 397) “experience originates from a set of interactions between a customer and a product, a company, or part of its organization, which provoke a reaction”
Bagdare and Jain (2013, p. 792) “the sum total of cognitive, emotional, sensorial, and behavioral responses produced….”
Godovykh and Tasci (2020, p. 8) “the totality of cognitive, affective, sensory, and conative responses, on a spectrum of negative to positive, evoked by all stimuli encountered in pre, during, and post phases of consumption affected by situational and brand-related factors filtered through personal differences of consumers, eventually resulting in differential outcomes related to consumers and brands”
The above word “experience” has seen an evolution in terms of its description where now this is further expanded across the customer journey through various interactions. In the next section, Ben Day sheds some light on what customer service is and how critical it is to the industry.
Industry Conversation: Ben Day, Director of Sales and Marketing, Blackcomb Springs Suites by Clique
What makes customer service exceptional in the hospitality and tourism, from a provider point of view and a customer point of view?
“Exceptional service is most often delivered by people who care. Poor service from a poorly trained staff member is made much worse if the guest doesn’t feel like the employee cares.
Team members who care start by paying attention to what the guest needs and taking the time to think of ways to go above and beyond. From a customer point of view the next most important thing is for the person providing the service to be well trained and know what they are doing.
From a provider viewpoint hiring the right team members who like to help others and take the time to listen is critical. The next big step is to provide extensive training so that team members are comfortable to help in every situation and empowered to think out of the box and come up with solutions on the spot.”
Figure 9.2 Great customer service and experience takes place across many platforms and is critical for tourism and hospitality employers. | textbooks/workforce/Hospitality/Introduction_to_Tourism_and_Hospitality_in_BC_2e_(Westcott_and_Anderson)/09%3A_Customer_Service/9.01%3A_Customer_Experience.txt |
Figure 9.3 Service encounters as a guest enters Blackcomb Spring Suites in Whistler, B.C.
Quality customer service is an experience of feeling valued or heard. Sometimes it’s an intangible component of why a guest may prefer one tourism or hospitality provider over another. There is something about quality customer service that you often can’t put your finger on — but you know it’s there. And it’s a critical factor for tourism success, both as a means of satisfying ever-increasing customer expectations, and as a way to achieve business profitability (Erdly & Kesterson-Townes, 2002).
In 2019, A Forbes article from Blake identified that, “Companies with a customer experience mindset drive revenue 4-8% higher than the rest of their industries. Two-thirds of companies compete on customer experience, up from just 36% in 2010” (Blake, 2019).
Industry Conversation: Ben Day, Director of Sales and Marketing, Blackcomb Springs Suites by Clique
In your own words, how you describe customer service?
Customer service for me is the discipline and some would say the art of the following…. Listening, Understanding, Delivering
• Listening: Find out by listening, asking questions and watching for non-verbal cues (i.e., body language) what kind of service your guest requires
• Understanding: Once you have absorbed the verbal and non-verbal cues, takes a moment to understand what it is that the guest really wants and anticipate additional touches that will go above and beyond.
• Delivering the service: The key to delivering great customer service is in the first two steps. By listening and understanding the guests you can anticipate the type of service that might just make a lasting impression. Sometimes great service is provided by empowering the guest to take action themselves, don’t assume your guest will want you to do everything for them. Some guest may prefer that you send them a link to a website or an app so that they research their options independently.
Training is critical to ensuring quality service and meeting these objectives (Brown et al., 2009). On a global scale, Canada ranks high in human resources capabilities. Unfortunately, due to the seasonal nature of many tourism and hospitality positions, and limited access to affordable and accessible training, the industry isn’t always able to take advantage of this position (Blanke & Chiesa, 2009), as it can be difficult to attract, train, and retain reliable and qualified staff year-round.
Spotlight On: Tourism HR Canada and go2HR
Tourism HR Canada is a pan-Canadian organization with a mandate aimed at building a world-leading tourism workforce. Tourism HR Canada facilitates, coordinates, and enables human resource development activities that support a globally competitive and sustainable industry and foster the development of a dynamic and resilient workforce. Tourism HR Canada has developed a number of programs and services to help students, employers and tourism workers. For more information go to the Tourism HR Canada website.
go2HR is BC’s tourism human resource association, responsible for playing a lead role in executing the BC Tourism Human Resources Strategy. Established in 1979, go2HR helps employers with their HR needs in areas such as occupational health & safety, customer service training, recruitment, retention and labour shortages, employment-related policy and legislation, and labour market research. go2HR also promotes jobs and careers in tourism, hosts the BC tourism job board and helps businesses provide remarkable customer experiences through its signature SuperHost suite of training (former WorldHost Training Services). For more information, visit the go2HR website.
The concept of total quality (TQ) refers to an approach by businesses to integrate all employees, from management to front-level, in a process of continuous learning, with a goal of increasing customer satisfaction. It involves examining all encounters and points of interaction with guests to identify points of improvement. Total quality management (TQM) in tourism and hospitality is a process where service expectations are created by the entire team, with a collaborative approach between management and employees (Kapiki, 2012).
Spotlight On Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA)
Founded in 1951, the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) is a not-for profit association that is internationally acclaimed for acting as a catalyst for the responsible development of travel and tourism to, from and within the Asia Pacific region. The Association provides aligned advocacy, insightful research and innovative events to its member organizations, comprising 95 government, state and city tourism bodies, 25 international airlines and airports, 108 hospitality organizations, 72 educational institutions, and hundreds of travel industry companies in Asia Pacific and beyond. See more on the PATA website.
Employers understand the positive impacts of training on their bottom line. Key benefits may include improved employee attraction/recruitment, retention, engagement, and innovation. Saunders (2009) suggests that to be most effective, training should be oriented to develop employee potential versus addressing deficiencies.Customer service training provides employees with a foundation for effective service delivery. Potential benefits of this training include:
• improved skills and attitudes
• better communication skills
• better understanding of workplace practices
• increased morale, confidence, self-satisfaction and work satisfaction
• increased participation
• greater job/career advancement potential
• greater interest in and willingness to participate in further training
• more independence (Grey, 2006).
As employees acquire certifications and credentials, and these are recognized by employers, both groups benefit. Employees have a tangible way of demonstrating mastery of service knowledge and skills, and employers have tools to assist with the recruitment and screening of potential staff.
Spotlight On SuperHost
SuperHost® is a suite of quality, affordable customer service training courses for front-line employees. Delivered online and in classroom, SuperHost offers relevant, up-to-date content and best practices that meet the current needs and expectations of employers and visitors. First launched in 1985, SuperHost is recognized as the standard for customer service excellence in BC. For more information, visit the SuperHost website.
Overview of Net Promoter Score
Net Promoter Score (NPS) is a method of calculating how customers are talking about your company and their willingness to recommend your organization to others. NPS breaks down customers into groups based on how they answer a question similar to this:
“On a scale of 1 to 10, how likely are you to recommend our company (or product) to a friend or colleague?”
Based on the score they give you, they are sorted into Detractors (scores of 1–6), Passives or Neutral (scores of 7–8), or Promoters (scores of 9–10). Detractors can harm businesses.
They are not only likely to not return, but they may also urge others to do the same (i.e., they will give bad reviews).
Passives are satisfied. Satisfaction is desirable of course, but passives may or may not come back to a business. Passives are not likely to go out of their way to recommend the business (and also likely won’t complete a review).
Promoters are very satisfied or delighted customers. They can help your business — they come back repeatedly and will recommend your business to others. These are the people who give you 4 or 5 star ratings!
Figure 9.4 Net Promoter Score. [Long Description]
To calculate the Net Promoter Score, which is an index ranging from −100 to +100, follow these steps:
• Break down the responses by Detractors, Passives, and Promoters
• Add up the total responses from each group
• To get the percentage, take the group total and divide it by the total number of survey responses (you might have received 100 responses)
• Now, subtract the percentage total of Detractors from the percentage total of Promoters — this is your NPS score (which is a numerical unit, i.e., 40, 50 or −20)
Most businesses are looking for a positive number — more promoters than detractors. (Example: If all of your scores would be promoters, you get a +100. If all of your scores would be detractors, you get a −100.)
Given the NPS range of −100 to +100, a “positive” score or NPS above 0 is considered “good”, +50 is “Excellent,” and above 70 is considered “world class.” Based on global NPS standards, any score above 0 would be considered “good.” This simply means that the majority of your customer base is more loyal.
Action/Goal: Once you know your Net Promoter Score, you can then make every effort to appease detractors and to create promoters. (go2HR, 2018, p. 16)
Figure 9.5 Calculate Net Promoter Score. [Long Description]
According to Kim (2008), customer-oriented interactions between consumers and tourism employees influence the quality of the tourism experience. Let’s take a closer look at the concept of customer orientation and what this means in today’s tourism businesses.
Recovery from Service Failures
Figure 9.6 Handle customer complaints before guests take them online.
If a business fails to meet customer expectations, there’s a risk the customer will tell others about it, often through social media networks. An on-location problem that turns into an online complaint, going from private to public, can become far more damaging to business than the original issue. To avoid any problem from escalating, organizations and staff must work hard to resolve issues before the customer walks out the door — or pulls out a smartphone to make an online posting.
Of course, it’s not always possible to resolve issues on the spot. A customer’s expectations may go beyond the service the business is able to provide, or staff might not be authorized by management to provide the means necessary to resolve the complaint. In these cases, staff must still step up as service professionals, realizing that the actions they take when faced with a complaint can have a significant impact.
Online complaints highlight this point; reviewers are often more upset about how a problem was handled than about the problem itself. As well, potential guests who read online complaints are looking for reassurance that the same thing won’t happen to them. If they don’t find it, they may dismiss the business as an option and move on. How a business respond to complaints, face-to-face and online, is critical to ensuring successful recovery from service failures.
Service recovery occurs when a customer service professional takes action that results in the customer being satisfied after a service failure has occurred. Often service failures are not the fault of front-line staff, and at times, may not even be the fault of the business. Failure may be the result of an error made by another employee, by the guest him- or herself, or by a technical error. Regardless of where the problem originated, when customers bring it to the attention of the staff, they have certain expectations for resolution.
Figure 9.7 Listen, understand, act: the building blocks for resolving disputes.
Disappointed customers often want:
• An empathetic ear. Sometimes they simply want to vent. They want to know that the employee or manager is listening and cares.
• An apology. In some cases a sincere apology is enough.
• A solution. Typically customers bring issues to the attention of staff because they want them fixed.
• Compensation. Upset customers are looking for compensation, but not always.
• Follow-up. For some people, it’s important to know that their concerns are brought to the attention of management and are fixed for future customers.
• Reassurance. Customers want to know they’re in good hands.
Skilled service recovery is especially important in the age of social media. Customers who are active on social networks are likely to be equally vocal about their satisfaction with service recovery when a problem is expertly handled as they are with their displeasure when they are disappointed with service (WorldHost Training Services, 2013).
While service recovery is a critical skill, all tourism and hospitality professionals should approach each encounter with the goal of providing remarkable service. The next section explores how this is accomplished.
Long Descriptions
Figure 9.4 long description: Net Promoter Score scale. The scale shows 11 people in three different ranges.
The first seven people, numbered 0 to 6, are depicted in red and labelled detractors.
The next two, numbered 7 and 8, are depicted in yellow and labelled passives.
The final two, numbered 9 and 10, are depicted in green and labelled promoters.
The net promoter score formula is shown as the percentage of promoters minus the percentage of detractors.
[Return to Figure 9.4]
Figure 9.5 long description: Formulas for calculating Net Promoter Score.
To calculate the percentage of customers who are detractors, who rate 0 to 6 (“I am out of here”), divide the total of detractors by the total of statements, then multiply by 100.
To calculate the percentage of customers who are neutrals, who rate 7 or 8 (“okay”), divide the total of neutrals by the total of statements, then multiply by 100.
To calculate the percentage of customers who are promoters, who rate 9 or 10 (“wow”), divide the total of promoters by the total of statements, then multiply by 100.
The Net Promoter Score can be found by subtracting the percentage of customers who are detractors from the percentage of customers who are promoters.
[Return to Figure 9.5] | textbooks/workforce/Hospitality/Introduction_to_Tourism_and_Hospitality_in_BC_2e_(Westcott_and_Anderson)/09%3A_Customer_Service/9.02%3A_Communication_Strategies.txt |
Figure 9.8 Customers ready to experience hopping on and hopping off.
Kim defines customer orientation “as the set of activities, behaviours, and beliefs that place high priority on customers’ interests and continuously create superior customer value” (2008, p. 195). Even when employees have positive attributes, it may not be enough to ensure positive customer engagements unless they are specifically trained toward customer orientation (Kim, 2008).
Customer Service and Competition: The Customer-Oriented Organization
According to Masberg and colleagues, “to the customer, only service may distinguish a business from its competition” (Masberg, Chase, & Madlem, 2003, p. 19). While specific customer service jobs require different skills, building an overall customer-oriented organization may better meet customer expectations. One way to ensure quality service may be to encourage tourism and hospitality professionals to acquire industry certifications. Businesses can also choose to implement tools to determine customer satisfactions levels, such as the SERVQUAL technique that compares customer perceptions of quality against customer expectations (Morrison, 2010). Under the SERVQUAL model, the five dimensions of service are:
1. Reliability: where the quality and level of service is consistent
2. Assurance: knowledge and courtesy of staff and their ability to convey trust and confidence
3. Tangibles: the organization’s physical facilities, equipment, and appearance of staff
4. Empathy: the degree of caring, individualized attention that the organization’s staff provide to its customers
5. Responsiveness: the willingness of staff to help customers and provide prompt service
You can remember these five dimensions by using the acronym RATER. When these dimensions are consistently met, a company is well on its way to becoming customer oriented.
Spotlight On: Skills BC
Skills Canada BC engages a rich network of educators, labour, industry and government partners to deliver its programs and host its annual Regional and Provincial Olympic-style competitions. For more information, visit the Skills Canada BC website.
So far we’ve explored the reasons good customer service is critical to our industry. And with the acronym RATER, we now understand the basics of what a customer might expect from an organization. Together, these concepts can form part of a customer relationship management (CRM) strategy for tourism and hospitality businesses. CRMs are tools used by businesses to select customers and maintain relationships with them to increase their lifetime value to the business.
There are a number of points in time where this relationship is maintained. For example:
• The first time potential guests visit a website and leave their email address to receive more information
• The moment a reservation is made and the company captures their personal details
• The in-person service encounters from the front desk to the parking lot
• Welcome notes, personalized menus, friendly hellos, and other touches throughout the interaction
• Background messages including clean facilities and equipment in good repair, pleasant decor and ambiance (flowers, etc.)
• Follow-up communications like a newsletter
• Further interactions on social media
All of these touch points are opportunities to maintain strong relationships with customers and to increase the likelihood of positive word of mouth sharing. Let’s take a closer look at the role of social media in customer satisfaction.
The Role of Service and Social Media in Customer Satisfaction
Figure 9.9 A customer reviews a hotel, and the general manager responds to acknowledge their comments. [Long Description]
While the basics of great service haven’t changed, social media and networking have raised the stakes in the service industry. The cost of a negative experience is higher — but so is the value of a positive experience. In fact, the opportunities of social media reviews and ratings far outweigh the risks.
Businesses that take time to “listen” to social media are going to be more successful at leveraging the power of online interactions. These companies effectively read review sites such as TripAdvisor, Yelp, and others and respond to guest comments both good and bad.
Many factors contribute to how people rate businesses, including value, quality, and convenience. More than anything, however, service influences customer impressions. Whereas a lapse in quality or convenience can be overcome with excellent service, it is especially challenging to overcome the effects of bad service.
Long Descriptions
Figure 9.9 long description: An online review of a hotel, dated June 25, 2020. The review is titled, “Accomodation [sic] and Location as good as it gets!”
The customer has written, “We really enjoyed our brief stay at The Oswego and would plan another trip to Victoria around staying there. A few short blocks in one direction and you are on Dallas Road for a stroll or a run. A few short block [sic] in the other direction to the harbour, legislature building, museum, restaurants, shops etc. It was a very quiet hidden gem just off the main streets. Clean, well-equipped. Perfect!”
The general manager wrote back, “Thank you so much for your review, and we are pleased to hear you enjoyed your time. Dallas Road is one of our favorites as well for a nearby run! We look forward to welcoming you again soon.”
On a scale of 1 to 5, the customer rated the hotel a 5 for location, service, rooms, cleanliness, and sleep quality. The customer gave the hotel a 4 for value.
[Return to Figure 9.9] | textbooks/workforce/Hospitality/Introduction_to_Tourism_and_Hospitality_in_BC_2e_(Westcott_and_Anderson)/09%3A_Customer_Service/9.03%3A_Exceeding_Expectations_with_Remarkable_Service.txt |
Industry Conversation: Ben Day, Director of Sales and Marketing, Blackcomb Springs Suites by Clique
What are the benefits of exceptional customer service?
“In hospitality, word of mouth is incredibly powerful tool to drive increased sales and profitability — even more so with the number of review sites online. Positive customer service leads to repeat business and lots of referrals. For team members, there is a natural euphoria when you make someone else’s day.”
Figure 9.10 Customer loyalty cards are very common in the hotel industry. They are often paired with credit cards.
With competition between tourism destinations and businesses continuing to grow, organizations are increasingly focusing on retaining existing customers, which is often less expensive than attracting new ones. This focus forces tourism businesses to look at the customer relationship over the long term, or the customer lifetime value (CLV) cycle, rather than at single transactions only.
It has been proven that it is much less expensive for a company to retain an existing customer than acquire a new one (Beaujean, Davidson & Madge, 2006). Ultimately, successful organizations will strive to build a base of loyal customers who will provide repeat business and may influence other potential customers. Building positive relationships with loyal customers requires planning and diligence for all customer touch points. This may include (Lovelock & Wirtz, 2007):
1. Managing service encounters: training staff to provide personal service to customers
2. Providing customer incentives: inducing customers to frequent the business
3. Providing special service options: offering enhanced services or extra offerings to loyal customers
4. Developing pricing strategies to encourage long-term use: offering repeat customers special prices or rate
5. Maintaining a customer database: keeping an up-to-date set of records on customer purchase history, preferences, demographics, and so on.
