The Intangible Impacts of Tourism: The Battle Harbour National Historic District as a Tourism Anchor

• Main Authors: Stoddart, Mark, Ramos, Howard, Chafe, David
• Format: Report
• Language: English
• Published: Memorial University of Newfoundland 2014
• Subjects: Newfoundland; Battle Harbour; St. Lewis
• Online Access: https://research.library.mun.ca/11585/; https://research.library.mun.ca/11585/1/Stoddart_13_14_ARF_Final.pdf; https://www.mun.ca/harriscentre/media/production/memorial/administrative/the-harris-centre/media-library/reports/Stoddart_13_14_ARF_Final.pdf

The moratorium on cod fishing in Newfoundland and Labrador in 1992 drastically altered the province’s economy, with an increasing focus on tourism in communities most directly impacted by the shutdown of the fishery. Though tourism development has been ongoing for more than twenty years, residents’ perceptions of the social and cultural impacts of tourism development on communities have not been widely examined in this province. This project focuses on the Battle Harbour National Historic District (BHHD), located in the Labrador Straits region, as a specific case study of the social and cultural impacts of the shift towards preserving regional history and culture, and promoting those traits to the rest of the world. In this report, we provide an analysis of telephone surveys with participants in Mary’s Harbour, St. Lewis and Lodge Bay, which are the closest communities to the BHHD. We also report on field research at the BHHD. The results allow us to more clearly understand the social impacts of tourism on residents, tourists and the region as a whole.