The Importance of a Development Policy

Development, or even the consideration of development, is easier with a community development policy already in place. It gives your community guidelines for investigating development; it provides for informed decisions on whether to proceed; and it helps maintain a focus on the priorities of the community for investment of both time and money.

A development policy not only provides direction in dealing with the unexpected, it is its own road map, guiding those who will be implementing it on behalf of your community.

The need for a policy begins with your community's decision to pursue economic development of any kind. It helps to establish:

• the terms, conditions and limits of development;

• the extent to which economic development is a community priority;

• which development opportunities to study first; and

• how to reconcile economic interests with environmental, social, cultural and traditional ones.

When an opportunity arises, your community is ready for it. With a policy already in place to guide you, you are prepared for each stage of development.

Two points about a community development policy: a written document is better than a verbal policy. There is less chance for misunderstanding later on.

The second point, probably the most important, is that the community development policy should be built through community participation. If your band members have been consulted on its formation, they are more likely to approve and support it.

About Tourism and Your Community Development Policy

Before including tourism in your development policy, there are three points to consider: does your community have attractions and facilities for tourists; if not, could they be developed; and does your First Nation want tourism.

First of all, exactly what is a tourist? A tourist is anyone who travels a significant distance for any reason. Holiday travel accounts for only 25 percent of total travel in Canada. For the purposes of analysis, tourists are defined according to the primary reason for travel:

• Business: any travel to do with an individual's work;

• Personal business: usually from the surrounding area, to take advantage of the retail, social and professional services of a community;

• Vacation: holiday travel;

• Visiting friends and relatives: one of the biggest segments of the Canadian tourist market; and

• Passing through: people (who could be from any of the other four categories) who stop only for meals, gas and possibly a night's accommodation on their way to somewhere else.

Answers to the following questions will help establish whether your reserve has the potential to attract tourists.

• Are tourists coming there now?

• Are there historic or natural sites and attractions on your reserve?

• Are there facilities such as restaurants, hotels or motels, shops, gas stations, etc., either in place or that could be developed?

• Do government tourism officials, representatives of regional or provincial tourism associations, tourists who visit your community and tourist operators think your community has tourism potential?

• Do your community members want tourism: are they willing to support its development?

If the answer is yes to many of these questions, the next step is to consider the advantages and disadvantages of tourism for your community.

Benefits

The first benefit is economic. Businesses that serve tourists directly are the most obvious beneficiaries, but the financial effect is felt through the entire local economy because of the number of jobs that indirectly depend on tourism.

The second benefit is a "softer" one but as important as the economic boost tourism gives an area. Tourists bring a new focus to the local scenery, heritage and culture that community members often take for granted. Such outside appreciation often heightens community pride by encouraging local residents to preserve, develop and display these unique aspects. The third benefit is also indirect: the motivation for community members to learn new skills and acquire new information to be able to work successfully with tourists.

A fourth benefit of tourism is its role in promoting understanding between Native and non-Native peoples by focusing on First Nation perspectives, values, history and culture.

This is an illustration of the trickle-down effect of tourism dollars. A tourist stays one night in a community and spends $100. In this scenario, $100 benefits 19 people:

Most of the $100 is paid out in wages. The money helps:

- the hotel clerk buy groceries at the local supermarket;

- the waitress buy shoes at the local shoe store;

- the gas station attendant rent a movie at the local video store; and

- the gift shop clerk have clothes cleaned at the local dry cleaners.

The portion of the $100 kept by the business owners allows:

- the hotel owner to hire a piano player;

- the restaurant owner to install a pasta-making machine;

- the gas station owner to stock more auto parts; and

- the gift shop owner to hire another staff member.

Costs

Tourism does have another side. It can:

• undermine culture and cultural traditions by commercializing them;

• put valued artifacts in jeopardy;

• lead to competition between sport and commercial fishermen, or resident and non-resident hunters;

• reduce privacy;

• increase litter, graffiti, vandalism and noise;

• cause environmental damage through forest fires, erosion, destruction of sand dunes and pollution; and

• cause congestion and overcrowding.

These detractions are manageable. The number of tourists and where they can go can be controlled. Tourists can also be influenced by signs, booklets and tours that provide guidelines on cultural and religious concerns. If you have established that your reserve has potential for tourism; if you have decided that benefits of tourism on your reserve outweigh the costs; and if your community members have indicated their support, then your development policy will specify tourism as a resource to study further.

How Tourism Can Affect Your Community

Your community's development policy can set guidelines for:

• Tourism and culture: Unique Native culture _ _ lifestyle, art, performing arts, perspectives on nature, the land and the historic relationship between First Nation peoples and settlers _ _ can be a tourism asset. Your policy can govern how much of First Nations culture should be included in tourism attractions.

• Tourism and land: Guidelines are needed to avoid conflict between tourist and community land-use. For example, a wilderness resort might interfere with First Nation commercial fishing operations. A cottage lot development might impede local recreational use of lakefront property.

• Tourism and partnerships: Since few businesses provide all the services a tourist uses, they rely on partnership arrangements, such as local and regional travel associations, hotel or restaurant associations, marketing arrangements with airlines, franchises and investments or other arrangements with tour companies.

• The entrepreneur and the community: The long-term success of tourism depends on profitable businesses. Often, the individual entrepreneurs behind these businesses will need community support.

• Community leadership: Successful tourism needs community involvement. Building access roads and airstrips, installing proper road signs, managing land use, organizing community events, conducting hospitality training and promoting the community to tourists all require communal input.

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