6. Communicating with customers: reaching individual customers through direct or specialized media, using non-mass media approaches
Loyalty programs pull together several of these elements to help a business identify, maintain contact with, and reward frequent customers.
Examples of Outstanding Service
If one uses the definition of quality in service as “meeting or exceeding customer expectations” (Kapiki, 2012), then the following examples certainly fit the description. These embody a concept known as a moment of truth (Beaujean, Davidson & Madge, 2006) when a customer’s interaction with a front-line employee makes a critical difference in his or her perception of that company or destination. The characteristics of employees that are best able to create these moments include self-empowerment and self-regulation, a positive outlook, awareness of their feelings and the feelings of others, and the ability to curb fear and anxiety while being able to access a desire to help others. These past winners of the WorldHost customer service award demonstrate this concept in action (WorldHost, n.d.):
Tamara Turcotte of the Sidney Airport Travelodge was nominated after she came into work on her day off after hearing that hundreds of travellers had been stranded after a bomb threat led to the cancellation of ferry trips from nearby Swartz Bay. Reporting for duty, she helped coordinate accommodations for these travellers, looking beyond the hotel (which was full) to the homes of coworkers and friends. Her compassion and swift actions helped turn a negative experience for these guests into a moment of truth about visiting British Columbia.
Agazzi Abbay received word that JetsGo, a small airline and his employer, had suddenly gone out of business, and he was out of a job. Concerned for the passengers that would be stranded by this abrupt end for the airline, he went to the airport to give them the opportunity to share their frustration. Even though he was unable to help their situation, he was able to demonstrate empathy and provide a listening ear as the only former JetsGo employee available across Canada.
Andrea Chan, a guest services supervisor at the Holiday Inn and Suites in Vancouver, received a call from a hotel guest who said she was ill. Concerned because the caller sounded disoriented, Andrea recommended a visit to the hospital. To be sure her guest was safe, Andrea accompanied her to the emergency room and stayed with her until her health and safety were assured — working well beyond the hours of her shift, and returning home the next morning. By treating every guest like family, Andrea created a lasting impression about Holiday Inn and its customer service value.
9.05: Summary
Figure 9.11 British Columbia set the bar high when it welcomed the world to the 2010 Winter Olympic Games.
This chapter has explored the importance of customer service and its relationship with hospitality and tourism, particularly in the industry in BC. Using the SERVQUAL technique to describe characteristics of exceptional customer service and its benefits explain how the quality of customer service differentiates a business. Communication strategies in any situation has been reviewed with the service recovery, and proactively through Total Quality (TQ), the Moment of Truth process as well as how to retain and attract new customers through the analysis of customer lifetime value (CLV) and Net Promoter scores (from the SuperHost “Foundations of Service Quality”).
BC tourism and hospitality employers named customer service as the most beneficial training topic in a number of surveys. These skills are integral to customer satisfaction, employee engagement, organizational performance, and a destination’s competitive position (Freeman, 2011; Tourism Vancouver Island, 2010).
Employers can either commit to creating a learning organization or undermine their business depending on their investment (or lack thereof) in training. Essentially, employers get out of training what they put into it, often by attracting and retaining better, more motivated employees. Ultimately, this investment results in a better customer experience with improved levels of customer loyalty and organizational profitability. Prudent employees seek employers who value investment in training.
We know there are a variety of ways to ensure quality of service and recover when things go wrong. A key factor of success is understanding that customers want to be listened to — they would like an apology, a solution, at times compensation, and often follow-up and reassurance. And when a complaint is expertly handled, the customer can be converted from a potential social media detractor to a loyal advocate for the business.
Technology is working at a furious pace, and BC’s tourism and hospitality industry has worked to keep up with the latest opportunities. As a leader in customer service and a well-established international destination, now more than ever, BC’s tourism industry will pivot to ensure its continued success. | textbooks/workforce/Hospitality/Introduction_to_Tourism_and_Hospitality_in_BC_2e_(Westcott_and_Anderson)/09%3A_Customer_Service/9.04%3A_Loyalty_and_Customer_Relationships.txt |
Key Terms
• Customer lifetime value (CLV): a view of customer relationships that looks at the long-term cycle of customer interactions, rather than at single transactions
• Customer orientation: positioning a business or organization so that customer interests and value are the highest priority
• Customer relationship management (CRM): a strategy used by businesses to select customers and to maintain relationships with them to increase their lifetime value to the business
• Loyalty programs: programs that identify and build databases of frequent customers to promote directly to them, and to reward and provide special services for those frequent customers
• Moment of truth: when a customer’s interaction with a front-line employee makes a critical difference in his or her perception of that company or destination
• Service recovery: what happens when a customer service professional takes actions that result in the customer being satisfied after a service failure has occurred
• SERVQUAL: a technique developed to measure service quality
• Total quality (TQ): integrating all employees, from management to front-level, in a process of continuous learning, which leads toward increasing customer satisfaction
• Total quality management (TQM): a process of setting service goals as a team
Exercises
1. Complete the checklist for Service Professionals (SuperHost). On a scale of 1–5 (with 5 being highest), rate yourself on the following customer service skills. You can use a recent customer interaction or one from a previous service role. Add any other criteria that relate specifically to your position.
Qualities of a Remarkable Service Professional Score
Treat all colleagues with courtesy and respect.
Treat all customers with courtesy and respect.
Create a positive first impression for all customers.
Communicate clearly when sharing directions or information.
Be aware of the impact of voice and body language during communications.
Use open-ended questions to clarify.
Listen in an active and engaged way.
Listen without judgment to gain understanding.
Demonstrate empathy to customers.
Take initiative to deal with challenging situations.
Solve problems effectively.
Speak highly of the organization’s products and services on a consistent basis.
Provide positive recognition to customers.
Provide constructive feedback using assertive language.
Look for ways to improve as a customer service professional on an ongoing basis.
Look for ways to provide remarkable, out-of-the-ordinary service on an ongoing basis.
2. What are three key benefits of customer service training for employers? What are three benefits to employees?
3. Identify and discuss three ways how tourism and hospitality businesses can maintain a long-term relationship with their guests.
4. What kinds of training and credentials are available to tourism and hospitality professionals? What are some of the benefits to both employees and employers of these credentials?
5. Take a moment to list all of the loyalty programs you belong to (using cards from your wallet or apps on your phone). Next to each, write the following: the reason you joined the program, the benefits you receive from it, and your estimate of the benefits the issuing company receives.
6. Name five instances in which a guest might interact with each of the following types of tourism and hospitality business:
1. A tour operator
2. A hotel
3. An airline
4. A ski resort
7. Choose a tourism business, hotel, or restaurant that has received excellent reviews, and determine which comments can be linked either directly or indirectly to the quality and level of employee training and customer service. Find at least one example of each of the dimensions of RATER.
Case Study: Accent Inn and WorldHost Training Service (now rebranded as SuperHost)
Accent Inns is an award-winning, family-owned and operated company based in Victoria with hotels located in Victoria, Richmond, Burnaby, Kelowna, and Kamloops. All Accent Inns have developed a reputation for their quality, reasonable rates, and excellent service. Guest and staff satisfaction are key components of their service culture to treat every guest like family. The team at Accent Inns put great effort into making every customer interaction memorable.
In 2013, Accent Inns committed to incorporating customer service training at each property to be delivered by Accent Inns assistant general managers (AGMs). Core outcomes were to raise the level of service, empower front-line staff with the tools to exceed guest expectations, and strengthen the facilitation and coaching skills of the AGM team. Building on the business’s existing training culture and strong corporate values, WorldHost Training Services created a customized half-day program for the AGMs to use in their hotels.
To prepare, the AGMs completed an experiential 1.5-day train-the-trainer session. An emphasis on coaching support and a team facilitation approach led many to gain confidence in this new role. One trainer excelled and was selected as the full-time trainer for Accent Inns. Working with the human resources team from Accent Inns, WorldHost also completed a needs analysis at each property to ensure staff had input into future training. Training continues to be developed and delivered internally.
According to Kathy Gaudry, human resources manager for Accent Inns, “The WorldHost team was fantastic; they worked hard to ensure the training was completely relevant to our employees and our culture. The results were phenomenal — our junior leaders have acquired the skills they need to deliver training locally to their own teams — we couldn’t be happier.”
Visit the Accent Inns website and review the information to answer the following questions about their customer service culture:
1. What kind of experience do you expect by reading the website’s information and looking at the pictures? What kind of service do you feel the inns provide?
2. Visit TripAdvisor and look up any of the Accent Inn locations.
1. Select a review for families. What does the reviewer say about the property? How does Accent Inns respond?
2. Select a review for solo travellers. What does the reviewer say about the property? How does Accent Inns respond?
3. Are there any negative reviews? If so, how does Accent Inns respond?
3. Now that you’ve reviewed the case study, the website, and TripAdvisor for Accent Inns, use the RATER dimensions to provide examples of how Accent Inns is using the SERVQUAL model. | textbooks/workforce/Hospitality/Introduction_to_Tourism_and_Hospitality_in_BC_2e_(Westcott_and_Anderson)/09%3A_Customer_Service/9.06%3A_Conclusion.txt |
One of the main reasons people travel is to visit areas that are unspoiled, natural, beautiful, or unique in terms of their local environment. Unfortunately, through our actions either as tourism businesses or as visitors, we risk damaging the natural environments we depend on (Hardin, 1968; Williams & Ponsford, 2008). Establishing management practices in tourism that limit harm and damage to the environment is a key priority for most tourism destinations. For this reason, environmental stewardship in tourism is of paramount importance.
Environmental stewardship can be defined as “the responsible use (including conservation) of natural resources in a way that takes full and balanced account of the interests of society, future generations, and other species, as well as of private needs, and accepts significant answerability to society” (Worrell & Appleby, 2000, p. 263). Further to this, indigenous peoples within BC and Canada see people and communities as integral pieces to the land management and caretaking process. As noted by the Assembly of First Nations (2020):
Indigenous peoples are caretakers of Mother Earth and realize and respect her gifts of water, air and fire. First Nations peoples’ have a special relationship with the earth and all living things in it. This relationship is based on a profound spiritual connection to Mother Earth that guided indigenous peoples to practice reverence, humility and reciprocity. It is also based on the subsistence needs and values extending back thousands of years. Hunting, gathering, and fishing to secure food includes harvesting food for self, family, the elderly, widows, the community, and for ceremonial purposes. Everything is taken and used with the understanding that we take only what we need, and we must use great care and be aware of how we take and how much of it so that future generations will not be put in peril.
This chapter explores the concept of environmental stewardship, the impacts of tourism on the natural environment (and vice versa), and ways we can minimize these impacts.
Figure 10.1 A foraging black bear is photographed by a tourist on a wildlife viewing trip. Protecting B.C.’s natural assets is paramount to maintaining the province’s tourism product.
Generally speaking, environmental education, research, stewardship and practice have been informed by the traditions of western, Euro-centric culture. It is critical to note that Indigenous peoples throughout the world, including the various Indigenous Nations throughout the land now known as British Columbia have always been the original stewards of their Territories and lands.
Stewardship is often defined as having the duty of and then actively participating in the careful management of resources. Resource stewardship concepts have roots in a diversity of early practices, often founded on intimate connections between humans, their unique cultural practices and nature (McMillen et. al., 2020). Indigenous knowledge and practices of stewardship concepts were pushed aside for decades as European and white settlers in British Columbia removed Indigenous people from their Lands and implemented Euro-centric systems of land management (Kimmerer, 2013; Wildcat et. al., 2014). Indigenous peoples are often ideally suited to implement stewardship of lands due to in-depth knowledge of their Territories and the stewardship practices developed over centuries of ecosystem management and land connection (Bird & Nimmo, 2018; Kimmerer, 2013).
The topic of stewardship entered Western thought in the middle of the last century in the works of writers such as Aldo Leopard (A Sand Country Almanac), Garret Hardin (The Tragedy of the Commons), and Rachel Carson (Silent Spring). Building on this growing consciousness, concepts of sustainability and sustainable development was introduced into mainstream policy and thought.
One of the first commonly accepted definitions of sustainable development came from the World Commission on Environment and Development, later renamed the Brundtland Commission. It defined sustainable development as meeting “the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” (Brundtland, 1987, p. 41). Sustainable development models include aspects that interconnect components of social, economic and environmental sustainability, and how these components can work together for long-term, intergenerational outcomes.
A related concept is environmental management, where the natural resources of the environment are managed through policies designed to protect natural values while providing a framework for use. In tourism, this management may be the responsibility of many groups including individual operators, tourism industry organizations, non-governmental organizations, or government agencies (Mercer, 2004; Williams & Ponsford, 2008).
Figure 10.2 Delegates at the 2009 United Nations Conference on Climate Change in Copenhagen.
The Need for Change
Experts around the world agree that the need for stewardship has never been greater, as there exists overwhelming evidence that the environment is being irrevocably damaged by human actions. Climate change caused by increased greenhouse gas emissions (World Tourism Organization, 2008a) and the loss of biodiversity due to declining habitat loss are just two compelling issues.
Tourism, in particular, relies on environmental resources of land, waters, wildlife, air, etc. and often abuses these resources at the detriment to local people and ecological systems. Tourism continues to grow globally, and many tourists are in pursuit of pristine, natural environments. Development of tourism products results in increased urbanization, overuse, exceeding carrying capacity, and contamination of natural resources (Williams & Ponsford, 2008). Later in this chapter, we’ll provide several examples of specific tourism and hospitality impacts and approaches to mitigating them.
There is one issue that is currently taking precedence over all others: climate change. The next section focuses specifically on this critical global issue and its relationship to the tourism industry. | textbooks/workforce/Hospitality/Introduction_to_Tourism_and_Hospitality_in_BC_2e_(Westcott_and_Anderson)/10%3A_Environmental_Stewardship/10.01%3A_Definitions_and_Environmental_Stewardship_Ideas.txt |
Figure 10.3 The Helm Glacier in Garibaldi Provincial Park, melting.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) concluded the “observed increase in global average temperatures since the mid-20th century is very likely (> 90% probability) the result of human activities that are increasing greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere” (World Tourism Organization, 2008a, p. 38). Climate change should be considered to be one of the most important challenges currently facing the tourism industry.
Take a Closer Look: Climate Change and Tourism
The report entitled Climate Change and Tourism: Responding to Global Challenges, published by the World Tourism Organization (2008b), discusses the implications of climate change to the global tourism industry. It also suggests climate change adaption measures to be undertaken. Find the full report as a PDF at Climate Change and Tourism: Responding to Global Challenges.
Impacts of Climate Change
According to the World Tourism Organization, impacts from climate change on tourism include the following (2008a):
Direct climate impacts are changes that occur as a result of warming trends, cooling trends, or extreme weather events. Examples include a lack of snow to operate mountain resorts, melting glaciers in mountainous regions, and floods, landslides, and wildfires that could affect tourist areas.
Figure 10.4 The aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, which destroyed large sections of coastline in New York and New Jersey, including popular tourist attraction Coney Island (seen in the distance).
Indirect environmental change impacts are the byproducts of climate change. Global temperature changes may create water shortages, a loss of biodiversity, impacts to landscape aesthetics, and damage to infrastructure through extreme weather events. Examples in tourism include the inability to maintain resort facilities in desert environments due to water shortages, erosion of tropical atolls from rising sea levels, extinction of valuable wildlife species due to changes in habitat, and increased costs of maintaining infrastructure in the face of environmental change.
Impacts of mitigation policies on tourist mobility will become apparent as the tourism industry adjusts to environmental changes. Environmental impact mitigation strategies may create challenges for the long-term sustainability of the tourism industry. Tourism products may be offered over a shorter season, prices may increase due to a rise in operating costs, and there may be a shortage of pristine natural areas available for visits.
Indirect societal change impacts will slowly become apparent. Economic growth may be stunted in some areas and increase in others, creating societal inequality between nations. Political instability may arise in areas that are facing drastic environmental impact. All these changes will present new challenges to the industry and may threaten the long-term security of the industry (Watson, Zinyowera, & Moss, 1997; World Tourism Organization, 2008a).
Table 10.1 provides a detailed list of these impacts and their implications for tourism, as compiled by the World Tourism Organization.
Table 10.1 Major climate change impacts and implications for tourism destinations
[Skip Table]
Impact Implications for Tourism
Warmer temperatures Altered seasonality, heat stress for tourists, cooling costs, changes in plant-wildlife-insect populations and distribution, infectious disease ranges (e.g., mountain pine beetle infestation in BC)
Decreasing snow cover and shrinking glaciers Lack of snow in winter destinations, increased snow-making costs, shorter winter sports seasons aesthetics of landscape reduced (e.g., early closure of Lower Mainland mountain resorts due to lack of snow in 2014)
Increasing frequency and intensity of extreme storms Risk for tourism facilities, increased insurance costs/loss of insurability, business interruption costs (e.g., superstorm Hurricane Sandy and its destruction of parts of Coney Island)
Reduced precipitation and increased evaporation in some regions Water shortages, competition over water between tourism and other sectors, competition for water between visitors and residents, desertification, increased wildfires threatening infrastructure and affecting demand (e.g., drought in California)
Increased frequency of heavy precipitation in some regions Flooding damage to historic architectural and cultural assets, damage to tourism infrastructure, altered seasonality (e.g., flooding in Souris, Manitoba, causing washout of swinging bridge attraction)
Sea level rise Coastal erosion, loss of beach area, higher costs to protect and maintain waterfronts (e.g., threat to PEI’s historic West Point Lighthouse; now close to falling off cliff due to erosion)
Sea surface temperatures rise Increased coral bleaching and marine resource and aesthetics degradation in dive and snorkel destinations, increased invasive species in waterways (e.g., threat from yellow perch driving out salmon in BC rivers and lakes)
Changes in terrestrial and marine biodiversity Loss of natural attractions and species from destinations, higher risk of diseases in tropical-subtropical countries (e.g., heavy rainfall leading to an increase in dengue fever and malaria)
More frequent and larger forest fires Loss of natural attractions; increase of flooding risk; damage to tourism infrastructure (e.g., destruction of Kettle Valley Railway bridges used by cyclists in 2003 BC forest fire)
Soil changes (e.g., moisture levels, erosion, and acidity) Loss of archaeological assets and other natural resources, with impacts on destination attractions
Data source: World Tourism Organization, 2008a, p.61
To understand how we might begin to address these impacts and other environmental issues, it’s helpful to understand the fundamentals of environmental stewardship theory, which is explored in the next section. | textbooks/workforce/Hospitality/Introduction_to_Tourism_and_Hospitality_in_BC_2e_(Westcott_and_Anderson)/10%3A_Environmental_Stewardship/10.02%3A_Tourism_and_Climate_Change.txt |
Some basic concepts of environmental management and ethics, especially as they apply to tourism, include carrying capacity, footprint, tragedy of the commons, and the tourism paradox. This section also outlines some of the key approaches to dealing with environmental and sustainability issues in the tourism industry including sustainable tourism, ecotourism, and responsible tourism management.
