M.A. THESIS ABSTRACT
TOURISM PLANNING IN PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND: A FRAMEWORK FOR EVALUATION

In 1988, Prince Edward Island's tourism industry association and provincial tourism department established Tourism 2000, a twelve year strategic tourism plan. Tourism 2000 suggested five tourism development strategies, including an annual 5% increase in visitor numbers dispersed over a broader spatial and temporal pattern, with an emphasis on developing more natural and heritage-based attractions. However, six years since its inception, no major evaluation of the implementation of Tourism 2000 had been undertaken.
The underlying objective of the thesis is to critically examine the utility of various data sources in evaluating performance in the tourism industry. More specifically, multi-sourced tourism data are synthesized and displayed at three geographic scales: provincial, regional and community from 1988-1994, and compared in an evaluative framework to the development strategies of Tourism 2000.
The research questions were investigated using the evaluative concepts of success and support. The success of Tourism 2000 was measured by illustrating the changes in demand and supply characteristics using exisitng data sources (e.g. PEI Exit Surveys, PEI Visitor Guides). The second evaluative concept, support, involved the implementation of a survey questionnaire in Cavendish, PEI to ascertain resident attitudes and perceptions toward the tourism development strategies.
Empirical findings reveal mixed success of the tourism strategies at the provincial and regional scales. Although demand indicators show no major overall growth in tourist numbers from 1988-1994, marginal increases in shoulder season visitation occurred in the core area. Tourism supply expansion in the eastern regions was offset by declines in others regions. Although support was high for Tourism 2000 is high in the community of Cavendish, the local tourist industry has responded with varying degrees of success. It appears that planners may have underestimated the carrying capacity of the Cavendish area, as survey respondents heavily favoured an increase in tourist numbers with the expansion of seasonality.
The findings of this study suggest existing data are not entirely adequate to evaluate the implementation of Tourism 2000. Although most supply sources are generally reliable, many existing data sources, especially demand indicators, are not adequate to evaluate the spatial and temporal elements desired by Tourism 2000. Mapping as an evaluation methodology is useful to discern tourism patterns, however appropriate data are not always available or comprehensive. A continuous monitoring of Tourism 2000 using a modified evaluation framework is recommended to determine the degree of implementation and relevance of the tourism strategies in the future.