Provincial and territorial on-line tourism: how can Canadian provinces and territories are using the internet for travel marketing and promotion.

Parker, Richard D.

ABSTRACT

This study examines the online marketing practices of provincial and territorial tourism authorities within Canada. Rather than examining ways in which the federal Canadian government promotes the country, this study examines the tourism website homepages of the provinces and territories. Attention is paid to homepage design, layout and information provided to potential visitors of an area within Canada. It should be noted this paper is a cursory review of provincial and territorial tourism homepages and is intended to be a starting point for continued investigation and research.

INTRODUCTION

CANADIAN TOURISM AND THE ONLINE INITIATIVE IN BRIEF

In 2005 the Canadian Tourism Commission (CTC) launched a campaign to promote a new "brand Canada" strategy. (Hampton, 2005) This effort spearheaded by the CTC seeks to target tourists beyond the U.S. market to make Canada a preferred travel destination. In this new effort the CTC is looking to European travelers rather than American travelers due to declining tourism from U.S. visitors since September 11, 2001. (Gold Medal launches Canada brochure, 2006, Atlantic Tourism ROI comes up short, 2002, Statistics Canada, 2006). "According to the United Nations, Canada is the No. 2 place to live in the world, but it has dropped from seventh to 12th place as a travel destination." (Chiasson and Wentz, 2005, p.13)

The apparent falloff in the number of U.S. visitors to Canada may be attributed to several factors including: a weak U.S. dollar, reduced vacation time for many salaried employees, increased fuel costs, the 2003 SARS outbreak in Ontario and fears of anti-American sentiment in reaction to the Iraq War. Statistics Canada cited at 9.4% decline in the number of Americans traveling to Canada in the first quarter of 2006. The same report noted that the number of visitors from other countries was unchanged and that tourism employment had increased 1.5% from the previous year. (Statistics Canada, 2006)

Travel by American visitors to Canada was growing steadily prior to the 2001 terrorist attacks but declined in the aftermath. By the end of 1998 Canadian authorities were expecting record numbers of visitors coming in from the States compared to what had been seen in 1997. (Canada expects record U.S. visits, 1998) By 1999 the CTC was engaged in direct mail campaigns and trade advertising in the United States. The annual meetings of the (U.S.) Direct Marketing Association and the American Lung Association were held that year in Canada. Tourism was booming with no end in sight. (Daniels, 1999) After September 11, 2001 attempts were made to lure American travelers back to Canada by offering stunning travel deals and assurances the country was among the safest in the world. (Heinzl, 2002) But the 2003 outbreak of SARS in Toronto resulted in cross-border travel disruptions and warnings not to travel to Canada. Additionally tourism officials at CTC were aware that the U.S.-led war in Iraq would cause people to postpone travel plans. (Rendon, 2003) Further instances of other events such as the discovery of Mad Cow Disease or BSE in Alberta cattle, forest fires in British Columbia and a strong Canadian dollar served to increase the hesitant mood of jittery American tourists.

Recognizing there could be a negative impact to the industry the CTC launched a multi-million dollar advertising campaign in major U.S. markets including New York, Chicago, Detroit, Boston, Philadelphia, San Francisco and Seattle that attempted to lure U.S. travelers across the border for summer holidays. (Rendon, 2003) In Britain the CTC launched a TV ad campaign to boost the flagging image of travel to the Great White North. (Hampton, 2003) Yet despite CTC's efforts to promote Canada to American and British tourists the year-end result was a 13.3% decline in foreign travel to Canada in 2003. (Krauss, 2004) Given the realities of the situation the CTC recognized that action had to be taken to restore some vigor into the tourism economy.

Ironically the weak U.S. dollar held some promise for Canadian tourism in 2004. In Europe, particularly in the United Kingdom, people began to recognize that travel to North America was a good deal for Britons; particularly those Britons who wanted to take shopping holidays. For instance a pair of Levi's 501 jeans, which cost 55 [pounds sterling] in London or Manchester, cost only 25 [pounds sterling] in Toronto or Calgary. (Hampton, 2004) Additionally lower cost flights from Britain to Canada had an impact as many British tour operators reported rises in the number of travelers to Canada. (Gill, 2004) Despite the recognized value apparent to European travelers, one Alberta Tourism official remained skeptical: "When the U.S. hits the headlines I could stand naked in the middle of Piccadilly Circus and no one would take any notice." (Hampton, 2004, p. 57) This official may have held some foresight in that statement as travel once again fell in 2005. (Canada, 2005)