Carrying Capacity
Carrying capacity is “the average maximum number of individuals of a given species that can occupy a particular habitat without permanently impairing the productive capacity of that habitat” (Rees, 2001, p. 229).
Figure 10.5 A tourist’s snapshot of a “full moon party” in Thailand, where bottles, trash, and human waste litter the beach for days afterward and noise and light pollution are common.
This concept has been applied to tourism in the context of a tourism carrying capacity (TCC), “the maximum number of visitors which an area can sustain without unacceptable deterioration of the physical environment and without considerably diminishing user satisfaction” (Salerno, Viviano, Manfredi, Caroli, Thankuri, & Tartari, 2013, p. 116).
Take a Closer Look: Vehicle Congestion in Banff National Park
In late 2014, the Town of Banff approved \$70,000 to study the feasibility of introducing a gondola network to connect the Banff Centre, the Banff Springs Hotel, the Upper Hot Springs, and the existing mountain gondola. That summer the town experienced 54 days of congestion that exceeded its threshold of 20,000 vehicles per day, with vehicle waits and idle times of up to 1.5 hours during peak periods. To learn more about the issue and proposed solutions, read “Banff Considers Potential of Gondola Network.”
Carrying capacity factors are determined within a scientific framework and must adapt to various changes and needs of local people and ecosystems. There are many examples of TCC being applied in tourism globally and it is important to note that no two areas have the same set of factors to determine carrying capacity. In Canada, national parks use the concept to ensure visitor numbers are restricted to a sustainable level along with other wilderness areas, protected areas, Indigenous Territories and waterways, campgrounds, and front country experiences.
Although TCC is a theoretical concept that is often discussed and utilized for analysis, in reality it can be challenging to restrict the numbers of tourists arriving at a destination. Both determining and managing the carrying capacity of a destination requires input from local peoples and environmental data. One successful approach is to limit access to an area or to simply limit tourist numbers.
Ecological Footprint
Ecological footprint is essentially a tool to analyze the impact of a population on Earth (Rees, 2001). The model calculates the total area of land and water resources used to support the population, presenting it in a manner that can be easily related to — usually in terms of the amount of land needed to support an individual at the standard of living that person is used to.
Many countries and people of those countries use more natural resources within and beyond their own borders than ecosystems can regenerate (biocapacity). Because of this, these countries and people are essentially running an “ecological deficit.” Nations and people can run these ecological deficits by overusing their own (and other Nations’/peoples’) resources, such as by overfishing, taking resources from other areas, and/or emitting higher levels pf carbon dioxide into the atmosphere than can be absorbed (Global Footprint Network, 2020).
Tragedy of the Commons
Tragedy of the commons is an economic theory first proposed by Garrett Hardin in 1968, which states that if individuals are given the chance to overuse a common property, they will, in order to realize the maximum personal benefits. If every person does this, common property quickly becomes overused and damaged (Hardin, 1968).
For example, a group of tourism operators may look at a pristine natural area and see a chance for economic profit, and in the race for development, little or nothing is done to protect the area. If this unchecked development were to continue, the damage to the environment could reach a point where the elements that attracted tourists in the first place are irreversibly damaged, thus resulting in the “tragedy” that Hardin discusses (Hardin, 1968).
The tragedy of the commons leads to something known as the tourism paradox, a concept that describes the paradoxical nature of tourism’s relationship with the environment.
The Tourism Paradox
Figure 10.6 B.C.’s tourism assets centre heavily on scenery. Seen here are the Coast Mountains and the Georgia Strait, as viewed from Neck Point Park near Nanaimo.
A common theme promoted by many tourism destinations is their location in some of the most ecologically fragile environments in existence — coastal, mountain, and river environments (Williams & Ponsford, 2008). Tourism requires these areas to be intact to serve as an attraction to visitors. Tourists expect a clean physical environment, appropriate seasonal conditions, and diversity of wildlife. Destinations failing to provide at least some of these elements risk losing their competitive edge in the global market; visitors will steer clear of polluted, barren landscapes with unpredictable or uncomfortable weather.
Spotlight On: The Resort Municipality of Whistler
The community of Whistler relies heavily on natural resources for its local tourism products, such as skiing, and has long been active in sustainability initiatives. The plan, Whistler 2020, sets out integrated community strategies for enhancing community life, enhancing the resort experience, ensuring economic viability, protecting the environment, and partnering for success. For more information about the plan and Whistler’s progress with these initiatives, visit the Whistler2020 website.
At the same time, the tourism industry is itself causing environmental damage through its own development in pristine areas, consumption of resources, and contribution to climate change. This is the paradox: as an industry, tourism both creates damage and suffers from it. That’s why it’s critical for the industry to be proactive about environmental sustainability in tourism; failing to do so may result in our downfall (Williams & Ponsford, 2008).
Before we gain a better understanding of the ways the tourism industry and individual operators can try to mitigate their impacts, let’s take a closer look at the overall management of BC’s environmental resources.
Sustainable Tourism
The UNWTO sees sustainable tourism as a set of guidelines and management practices that can be applied to all forms of tourism (from small-scale to mass tourism) and in all destination types (2005). When referring to sustainable tourism, sustainability principles relating to environmental, economic and socio-cultural aspects of tourism development must be addressed. As such, sustainable tourism development requires the informed consent and input from local people and stakeholders and must address the need to:
1. Make optimal use of environmental resources that constitute a key element in tourism development, maintaining essential ecological processes and helping to conserve natural heritage and biodiversity.
2. Respect the socio-cultural authenticity of host communities, conserve their built and living cultural heritage and traditional values, and contribute to inter-cultural understanding and tolerance.
3. Ensure viable, long-term economic operations, providing socio-economic benefits to all stakeholders that are fairly distributed, including stable employment and income-earning opportunities and social services to host communities, and contributing to poverty alleviation (UNWTO, 2005, p. 11–12).
Many industry leaders feel that the sustainable tourism movement is fragmented and lacks leadership and accountability due to the fragmentation of the tourism industry itself (Mullis, 2017). Tourists themselves have a large role to play in this equation in that their experiences are generally more positive when experiences incorporate sustainability principles and it has been found that tourists are more likely to visit or make purchases from tourism companies that have sustainability practices in place (Mandala Research, 2015).
Responsible Tourism
Responsible Tourism is an approach to tourism development that was defined through the Cape Town Declaration in 2002 in an effort to provide practical, evidence-based solutions that sustainable tourism approaches have not succeeded to do. Responsible tourism is defined as “making better places for people to live in and better places for people to visit” (Cape Town Declaration, 2002). Responsible tourism approaches focus on identifying important issues to local people and their environments, addressing those issues and transparently reporting and monitoring on those issues.
The Cape Town Declaration recognizes that Tourism can provide numerous benefits to people and destinations however tourist and industry behaviour must be managed in a way that is defined by local people who know what they need best.
The Responsible Tourism approach is defined by tourism that:
• minimizes negative economic, environmental and social impacts;
• generates greater economic benefits for local people and enhances the well-being of host communities, improves working conditions and access to the industry;
• involves local people in decisions that affect their lives and life changes;
• makes positive contributions to the conservation of natural and cultural heritage, to the maintenance of the world’s diversity;
• provides more enjoyable experiences for tourists through more meaningful connections with local people, and a greater understanding of local cultural, social and environmental issues;
• provides access for people with disabilities and the disadvantaged;
• is culturally sensitive, engenders respect between tourists and hosts, and builds local pride and confidence (Harold Goodwin, 2014). | textbooks/workforce/Hospitality/Introduction_to_Tourism_and_Hospitality_in_BC_2e_(Westcott_and_Anderson)/10%3A_Environmental_Stewardship/10.03%3A_Environmental_Stewardship_Theory_in_Tourism.txt |
Environmental impacts in BC are managed by a variety of governmental organizations and should always be in consultation with and by the consent of First Nations people and governments. Each of these agencies at First Nations, provincial and federal government levels have a role to play, from regulation of land access and resource extraction to environmental monitoring and cleanup. To understand how the impacts are managed, let’s review the basic categories of land use in BC.
Land Use
There are essentially four broad land categories in BC: First Nations land, private land, provincial Crown land, and federal Crown land.
First Nations land includes any area where “Aboriginal title” has been established and responsibilities for management lie with the relevant First Nations group. Large areas of designated Crown land in BC are considered by First Nations groups as traditional, and these are currently going through the treaty negotiation process, which will likely result in a larger proportion of the BC land area coming under First Nations management.
In 1997, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled in the Delgamuukw case that Aboriginal title is “a right to the land itself—not just the right to hunt, fish and gather.” This case confirmed that “Aboriginal title still exists in BC and that when dealing with Crown land the government must consult with and may have to compensate First Nations whose rights are affected” (BC Treaty Commission, 2020).
Private land in BC is any land where private property rights apply. This includes residential, commercial, and agricultural zoned land throughout the province. If private property rights apply, the owner has more rights over that land for development and use than any other classification of land. Tourism companies wishing to operate on private property need to gain ownership of the land, or failing that, permission to operate on the land. Private property accounts for approximately 5% of the land mass in BC (Government of BC, 2011).
The term Crown land applies to any land that is owned by either the provincial or federal government. Provincial Crown land makes up 94% of BC, making it the largest category of land in the province. Provincial Crown land is available for a wide range of activities that encourage recreation and economic development, including tourism (Government of BC, 2011).
Figure 10.7 A BC Parks ranger conducts an interpretive program.
Designated park areas are managed by BC Parks, the agency that reviews and issues permits for tourism companies to operate within a park. Other provincial Crown land is managed by a variety of government agencies, such as the Ministry of Forests, Lands, and Natural Resource Operations (MFLNR).
Federal Crown land is all land that is owned by the Government of Canada; in BC, less than 1% of the overall land is federal Crown land. It primarily consists of parks and protected areas that are managed by Parks Canada, the federal agency that has a mandate to preserve and share “natural and cultural heritage” and help ensure enjoyment and appreciation “for present and future generations” (Parks Canada, n.d.).
Take a Closer Look: Parks and Protected Areas in BC
Two examples of pristine parks in BC are Pacific Rim National Park and Garibaldi Provincial Park. Pacific Rim is operated by Parks Canada. It covers a beautiful stretch of land along the west coast of Vancouver Island. Visit the webpage at Pacific Rim National Park Reserve.
Garibaldi is managed by BC Parks. It is located just north of Vancouver and protects a pristine mountainous region. Learn more at the Garibaldi Provincial Park website. Both parks serve as significant natural attractions for tourism in BC.
Land Use for Tourism and Hospitality
Businesses and organizations wishing to use Crown land for economic development must apply and be approved for Crown land tenure, which is an agreement with the BC government to use the land for commercial purposes. Examples of the types of tourism operations that might seek tenure include mountain resorts, golf courses, backcountry lodges, tour operators, resort development, and marina construction. It’s estimated that about 16% of the tourism industry in BC depends on access to Crown land through the Crown land tenure program (Government of BC, 2010).
Different tenures are available depending on the type, location, and intensity of use proposed. A temporary permit grants use for approved activities for up to two years, but not exclusive use (other commercial operators may still use the area). A licence of occupation, the next level of tenure, provides for light development (e.g., semi-permanent structures or trails). This type of licence is typically issued for terms of five to 30 years and is renewable. A lease is a long-term contract for tenure, typically for 30 years. With a lease, operators can make substantial improvements to the land including significant structures such as lodges, restaurants, ski lifts, roads, and so on. It is the longest term and the most secure type of tenure (Government of BC, 2010).
Any tourism business wishing to operate on First Nations land requires permission from the local First Nation. Companies wanting to operate in a National Park also need to apply for a permit. Although resource extraction is restricted, national parks often encourage tourism development that is sustainable and appropriate for the local environment.
Other elements of environmental stewardship in BC fall to the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy. This ministry focuses on environmental protection, environmental sustainability, strategic policy, managing and developing parks and protected areas, climate action, and managing Conservation Officer Servicea.
Additionally, the Environmental Assessment Office plays an important role in environmental stewardship on Crown lands in BC. All major projects being proposed for development on Crown land must undergo an environmental assessment and have it approved by this office, which is a neutral agency set up specifically for this purpose. Projects are evaluated not only for their potential impacts on the environment, but also on their economic, social, cultural, and heritage aspects. Large-scale tourism projects such as mountain resorts are required to proceed through the environmental assessment process (Environmental Assessment Office, n.d.).
Figure 10.8 Logging sites visible from the air in Jervis Inlet.
The current land management system in BC has led to numerous conflicts between tourism operators and resource extraction operations such as mining and forestry. Often, overlapping tenure is given to multiple companies with conflicting operational goals. Tourism operators typically require a clean environment, high-quality viewscapes, intact biodiversity, and an environment free of industrial scars. To maintain these values, any resource extraction needs to occur far from where tourism operators conduct their activities. In recent years, tensions have been building as access to wilderness areas becomes scarcer, with tourism values often falling second to resource extraction under the existing system (Webster, 2013).
Take a Closer Look: Conflicts Between Tourism and Resource Extraction in BC
Tourism companies complain that despite being part of the \$1.6 billion nature-based tourism industry in BC, the government favours traditional logging values. This article discusses one example on northern Vancouver Island where a kayaking operator feels logging is threatening its livelihood. Learn more by reading the article, “Logging Threatens Tourism, Kayaking Company Charges.”
The issues discussed above provide a framework for thinking about environmental management and the impacts of the tourism industry in BC. As part of the industry, we have an important responsibility to recognize impacts and take steps to reduce them. The next section addresses how we might do just that. | textbooks/workforce/Hospitality/Introduction_to_Tourism_and_Hospitality_in_BC_2e_(Westcott_and_Anderson)/10%3A_Environmental_Stewardship/10.04%3A_Environmental_Management_in_BC.txt |
Figure 10.9 Moose tracks on Liard River in northern B.C.
In recent years in BC, the tourism industry has felt the impacts of climate change, habitat destruction, biodiversity loss, and increased conflicts over the use of natural areas. The winters of 2013/2014 and 2014/2015 were two of the warmest on record, and numerous low-elevation coastal mountain resorts were forced to close in the middle of the winter season (Hager, 2015). As well, the province is experiencing increased pressure on endangered wildlife species that draw tourists and residents alike. The death of an orca whale off the coast of Vancouver Island in late 2014 raised questions of water pollution and contamination (Theodore, 2014).
Take a Closer Look: The Future of Mountain Resorts
With their dependence on quality snow conditions for guests, ski areas will likely be among the first to be impacted by climate change. Read an article on this topic from the Tyee, “Peak Snow? BC Ski Resorts Brace for Warmer Era.”
In the face of this negative environmental news, there are a variety of initiatives underway that have the potential to implement real change. These include:
• Carbon offsetting
• Energy conservation
• Water conservation
• Food production management
• Waste management
• Accreditation
This section explores these potential solutions.
Carbon Offsetting
Carbon offsetting is a standardized, regulated system that provides organizations with the ability to invest in green initiatives that will counterbalance their emissions, hence creating a carbon neutral situation (David Suzuki Foundation, 2009).
The concept of carbon offsetting stems from a recognition that despite a desire to entirely eliminate carbon emissions, sometimes doing so isn’t immediately feasible. Consequently, carbon offsetting has proven popular with tourism companies that can offset some or all of their emissions, either by themselves or by providing the opportunity for customers to do so. Examples are most commonly found in the transportation sector, where the reliance on traditional fossil fuels makes it challenging to completely eliminate carbon emissions.
Figure 10.10 A detail from the side of a Harbour Air seaplane.
Take the small B.C. airline Harbour Air, for instance. Since 2007, the company has completely offset all of the emissions produced by its airplanes by investing in energy-efficiency and fuel-switching projects in BC. The cost of the projects is passed on to passengers through a small levy added to the ticket price, and despite the cost increase, passenger traffic increased by 12% to 15% in the following year (Offsetters, n.d.).
Take a Closer Look: Carbon Offsetting and the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics
The Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics were the first carbon-neutral Olympic Games. For more information, read the discussion paper, Meeting the Challenge: A Carbon Neutral 2010 Winter Games.
Carbon offsetting isn’t just for the transportation sector, however. Tinhorn Creek Winery in Oliver has become a tourism destination for wine and culinary tourists and has some innovative conservation concepts. In addition to having an offsetting program, the winery runs its vehicles on biodiesel. It also holds virtual tastings with travel media over the web (media obtain samples of the product ahead of time), eliminating travel to the Okanagan to have a Tinhorn experience. The property remains dedicated to exploring sustainability concepts as its survival is based on mitigating climate change and the negative effects of drastic weather changes on wine production (Tinhorn Creek Winery, 2014).
Energy Conservation
Despite the relatively low cost of electricity in BC, it benefits all operators to do their part by reducing consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. Not only is this the right thing to do for the physical environment, it’s also a means to save money.
For example, the Four Seasons in Vancouver reduced their electricity consumption by 4,000 megawatt hours in the period between fall 2012 and spring 2014. They did this by installing timers and photocells on lights, auditing appliances, ensuring proper maintenance of the furnace and HVAC systems, and cleaning light fixtures and fans so these operated at their best. The energy reduction represented a savings of \$135,000 for the property (Hui, 2014).
