Aboriginal tourism involves businesses owned or operated by Metis, Inuit, and/or First Nations. In partnership with Aboriginal Tourism BC (www.aboriginalbc.com) these subtopics will help you learn more about this emerging sector:

The tourism sector can be defined in a number of different ways. For economic and statistical accounting, five industries have been defined to correspond with the International Standard Industry Classification System and the North American Industry Classification System. These are: accommodation, food & beverage services, recreation and entertainment, transportation, and travel services:

Consumers are typically grouped into target markets, typically based on demographics (age, gender, income, lifestyle) or geography (place of origin). This section of TORC highlights current and emerging demographic and geographic target markets for the BC/Canada product, listed alphabetically. Wherever quoted, travel statistics are from the Canadian Tourism Commission:

Over the last two decades, a number of products, activities, and experiences have evolved around the changing interests of various tourism markets. This section of TORC presents information on a range of these specialty areas:

Over the last two decades, a number of products, activities, and experiences have evolved around the changing interests of various tourism markets. This section of TORC presents information on a range of these specialty areas:

The tourism industry relies heavily on research to guide strategic plans and provide guidance and insight for day-to-day operating decisions. To meet this need, academics and professionals at organizations such as Tourism BC, the CTC, and Statistics Canada produce a range of studies on a number of subjects. This section of TORC has been developed with input from the Travel and Tourism Research Association - Canada Chapter (www.ttracanada.ca).

According to the WTO, sustainable tourism is tourism that leads to the management of all resources in such a way that economic, social and aesthetic needs can be fulfilled while maintaining cultural integrity, essential ecological processes, biological diversity and life support systems. This section of TORC explores these issues in sustainability and tourism:

Today's tourism professionals rely on a range of sophisticated tools to study market conditions, plan for the future and operate their businesses successfully. This section of TORC is designed to help tourism instructors, community leaders, business operators and residents access information and resources in this area. Click on the following topics for more information about planning and developing tourism: