Introduction to Tourism and Hospitality in BC – 2nd Edition

Introduction to Tourism and Hospitality in B.C. was originally created by a team of authors led by Morgan Westcott in 2015 and received a significant update with the publication of the second edition in September 2020 from a team of editors from across BC’s post secondary institutions led by Wendy Anderson. In June 2021, the book was updated again to include over 60 H5P activities. This creation and following updates were funded by BCcampus Open Education.

BCcampus Open Education began in 2012 as the B.C. Open Textbook Project with the goal of making post-secondary education in British Columbia more accessible by reducing students’ costs through the use of open textbooks and other OER. BCcampus supports the post-secondary institutions of British Columbia as they adapt and evolve their teaching and learning practices to enable powerful learning opportunities for the students of B.C. BCcampus Open Education is funded by the British Columbia Ministry of Advanced Education & Skills Training, and the Hewlett Foundation.

Open educational resources (OER) are teaching, learning, and research resources that, through permissions granted by the copyright holder, allow others to use, distribute, keep, or make changes to them. Our open textbooks are openly licensed using a Creative Commons licence, and are offered in various e-book formats free of charge, or as printed books that are available at cost.

For more information about open education in British Columbia, please visit the BCcampus Open Education website. If you are an instructor who is using this book for a course, please fill out our Adoption of an Open Textbook form.

This textbook is available in the following formats:

• Online webbook. You can read this textbook online on a computer or mobile device in one of the following browsers: Chrome, Firefox, Edge, and Safari.
• PDF. You can download this book as a PDF to read on a computer (Digital PDF) or print it out (Print PDF).
• Mobile. If you want to read this textbook on your phone or tablet, you can use the EPUB (eReader) or MOBI (Kindle) files.
• HTML. An HTML file can be opened in a browser. It has very little style so it doesn’t look very nice, but some people might find it useful.

Welcome! If you’re reading this, you’re likely interested in a career in BC’s tourism and hospitality industry. Perhaps you work in industry and want to enhance your skills. Or maybe you’re one of the hundreds of students world-wide who’ve been directed to this resource by an instructor. No matter your background, we’re happy to share this collaborative work that pulls together decades of industry experience and academic know-how.

An Introduction to the Industry

No textbook could cover, in depth, the tourism industry in BC and the global context for its development. This text is a stepping stone for further resources, and is written with a first year college and university audience in mind.

Created Through Collaboration

The book you’re reading was created through a collaborative process. It involved input from educators at multiple institutions, industry leaders, employers, and past graduates of BC’s tourism and hospitality management programs. The first iteration of the text was launched in 2015 by an organization called LinkBC; and in early 2020 a group of intrepid BC instructors rolled up their sleeves and edited the content to reflect the times.

In this 2nd edition, all chapters have been revised with updated statistics, revised content and references added providing a more relevant and up to date reading experience. Several chapters such as Chapter 9 Customer Service, Chapter 10 Environmental Stewardship, and Chapter 12 Indigenous Tourism have been substantially rewritten as these areas have transformed considerably over the last several years.