The Application of GIS (Geographic Information Systems) Technologies to monitor and support Sustainable Tourism in the Thompson-Okanagan Region Municipalities

Achieving sustainability in the tourism industry requires appropriate tools to make decisions and assessments in an “integrated and well-informed way”. In this context, Geographic Information Systems (GIS) are tools that could vastly contribute to the assessment of sustainability due to their capabilities to integrate and combine information for the dimensions of environmental, social, and economic sustainability, which can be mapped and geographically located. This can help to find relations, patterns, distribution of relationships, and flexibility in using information on sustainability indicators to inform critical actions by tourism stakeholders via GIS-based applications.
GIS is a form of Information Communication Technology (ICT) that has been demonstrated to be a versatile tool for integration in sustainability monitoring and assessment of other research contexts and industries. However, it has been less explored in the tourism industry, due to limited technical know-how and undiscovered benefits of the technology.
The study aims to use Geographic Information Systems to contribute to the territorial visualization of the actual status of sustainability of some businesses in the tourism industry in the municipalities of the Thompson-Okanagan Region. This information will assist stakeholders to be more strategic in addressing challenges in sustainable development at all three levels of sustainability in the tourism

Faculty Supervisor:

Kimberly Thomas-Francois

Student:

Partner:

Thompson Okanagan Tourism Association

Discipline:

Sociology

Sector:

Administrative and support, waste management and remediation services; Other services (except public administration); Professional, scientific and technical services; Public administration

University:

Thompson Rivers University

Program:

Accelerate