Take a Closer Look: Energy Conservation in the Hospitality Sector
BC Hydro’s PowerSmart program for businesses has helped operators large and small — from BC Ferries to the Pear Tree Restaurant in Burnaby — to reduce their footprint and save money. Read success stories, check out helpful tools, and learn more about the program by visiting Hospitality: Increase profits by reducing energy costs.
BC Ferries is another organization that has realized energy savings. It did this with the help of BC Hydro education programs and incentives, retrofitting lighting and installing radiant heat in a workshop and toll booths. These efforts yielded an energy savings of over 335 megawatt hours in one year. That represents enough energy to power 31 average homes over the same time period (BC Hydro, 2013).
Water Conservation
Figure 10.11 A hiker comes across surging fresh water from a “pineapple express” storm on B.C.’s coast.
British Columbia is home to 25% of Canada’s fresh water, and so to many it appears that water conservation is not an issue in the province. However, water is not evenly distributed across regions, nor is it equally available all seasons of the year (BC Ministry of Environment, n.d.b). This is especially evident on Salt Spring Island, a popular tourist destination with numerous small accommodation properties. The island experiences water shortages in the peak summer season when lake and groundwater levels drop and demand is highest.
In 2006, a number of local water conservation groups on Salt Spring Island surveyed 117 accommodation providers to determine what measures might be taken to alleviate the summer pressure on freshwater systems. They were pleasantly surprised to find that several properties had already taken steps, including installing low-flow toilets and flow restrictors on shower heads, requiring minimum two-night stays (which reduces the amount of laundry required), and offering visitor education campaigns. The combined efforts of properties on the island have proven to make a significant difference to the collective capacity of 1,500 guests per night (O’Callaghan, 2006).
Food Production and the Environment
As discussed in Chapter 4 on food and beverage services, there is increasing awareness among the general public about the importance of healthful eating. This goes hand in hand with an increased understanding of food production issues including environmental impacts such as pollution, soil depletion, and the toxicity (both to humans and the environment) of industrial food growth practices. Over the last 30 years, American (and to an extent, Canadian) food growth has centred on the mass production of inexpensive staple foods such as corn and soy, which are used in unhealthy foods like high-fructose corn syrup and soybean oil, and are fed to the animals we eat (University of Minnesota, 2009).
Spotlight On: Island Chefs Collaborative
The Island Chefs Collaborative (ICC) is an organization that supports connections between local agriculture and the food and beverage industry. Its vision is a local and sustainable food and agriculture system for Vancouver Island. For more information, visit the Island Chefs’ Collaborative website.
Farming mass amounts of one crop is known as monoculture, a practice that depletes the soil and encourages the use of pesticides and fertilizers for increased production. The impacts of these chemicals to date include the creation of a “dead zone” at the outflow of the Mississippi River into the Gulf of Mexico, where no fish or other animals can live (University of Minnesota, 2009).
The soil in which food is grown is becoming less rich as commercial fertilizers focus only on building specific nutrients. Combined with the long distances that foods are shipped (sometimes causing nutrients to be depleted), consumers are becoming wary of commercially produced foods (University of Minnesota, 2009).
The 100-Mile Diet and Farm to Table
In 2005, two BC-based journalists, J.B. MacKinnon and Alisa Smith, began chronicling the challenges of only eating food produced within 100 miles of their homes, as part of a serial of articles for the Tyee. Their posts became a book, The 100-Mile Diet, launched in 2007 and heralded as a vanguard of the local food movement (Tyee, 2005).
Spotlight On: Circle Farm Tour
Created through a partnership between destination marketing organizations in the Fraser Valley communities of Abbotsford, Chilliwack, Agassiz-Harrison, and Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows, the Circle Farm Tour brings awareness to farming practices and farmland conservation while creating a collaborative tourism product. Self-guided tours are made possible through a series of branded maps, brochures, and a central website. For more information, visit the Circle Farm Tour website.
Organizations such as FarmFolk CityFolk, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to food sustainability in the province, have been promoting farm-to-table dining for over 20 years. Their efforts include working with restaurants to bring quality ingredients to the sector, and hosting annual events that celebrate the “feast of fields” in regions such as the Okanagan (FarmFolk CityFolk, 2014).
Waste Management
Figure 10.12 A food scraps bin ready for composting, collected at a Vancouver farmer’s market.
In 2012 in BC, the amount of garbage generated was equivalent to 570 kilograms per person. With landfills and treatment sites filling to capacity (and sometimes beyond), it’s imperative that communities and businesses work together in the practice of proper waste management through implementing recycling programs, reducing garbage, properly treating industrial and hazardous waste, and treating sewage and wastewater (Government of BC, n.d.).
One very effective means of reducing garbage taken to the landfill is implementing a food waste program in which food scraps are placed in a green bin and collected by the community for composting. The City of Vancouver initially introduced such a program to single family households from 2011 to 2013 and saw a 30% drop in garbage generated. In 2014, the program was expanded to include all households and businesses and placed a ban on food scraps in the garbage. The program met resistance from the BC Restaurant and Foodservices Association, which viewed the initiative as placing an extra cost and being a logistical challenge for members (Nagel, 2014). Individual restaurateurs were hopeful, however, that the city would help businesses by increasing pickup and expanding the efficiency of their other recycling programs (Robinson, 2014).
Plants & Wildlife
The impact of tourism to plant-life and wildlife in BC is immense, and the impacts range from habituation of animals to humans to the actual destruction of ecosystems and habitats as well as the hastening of species decline. Tourism can affect plant-life through acts of trampling sensitive ecosystems, gathering branches for campfires, over-collecting flowers and plants, litter, and/or careless acts with backcountry use that have sparked uncontrolled forest fires in BC especially this past decade. Wildlife are also affected wherein many animals have become habituated and tolerate tourists wherein feeding and breeding habits are disrupted, habitats are destroyed/access is limited, and food systems are altered greatly.
Accreditation and Certification
Environmental accreditation or certification is a type of voluntary regulation where an organization agrees to follow a set of standards, predefined processes, or regulations. These are generally developed by independent non-governmental organizations with a goal of reducing the environmental impact within an industry. Accreditation can encompass any of the practices discussed so far — from carbon offsetting to energy and water conservation to waste management.
Beyond the value of making the ethical decision of working to reduce environmental impacts, organizations receive value by being able to promote themselves as being environmentally friendly and therefore attracting consumers (Font, 2002). And for guests, choosing an independently accredited business may help them avoid companies that are guilty of greenwashing, which is the promotion of environmentally friendly tourism products without actually achieving the environmental standard promised (Lelenicz & Simoni, 2012; Self, Self, & Bell-Haynes, 2010).
Spotlight On: Green Key Global
Green Key Global is an international certification body that evaluates the accommodations and meetings industries on the basis of their sustainable initiatives. Headquartered in Ontario, its Green Key Eco-Rating Program awards from 1 to 5 keys to hotels, with 47 properties currently holding the highest rating. Green Key Global conducts an on-site assessment and provides operators with suggestions for improving their sustainability efforts. Awarded keys are then used as marketing and promotional tools. A similar program serves the meetings and events sector. For more information, visit the Green Key Global website.
Organizations join such programs voluntarily. This typically involves going through an audit to prove adherence to a set of environmental standards (Font, 2002). Generally, an audit consists of an independent third party visiting a business or operation and reviewing its practices against a checklist of standards; those that pass earn the certification or accreditation.
It is estimated that over 100 different tourism environmental certification programs exist, each with different standards and criteria (Self, Self, & Bell-Haynes, 2010).
Spotlight On: Sustainable Tourism
Sustainable Tourism is an environmental tourism certification program where tourism operators are assessed for adherence to sustainability principles. It offers ongoing support and consultation so that operators may work to achieve a high level of environmental sustainability. For more information, visit Sustainable Tourism.
Whether it be through carbon offsetting, energy and water conservation, increased use of local and organic food products, or official accreditation programs, the tourism industry has a number of options for lessening the impacts of businesses on the physical environment. | textbooks/workforce/Hospitality/Introduction_to_Tourism_and_Hospitality_in_BC_2e_(Westcott_and_Anderson)/10%3A_Environmental_Stewardship/10.05%3A_Mitigating_Tourism_and_Hospitality_Impacts.txt |
Numerous studies suggest society will face increasing pressure for scarce resources and a changing natural environment due to habitat destruction, pollution, and climate change (Hardin, 1968; Mercer, 2004; Williams & Ponsford, 2008; Wong, 2004; World Tourism Organization, 2008b). The tourism industry must recognize its considerable contribution to this global challenge and take aggressive steps to mitigate the impacts.
Figure 10.13 Bertram Beach near Kelowna, one of many B.C. sites the industry should strive to keep beautiful.
On a global scale, the tourism industry needs to recognize its release of significant carbon emissions and explore ways to reduce these while maintaining the mobility needed for travel. On a local scale, tourism stakeholders need to recognize the risk they pose to the destruction of local pristine environments and take steps to ensure the sustainability of their operations. Only by working together can we ensure a future for tourism and our society as a whole.
This chapter has addressed a major risk to the tourism industry — the threat of environmental impacts and disasters on businesses and communities. Chapter 11 addresses the concept of risk management and legal liability in the industry.
Key Terms
• BC Parks: the agency responsible for management of provincial parks in British Columbia
• Carbon offsetting: a market-based system that provides options for organizations to invest in green initiatives to offset their own carbon emissions
• Carrying capacity: the maximum number of a given species that can be sustained in a specific habitat or biosphere without negative impacts
• Crown land: land owned and managed by either the provincial or federal governments; Crown land also lies within First Nations Territories and much of this land is unceded by First Nations
• Crown land tenure: rights given to commercial organizations to operate on Crown land
• Direct climate impacts: what will occur directly as a result of changes to the climate such as extreme weather events
• Ecological footprint: a model that calculates the amount of natural resources needed to support society at its current standard of living
• Environmental accreditation or certification: a voluntary system that establishes environmental standards and regulates adherence to reducing environmental impacts
• Environmental Assessment Office: the provincial agency responsible for reviewing large projects occurring on Crown land in BC
• Environmental management: policies and procedures designed to protect natural values while providing a framework for use
• Environmental stewardship: the practice of ensuring natural resources are conserved and used responsibly in a way that balances the needs of various groups
• First Nations land: land under Aboriginal title or that is managed by First Nations
• Greenwashing: the act of claiming a product is “green” or environmentally friendly solely for marketing and promotional purposes
• Indirect environmental change impacts: what will occur indirectly as a result of climate change, including damages to infrastructure
• Ministry of Environment: the provincial ministry responsible for the environment in BC
• Monoculture: a farming practice that depletes the soil and encourages the use of pesticides and fertilizers for increased production
• Parks Canada: the federal agency responsible for management of national parks, historic sites, and marine conservation areas
• Private land: any land where private property rights apply in BC
• Responsible tourism: a tourism management approach that focuses on identifying important issues to local people and their environments, addressing those issues and reporting/monitoring those issues in an effort to “make better places for people to live in and better places for people to visit”
• Stewardship: having the duty of and then actively participating in the careful management of resources
• Sustainable development: planning and development that is mindful of future generations while meeting society’s needs today
• Sustainable tourism: a set of guidelines and management practices applied to all forms of tourism and destination types wherein areas of environmental, economic and socio-cultural aspects are addressed
• Tourism carrying capacity (TCC): the maximum number of people that can visit a specific habitat in a set period of time without negative impacts, and without compromising the visitor experience
• Tourism paradox: the concept that tourism operations destroy its very requirements for success — a pristine natural environment
• Tragedy of the commons: the tendency of society to overconsume natural resources for individual gain
Exercises
1. What does carrying capacity mean? Provide an example from your local tourism industry.
2. List five impacts that climate change will create and five corresponding implications for the tourism industry.
3. Articulate the difference between provincial Crown land, federal Crown land, private land, and First Nations land.
4. What is the Environmental Assessment Office and what are its responsibilities?
5. Use the carbon footprint calculator to determine your household carbon footprint. How many tonnes of greenhouse gas (GHG) do you emit per year? Name three actions you could take to reduce your footprint.
6. Explain what the tourism paradox is, giving examples from your local tourism industry.
7. What is sustainable tourism and what are some important things to consider within a tourism destination for sustainable tourism to work? How is a sustainable tourism approach similar and/or different to a responsible tourism approach?
8. This video from the David Suzuki Foundation presents the case that insurance companies are reacting to climate change because it is impacting them financially through claims after extreme weather events. Watch the video Your insurance is being affected by climate change, here’s how. What do you think? Will insurance companies continue to offer coverage in the face of increasing extreme weather events and large-scale insurance payouts?
9. Visit the website of The Story of Stuff Project. Watch the movies and review the fact sheets. Reflect on the message that the organization is delivering and answer the following questions:
1. What is the core message of the organization? Why is it important?
2. How can you as an individual make a real change to mitigate consumptive behaviour?
3. Relating these principles to tourism, how would you implement them in a tourism company?
Case Study: Qat’muk / Jumbo Mountain Resort
The proposed Jumbo Mountain Resort within Ktunaxa Territory near Invermere BC had long been one of the most controversial tourism developments in BC. Proponents claimed that it will add a world-class skiing resort product to the economy. Opponents argue that the environmental impacts are not worth the limited economic return it offers, including threatening grizzly bears and other sensitive species (Lavoie, 2014). The Ktunaxa Nation did not consent to the development and fought the proposal in court. Ultimately, the Nation was victorious in court, and the final statement from the Ktunaxa Nation, including outcome of the 2020 decision [PDF], may be found online.
The planning process for the resort had taken over 20 years with initial permits issued in 2004. Since then the project faced several delays in order to clear conditions of its environmental assessment, one of which was to receive consent from the Ktunaxa Nation. In December 2014, the project was delayed again as the government asked for more time to evaluate whether the newly poured foundations for lodge buildings were located in avalanche zones (Shaw, 2014). Ultimately, the proposed ski resort area became part of a new Indigenous Protected and Conserved Area spanning approximately 70,000 hectares.
Conduct your own research about Qat’muk and the originally proposed Jumbo Mountain Resort using a minimum of three sources, and answer the questions below.
1. What are some of the negative socio-cultural and environmental impacts listed by those opposed to the resort?
2. How might those impacts have been mitigated? Did the company take any steps to do this?
3. What did this case study teach you about informed consent with Indigenous peoples?
4. Given documented record warm temperatures and low snowfall in other resort areas of the province, do you think new ski resorts are a good long-term investment? Why or why not?
5. What is the progress of the project today or any new resorts being developed in BC today? Do a scan of social media and news sites and try to determine where public opinion lies on new resort developments within BC. | textbooks/workforce/Hospitality/Introduction_to_Tourism_and_Hospitality_in_BC_2e_(Westcott_and_Anderson)/10%3A_Environmental_Stewardship/10.06%3A_Conclusion.txt |
This chapter examines the concepts of risk management and legal liability within the context of tourism and hospitality. We’ll review theoretical risk concepts and practical risk management applications while exploring applicable areas of statute, tort, and contract law. Insurance and occupational health and safety are also discussed. Examples from tourism and hospitality will be used throughout. Please note that the content provided in this chapter is provided for educational purposes, and should not be relied on in the event of legal action.
What is Risk Management?
Risk is defined as the potential for loss or harm (Destination Canada [publishing as CTC], 2003a). This could be experienced as a financial loss, damage to property, or injury to workers or guests. Understandably, tourism operators are interested in preventing these events from occuring, which is why practicing risk management is an essential business skill.
Figure 11.1 Signage indicates a risk for people wanting to fish in this stream near Waneta, B.C., due to turbulent flows and rapidly rising water levels. [Long Description]
Risk management refers to the practices, policies, and procedures designed to minimize or eliminate unacceptable risks (Cloutier, 2000; Destination Canada [DC], 2003a; Heshka & Jackson, 2011). Depending on the type of operation undertaking the risk management process, these may vary greatly. Vastly different risks exist across the breadth of tourism and hospitality businesses; there are significant differences in the operation of a hotel as compared to delivering an adventure tourism activity. Consequently, it is helpful to think of risk management as being a process of determining the exposure to risk, and then initiating action to either minimize or eliminate the risk specific to your operation (Enterprise Risk Management, 2004). Mastering a generic model of risk management allows you to apply that model to all operations.
Why Practise Risk Management?
There are generally two core objectives in the practice of risk management by tourism operators: to avoid injury to guests and employees, and to protect their business operations from financial or physical ruin. Keeping guests and employees safe is a moral, ethical and legal responsibility; this is not to be taken lightly. Protecting business operations includes protecting against damage to property, damage to reputation, and any financial impacts occurring from litigation (Centre for Curriculum, Transfer, and Technology [CCTT], 2003a). By practising this twofold approach, operators demonstrate that they are prioritizing the health and safety of individuals, while still taking steps to protect the operational sustainability of their company.
Figure 11.2 Media scrutiny after an incident can be damaging to a business that has not demonstrated effective risk management.
On a larger scale, practising effective risk management can be seen as an important business skill. Destination Canada (2003a) suggests that risk management:
• Reduces the likelihood of an unwanted and unplanned event
• Reduces the consequences of the event
• Enhances your ability to access comprehensive and cost-effective insurance
Risk management can be undertaken at any scale. Individuals, companies, societies, communities, cities, regions, and even governments can follow the process in order to protect themselves from risks, which may range from company-specific risks associated with the operation or significant international risks such as climate change and civil disturbances.
Some risk management initiatives are more straightforward to implement than others; they are required by law and enforced by government agencies. For example, companies providing transportation services (such as commercial motor vehicle transport ) have clearly defined requirements as set out by their local motor vehicle branch in government. They are required to use appropriately licensed commercial drivers, submit to regularly scheduled commercial vehicle inspections, and insure their vehicles as required. Failing to adhere to these standards may result in suspension of operating privileges, fines, or even imprisonment. Similar to this is occupational health and safety; this is discussed later in the chapter.