In promoting the new Canadian image abroad the CTC is directing the focus toward the "experience" of Canada. The new campaign seeks to "emphasize the different cultures and nationalities that exist in Canada." (Hampton, 2005, p. 51) However there is a desire among some officials to remove part of the traditional focus on Canada's image as a "great outdoors" country because of concerns that Canada will not be perceived as "an exciting destination". One official says Canada suffers from an " ... outdated and incomplete image which relies too heavily on nature and the great outdoors." (Hampton, 2005, p. 51)

The new "brand Canada" image seeks to encourage travelers to "keep exploring". As one CTC official stated: "We want people to associate the notion of exploring with Canada, just as they associate freedom with Las Vegas." (Hampton, 2005, p. 51) And despite calls to break away from Canada's nature image one manager stated bluntly: "Canada is a great product for young people. We should be promoting the active adventure product." (Hampton, 2005, p. 51)

While some have concerns about categorizing Canada as a "nature" destination others are seeking to draw from the strength of Canada's natural geography. In 2002 the Government of Ontario announced plans to support a "golf tourism initiative". (Ontario government, 2002) Through the cooperation of the CTC, the Canadian Golf Tourism Alliance and other golf partners the initiative sought to promote the province's more than 600 courses to golfers living primarily in U.S. Border States. (Ontario tees up, 2002)

The CTC has long recognized the importance of the Internet as a promotional medium. In 2002 the CTC sought to explore the effectiveness of the Internet as an advertising medium by conducting a cross-media advertising campaign. (Dillabough, 2002) Sharma, Carson and DeLacy (2000) found that online tourism promotion was an important and effective vehicle for promotion and sustainability of the Australian tourism market. In their examination of the desires of external travelers to Australia Sharma et al found that "[t]here is considerable demand from international visitors for authentic ... tourism experiences". (2000, p. 161) Morgan, Pritchard and Abbott (2001) significantly noted that: "The international tourism system is dependent on information technology for its future growth, competitiveness and long term survival--particularly in tourism marketing and distribution."(2001, p. 110) Realizing this importance Canada became the first nation to purchase a "dot.travel" domain in 2006. (Noakes, 2006)

If one considers the fact that in traveling to Canada, a tourist must visit individual provinces rather than Canada as a whole, then the notion of how provinces are using websites to promote tourism is worth considering. If there is a push away from American tourists to tourists from other (particularly European) nations, then what efforts are the provinces making to draw those visitors? Morgan et al (2001) noted that tourism marketing is largely dependent on visual representation. If that is true, then what visual representations will the provinces make? Will the provinces follow the CTC's desired shift in culture away from "moose and Mounties"?

This study seeks to examine how the tourism authorities in each province have chosen to market their tourist offerings on the Internet. A brief survey of the government designated tourism websites of all 10 provinces and three territories was made solely by the researcher. The author of this paper recognizes that other tourism-related provincial websites exist, many run by businesses and organizations separate from provincial or territorial tourism authorities. This exploratory study seeks to examine how government-based tourism authorities are using the World Wide Web to market the tourism and travel offerings of their territories. It is by no means a final or definitive analysis but hopefully a starting point for continued research in this area. In a cursory examination of the websites 12 items were selected as important by the researcher for brand identification and information provision to visitors. These items were: languages, photos, intro page, survey, travel services, hyperlinks, second official site, cultural info, nature info, search engine, map and flag. Given that Canada is officially a bilingual nation; would both French and English sites be available? Given the emerging focus on tourism outside of North America by the CTC, what other languages might be available for visitors to select? As the Internet is a visual medium how many photos are shown on the websites to visitors? Some provincial websites had an introductory page requiring a visitor to select a language before entering the main page, so how many provinces required this? Some websites offered a travel survey; would all the provincial websites do the same? Would all provincial websites offer travel services such as hotel reservations? How many hyperlinks would be available per website? Would there be an "official" tourism website that is separate from a provincial tourism ministry? In essence is there a duplication of information to information seekers from official government sources? Would the provinces follow the CTC's focus on culture or would they maintain the traditional links to nature that have been the mainstay of Canadian tourism for almost a century? Since flags are often seen as a clear indicator of identity and the red maple leaf is widely recognized as the brand symbol for Canada, would the provinces seek a Canadian identity by displaying a Canadian flag or would they be more independent of a larger Canadian identity by showing their provincial flags on the websites? Also in considering the greater notion of a Canadian identity would provinces display a map showing their location in Canada? These items were chosen given their visual predominance to the researcher in the cursory examination of each website.

THE PROVINCES AND TERRITORIES ONLINE

The objective of this study was to review tourism and travel homepages sponsored by each provincial and territorial government in Canada. The tourism and travel homepage of each province and territory government was reviewed geographically starting from Newfoundland & Labrador in the east to British Columbia in the west, moving north to the Yukon and finally east back to Nunavut. Specific details from the author's website visits are noted in the discussion section of this paper. Information listed in this study dates from early October 2006 and may be subject to frequent change by provincial and territorial tourism authorities due to seasonal changes or other external variables. For organizational purposes the provinces are reviewed in regional groupings: Atlantic Canada, Quebec & Ontario, The Plains Provinces, Western Canada and the Territories.

