The Japanese tourism production system: A case study of Whistler, British Columbia

This thesis explores the evolving form of Japanese tourism production at the regional destination level in relation to macro-scale changes in Japanese overseas tourist consumption. As an empirical study site, Whistler, British Columbia was chosen because it has demonstrated significant growth in Japanese winter ski/snowboard tourism in the last 10 to 15 years.;As a research framework, the concept of production systems is used to understand the dynamics of the spatial organisation of tourism production associated with Japanese overseas tourism. By adopting the production system concept, which is largely based on studies of manufacturing industries, this thesis intends to answer the call for more theoretical research on contemporary tourism with a political economy perspective. The tourism production system at Whistler was examined by the analysis of package tour brochures and through semi-structured interviews with managers of selected tourism supplier firms and related institutions. A statistical analysis of national-level market survey data on Japanese tourism was conducted to complement the production system analysis from a consumer market side perspective. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)...