However, other aspects of risk management are not regulated. This is characteristic of the majority of tourism and hospitality activities offered in Canada today. Operators offer services to the general public and self-regulate in terms of safety. If injury to a guest occurs, and that guest feels that he or she has grounds for a financial claim, that person can initiate a lawsuit against the tourism operator. If this claim is found valid in court, then the tourism operator may be responsible for a financial settlement to that claimant for damages – physical, financial or otherwise. To prevent, or to respond adequately to scenarios such as this, operations need to be both proactive and diligent in the practice of risk management.
In short, tour operators must comply with applicable statutory requirements and be sure to self-monitor to determine if the standard that they are operating at is acceptable to society and their peers. Failing to do so may result in a range of consequences including fines, suspension of operations, or a lawsuit.
Concepts of Risk
Before we proceed deeper into an examination of the risk management process, let’s look at three theoretical concepts of risk: real risk, perceived risk, and inherent risk.
Real risk is the actual statistical likelihood of an incident occurring. This is typically established through reviews of statistics and other relevant data, and by an analytical process and use of expertise in the field. There is little ambiguity or subjectivity in real risk (DC, 2003a).
Perceived risk is the perception of risk by those undertaking or evaluating the risk itself; it may vary greatly based on their level of apprehension, anxiety, or experience with the specific risk. Perceived risk can also vary greatly from the real risk of an activity; it can be higher or lower than the actual risk. In Adventure Tourism, successful management of perceived risk may include operators promoting the risk of activity as high, even if in reality the risk is minimal (Dowling, 1986).
Inherent risk is the risk that must exist for the activity to occur; examples include the risk of drowning whilst swimming and the risk of falling during skiing. It is impossible to eliminate inherent risk from these activities because it would preclude participating in them. However, operators should take steps to minimize inherent risk; this could include, for example, conducting safety inspections, providing appropriate safety equipment for guests, training staff, and informing participants of the hazards of the activity (CCTC, 2003b).
Figure 11.3 An ambulance outside a Vancouver hotel.
Long Descriptions
Figure 11.1 long description: A person walking a dog stops to read a sign beside a rushing stream. The sign reads, “Danger: Turbulent flows and rapidly rising water levels. Fish at own risk. Siren indicates emergency spill in progress.” [Return to Figure 11.1] | textbooks/workforce/Hospitality/Introduction_to_Tourism_and_Hospitality_in_BC_2e_(Westcott_and_Anderson)/11%3A_Risk_Management_and_Legal_Liability/11.01%3A_Overview.txt |
There are a variety of risk management models that have been utilized and promoted. Each is generally a variation on the same theme, with each having a slightly different approach to the analysis. You’ll find that large operations, government agencies, military, search and rescue all have their own proprietorial processes. Outlined below is the model from Destination Canada for small and medium enterprises. It has four stages: risk identification, risk analysis, risk control, and risk treatment (DC, 2003a).
Risk Identification
The initial stage of the risk management process is systematically identifying risks facing the organization. This step is often referred to as risk assessment. An organization can identify risks in the following ways (CTC, 2003a, p. 6):
• On-site inspections and discussions with management and staff
• Review of products, services, processes, and contracts
• Review of historical activities and losses
• Identification of possible risk scenarios
Once an exhaustive list of the risks is compiled, the next step is to ensure a thorough analysis occurs.
Risk Analysis
A typical risk analysis compares the probability (frequency) of any risks occurring by the consequence (severity) if they do occur. This can be done either in a qualitative or quantitative manner, with either numerical values or descriptors applied. For example, an analysis of the risk of the catastrophic failure of a ski lift at a resort resulting in passengers falling to the ground would likely indicate that the probability of this incident occurring is low due to historical records of use, and required maintenance for safety. However, the consequence would likely be high, considering there could be a large number of passengers involved in a significant fall, resulting in multiple casualties.
Operators need to respond (through risk control, see section below) if the analysis determines any of the following: 1) the probability of the risk occurring is unacceptable; 2) the consequence of the risk occurring is unacceptable; or 3) the combined impact of the probability and consequence is deemed unacceptable (Cloutier, 2000).
Figure 11.4 Technical safety equipment needs to be regularly inspected as part of the risk management process.
Risk Control
Once the risks are identified and analyzed, the next step is implementing mitigation strategies for any unacceptable risks. This step is called risk control, and it comprises two primary concepts: exposure avoidance and loss reduction.
Exposure avoidance involves any mitigation strategies used to avoid the exposure to the risks. Examples are eliminating particularly hazardous activities or services, avoiding certain areas due to environmental threats, or changing a tour destination due to political unrest.
Loss reduction is a different approach; it assumes that you have acknowledged the risk of a particular activity or service, and choose to continue to offer it, but will take steps to mitigate the severity of damage that may occur (CCTT, 2003a). An example is requiring all participants in a ski lesson to wear helmets; the risk of falling still exists, but you have taken action to reduce the severity of any fall.
Risk Treatment
Failing the ability to control all risks identified, the next step in the process is risk treatment. This includes the concept of risk transfer and risk retention. Risk transfer refers to the transfer of responsibility to another party, either contractually or by insurance. Risk can be transferred through contract either by entering into a contract for service, or by requiring participants to sign a waiver. Risk is transferred through insurance by paying premiums to an insurer, wherein they absorb the financial risk of an incident. Risk retention refers to the level of risk that is retained by the company through a conscious decision-making process. Examples of this may include the decision to increase the size of insurance deductible to use, the use of self insurance, or consciously not transferring risks due to an inability to do so (CTC, 2003b).
Take a Closer Look: Emergency Response Plans/Emergency Action Plans
Part of a robust risk management process is either an Emergency Response Plan (ERP) or Emergency Action Plan (EAP). These documents are plans designed assist staff in responding to emergency situations. You will find an EAP in virtually every public building in BC. Your classroom most likely has one posted by the exit. The idea behind having such a plan prepared in advance is that it will help staff respond in a consistent, effective manner if an emergency occurs. The scope and nature of the activities dictate what type of plan is required. For more information on specific plans check with accrediting or licensing agencies related to the specific activity. | textbooks/workforce/Hospitality/Introduction_to_Tourism_and_Hospitality_in_BC_2e_(Westcott_and_Anderson)/11%3A_Risk_Management_and_Legal_Liability/11.02%3A_Risk_Management_Process.txt |
Tort Law and Negligence
Figure 11.5 The plaza at B.C.’s provincial law courts.
Tort law in Canada refers to the “body of the law which will allow an injured person to obtain compensation from the person who caused the injury” (Tort Law, n.d.). Two categories of torts exist: intentional and unintentional. Intentional torts consist of assault, battery, trespass, false imprisonment, nuisance, and defamation. Unintentional torts primarily consist of negligence (Tort Law, n.d.). In tourism, most lawsuits involve negligence, with one party seeking financial compensation.
Take a Closer Look: Crocker v. Sundance Northwest Resorts Ltd.
The ruling in Crocker v. Sundance Northwest Resorts Ltd. provides an examination of the elements of a negligent action. The case describes an incident where a ski/snowboard resort hosted a tubing competition and allowed an intoxicated customer to participate. An accident occurred, and the customer was paralyzed as a result. The resort was found to be negligent as it failed to maintain an appropriate standard of care. Damages were awarded to plaintiff (the person suing) but were reduced for “contributory negligence on behalf of the plaintiff,” which means the injured person was also held partly responsible. The ruling can be found here: Crocker v. Sundance Northwest Resorts Ltd.
Tourism operators must consider their exposure to unintentional torts, primarily negligence. Negligence can be defined as “the omission to do something which a reasonable man, guided upon those considerations which ordinarily regulate the conduct of human affairs, would do, or doing something a prudent and reasonable man would not do” (Cloutier, 2000, p. 13). In other words, if the safety standards of a business fall below an established standard and injury occurs as a result, the injured person may sue for negligence.
Pursuing legal action against an operation for negligence is a process that needs to be initiated by the party who has been injured (plaintiff). To be successful, four elements have to be proved: injury, duty to care, breach in the standard of care, and causation.
The first of these, injury, means that it must be shown that the person suing did, in fact, receive an injury that resulted in damages. This might be physical damage, such as a bodily injury, or it may be damage to property.
The concept of duty to care refers to the relationship between the plaintiff and the defendant, a relationship requiring the defending party to care for the plaintiff. For example, in tourism, duty to care relationships exist between hotels and guests, tour guides and tour participants, and instructors and students. Is it expected that the person or organization in the relationship is responsible for ensuring the other person is safe from reasonable harm.
Take a Closer Look: The Steveston Hotel Case
The Steveston Hotel Case, made famous in 1999, still serves as a warning to establishments serving liquor. A hotel was held liable for 50% of the damages that occurred when it permitted a patron to drive home intoxicated. The case demonstrated that the hotel had a duty of care to stop serving an already intoxicated person, and to prevent the intoxicated party from driving. You can read more details of the case by visiting Hotel Held Liable for Drunk Driving Accident.
Once a duty has been established, the next step is proving negligence is to show that there was a breach in the standard of care. Can it be shown that the defendant failed to work to the recognized standard? The standard may be established by professional organizations or simply by the “reasonable person test,” which is an assessment of what other individuals or operations would have done in the same situation. Tourism operators are responsible for determining what current standards in industry are; not being aware of industry standards is not be an acceptable defence in the courts.
The last element that needs to be proved is causation. This means that there must be a strong link between the actions of the defendant that caused injury to the plaintiff. As an example, if a ski resort failed to clear the ice off its pathways, and a guest fell and was injured on the icy path, it is likely that causation could be proved (Heshka & Jackson, 2011).
Take a Closer Look: Bindseil v. McDonald’s Restaurants of Canada Limited
The ruling in Bindseil v. McDonald’s illustrates the importance of causation. While Mr Bindseil developed colitis (a serious stomach condition) in the time following a meal at a McDonald’s restaurant, he was unable to prove that the meal had caused the colitis because the testimony of his medical experts was countered with experts testifying for McDonald’s. The ruling can be found here: Bindseil v. McDonald’s Restaurants of Canada Limited.
Contract Law
Figure 11.6 Signing a contract.
Contracts are frequently used by tourism operators. Common types of contracts include contracts for service, employment agreements, rental agreements, and legal releases [waivers] (Cloutier, 2000). Given the importance of all of these types of agreements, it is vital that operators use documents that are valid and based in contract law. For a contract to be valid and legally enforceable, it must contain all of the following components: an offer and acceptance, consideration, an intent to enter into a legal relationship, and sufficient capacity (understanding) of those involved involved (Longchamps & Wright, 2007). Each of these is described below.
Offer and acceptance means that the “offer” (e.g., a rental car agency will advertise a car for rent) must be clear, unequivocal, and include all of the important and relevant terms in the contract. The acceptance also must be clearly expressed (e.g., the renter agrees to rent the car according to the terms and conditions offered by signing the contract). Once the offer is accepted, it becomes a promise with both parties being bound by the terms of the contract.
Consideration refers to the value that is exchanged between parties in the contract, such as money or services (e.g., the renter pays for use of the rental car). Sometimes consideration is waiving your legal rights for a right to participate in an activity.
Capacity refers to the ability of individuals to enter the contract. If a person signing a contract does not have sufficient capacity, the contract will not be binding. The most common reason for not having sufficient capacity is age. In most cases, a person who has not reached the legal age of majority cannot contract with someone else. Other requirements for capacity include having sufficient mental capacity, and being the authorized signatory (the person with the authority to sign on behalf of an organization) (Longchamps & Wright, 2007).
The implications of contract law to the tourism and hospitality industry are extensive; any contact signed needs to have unambiguous terms, be clearly accepted, have an exchange of value, and be signed by an adult with full mental capacity or by an authorized signatory of the organization. Failing to adhere to any of these conditions will likely result in the contract being considered void.
Waivers
For many tourism operators, waivers are considered a key part of their risk management process. Waivers are particularly important in the adventure, outdoor, and sport tourism sectors where there is a greater risk of personal injury, and have been proven as an effective risk management tool.
Take a Closer Look: Sample Waiver
Waivers are frequently made available by businesses online. To view a sample of a waiver for a snowcat operator on the Valhalla Powdercats website.
A waiver is a form of contract that transfers acceptance of the risk to the participants by requiring them to acknowledge the risks present in the activity. It also requires participants to waive their right to take legal action if an accident occurs. In Canada, these have been repeatedly successful in defending against lawsuits. Despite their effectiveness, there have been cases where waivers have failed to protect an organization, often because the waiver was poorly written or delivered incorrectly (Importance of Waivers in Recreation Programs, n.d.).
To be effective, a waiver should include the following four components:
1. It should clearly outline the risks in the activity; this is ‘voluntary acceptance of risk’ in that the signee accepts the risks of the activity.
2. It should waive the participant’s right to pursue legal action against the tourism operation in case of negligence; this is a ‘waiver of claims’ in that the signee agrees not to pursue legal action.
3. It should be relatively short and easy to read, be easily recognized as a legal document, and include a place for signature that can be witnessed by a company employee. Current best practices indicate a waiver should not be signed by a friend of the signee or another guest.
4. It should be signed by participants only when they have been given ample time to read and understand it well in advance of the event or activity. Failure to provide enough time may be interpreted by the courts as signing under duress, which would make the contract void and mean that the waiver could not be used as a defence against negligence
The components above are brief summary of what components should be included in waiver documentation; legal counsel should be sought to draft a waiver for specific operation (Importance of Liability Waivers in Recreation Programs, n.d.; Karroll v. Silverstar Resorts, 1988).
Take a Closer Look: Loychuk v. Cougar Mountain Adventures Ltd.
This case illustrates the effectiveness of a waiver program for a tourism operation. It involves two participants in a zip-line tour in Whistler, BC. A mistake made by an employee of Cougar Mountain Adventures resulted in the participants colliding on the zip-line at high speed. Negligence was admitted, but because of the effectiveness of the waiver in both the way it was drafted and delivered, the courts dismissed the claim. The ruling can be found here: Loychuk v. Cougar Mountain Adventures Ltd.
Statutory Requirements for Tourism and Hospitality in BC
All tourism companies must adhere to the laws in the jurisdiction in which they operate. In BC there are certain statutes (laws) that are particularly relevant to tourism and hospitality. These are outlined in brief below.
Hotel Keepers Act
The Hotel Keepers Act allows an accommodation provider to place a lien on guest property for unpaid bills, limits the liability of the hotel keeper when guest property is stolen and/or damaged, and gives the provider the authority to require guests to leave in the event of a disturbance (Hotel Keepers Act, 1996).
Take a Closer Look: Hotel Keepers Act
The Hotel Keepers Act is posted online as a resource for managers and staff at BC accommodation properties. Take a closer look at the act by visiting Hotel Keepers Act.
Hotel Guest Registration Act
The Hotel Guest Registration Act requires hotel keepers to register guests appropriately, which includes noting a guest’s arrival and departure dates, home address, and type and licence number of any vehicle (Hotel Guest Registration Act, 1996).
Liquor Control and Licensing Act
The sales and service of alcohol in BC hospitality establishments is highly regulated by the provincial government through the Liquor Control and Licensing Branch (LCLB).
Spotlight On: BC Liquor and Cannabis Regulation Branch
The Liquor and Cannabis Regulation Branch (LCRB) is responsible for regulation of liquor service, private and public liquor stores, the importing and manufacture of alcoholic products, and distribution of those products. For more information, visit the Liquor and Cannabis Regulation Branch.
Hospitality operators and their staff must be aware of fundamental requirements of the Liquor Control and Licensing Act, which defines the ways in which alcohol can be made, imported, purchased, and consumed in BC. As these requirements change frequently, it is the responsibility of operators and staff to keep up-to-date on the particulars of liquor legislation.
Take a Closer Look: BC Liquor Law Handbook
The Government of BC has put together a handbook of information regarding the selling of liquor. View Liquor Primary Licence: Terms and Conditions [PDF] online.
Travel Industry Regulation
As part of the Business Practices and Consumer Protection Act, the Travel Industry Regulation outlines the requirements for licensing, financial reporting, and the provision of financial security for travel sales. Additionally, it requires licensed travel agents to contribute to the Travel Assurance Fund, which compensates consumers if a travel provider is unable to provide the purchased product due to insolvency (Travel Industry Regulation, 2009).
Occupiers Liability Act
The Occupiers Liability Act specifies the responsibilities of those that occupy a premise such as a house, building, resort, or property to others on their property. It includes a definition of a premise, as well as the duty of care the occupier has to care for the condition of the premises, activities on the premises, and the conduct of other people (third parties) on the premises. It also outlines when occupiers liability is excluded, such as on Crown land or private roads (Occupiers Liability Act, 1996).
Figure 11.7 An abandoned hotel outside Radium Hot Springs, B.C.
Take a Closer Look: Cempel v. Harrison Hot Springs Hotel Ltd.
The legal ruling in this case highlights the responsibility of a hospitality organization under the Occupiers Liability Act to keep premises in safe condition even for trespassers. Ms. Cempel had trespassed onto hotel property, fell into a particularly dangerous hotspring, and suffered severe burns as result. The hotel was found partly responsible for her injuries and was required to pay damages. The ruling can be found here: Cempel v. Harrison Hot Springs Hotel Ltd.
Resort Associations Act
The Resort Associations Act was developed to provide opportunities to fund a variety of promotional services for a resort community. It outlines the organizational structure for the community and allows funding through member fees for activities such as marketing, planning special events, developing signage, and acting as a central booking agency (Resort Associations Act, 1996). To meet the criteria for this Act, resort areas are required to be within a designated resort region, have alpine ski lift operations, and provide year-round recreational facilities or commercial overnight accommodation (Government of BC, 2015).
Spotlight On: The BC Laws Website
All BC statutes are available online at the BC Laws website, operated by the Government of British Columbia. For more information, visit the BC Laws website. | textbooks/workforce/Hospitality/Introduction_to_Tourism_and_Hospitality_in_BC_2e_(Westcott_and_Anderson)/11%3A_Risk_Management_and_Legal_Liability/11.03%3A_Laws_and_Regulations.txt |
Obtaining and maintaining appropriate insurance coverage is an important part of the risk management process. Insurance transfers the financial risks to a third party — the insurance company. Operators pay premiums that are established by the insurer based on the risk of the coverage. If the likelihood or the uncertainty of claims is high, the premiums will be higher. There are a variety of reasons why a tourism company requires insurance: to control the risk of offered activities, to meet statutory requirements, because industry partners require it, to protect business and assets, and to protect employees (DC, 2003b, p. 3). Insurance does not prevent accidents from happening, nor does it make an operation safer. It does, however, provide a reasonable amount of financial protection if an accident does happen.