Atlantic Canada includes the provinces of Newfoundland & Labrador, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island. The Plains Provinces includes Manitoba and Saskatchewan; while Western Canada includes Alberta and British Columbia. The three territories are Yukon, the Northwest Territories and Nunavut.

In seeking to better understand how the provinces were marketing themselves in their website homepages attention was paid to the following items: available languages, number of photographs (photographs of publications such as tour or guidebooks were not included), the presence of an introductory or gateway page that would lead a visitor to a more detailed homepage, the presence of an online tourist survey instrument, the offering of travel services such as accommodations or travel planning, the number of hyperlinks present on each homepage, specific links to natural features of the province or territory, specified links to cultural items or events for each province or territory, the presence of a provincial, territorial or national flag and the location of the area as defined on a geographic map incorporated into the homepage. In reviewing the websites via Google, the researcher discovered that some provincial and territorial governments operated a separate site for the tourism departments or ministries within their governments. An additional item was added to the findings that indicated whether or not there was an "official" tourism site separate from the ministerial sites. The information presented in this paper reviews only the "official" tourism websites of each provincial government. The ministerial homepages were not reviewed for this study unless the "official" tourism website was that of the provincial ministry or department. The collected information from the "official" websites is displayed in the following regionalized tables.

Atlantic Canada

In reviewing the information related to provincial tourism websites the researcher visited the following websites for this study:

Newfoundland & Labrador--http://www.newfoundlandandlabradortourism.com/

Nova Scotia--http://www.gov.ns.ca/tourism.htm and http://novascotia.com/

New Brunswick--http://www.tourismnewbrunswick.ca/

Prince Edward Island--http://www.gov.pe.ca/visitorsguide/index.php3

It is interesting to note that the Atlantic Canada provinces share some important features on their homepages. All four provinces provide an option for more than one language to be selected on the homepage, three of the four offer users a search engine, while two of the four incorporate a map of the province in a larger geographical setting and offer visitors a travel intentions survey. Features common to each province's homepage included the provision of links to travel services, nature attractions and cultural activities. None of the homepages displayed the Canadian flag while two featured their provincial flags.

It is interesting to note that the government of Prince Edward Island was the only province in Atlantic Canada to place an "official" tourism website on its government domain. This is particularly interesting given that Nova Scotia maintains separate sites for the provincial tourism ministry and its "official" tourism website under different domains (e.g. dot.com vs.dot.gov).

Quebec & Ontario

Information gathered by the researcher concerning Quebec and Ontario tourism was obtained by visiting the following websites:

Quebec--http://www.bonjourquebec.com/qc-en/accuei10.html

Ontario--http://www.tourism.gov.on.ca/ and http://www.ontariotravel.net/

Quebec and Ontario shared many of the same features of the Atlantic Canada provincial websites: information on travel services, listings for cultural and nature attractions, and a search engine. The homepages did not present either an introductory page or offer visitors the opportunity to answer a travel survey. The inclusion of the provincial flag for Quebec is not surprising given the sensitivities of Quebec nationalists and the recognition by the federal Government of Canada that Quebec exists as a distinct society within Canada.

The Plains Provinces

Information gathered by the researcher about tourism in the Plains Provinces was obtained by visiting the following websites:

Manitoba--http://www.gov.mb.ca/chc/tourism.html and http://www.travelmanitoba.com/

Saskatchewan--http://www.gov.sk.ca/deptsorgs/overviews/?97 and http://www.sasktourism.com/

Saskatchewan was the only province in the entire country not to clearly offer the option to select a language other than English for its website. Manitoba and Saskatchewan like their eastern neighbors offered visitors information regarding travel services and cultural and nature attractions. It was somewhat surprising that Saskatchewan like Newfoundland offered a survey on its website but failed to provide a search engine for users to employ. Both Plains Provinces did display a flag on their homepages however; the national flag of Canada was displayed on Manitoba's homepage, whereas the provincial flag was displayed on Saskatchewan's homepage.

Western Canada

Information gathered by the researcher about tourism in Western Canada was obtained by visiting the following websites:

Alberta--http://www.travelalberta.com/

British Columbia--http://www.hellobc.com/en-CA/default.htm

Alberta and British Columbia shared some similarities in their website development. Both provinces offered Asian language websites for tourists traveling from the Far East, as well as the standard travel services, cultural and nature attractions options the other provinces employed. Both provinces also offered search engines and displayed maps yet Alberta was alone in displaying a flag of any type.

