Iwas born and raised in a small town in British Columbia, surrounded by trees, mountains, waterfalls, and tourists. In fact, the town I am from is central to chapter 4 of this story!

I’ve worked a great deal of passion into this project. Having been employed in the tourism industry for many summers, I witnessed first-hand the chaos that ensued among the local business owners, the summer of 2017, when Wells Gray Provincial Park was immediately closed due to the threat of wildfire.

After watching many parts of the province up in flames on my television, I wondered what other local tourism industries were experiencing, and if the circumstances in my hometown were an isolated case. With the help of a bursary from Carleton University’s School of Journalism, I did some digging, and then some travelling, and was able to document many of the hardships faced by small local businesses in my beautiful home province.

I’ve also been able to highlight the tireless people from within the industry who are working to do something about it.

I’d like to thank all of the tourism operators who agreed to speak with me, sometimes for hours, with very little notice beforehand, and to all of my other sources from within B.C.’s tourism industry and in academia.

I will thank my advisor, Christopher Waddell, for consistently providing fast and excellent feedback on the drafts I sent to him.

And to Roger Martin, for helping me put this website together.

If there’s one major thing I’ve learned the past year, it’s that there are important stories to be discovered in one’s hometown.

— Adam van der Zwan, April 30, 2019.