Common types of insurance policies required by tourism operators include commercial general liability (CGL), property insurance, and accounts receivable insurance. CGL insurance can be one of the most important coverages, but unfortunately it can also be one of the most difficult and expensive to obtain. CGL policies cover operators for liability if an accident occurs, including bodily injury, medical payments, and personal injury. Property insurance provides coverage for the financial risks associated with loss of assets such as buildings, equipment, and merchandise. Accounts receivable insurance can cover a large proportion of account receivables if a customer fails to pay due to default or insolvency, thus providing a considerable safeguard to any tourism operation (DC, 2003a; DC, 2003b; Destination BC, 2013).
Some insurance coverage is optional, and operators may decide to self-insure on assets such as property and accounts receivable. Self insuring is the practice of an operation retaining the risk rather than transferring through insurance; it may be a conscious choice or a necessity based on lack of available coverage. Other insurance coverage may be required, such as motor vehicle insurance or liability insurance (required by most industry partners and some statutory requirements). In the end, the tourism operator must determine what coverage is required and what optional additional coverage is desired.
Spotlight On: go2HR Certificate of Recognition (COR)
As part of its mandate to support human resources best practice in BC’s tourism and hospitality industry, go2HR works in the field of occupational health and safety. In partnership with WorkSafeBC, it offers the Certificate of Recognition (COR) in safety. For more information, visit Certificate of Recognition (COR) Program.
11.05: Occupational Health and Safety in Tourism
So far we have primarily discussed risk management from a client/guest perspective. However, substantial effort in a tourism and hospitality operation must be put into managing worker safety as well. Responsibilities for worker safety are generally legislated by occupational health and safety laws, which clearly dictate safety standards. Employers who fail to adhere to these standards may be penalized or fined (WorkSafeBC, 2015a).
WorkSafeBC is the provincial organization for occupational health and safety in BC. It is an independent agency managed by a board of directors who are appointed by government. The mandate of WorkSafeBC is to:
• Promote the prevention of workplace injury, illness, and disease
• Rehabilitate those who are injured and provide timely return to work
• Provide fair compensation to replace workers’ loss of wages while recovering from injuries
• Ensure sound financial management for a viable workers’ compensation system (2015b)
There was an average of 4300 tourism and hospitality WorkSafeBC claims each year from 2014 to 2018, which is slightly below the average of all sectors within BC. (WorkSafeBC, 2020c). To reduce these claims and protect workers, WorkSafeBC has an extensive worker safety program with educational resources and training programs available. A partnership with go2HR — the tourism and hospitality human resources organization — has been developed to raise awareness in tourism and hospitality about worker safety, particularly for young, vulnerable workers (go2HR, 2015).
Figure 11.8 Kitchen accidents are a common workplace injury in hospitality. Many are more serious than this.
The nature of tourism and hospitality often means operations need to employ a considerable number of employees; these are often entry-level positions, requiring little experience. Employers need to be cognizant of the requirements for worker safety under WorkSafeBC; failing to do so may result in fines for the operation, or far worse — workplace injuries to employees.
Spotlight On: WorkSafeBC BC Tourism and Hospitality Resources
WorkSafeBC has extensive resources for tourism and hospitality workers to avoid workplace injury. These include prevention tools for accommodation, adventure tourism, food and beverage, and events. WorkSafeBC also explains updates and changes to workers’ compensation in BC, and provides opportunities for courses and training in first aid and injury prevention. For more information, visit WorkSafeBC BC Tourism and Hospitality website.
In addition to concerns about safety, employers and employees must be aware of the Employment Standards Act. This act defines the legal requirements around employment such as minimum wage, breaks, meal times, vacation pay, statutory holidays, age of employment, and leave from work (British Columbia Ministry of Labour, 2015).
Take a Closer Look: Employment Standards Act FAQs
This list of frequently asked questions provides quick answers to inquiries about employment standards in BC, including whether employers are required to pay for sick leave, time in meetings, and coffee breaks. You can read more about them at the Employment Standards Act FAQs. | textbooks/workforce/Hospitality/Introduction_to_Tourism_and_Hospitality_in_BC_2e_(Westcott_and_Anderson)/11%3A_Risk_Management_and_Legal_Liability/11.04%3A_Insurance.txt |
Risk management in tourism and hospitality is complex, involving aspects of adhering to statutory requirements, taking steps to ensure occupational health and safety requirements are met, and undertaking an analytical approach to mitigating potential liabilities. Most of the actions required need to be proactive by the operators; failing to do so may result in negative impacts to reputation, damage to property, fines, lawsuits, or in the most tragic result — injury to guests or employees. Companies not only have a moral and ethical responsibility to practise effective risk management, failing to do so can result in financial ruin and the cessation of operations.
This chapter reviewed an important consideration for tourism and hospitality professionals. Chapter 12 addresses another key component of the industry in BC, Indigenous Tourism.
Key Terms
• Breach in the standard of care: failure of the defendant to work to the recognized standard
• Capacity: the ability of a person to enter into a legal agreement; depends on the age and mental state of the person (among other factors)
• Causation: a strong link between the actions of the defendant and the injury to the plaintiff
• Commercial general liability insurance: the most common type of liability insurance that provides coverage for litigation; generally, legal costs and personal injury settlements arising from a lawsuit are covered
• Consideration: the value exchanged between parties in the contract (money, services, or waiving legal rights)
• Duty to care: the relationship between the plaintiff and defendant (monetary, supervisory, custodial, or otherwise) that requires a responsibility on behalf of one party to care for the other
• Employment Standards Act: defines legal requirements around employment such as minimum wage, breaks, meal times, vacation pay, statutory holidays, age of employment, and leave from work
• Exposure avoidance: a risk control technique that avoids any exposure to that particular risk
• Hotel Guest Registration Act: requires hotel keepers to register guests appropriately, which includes noting a guest’s arrival and departure dates, home address, and type and licence number of any vehicle
• Hotel Keepers Act: allows an accommodation provider to place a lien on guest property for unpaid bills, limits the liability of the hotel keeper when guest property is stolen and/or damaged, and gives the provider authority to require guests to leave in the event of a disturbance
• Inherent risk: risk that is inherent to the activity and that cannot be removed
• Injury: proof the plaintiff did in fact receive an injury resulting in damage; can be bodily injury or property damage
• Intentional torts: assault, battery, trespass, false imprisonment, nuisance, and defamation
• Liquor Control and Licensing Act: defines the ways in which alcohol can be made, imported, purchased, and consumed in BC
• Liquor Control and Licensing Branch (LCLB): the BC government agency responsible for legislation and control of alcohol sales, service, manufacture, import, and distribution in the province
• Loss reduction: a risk control technique that reduces the severity of the impact of the risk should it occur
• Negligence:failing to meet a reasonable standard of care toward others despite being required to do so
• Occupiers Liability Act: specifies responsibilities for those that occupy a premise such as a house, building, resort, or property to others on their property
• Perceived risk:the perception of the risk level of the practice, activity, or event; varies greatly from person to person
• Real risk:the actual risk of the practice, activity, or event; generally determined by statistical evidence
• Resort Associations Act: developed to provide opportunities to fund a variety of promotional services for a community; the Act defines what it means to be a resort community
• Risk: the possibility for loss or harm
• Risk management: practices, policies, and procedures designed to minimize or eliminate unacceptable risks
• Risk retention: the level of risk that is retained by the company through a conscious decision-making process
• Risk transfer: a risk mitigation strategy where the risk is transferred to a third party through contract or insurance
• Self insuring: the practice of an operation retaining the risk rather than transferring through insurance; may be a conscious choice or a necessity based on lack of available coverage
• Travel Industry Regulation: part of the Business Practices and Consumer Protection Act that outlines the requirements for licensing, financial reporting, and the provision of financial security for travel sales
• Unintentional torts: primarily consist of negligence
• Waiver: a document used as a risk management technique where the responsibility for the risk is transferred to the participant through contract and voluntary acceptance of risk
• WorkSafeBC: BC’s occupational health and safety organization
Exercises
1. What is your personal level of risk tolerance? Would you consider it low or high? How does this change when you have responsibility for others?
2. Think of a time when you have had a duty to care for someone. What was the relationship?
3. Think of a tourism company you are familiar with. Develop a thorough list of all of the risks applicable to the company. Which ones concern you the most? How would you figure out which risks are the most concerning?
4. What are four items that should be included in a waiver for it to be effective?
5. Name three types of insurance relevant to tourism operators.
6. Name the four elements of a negligence action that have to be proved in the courts in order for a claim of negligence to be successful.
7. Under contract law, what does the concept of capacity mean? How does it relate to the issue of minors and their ability to sign a waiver?
8. List and describe four BC statutes that apply to tourism and hospitality operations.
9. Imagine you are working at the front desk of a hotel and you get a complaint that fighting and loud singing can be heard coming from a guest’s room. According to the Hotel Keepers Act, what steps are you required to take? What is the penalty to the hotel if you do not take the proper steps?
10. Take a look at the frequently asked questions for the Employment Standards Act. List three benefits of the Act for employers and employees.
Case Study: Tort Law
In January 2015, a Kamloops woman sued Sun Peaks Resort Corporation after incurring a leg injury on the resort’s tubing terrain. The incident took place in 2013.
In court documents, Pamela Boileau said she visited the resort with her husband and two young children to use the tube park, where, she claimed, no signs were posted restricting the age of children allowed to use the facility. She then took a ride with her husband and their baby.
According to her filing, “the ride was very fast and bumpy and the tubes went high on the berm and then hit a big bump and the plaintiff’s infant daughter went flying out of her tube” (Petriuk, 2015). In order to help her daughter, Boileau stopped the tube she was riding in abruptly and broke her leg in multiple places.
According to Boileau, the next day the resort erected signage prohibiting children under four years of age from using the tubing park. She sued for general damages, special damages and interest, and money for past and future health care. The lawsuit named Sun Peaks Resort Corporation and four employees in the claim.
Based on this description of the claim, as circulated in the media, answer the following questions to the best of your ability:
1. What evidence is there that staff at the resort had engaged in the four stages of risk identification? For each stage, note what the resort could have done differently.
2. What were the real, perceived, and inherent risks of using the tube park? How would these be different for an adult participating in tubing and a small child?
3. In your opinion, has the plaintiff established the following? Why or why not?
1. Injury
2. Duty to care
3. Breach in the standard of care
4. Causation
4. Search online (terms: boileau, sun peaks resort) to find the updates on what happened with the parties involved. Did the outcome of the lawsuit differ from what you expected?
5. What is your personal feeling about who is responsible for the injury in this case? How does that differ from what the law has to say? | textbooks/workforce/Hospitality/Introduction_to_Tourism_and_Hospitality_in_BC_2e_(Westcott_and_Anderson)/11%3A_Risk_Management_and_Legal_Liability/11.06%3A_Conclusion.txt |
In previous chapters, you’ve learned that Indigenous tourism is an increasingly central part of BC’s tourism economy. In Canada, tourism operations that are majority owned and operated by First Nations, Métis, and Inuit people comprise this segment of the industry (Butler and Hinch, 2007; ITAC, 2020). This chapter explores the global context for Indigenous tourism development, the history of the sector, and important facts about Indigenous tourism in BC, Canada and Internationally.
Figure 12.1 A Haida sculpture welcomes people arriving at Vancouver International Airport.
Today’s travellers are attracted to many global destinations because of the opportunity to interact with, and learn from, other cultures. Visitors to Australia can meet an Aboriginal guide who will help them feel a spiritual connection through a memorable outback experience. In New Zealand (Aotearoa in the Maori language), tourists are often welcomed into a ceremonial community marae, a communal or sacred centre that serves a religious and social purpose in Polynesian societies (New Zealand Maori Tourism Society, 2012).
In the mountainous region of northern Vietnam, traditionally dressed ethnic minority villagers are now opening their homes to international trekkers, thus generating new income for the community. In the United States, visitors to the ancient desert wonders of Monument Valley can enhance their experience in a Navaho-run hotel, enjoying Indigenous cuisine while learning about the cultures of the Native American groups that have lived there for centuries.
Spotlight On: International guidelines
In 2016, global tour operator G Adventures, Planeterra Foundation, and the International Institute of Tourism Studies at the George Washington University collaborated to develop a set of practical, international guidelines, “that can be used by any travel company wishing to offer experiences with Indigenous communities.” Read more about responsible travel with Indigenous people on the G Adventures website.
Explore these guidelines as part of reflecting on your own travel experiences and choices, and better integrating this into tourism product development and delivery: Indigenous People and the Travel Industry: Global Good Practice Guidelines [PDF].
Those readers familiar with the first edition of this textbook may have realized the chapter title change from “Aboriginal Tourism” to “Indigenous Tourism.” This adjustment mirrors the official change in Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s newly elected Liberal Government — a decision that reverses the change made by the Conservative Government in 2011 which at the time abolished the use of Indigenous to Aboriginal (from the former Liberal Government). The more recent 2015 change was reported as being sanctioned by the Assembly of First Nations (AFN), as well as Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) Chair Justice Murray Sinclair (Lum, 2015). The shift in terminology from “Aboriginal Tourism” to “Indigenous Tourism” has also recently occurred in many leading tourism organizations and education institutions within Canada.
For the purposes of this revision there are times when the terms “Aboriginal” and “Indigenous” are used interchangeably, particularity when referring to valuable industry resources created prior to the more recent practice. The changes to the terminology used to identify and refer to Indigenous peoples globally, and in Canada is fraught with challenges, and many of these difficulties are embedded in the oppressive structures or systems associated with colonialism, past and present.
Within the international context, it is worth noting that “Aboriginal” is still commonly used to refer to the Indigenous people of mainland Australia — though its use there is also critiqued for the way it simplifies Australian Indigenous history (Common Ground, 2020). Similar to Indian and Eskimo, the tangled use of Aboriginal is embedded in the power relationships with colonial governments and history. These perspectives point to the geographic and culturally based discrepancies, which affirm the exceptional diversity within and between Indigenous groups.
Take a Closer Look: Understanding the use of “Indigenous” in Canada
For additional background and a national media perspective on the use of “Indigenous” in Canada, view this short video: From “redskin” to Indigenous: Unreserved takes a look at what Indigenous Peoples have been called and what they call themselves (CBC, 2016).
According to the United Nations (UN), there are 370 million Indigenous people globally, representing 5 per cent of the world’s population, and living across 90 countries.The UN defines Indigenous peoples as “inheritors and practitioners of unique cultures and ways of relating to people and the environment”, who have “retained social, cultural, economic and political characteristics that are distinct from those of the dominant societies in which they live” (npn). Notwithstanding the uniqueness of Indigenous peoples around the globe, they are considered to be among the most disadvantaged and vulnerable groups in the world, and therefore share common challenges related to the protection of their rights as distinct peoples (UN, 2020). The nature of oppression experienced by Indigenous peoples around the globe has been documented, notably by the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues and their commissioned research and awareness-building campaign, the State of the World’s Indigenous people (SOWIP) (SOWIP, 2010, 2019).
In 2016 there were 1,673,785 Indigenous people in Canada, this number accounts for 4.9% of the total population, which is up from 3.8% in 2006, and 2.8% in 1996 (Statistics Canada, 2016). Indigenous peoples have lived across present-day Canada for thousands of years and have numerous languages, cultures, and spiritual beliefs. In 2020, there are more than 630 First Nation communities in Canada, which represent more than 50 Nations and 50 Indigenous languages (Statistics Canada, 2016).
What’s in a Name?
There are three groups of Indigenous peoples recognized in the Canadian Constitution Act: Inuit, Métis, and First Nations. Indian (or Native Indian) is still an important legal term in Canada given the on-going, if highly contested and emotionally charged, relevance of the 1876 Indian Act (Gray, 2011).
Recognized as an assimilation tool used by the Dominion of Canada under the British North America Act, the Indian Act gave the federal government jurisdiction over Indigenous lands and was entwined with significant negative impacts on Indigenous cultural and spiritual expression tied to that land that persist to present day (Joseph, 2018).
The Indian Act also held important identity granting consequences, both legally and culturally. As a result many Indigenous people associate “Indian” with government regulation and colonialism, and its use has gone out of favour; this practice is unlike usage in the United States where North American Indian (or Native American) is still common (Wilson & Henderson, 2014).
Inuit have lived in the Arctic region of Canada for countless years. Many Inuit continue to rely on the resources of the land, ice, and sea to maintain traditional connections to the land. The old ways of life were seriously compromised, however, when Inuit began to participate with European settlers in the fur trade. The Government of Canada accelerated this change by requiring many Inuit communities to move away from their traditional hunting and gathering ways of life on the land and into permanent, centralized settlements (Wilson & Henderson, 2014). Today, in spite of social and economic hardships created by this change, many Inuit communities focus on protecting their traditional way of life and language.
Not so long ago, it was common for non-Inuit people in Canada to use the term Eskimo (“eaters of raw meat”) to refer to Inuit people; however, the use of “Eskimo” within the Canadian context is now widely considered insulting and should be avoided (Wilson & Henderson, 2014). That said, this is not the case in Alaska, where the use of “Eskimo” is still common practice (University of Alaska at Fairbanks [UAF], 2020).
Spotlight On: Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami
Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami (ITK) is the national Inuit organization in Canada. It represents four regions: Nunatsiavut (Labrador), Nunavik (northern Quebec), Nunavut, and the Inuvialuit Settlement Region in the Northwest Territories. It is an advocacy organization that represents the interests of Inuit in environmental, social, political, and economic affairs, including economic and tourism development. For more information, visit the Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami website.
Métis comes from the words to mix. In the 1600s and 1700s, many French and Scottish men migrated to Canada for the fur trade. Some of them had children with First Nations women and formed new communities, and their descendants became the first to be called Métis. The distinct Métis culture is known for its fine bead-work, fiddling, and jigging. Canadian and international tourists can learn from and enjoy participating in a large number of Métis festivals in most provinces across the country. Today, the infinity symbol on the Métis flag symbolizes the joining of two cultures that will live forever.
