Prideaux, Bruce, Thompson, Michelle, and Harwood, Sharon (2016) Renewing and re-invigorating settlements: a role for tourism? In: Taylor, Andrew, Carson, Dean B., Ensign, Prescott C., Huskey, Lee, Rasmussen, Rasmus Ole, and Saxinger, Gertrude, (eds.) Settlements at the Edge: remote human settlements in developed nations. New Horizons in Regional Science . Edward Elgar, Cheltenham, UK, pp. 337-356.

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Abstract

In remote areas, settlements are usually established for specific purposes such as: an administrative outpost; to support a specific transport technology; service extractive natural resource industries such as mining, farming, fishing and forestry, or; provide a location for a military establishment. If the purpose for which a settlement was established changes, there is potential for decline to occur unless a replacement industry can be established. As the authors of Chapter 3 have conveyed, resource based settlements in particular are susceptible to boom and bust cycles linked to overdependence on external markets (Schmallegger and Carson, 2010). Finding replacement industries is generally difficult although in recent decades tourism has been flagged as an activity that has some potential to assist settlements that are in danger of decline. However, for a strategy based on tourism to succeed in the long term, the communities living in these settlements must be able to offer attractions capable of generating visitor interest, provide long term employment options for the community and contribute to long term community economic stability. This is not always possible. This chapter examines the potential for tourism to be developed as an alternative industry sector in remote settlements that are either facing decline or wish to find an alternative economic base. Following a brief review of the issues that face remote settlements this chapter outlines a management model that uses an action pathway approach to identify alternative or replacement exportable resources. Three settlements, two Australian and one Canadian, are examined to identify how communities have reacted to decline and what factors are likely to produce positive outcomes. The Australian settlements are former railway towns that have attempted to utilise a perceived comparative advantage based on rail heritage to develop a competitive tourism experience. One has been successful and established a sustainable replacement economic sector based on tourism; the other was unsuccessful and entered a long period of decline. The Canadian case study investigates how a former Canadian Klondike gold rush town has been able to capitalise on its mining heritage to build a sustainable tourism sector. In these case studies, a triple bottom line approach is used to define sustainability including: fostering the long term protection of the resources used by the tourism sector; building a profitable business sector and; enhancing community cohesiveness and supporting its long term survival.

Item ID:	47873
Item Type:	Book Chapter (Research - B1)
ISBN:	978-1-78471-195-5
Related URLs:	Publisher
Date Deposited:	23 Mar 2017 01:40
FoR Codes:	33 BUILT ENVIRONMENT AND DESIGN > 3304 Urban and regional planning > 330499 Urban and regional planning not elsewhere classified @ 100%
SEO Codes:	88 TRANSPORT > 8801 Ground Transport > 880102 Rail Infrastructure and Networks @ 100%
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