Today's tourist looking for cultural experience

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Remember when being a tourist meant staying at a nice hotel, eating out, checking out a few of the popular sites and shopping for that special T-shirt? Well, tourism today is taking on a new twist. Tourists seem to want to take home more than the T-shirt and mug and are steering away from the traditional "tourist trap" type holidays in search of an authentic, cultural, hands-on experience. The First Nations of British Columbia have just what' today's travellers are looking for - a real life taste of their own unique cultural traditions and heritage.

A recent inventory of First Nations tourism in B.C. reflects the vibrancy and potential of a growing tourist market. Over the past decade, there has been a 133-per-cent increase in the number of Native owned and operated tourism enterprises, according to B.C. tourism ministry figures.

Ten years ago there were 80 products; today, there are 182 - ranging from art galleries and craft stores to camp grounds and elite hotels, to working fishing camps and pit houses to restaurants and wild and wet water slides. It's an industry that employs 992 full-time employees and 168 part-time.

Tourism experts anticipate that by the year 2000, tourism will be the world's number one industry. There are several motivating factors behind the jump in First Nations tourism, according to Gary Johnston, who compiled the detailed inventory of Native tourism products and businesses in British Columbia and works on special projects for the tourism industry.

"Firstly, Expo '86 gave a lot of profile to the tourism industry in B.C.," he explains. "Globally, tourism was pretty fragmented, prior to Expo. Over the last few years that's started to coagulate and become recognized as one of the world's major industries."

Secondly, diminishing resources have forced many bands to look at tourism as an alternative economic base.

"We have to look at other options for some of the economic bases that are decreasing, like fishing and forestry," says Johnston. "We might look at other types of maritime activities like whale watching or maybe look at the value of a forest from an eco-tourism view - like offering interpretative tours and wildlife viewing. Instead of cutting down trees for $1 million a year, that forest might be worth $10 billion in tourist dollars over the next 10 years.

"Tourism is a perfect vehicle for enhancing the culture of First Nations people," says Johnston. "It's a great opportunity for us to educate the world about our people and profile First Nations in a very positive light. A lot of tourists come over with the mind-set that we're still living traditional ways - some expect to see tipis, which aren't even indigenous to this part of Canada," he says. "We want people to know that we have our cultural traditions, but that we are also living in a part of the modern and contemporary world."

One of B.C. more popular First Nations adventures, and one that blends the old with the new, is the Lheit'Lit'en Elders working fish camp at Fort George Canyon in northern B.C. Travellers can actually pull in salmon from the nets and learn how to clean and filet them on a traditional barbecue, while listening to Elders share their stories of days gone by.

"Travellers are taken 17 miles down river to the fish camp in a modern jet boat, not by dug-out canoe," says Johnston. "The Elders are not trying to offer a recreation - they are offering a real-life, hands-on experience that blends tradition with modern technology."

"There's no doubt that tourism is one of the fastest-growing sectors of B.C.'s Native economy, but with increased growth comes increased concerns.

"There are definite a few roadblocks to overcome," says Johnston. "One of the biggest problems is the concept of tourism - of what it is and what it encompasses," he says.

"Because tourism is pretty new to our people, a lot of tourism-related businesses and products have been working independently without them even realizing they are ivolved in the tourism industry."

B.C.'s First Nations people are doing their part in preparing for the growing global trend and visitor expectations.

"Our timing is really good in terms of positioning of First Nations tourism products," says Johnston. "Part of the process in preparing for this major growing industry is marketing, but equally important is maintaining control.

"We've got to maintain our integrity and authenticity of First Nations tourism, especially with culturally sensitive products, and only offer what's supported by the Native communities and nations," he says.

"Depending on the type of tourism operation, if we can keep it away from the living areas and it's not going to affect our people in terms of pollution and extra traffic or make them feel like they're sitting in a glass case getting looked at - if it doesn't impact on their lifestyle - then I think it will have the support of the community."

There are a number of steps being taken to educate and train First Nations people in tourism. Vancouver's Native Education Centre offers a one-year tourism program that deals with the core of tourism and blends in culturally focused courses.

Johnston's own company, Tankaya Tourism, is a First Nations tourism consulting service that offers a two-day training package that focuses on cultural issues.

"We talk about some of the do's and dont's in offering cultural experiences," says Johnston.

"There are 29 distinct language groupings just in B.C. alone," says Johnston. "Looking at that from a tourism perspective, it's like looking at Europe and saying, hey, there's a lot of different things to see and different rich cultures to experience. We're all First Nations, but we all have unique features.

"If you have young people taking the training to do the interpretative guiding, not only are they being provided employment and experience, but they are actually learning about their culture at the same time as they are presenting it.

"It's also a great vhicle for cultural exchange because not only are you offering your own culture, but other cultures are coming in from Japan and Germany and offering us a piece of theirs."