Spotlight On: Louis Riel Institute
The Louis Riel Institute in Winnipeg is dedicated to the preservation and celebration of Métis culture and supporting Métis in achieving their educational, career, and life goals. Its website features photographs and descriptions of Métis art and handicrafts as well as information about community programs. For more information, visit the Louis Riel Institute website.
Take a Closer Look: Métis Nation Gateway
This portal site features information about the Métis Nation, including healing, economic development, environment, electoral reform, veterans’ issues, and more. The portal on economic development leads to information on community development, including a Métis Tourism Policy Paper [PDF]. To explore these resources, visit Métis Nation Gateway website.
First Nations people are Indigenous peoples who do not identify as Inuit or Métis. They have lived across present-day Canada for thousands of years and have numerous languages, cultures, and spiritual beliefs. For centuries, they managed their lands and resources with their own governments, laws, and traditions, but with the formation of the country of Canada, their way of life was changed forever. The government forced a system of governance on First Nations so that they could no longer use their system of government.
Figure 12.2 First Nations performer at the opening of the Aboriginal Pavilion for the 2010 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games in Vancouver.
Colonial settlement has left a legacy of land displacement, economic deprivation, and negative health consequences that First Nations communities within Canada are actively striving to overcome (Wilson & Henderson, 2014). However, many First Nations communities are working hard to reclaim their traditions, and in many places there is an increasing pride in the resurgence of Indigenous culture.
The entanglement of self-identification preferences used by Indigenous people to name themselves points to an increasingly politically fuelled and culturally empowered Indigenous identity landscape. There is a parallel tension and range of terminology used when referring to people who are not Indigenous to a place. In Canada, these terms include “non-Indigenous” and “Settlers” (Battell Lowman & Barker, 2015). Language and terminology are particularly interesting and important to be aware of and reflect on in the context of tourism studies and activities. There is significant diversity in terms are used across Canada, including within regions and communities.
There is an increasing appreciation that intercultural exchanges can help strengthen cultures at risk and biological diversity, if managed thoughtfully. For example, the growing niche of Arctic cruise tourism has brought both opportunities and challenges to the isolated small communities of Canada’s rugged Arctic coast. In recognition, the World Wildlife Fund produced a Code of Conduct for Tour Operators in the Arctic, and for Arctic Tourists. In part, it reads:
Respect Local Cultures:
• Learn about the culture and customs of the areas you will visit before you go.
• Respect the rights of Arctic residents. You are most likely to be accepted and welcomed if you travel with an open mind, learn about local culture and traditions, and respect local customs and etiquette.
• If you are not travelling with a tour, let the community you will visit know that you are coming.
• Supplies are sometimes scarce in the Arctic, so be prepared to bring your own.
• Ask permission before you photograph people or enter their property or living spaces.
(WWF International Arctic Programme, n.d., p. 2)
Wilson & Henderson’s (2014) First Peoples: A Guide for Newcomers [PDF] serves as an excellent introductory resource for tourism professionals who want to know more about the complex socio-political issues surrounding Indigenous peoples in Canadian history and present in society today.
Take a Closer Look: Foundations Guide
This Pulling Together: Foundations Guide is also an excellent resource for understanding more of the background and context about Indigenous people within Canada, and changes underway. This was created as “part of an open professional learning series developed for staff across post-secondary institutions in British Columbia to support Indigenization of institutions and professional practice…[and is intended as] a beginning step for those looking to broaden their knowledge about Indigenous peoples across Canada and British Columbia” (Wilson, 2018).
To review this guide for yourself, access Pulling Together: Foundations Guide.
Tourism can promote community and economic development; while preserving Indigenous culture and protecting ecological integrity. However, it is vital for tourism practitioners, scholars, students and policy makers to carefully consider how tourism is involved in the complexities related to colonialism, Indigenous human rights and reconciliation within Canada. | textbooks/workforce/Hospitality/Introduction_to_Tourism_and_Hospitality_in_BC_2e_(Westcott_and_Anderson)/12%3A_Indigenous_Tourism/12.01%3A_Indigenous_People_in_Canada.txt |
For centuries, Indigenous peoples managed their lands and resources with their own governments, laws, and traditions, however with the formation of the country of Canada, their way of life was changed forever. Among the many assimilation tools used against Indigenous people, the government forced a system of governance on First Nations so that they could no longer use their system of government. The resultant harms from the explicit and systemic strategies of cultural assimilation afflicted upon Indigenous peoples within Canada continue to be documented (Joseph, 2018) and are increasingly recognized in wider society (see Regan, 2011).
The current state of self-determination of Canada’s Indigenous peoples illuminates a growing momentum of cultural resurgences across the Canadian political landscape. In 2020, there are 25 self-government agreements across Canada involving 43 Indigenous communities, and approximately 50 self-government negotiation tables across the country (CIRNAC, 2020a).
Take a Closer Look: Map of Modern Treaties and Self-Government
Review the current Modern Treaties and Self-Government Agreements map [PDF], or to find out what Indigenous Traditional Territory you live, work or play on, go to the Native Land interactive map.
There are increasing examples of Indigenous self-governance, achieved in parallel or complementary processes that involved settling land claims. Self-government refers to the ability of Indigenous people to govern themselves within the framework of the Canadian Constitution (Government of British Columbia, 2020). According to the federal body mandated to modernize Government of Canada structures, Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada (CIRNAC) self-government is:
Negotiated agreements put decision-making power into the hands of Indigenous governments who make their own choices about how to deliver programs and services to their communities. This can include making decisions about how to better protect their culture and language, educate their students, manage their own lands and develop new business partnerships that create jobs and other benefits for their citizens. (CIRNAC, 2020)
Different forms of governance and agreements have been negotiated in Canada. Looking to the Canadian north provides noteworthy examples of early ground-breaking modern day treaties.
In 1993 Nunavut negotiated a comprehensive land claim agreement, a modern treaty, with the Canadian Government. The agreement is unique because in this case it represents all the people residing in the territory (CIRNAC, 2020). In the western territory of Yukon, 11 of the 14 First Nations have negotiated a self-government and land claims agreement with the federal government. The journey began in 1973, when a delegation of Yukon First Nations Chiefs presented Together today for our Children Tomorrow: A Statement of Grievances and an Approach to Settlement by the Yukon Indian People (1973) to then Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau. Twenty years later, in 1993, the historic Umbrella Final Agreement (UFA) was signed, and provided the template to negotiate individual land claim agreements with each Yukon First Nation.
Take a Closer Look: Yukon First Nations Self-Government
Learn more about the journey taken by Yukon First Nations and about key milestones in their Mapping the Way website, which also features several informative videos.
Notwithstanding the weight of Canada’s colonial past and its violently negative impacts on Indigenous people, there is some evidence that Canada’s historical trajectory can be challenged and a better future can be imagined. The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People (UNDRP, 2007) was officially adopted by the Canada in May 2016, and the provincial government of British Columbia followed suit in November 2019 (Government of British Columbia, 2019).
Take a Closer Look: UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
In 2007, the United Nations passed a declaration to address human rights violations against Indigenous peoples. The document, sometimes known as UNDRIP, contains 46 articles, one of which is “Every indigenous individual has the right to a nationality” (United Nations, 2007, p. 5). For more information, read the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples [PDF].
Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) confirmed the UNDRIP as its framework for reconciliation. The TRC was created to provide an opportunity for those directly or indirectly affected by the legacy of the Indian Residential Schools system to share their stories. The Indian Residential Schools system was set up as a way to manage objectives outlined in the Indian Act (Gray, 2011; Joseph, 2018; Regan, 2011). The commission’s work resulted in 94 actions, known as the ‘Calls to Action’, which aim to ‘redress the legacy of residential schools and advance the process of Canadian reconciliation’ (NCTR, 2015). You can also watch Senator Murray Sinclair introduce some of the issues involved in Truth and Reconciliation in the following video.
A YouTube element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: pb.libretexts.org/tour2/?p=294
Take a Closer Look: Resources that Support Reconciliation
In recent years, a variety of guides and toolkits have been developed that aim to support reconciliation and heal relationships between settlers, newcomers and Canada’s Indigenous peoples. Below are just a few examples of these emerging resources:
Colonial settlement through the use of tools such as the Indian Act have left a legacy of land displacement, cultural and economic deprivation, and negative emotional and physical health consequences, including tremendous and violent loss of life that Canada’s Indigenous peoples are still striving to overcome. That being said, Indigenous people are working hard to reclaim their traditions, and for many there is an increasing pride in a revitalized culture. Reconciliation, land claims, and increased self-determination support these transformations. Tourism presents an opportunity that, under the right circumstances, can facilitate Indigenous empowerment movements.
The history of tourism has seen considerable exploitation of Indigenous peoples. Land has been expropriated, economic activity suppressed by outside interests, and cultural expressions (such as arts and crafts) have been appropriated by outside groups. Appropriation refers to the act of taking something for one’s own use, typically without the owner’s permission. Specific to overlapping challenges of reconciling appropriation related to land title, and how we proceed in tourism in the BC and Canadian context, it is essential to be aware that:
Ninety-five percent of British Columbia, including Vancouver, is on unceded traditional First Nations territory. Unceded means that First Nations people never ceded or legally signed away their lands to the Crown or to Canada (Wilson, 2018).
Figure 12.3 This “We Don’t Climb” sign expresses the traditional laws of Australian Aboriginal people and asks that tourists not climb Uluru (once known as Ayers Rock). In the background, dozens of people continue to climb.
In 2012, the Pacific Asia Travel Association organized a gathering of global Indigenous tourism professionals to establish guiding principles for the development of Indigenous tourism. That gathering created both the World Indigenous Tourism Alliance (WINTA) and the Larrakia Declaration. A global network, the WINTA it is made up of over 170 Indigenous and non-Indigenous organizations in 40 countries, such as tourism associations, businesses, service providers, and government groups.
Spotlight On: World Indigenous Tourism Alliance
World Indigenous Tourism Alliance (WINTA) was formed in Australia in 2012 during the same gathering that created the Larrakia Declaration. The WINTA global network, with 6 founding Indigenous tourism associations, is made up of over 170 Indigenous and non-Indigenous organizations in 40 countries, such as tourism associations, businesses, service providers, and government groups. For more information, visit World Indigenous Tourism Alliance.
The Larrakia Declaration on the Development of Indigenous Tourism, named after the Larrakia Nation, the Australian Aboriginal host community for the meeting (PATA & WINTA, 2014). Key principles were adopted as resolutions at the gathering and form the Larrakia Declaration, which aims to guide all culturally respectful Indigenous tourism business development (World Indigenous Tourism Alliance, 2012, pp. 1–2):
• Respect for customary law and lore, land and water, traditional knowledge, traditional cultural expressions, cultural heritage that will underpin all tourism decisions.
• Indigenous culture, the land and waters on which it is based, will be protected and promoted through well managed tourism practices and appropriate interpretation.
• Indigenous peoples will determine the extent, nature and organisational arrangements for their participation in tourism and that governments and multilateral agencies will support the empowerment of Indigenous people.
• Governments have a duty to consult and accommodate Indigenous peoples before undertaking decisions on public policy and programs designed to foster the development of Indigenous tourism.
• The tourism industry will respect Indigenous intellectual property rights, cultures and traditional practices, the need for sustainable and equitable business partnerships and the proper care of the environment and communities that support them.
• Equitable partnerships between the tourism industry and Indigenous people will include the sharing of cultural awareness and skills development which support the well-being of communities and enable enhancement of individual livelihoods.
Using these guiding principles, it becomes clear that Indigenous tourism development can be considered successful only if the rights of Indigenous people are upheld.
Notwithstanding the possibilities that may occur when following the guidelines described above, tourism at the intersection of reconciliation is a new and complex undertaking. Higgins-Desbiolles (2012) explored tourism as a force for peace, and by extension, its ability to achieve reconciliation mandates. Among other things, she noted that tourism’s economic motivations challenge the social attributes related to meeting reconciliation mandates. Grimwood et al.’s (2019) explorations question tourism’s ability to contribute to reconciliation aspirations given the underlying entanglement tourism has with colonization. Any approach that considers tourism as force that can benefit Indigenous peoples must by necessity ask — sometimes uncomfortable — questions and “learn to tell new stories.”
This ability to understand one’s own position and contribution in relation to tourism as force for reconciliation, through decolonization, is as true for tourism researchers and educators, as it is for non-Indigenous tour operators and other sector workers. Decolonization can refer to making space for Indigenous perspectives (Grimwood et al., 2019). In an Indigenous tourism context, it also refers to ensuring we all play a part in supporting the production of tourism experiences that are controlled by, and that directly benefit, the Indigenous peoples whose lands and cultures are featured for the enjoyment of visitors.
The history of tourism at the intersection of Indigenous peoples is embedded in colonial power (Higgins-Desbiolles, 2012; Grimwood et al., 2019). Nonetheless, the allure and promise that tourism holds for positively moving forward is compelling. Moreover, there is an increasing appreciation for the way intercultural exchanges can help strengthen cultures at risk, if managed thoughtfully. Despite the risks due to cultural appropriation, there is also growing evidence — that under certain conditions, foremost Indigenous control and ownership – that tourism can promote community and economic development while helping to preserve and strengthen Indigenous culture (OECD, 2019). With that in mind, let’s have a look at some of the features supporting Indigenous tourism in Canada. | textbooks/workforce/Hospitality/Introduction_to_Tourism_and_Hospitality_in_BC_2e_(Westcott_and_Anderson)/12%3A_Indigenous_Tourism/12.02%3A_Tourism_Colonialism_Indigenous_Human_Rights_and_Reconciliation.txt |
Evolution of Indigenous Tourism in Canada
While there has always been some demand among visitors to Canada to learn more about Indigenous heritage, driven by the strong interest of Europeans in particular, until recently there has been no concerted effort to focus on defining and strengthening Indigenous cultural tourism. However, over the last 25 years or so, steps have been taken to support authentic Indigenous cultural products and experiences and to counter decades of appropriation of Indigenous symbols and arts and crafts by non-Indigenous Canadians and others elsewhere in the world.
Indigenous exhibits and displays were developed for tourism attractions and museums by well-meaning non-Indigenous people who did not consult with local communities. Souvenir shops were often filled with inexpensive overseas-made replicas of authentic Indigenous arts and crafts, and some still are. To this day, we see the Canadian Prairie Indigenous headdress being used as a way of (mis)representing First Nations across Canada. As an example of how things have changed, in August 2020 the Yukon First Nations Arts Brand was created to promote and celebrate ‘all forms of art made by Indigenous artists living in Yukon Territory’. Developed and controlled by the Yukon First Nations Culture and Tourism Association (YFNCT), the brand program will showcase arts and crafts made by Yukon First Nations people. For more information, go to the Yukon First Nations arts website.
Figure 12.4 Cultural products for sale as souvenirs.
As the number of Indigenous tourism businesses started to increase in the 1980s and 1990s, the federal government initiated discussions on Indigenous tourism. The outcome was the formation of national organizations that provided a coordinated industry voice for operators: Aboriginal Tourism Team Canada (ATTC), Aboriginal Tourism Canada, and Aboriginal Tourism Marketing Circle (ATMC), and others. These groups started the trend of defining Indigenous cultural tourism standards and promoting the establishment of regional, provincial, and territorial organizations to develop and market more successful businesses. Today, these functions are performed by the Indigenous Tourism Association of Canada (ITAC).
Spotlight On: Indigenous Tourism Association of Canada
Indigenous Tourism Association of Canada (ITAC) is a consortium of over 20 Indigenous tourism industry organizations and government representatives from across Canada. It was formed to create a unified voice and was formalized in 2014 as the Aboriginal Tourism Association of Canada (ATAC) and built from the ATMC established in 2009. ITAC continues to evolve to support marketing, product development and training standards, and other initiatives. For more information, visit the Indigenous Tourism Association of Canada.
Indigenous Tourism in Canada Today
Thanks to the growing visitor demand for authentic cultural experiences and the strong leadership of ITAC, Indigenous tourism in Canada continues to mature and has proven to be a major economic and cultural driver for Indigenous communities across Canada. In early 2020 there were a reported 1,900 Indigenous tourism businesses employing 40,000 workers and generating \$1.9 billion of direct GDP contributions to the Canadian economy (ITAC, 2020).
Take a Closer Look: Canada’s Indigenous Tourism Sector: Insights and Economic Impacts
This 2019 report through the Conference Board of Canada was “commissioned by the Indigenous Tourism Association of Canada (ITAC) to profile and assess the economic impact of Canada’s Indigenous tourism sector. The report delivers an updated direct economic footprint of the Indigenous tourism sector in 2017, including GDP, employment, and business growth. In addition, the report provides strategic insights from a 2018 survey of Indigenous businesses that participate in the Indigenous tourism sector in Canada.”
To review the report, visit Canada’s Indigenous Tourism Sector: Insights and Economic Impacts [PDF].
In 2019 the Indigenous Tourism Association of Canada published a comprehensive set of guidelines developed in consultation with industry members, Elders and community that endorsed the following definitions of Indigenous Tourism with the recognition that each nation, culture or community can choose to adopt or adapt these definitions to best suit their needs (ITAC, 2019, p.8):
Indigenous Tourism is defined as a tourism business majority owned, operated and/or controlled by First Nations, Métis or Inuit peoples which demonstrates a connection and responsibility to the local Indigenous community and traditional territory where the operation is based.
Indigenous Cultural Tourism not only meets the Indigenous tourism criteria (above) but in addition a significant portion of the experience incorporates a distinct Indigenous culture in a manner that is appropriate, respectful and true. Authenticity lies in the active involvement of Indigenous people in the development and delivery of the experience.
With these definitions, ITAC also provides the vital clarification that, “There are tourism businesses which are neither majority owned nor operated by Indigenous People who offer ‘Indigenous tourism experiences’. Authentic Indigenous Cultural Tourism is by Indigenous peoples, not about Indigenous peoples” (italics added; ITAC, 2019).
