The Tourism Area Life Cycle (TALC) and its application to National Parks: A Candian Example

This was a requested chapter by the editor. The TALC (also known as the Butler curve)is probably the most famous model in tourism. It traces the possible evloutionary path a resort region can take over time. The model has been universally accepted and is applied in many contexts, both in the MEDCs and the LEDCs. There has been relatively little application to the model of non-resort spaces, this chapter is one of those cases where the model is linked to the development of national parks (singular) as well as to the development of a national park system (within regions of a country). The country in question is Canada and the development of the national parks system across Canada is examined in the context of the model, charting the different development histories across separate regions of Canada, and within each region, positioning each park along the curve. A number of scenarios of future development of the overall system are examined against possible trajactories of change in numbers of visitors across the system over time.