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THE CONVERSATION
This article was originally published in The Conversation, an independent source of non-profit news, analysis and commentary from academic experts. rice field. Disclosure information is available on the original site.
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Author: Dominique Lapointe, Professor, Faculty of Urban Tourism, University of Montreal, University of Quebec (UQAM)
When tourists think of Quebec .. The St. Lawrence River is one of the main things that comes to mind, especially in the large eastern part of the river's mouth, with spectacular sunsets that make visitors feel like they are at the beach.
In Le fleuve aux grandes eaux, Quebec filmmaker Frederick Bach depicts a state divided into north and south banks by the St. Lawrence River. .. The river itself is shown as a background for highways in the era of scooners and coastal shipping, playgrounds for boaters and kayakers, and for visitors considering a summer after-dinner walk.
But how did the river develop as a tourist destination? And for whom.
As a professor at the University of Quebec in Montreal, I am the chair of a research committee on tourism dynamics and social territory, and am interested in developing tourism trajectories in non-metropolitan communities. From this angle, I started to work more specifically in eastern Quebec.
From "white boats" to cars: the river remains central
The tourism idea for the St. Lawrence River is from the 19th century. Cruise industry. The true empire of passenger transport was created in 1913 by the formation of the Canadian Steamship Line, which manages the famous "white boat" cruise circuit of steamships. These boats brought the industrial aristocrats of the time to the eastern part of the state, creating summer hotspots in Kakuna, San Patrice, Metissurmer, Murray Bay (La Malbe) and Tadusak.
The democratization of car transport in the early 20th century changed the hierarchy of tourist destinations while maintaining the centrality of St. Lawrence as an attraction. Vacations, among other things, have given way to practices related to tours that transform the Gaspe Peninsula into new destinations. Visitors traveling by car create an image of freedom.
This new image was also created in an institutional way. St. Lawrence is now associated with ideas that fit the purposes of locally elected officials and civil servants, such as economic development, service delivery, and leisure activities.
This group had their own ideas about what tourists wanted. The local tourism association has created a photographic advertising representation for St. Lawrence. The Economic Development Agency has justified its investment in road infrastructure. Cultural groups played the expression of St. Lawrence in programming to justify upgrading facilities to meet the needs of tourists during the peak season.
A perfect example of this situation is the collaborative effort that led to the Quebec government's 2014 St. Lawrence Tourism Development Strategy. It clearly recognized the importance of the St. Lawrence River to Quebec's tourism industry and proposed measures to develop it. Manage tourism activities around the river.
Thus, this strategy enhances the value of St. Lawrence to the identity of Quebec and expands it into a fantastic destination for tourists.
Divergence of expressions in the same space
However, these concepts are incompatible with other forms of expression and institutionalization of places. The Quebec Government's Climate Change Adaptation Strategy 2013-2020 reveals a very different view of the same location. It is currently shaped by risks and constraints, and the need to adapt to climate change.
We were able to observe this in two different case studies. On the other hand, the high value of tourists in the coastal spaces of Notre Dame du Portage (south bank of the river) and Tadusak (north bank of the river) encourages people to maintain their status quo, facing the risk of erosion and submersion. hand. They want to avoid diminishing their value in case the climate risk conflicts with the tourist's ideals.
In this view, short-term land prices continue to be prioritized rather than questioning how to use the riverside. Concrete protection structures continue to be supported to undermine the approach aimed at protecting the ecosystem. The walls remain and grow while the coastal ecosystem declines.
Meanwhile, in the Magdalen Islands, increased visits to the historic site La Grab and tourism revenue are being used to justify the Quebec government's large-scale investment in beach replenishment and erosion restrictions. increase.
Tourist Awareness
Tourist Awareness of a Place is the Monolith of the remaining icons of the lower St. Lawrence River, the Tadusak whale, and the Mingan. However, as observed in the pandemic summer of 2020, these concepts can also collide like structural plates.
East Quebec is flooded with visitors to beaches and natural areas. Certain behaviors such as unauthorized camps on the beach have become a hot topic. A more detailed analysis could show that the mobility of tourists truncated by the COVID-19 outbreak produced different and even different ideas and practices among tourists in the same location. ..
Holidaymakers accustomed to New England and maritime resorts, and those who frequently go to the sun's destinations in the summer, instead return to the beaches of eastern Quebec, which are primarily the beaches of the Gaspe Peninsula. I've been. .. These beaches have few or no beach-type activities. Gaspe Beach is wild and underdeveloped, a place where residents and visitors meet randomly as they walk. The cold of the sea does not encourage swimming except for brave people.
So the expectations of tourists clashed. It was a clash that extended to physical space as the infrastructure could not meet the expectations of all travelers.
What kind of sightseeing.
Including the community in the development of riverside tourism, which is highly seasonal and related to workforce and corporate mobility, can be successful. However, development is not always feasible for residents.
This is to meet the needs and fantasies of visitors who want to create places where tourism is separated from the social, political and cultural practices of the host environment and invest in these places.
This trend towards isolated tourist spaces has long been documented, especially in the production of consumer spaces for the purpose of capital accumulation. Tourism is a source of affluence for the minority and sometimes sacrifices the quality of life of the majority of the population.
Perce Mayor Cathy Poirier condemned this trend. "I want to see the lights come on in winter." In 2021, Perth adopted a law prohibiting the conversion of family homes into seasonal tourist accommodations.
Residents will see a visitor passing by and bring their tourism expenses with them, leaving a clear sense of exemption. Visitors buy postcards, but they do not become part of the territory. Seasonal peaks, on the other hand, occupy space and cause other necessary services to disappear during the winter slump.
Despite its permanence as a resource and tourist attraction, the St. Lawrence River maintains dynamic relationships, including social and environmental tensions. These tensions go beyond tourism and call for the dynamics of the tourism industry to be central to consideration of the development and aspirations of riverside communities.
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For many years, Dominic Lapointe has been funded by SSHRC, FRQ-SC, CRDT, and UQAM.
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This article has been republished by The Conversation under the Creative Commons license. Disclosure information is available on the original site. Read the original article:
https://theconversation.com/the-st-lawrence-river-tourism-industry-c https://theconversation.com/the-st-lawre