Take a Closer Look: National Guidelines – Developing Authentic Indigenous Experiences in Canada
This 2019 document from ITAC was designed as a self-assessment and reference tool and created in consultation with Elders, industry and the community to give guidance and direction for all involved within the Canadian Indigenous tourism industry. The Indigenous Tourism Association of Canada continues to provide guidance for Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities, business leaders and other Indigenous tourism stakeholders on standards.
To view the report, visit National Guidelines: Developing Authentic Indigenous Experiences in Canada [PDF].
Strengthening Indigenous Tourism in Canada
Figure 12.5 Cover of the Aboriginal Cultural Tourism Business Planning Guide.
Tourism is of significant interest to growing numbers of Indigenous communities in Canada. If developed in a thoughtful and sensitive manner, it can have potential positive economic, cultural, and social impacts. Many communities have undertaken tourism development activities to support cultural revival, intercultural awareness, and economic growth. This growth brings jobs and career opportunities for Indigenous people at all skill levels.
The Aboriginal Cultural Tourism Business Planning Guide suggested the following as the foundational building blocks necessary to run a successful and authentic Indigenous tourism business:
• Understand the industry, learn about cultural tourists, and develop products carefully
• Ensure experiences are culturally authentic
• Involve the community’s ‘culture keepers’ and Elders
• Practice environmental sustainability
• Prepare an Indigenous cultural tourism business plan
• Meet visitor expectations through staff training and excellent hospitality, provided from a cultural perspective
• Ensure an effective web and social media presence
• Build personal support networks
The guide also highlights the importance of place to the Indigenous tourism experience. It suggests that guests leave an authentic tourism experience with a memorable collection of feelings, memories, and images that all contribute to a unique sense of place and help guests understand the culture being shared (Kanahele, 1991). In order to highlight this sense of place, operators are encouraged to reflect on and impart aspects of their culture with the following elements of their business (Indigenous Tourism BC & CTHRC, 2013):
• Decor such as signage, displays, art, photography
• Company name
• Branding elements such as logo and website design
• Employee uniforms or dress code
• Food and beverage
• Traditional stories shared with guests
• Key words and expressions from the Indigenous host language shared in guest interactions
These touch points create a richer, and more authentic, experience for the visitor.
As an Elder once stated, Indigenous tourism businesses showcase “culture, heritage and traditions,” and “because these belong to the entire community, the community should have some input” (Aboriginal Tourism BC & CTHRC, 2013, p. 19). For this reason, the guide suggests operators consider the extent to which:
• Community members understand the project or business as it is being proposed
• Keepers of the culture are engaged in the development of the idea
• The business or experience reflects community values
Take a Closer Look: Indigenous Cultural Tourism Checklist (Canada) and Maori Tourism Checklist (New Zealand)
Review the Aboriginal Cultural Tourism Business Planning Guide at Aboriginal Cultural Tourism Business Planning Guide [PDF].
The Maori tourism organization in New Zealand has developed a similar guide for Indigenous tourism development. Visit the New Zealand Maori Tourism Road Map.
By following these guidelines, Indigenous tourism businesses can honour the principles outlined in the Larrakia Declaration and other similar documents.
Indigenous Tourism’s Interconnection with Land Stewardship
The intersection of conservation, tourism and Indigenous cultural resurgence is receiving growing attention in the Canadian context, particularly within British Columbia. Indigenous peoples’ connection to the land is well documented and is widely understood as central to Indigenous cultural identity and future prosperity (Brown & Brown, 2009). As explained earlier in this text, the tourism industry is dependent upon the natural and cultural environment, yet tourism can be a direct threat to the health and quality of these essential tourism destination components. Indigenous tourism development is even more sensitive to risks associated with mismanagement given the relational interdependence of Indigenous culture and identity to the places and types of experiences that are increasingly sought after by visitors.
Take a Closer Look: National Indigenous Guardians Network in Canada
The Indigenous Leadership Initiative is a key supporter of a federally funded, Indigenous-led National Indigenous Guardians Network in Canada that supports development and employment of guardians across the country. Indigenous-led Guardian programs play a vital role in monitoring ecological changes and protecting sensitive cultural and environmental areas from the pressures related to Indigenous tourism development.
For more information, visit this web page on the Indigenous Guardians Program on the Indigenous Leadership Initiative website.
Additionally, review this web page on the Indigenous Guardians Pilot Program on the Government of Canada website.
There are a number of innovative responses to ecological threats to Indigenous lands that have emerged and evolved in recent years such as; co-management agreements of protected areas between public agencies and Indigenous people; the designation of new protected areas, best illustrated by the 1984 Meares Island Tribal Park declaration made by the Tla-o-qui-aht and Ahousat First Nations on the West Coast of Vancouver Island (British Columbia); and the establishment of Indigenous-led Guardian initiatives, such as the Coastal Guardian Watchmen program.
Take a Closer Look: Coastal Guardian Watchmen
The Coastal Guardian Watchmen program, active along the North and Central Coast, and Haida Gwaii region of British Columbia, illustrates the invaluable knowledge that is held within Indigenous communities and the role Indigenous people continue to play in protecting the cultural and natural resources of specific territories.
For more information, visit this web page on Coastal Guardian Watchmen Support on the Coastal First Nations: Great Bear Initiative website.
Examples of Canadian Indigenous Tourism Development
Over the past decades, hundreds of Indigenous-focused tourism experiences have developed in Canada. Examples include:
Figure 12.6 A group of visitors listen to an Indigenous guide at Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump, Alberta.
Take a Closer Look: Indigenous Tourism Canada’s consumer website
Get curious and explore the many Indigenous tourism and cultural tourism businesses and experiences throughout Canada, including those close to where you live or places you’re otherwise familiar with. The interactive map on the ITAC website provides a great way to dive into this!
For an in-depth exploration of a Canadian Indigenous tourism destination, see the case study at the end of this chapter on the Trails of 1885 project. This and other initiatives have been successful across the country, including some in British Columbia, which has emerged as a premier destination for Indigenous tourism experiences. | textbooks/workforce/Hospitality/Introduction_to_Tourism_and_Hospitality_in_BC_2e_(Westcott_and_Anderson)/12%3A_Indigenous_Tourism/12.03%3A_Indigenous_Tourism_in_Canada.txt |
The Aboriginal Tourism Association of British Columbia (ATBC), now recognized as Indigenous Tourism BC (ITBC), was founded in 1996 and was spurred by a research project that detailed the changing motivations of visitors to BC. The research results identified that specific target markets were particularly motivated to visit BC to experience local or regional Indigenous culture. Leveraging this information and initial organizational momentum, ITBC has matured to become a stable and effective organization by establishing funding partnerships with governments, developing a stakeholder membership model, and initiating a range of development strategies and tactics outlined in regularly updated action plans.
ITBC provides recognized leadership to support the estimated 401 Indigenous tourism related businesses operating in BC. These businesses generate \$705 million indirect gross domestic output and provides 7,400 direct full-time jobs for Indigenous and non-Indigenous residents in BC through their activities (ITBC, 2019).
Spotlight On: Indigenous Tourism BC
Indigenous Tourism BC (ITBC) has gained an international reputation for effectiveness. Its role is to encourage the professional development of Indigenous cultural experiences and destinations in the province and to then support marketing those businesses to the world.
For more information featuring market-ready Indigenous tourism experiences within BC visit the external consumer-focused ITBC website.
For more details about ITBC’s history, structure and planning tools visit the ITBC internal corporate and stakeholder-focused website.
Since its inception, ITBC has grown to represent a diverse range of stakeholder businesses and organizations, including campgrounds, art galleries and gift shops, hotels, eco-lodges and resorts, Indigenous restaurants and catering services, cultural heritage sites and interpretive centres, kayak and canoe tours, adventure tourism operations, and guided hikes through heritage sites (Aboriginal Tourism BC, 2012). It has also proven adept at online promotion and social media, has also become world renowned for its strategic approach to Indigenous tourism development.
Take a Closer Look: Indigenous Tourism Trip Planner App
Indigenous Tourism BC marketing staff are regularly updating not just their consumer website, but also their social media platforms with rich visual assets, including promotional videos for the sector, regions, and specific companies.
In 2020, they also released a new app for Indigenous Tourism trip planning, which includes some virtual experiences. Learn more by downloading it on your digital device at Indigenous BC Trip Planner App.
A Strategic Approach to Growth
In 2017, the organization now known as ITBC released its five-year strategic plan, entitled “Pulling Together,” which identified targets for Indigenous cultural tourism industry success in BC. Its goals by 2022 included:
• Increased provincial revenue of \$75 million
• Employment at 4,950 full-time equivalent positions
• 128 market-ready Indigenous cultural tourism businesses
To achieve these targets, the plan focused on five distinct strategic performance areas:
• Marketing
• Experience Development
• Partnerships
• Leadership
• Organizational Excellence
Following good overall tourism planning principles, ITBC ensured its plan aligned with Destination BC’s strategy, Welcoming Visitors—Benefiting Locals—Working Together, A Strategic Framework for Tourism in BC, as well as Canada’s federal tourism strategy. Consistent with this sustained alignment, recent efforts have placed renewed emphasis on the need for market readiness.
Push for Market Readiness
As we’ve learned elsewhere in this textbook, today’s travellers are more complex than in the past and have higher expectations. Potential guests are well acquainted with technology and have the world at their fingertips. For this reason, it’s important that Indigenous operators ensure they are sufficiently ready to run as a tourism business and compete in an increasingly crowded tourism marketplace.
There are three categories of readiness, each with a set of criteria that must be met (Aboriginal Tourism Association of Canada, 2013):
• A visitor-ready operation is often a start-up or small operation that might qualify for a listing in a tourism directory but not be considered ready for cost-shared promotions with other businesses due to lack of amenities or predictability.
• A market-ready business must meet visitor-ready criteria plus demonstrate a number of other strengths around customer service, marketing materials, published pricing and payments policies, short response times and reservations systems, and so on.
• Export-ready criteria include the previous categories, plus sophisticated travel distribution trade channels to attract out-of-town visitors. They provide highly reliable services to all guests, particularly those traveling with groups.
By educating cultural tourism businesses about these standards, and then creating incentives for marketing opportunities, ITBC helps to raise the bar for BC Indigenous cultural tourism experiences. Its goal is to support as many operators toward market readiness (the second category) as possible so that they may eventually become export ready alongside other BC tourism experiences.
Take a Closer Look: Authentic Indigenous
Authentic Indigenous is a marketing initiative by Indigenous Tourism BC (ITBC) – a successful designation program that identifies strong cultural Indigenous tourism experiences as Authentic Indigenous. With this designation, ITBC meets the demands of travellers seeking unique, educational, eco-friendly and culturally appropriate experiences within Indigenous communities across BC. Find out more by visiting the Authentic Indigenous web page.
FirstHost
Figure 12.7 Cover to the FirstHost program workbook.
Another key component of the Indigenous tourism experience is the host. In BC, the FirstHost program supports the development of Indigenous hosts who are well trained, know what guests are looking for, and who can help provide an authentic cultural experience. The one-day tourism workshop is offered through ITBC and delivered throughout British Columbia
FirstHost was inspired by Hawaiian tourism pioneer, Dr. George Kanahele (1913-2000), who saw the impact tourism was having on indigenous culture and set out to educate the industry that “the relationship between place, host and guest must be one of equality” (Native Education College, 2014, p. 28). Participants learn about hospitality service delivery and the special importance of the host, guest, and place relationship. This well-received workshop, delivered by Indigenous trainers, is another reason Indigenous tourism continues to grow stronger in the province.
Take a Closer Look: Aboriginal Ecotourism Training Program
The Aboriginal Ecotourism Training Program (AETP) was born through a desire to increase workforce and community capacity for Indigenous tourism in coastal BC and developed in partnership between Vancouver Island University (VIU), North Island College (NIC), and the Heiltsuk Tribal Council (HTC), with support from Indigenous Tourism BC (ITBC) and funding through the Canada-British Columbia Job Fund.
Since 2014, 70 graduates from over 27 First Nations have successfully completed the Aboriginal Ecotourism Training Program (AETP) that features an innovative place-based, culturally relevant and experiential design to post-secondary learning. Many of these students have continued in the tourism sector or are engaged in ongoing post-secondary education in business and tourism.
Examples of BC Indigenous Tourism Development
Spotlight On: Moccasin Trails
Many exceptional leaders and entrepreneurs in Indigenous Tourism wear multiple hats. Besides family, community, and cultural responsibilities, this often includes many other complex roles within Indigenous Tourism development through sector, regional, and national associations, plus outreach as consultants beyond their own tourism business — sharing expertise that bridges cultures and systems.
One dynamic example is through the suite of tourism experiences, services and leadership offered by Frank Antoine and Greg Hopf of Moccasin Trails in the Kamloops area.
They describe that, “We wanted to bring people from around the world on the ancestral paths our people walked, have them taste the food we ate, sing the songs we sang, hear the stories that were passed down orally from generations ago, and travel down the rivers we canoed. In order to truly learn about our culture we felt the only way was to touch, smell, see, hear, and feel it. Our journey started hundreds of years ago but your journey will start right now with us at Moccasin Trails.
Their vision and motivation is very representative of the tangible, tireless and authentic energy that underlies much of Indigenous Tourism development.
Indigenous tourism in BC offers diverse visitor opportunities that range from arts and cultural attractions to authentic food and beverage experiences to wildlife tours that highlight the spiritual significance of BC’s natural places for Indigenous people.
Take a Closer Look: Indigenous Experiences — A Journey
The consumer website for Indigenous Tourism BC features things to do, places to see, trip planning tools, featured itineraries and stories. For more information, visit the Indigenous Tourism BC website.
Figure 12.8 Ancient totem and mortuary poles at Ninstints, Haida Gwaii.
Examples of BC Indigenous tourism enterprises include:
• The Bill Reid Gallery of Northwest Coast Art in the heart of downtown Vancouver, home of the permanent collection of Bill Reid as well as contemporary exhibitions.
• St. Eugene Golf Resort & Casino, a First Nation-owned 4.5-star hotel with a golf course and casino, outside of Cranbrook in the Kootenay Rockies.
• Cariboo Chilcotin Jetboat Adventures, offering exciting and scenic tours of the Fraser River.
• Salmon n’ Bannock Bistro, offering authentic Indigenous food in urban Vancouver.
• Spirit Bear Lodge, in the Great Bear Rainforest, specialize in wildlife and Indigenous cultural experiences.
• Talaysay Tours offering Indigenous cultural and eco-tourism experiences in and around Vancouver, Squamish and the Sunshine Coast.
• Skwachàys Lodge, a downtown Vancouver luxury hotel, art gallery and store operating as a social enterprise and supporting Indigenous artists.
Take a Closer Look: UNESCO World Heritage List
This list, evolving from 1972 World Heritage Convention, identifies outstanding significant sites across the globe, linking the concepts of nature conservation and the preservation of cultural properties. The convention sets out the duties of governments in identifying potential sites and their role in protecting and preserving them. The list features an interactive map and an alphabetical list. To explore the more than 1,100 properties on the list, including 20 sites in Canada, visit the UNESCO World Heritage List.
The village of SG̱ang Gwaay Llnagaay (formerly Ninstints or Nan Sdins) is a prominent example of a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Canada, located on a small island off the west coast of Haida Gwaii.
While ITBC members are too numerous to detail here, one BC First Nation is often in the spotlight for its significant tourism and economic development activity, thanks to its physical and cultural assets and positive leadership. Let’s take a closer look at this example.
Osoyoos Indian Band
The Osoyoos Indian Band (OIB) is located in the Interior of BC. A main goal of the OIB has been to move from dependency to a sustainable economy like that which existed before contact (Centre for First Nations Governance, 2013).
Take a Closer Look: Centre for First Nations Governance Success Stories
The Centre for First Nations Governance is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing self-governance support to First Nations communities across Canada. It helps with planning, governance, the establishment of laws, and nation-rebuilding efforts. Its website features success stories, in video format, that highlight these efforts. For more information, visit the Centre for First Nations Governance website for Success Stories.
Okanagan First Nations once travelled widely to fish, gather, and hunt. Each year, the first harvests of roots, berries, fish, and game were celebrated during ceremonies honouring the food chiefs who provided for the people. During the winter, people returned to permanent winter villages. The names of many of the settlements in the Okanagan Valley — Osoyoos, Keremeos, Penticton and Kelowna — come from Indigenous words for these settled areas and attest to the long history of the Syilx people on this land.
Forty-five years ago, the OIB was bankrupt and living off government social assistance. In 1988, it sought to turn the tide on this history and created the Osoyoos Indian Band Development Corporation (OIBDC). Through focused leadership and initiative, the band has been able to develop agriculture, eco-tourism, and commercial, industrial, and residential developments on its 32,200 acre reserve lands. It does have the good fortune to be located in one of Canada’s premier agricultural and tourism regions; however, it has also taken a determined and well-crafted effort to become an example of Indigenous economic success.
Figure 12.9 Friendly staff at Nk’Mip Desert Cultural Centre.
The OIBDC manages a number of tourism-related businesses including the Nk’Mip Campground and RV Park, Nk’Mip Canyon Desert Golf Course, Nk’Mip Desert Cultural Centre. In addition, the OIBDC have several prominent tourism-related partnerships, including with Baldy Mt. Ski Resort, Nk’Mip Cellars, Spirit Ridge Resort, and others (OIB, 2020). The area attracts about 400,000 visitors per year, and at peak tourist season there is essentially full employment among the more than 470 members of the Osoyoos reserve.
In addition to the core businesses and partnerships, many secondary businesses have formed. For example, the award-winning Nk’Mip Desert Cultural Centre promotes conservation efforts for desert wildlife and has also helped to create several spinoff businesses, including a landscaping business, a greenhouse for indigenous plants, a website development business, and a community arts and crafts market (LinkBC, 2012). | textbooks/workforce/Hospitality/Introduction_to_Tourism_and_Hospitality_in_BC_2e_(Westcott_and_Anderson)/12%3A_Indigenous_Tourism/12.04%3A_Indigenous_Tourism_in_BC.txt |
Subsets and Splits