Metatourism: Dealing Critically with the Future of Tourism Environments

This essay links the virtually endless varieties of tourist developments which are proceeding in many parts of the world to the system of tourism. The finite nature of tourism environments is recognized and the losses which result when development demands are not balanced with the finite nature of the areas where tourism takes place are discussed. The argument is presented that to avoid such impending losses, perceptions about tourism need to be restructured along ecological lines. This new way of thinking about tourism and its development has been labelled metatourism. The sources from which this concept derives, and some of its implications, are considered.     

A NODAL STRUCTURE FOR A SET OF CANADIAN CITIES USING GRAPH THEORY AND NEWSPAPER DATELINES*

The relative importance and the spheres of influence of the urban centres within some specified region, such as a country, are intriguing topics of investigation. Webber (1964) indicated that the ordering of centres within a country is not possible, since “the spatial extent of each [urban] realm is ambiguous, shifting instantaneously as participants in the realm's many interest-communities make new contacts, trade with different friends, or read different publications.’ We suspect, however, that there is considerable order in the communication links among the larger centres within a country. For example, Canada's leaders in business, governments, and the arts tend to move through a hierarchy of centres to end up in Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, Vancouver, or some other large city, depending upon the particular field in which they work. All urban centres are linked to Ottawa, which is at the apex of political power, and to large urban centres, such as Toronto and Montreal, which predominate in the economic realm. The major purpose of this paper is to derive a nodal structure for seventeen major Canadian cities, based on newspaper datelines. By utilizing these particular information flows, the analyses also shed light on possible differences between the anglophone and francophone communications networks.     

FACTORS AFFECTING RESPONSE TO NOISE IN OUTDOOR RECREATIONAL ENVIRONMENTS

As the world gets more and more crowded, silence becomes a rarer and rarer natural resource. (Rennicke 1987, 27)     

WHO TALKS TO WHOM: ÉLITENESS AMONG THE WORLD'S NATIONS

International standing is always relative. To T.A. Mits in Toronto, New York, or Moscow it's the clan in Parliament, the White House, or the Kremlin who are the aristocracy. And it is the study of who talks to whom among the world's nations that provides insights into which countries constitute the nobility of the international power structure. Those nations making critical decisions in the political arena and directing the course of history are those who are 'more equal than others' at the United Nations or Geneva peace talks.