Desarrollo T´ alico

Limitations can occur in qualitative research due to time periods, situations (such as critical events or cases) and the selection of people sampled for interviews (Patton,

131 2002). Although this research has presented with confidence the findings and

significance of this work within the body of knowledge surrounding small-business owners in tourism development in rural, resource-based communities, some limitations were apparent. There were restrictions associated with the time of year of this study occurred. The data collection took place in the summer months of June to September, when most small-business owners were in the middle of their busy season with tourism and also during summer vacations. This directly affected the number and types of participants available to take part in the study. Restaurant, grocery store, and B&B owners cited that they were in the middle of their busy season and did not have time available to participate, thus not providing an equal representation of all types of businesses in the region. In addition, there were also potential participants who refused to participate, citing frustration with the current tourism developments within their community and negative attitudes towards tourism overall. These potential participants would have provided a wider range of perspectives. Thus, it is acknowledged that the sample used in this research was more reflective and representative of tourism related businesses versus those indirectly involved with tourism in the region. This sample may have influenced or caused bias to the results. Despite these limitations, it was apparent through analysis that a level of saturation had been achieved, as consistent themes did emerge from the interviews. Further, many of the findings, as indicated, were consistent with previous research findings elsewhere.

Another limitation of this research was in the interview question design. The aspect of ‘motivations for business ownership’ was not originally explored in the data collection design. This theme emerged during the analysis stage as there appears to be a strong relationship between motivations and the levels of innovative behaviour. Had I asked a question regarding motivation, it would have allowed another element of connection amongst the thematic findings; as it stands, it provides an area for future research as will be discussed.

6.4 Recommendations

The findings emerging from this research suggest a variety of recommendations for policy and program development within the case study region to assist with tourism

132 development and small-business owner innovation and success. First, there is a need to encourage and attract amenity migrants to the region, specifically passionate about relocating to a rural location with nature-based tourism opportunities. This can be done through regionally designed marketing campaigns throughout Canada to draw more amenity-migration type people who would be attracted to the lifestyle and the types of tourism possibilities within the region. Those in the study who were passionate about their business and willing to share their enthusiasm with others (such as hiking and fishing guiding) were also likely to being innovative and creative with their business. They were not motivated to operate their business primarily for income but more as a means to play (fishing, hiking, biking and kayaking) and share these activities with others for a living. These ‘lifestyle entrepreneurs’ have different motivations and business operation methods, compared with the other small-business owners in the region. This is similar to the findings of Ateljevic and Doone (2000), Shaw and

Williams (2004) and Biggs (2011) who found that there was a difference in the motives and behaviour of small-business owners in relation to the trends in new forms of tourism consumptions such as ecotourism, adventure tourism, particularly with backpackers in New Zealand (Ateljevic & Doorne, 2000) surfers in the United Kingdom (Shaw & Williams, 2004), and owners in Australia’s Great Barrier Reef tourism as a lifestyle choice, related to enterprise resilience (Biggs, 2011).

As addressed in the document, there is a major lack of businesses, tourism attractions and entrepreneurs within the region. The attraction of amenity migrants to the region would assist with this need but it is also important that the youth of the region are targeted for possible entrepreneurial opportunities. Despite the fact that there are

numerous funding opportunities for starting a new business, high youth out-migration within the region continues, due to lack of employment. This need has been recently recognized by local economic development staff within the region and there are plans for a 2013 Regional Youth Conference hosted by the Township of Nipigon’s Business Development Program to inspire, inform and educate young entrepreneurs (Township of Nipigon, 2012).

The need for training and education has been highlighted a number of times throughout this study which can be provided by the current program providers within the

133 region (SNCFDC, NOHFC, FedNOR, Chamber of Commerce, NOSTA, municipal town offices) as well as the recent addition to the region of Parks Canada (LSNMCA) and RTO13. The LSNMCA has begun to play a stronger role in programming by providing courses on trail building, and interpretive training within the communities and can also assist small-business owners in customer service training, networking and workshops on attracting nature-based tourists to the region. RTO13 is still in its planning and

organizing stages but will be shifting towards more regional marketing and product development in the near future. The amount of possibilities for this organization to support the current small-business owners is immense.

Training should be made available specifically on customer service, business training (business plan creation and implementation, employee training, budgeting and assessing visitor satisfaction), the benefits of networking, and utilization of ICTs and marketing for current businesses. This training should take place within the region and be delivered in a variety of formats such as online tutorials, workshops (at various times of day and year, to ensure that everyone can attend) delivered specifically in the regional communities by various experts.

Finally, as one small-business owner highlighted, there are plenty of

opportunities within the Top of Superior region to actively partner with First Nations, particularly with Lake Helen First Nation on tourism development projects. This has been explored in great detail through Metansinine, Koster & Lemelin’s (2009) work, Developing Experiential Tourism in the Lake Helen Region: A Foundational Document. Although the majority of the small-business owners never mentioned partnering with the First Nations, it does provide future opportunity for tourism development that would attract long haul cultural tourists, primarily those interested from United Kingdom, France and Germany (Metansinine, Koster & Lemelin, 2009).