The Territories

Information gathered by the researcher about tourism in Canada's territories was obtained by visiting the following websites:

Yukon--http://www.tirc.gov.yk.ca/ and http://www.travelyukon.com/en/

Northwest Territories--http://www.gov.nt.ca/research/tourism/index.html and http://www.explorenwt.com/index.asp

Nunavut--http://www.gov.nu.ca/Nunavut/English/tourism/ and http://www.nunavuttourism.com/site/index.asp

The development of territorial tourism homepages may be a result of the fact that politically these entities do not share full recognition as provinces from the federal government. Arguably these homepages were somewhat Spartan in comparison to the provincial homepages. Each territory displayed almost an equal number of photos; none offered a survey option, displayed a flag or provided a map. The Northwest Territories failed to offer any language options other than English, yet the inclusion of a German language option for Yukon and Nunavut may well indicate that tourism authorities in those territories are anticipating (or are trying to attract) a substantial number of visitors from German speaking nations within Europe who might be interested in spending time in the northern territories.

DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS

The review of each of Canada's provincial and territorial tourism website homepages yielded some noteworthy findings. The multicultural emphasis sought by the CTC was present in each of the provincial websites. Only the Yukon Territory did not include any links or mention of cultural offerings on its homepage. Yet despite the desire to move away from the "great outdoors" every province and territory featured photographs of nature settings and offered links to outdoor activities in some form or another. While no moose were noted on any of the websites, Saskatchewan's homepage did feature Mounties in the masthead. Nonetheless the connection to nature in Canadian tourism is hard to escape. Given the vast swaths of undeveloped land, the proliferation of arctic wildlife, the phenomenon of the aurora borealis and the abundance of whales and other marine wildlife, promotion of the "great outdoors" is one of Canada's strongest selling points as a tourist destination. However provinces such as Alberta and New Brunswick feature links for their cities, Newfoundland features festivals and crafts, Nunavut features Inuit artwork, Nova Scotia and Ontario features their wine regions and British Columbia is promoting golf and spa vacation packages.

Despite the fact that Canada is officially a bilingual nation Saskatchewan, British Columbia and the Northwest Territories did not have an obvious link for a French edition of the website visible on their homepages. As noted above, Saskatchewan and the Northwest Territories appeared to offer tourism information only in English. Newfoundland, New Brunswick, Manitoba and Nunavut each had an introductory or gateway page requesting the visitor to choose a language before accessing the homepage. The presence of German languages pages for Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Quebec, Ontario, Alberta, Yukon and Nunavut seem to reflect provincial and territorial consideration regarding the importance of European tourists particularly those from Germany or Austria. Interestingly Prince Edward Island is the only Atlantic province offering a Japanese version of its website. Chinese language websites are present for Ontario, Alberta and British Columbia; an interesting point given that ethnic Chinese represents the largest minority in Canada. The fact that Alberta and British Columbia offer Korean language sites may be reflective of those provinces proximity to South Korea and potential for tourist visits.

It is ironic to note that given the media attention to Ontario's "golf tourism initiative" only one link out of 72 on Ontario's tourism homepage was related to golf. New Brunswick and British Columbia appeared to have better detailed offerings and information for golf tourists (the sections on these homepages were certainly more eye-catching). Additionally places not traditionally considered with golf in Canada were promoting the sport on their homepages. Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, the Northwest Territories and Nunavut all had a related link to golfing opportunities in their provinces or territories. The noted support of the Ontario government to the golfing initiative was not noticeable on the "official" tourism homepage.

One surprise in the review of these websites was the lack of visual representations (in the form of photographs) on homepages. As noted by Morgan, Pritchard and Abbott (2001) Internet marketing is reliant on visual imagery and representation. Homepage visuals (photos) were as few as two in the case of Saskatchewan but no more than 13 in the case of New Brunswick. Furthermore many of the images were relatively small and potentially difficult to translate. Morgan et al (2001) note that information overload and Web complexity may be issues in translating homepages and it may be that provincial and territorial web designers are attempting to prevent visual overload for visitors.

Newfoundland, Prince Edward Island, British Columbia, Manitoba and Saskatchewan attempted to survey visitors to their websites presumably to gage interest in visiting their provinces. Newfoundland and PEI's survey was a pop-up survey that appeared upon arrival at the homepage. British Columbia's survey was embedded in the homepage, while Saskatchewan's was found through a noted hyperlink at the bottom of the homepage and Manitoba's was accidentally discovered by accessing the accommodations hyperlink. It is interesting to note that none of the territories included a survey in their websites. In seeking to assist visitors in planning trips to Canada all of the websites (excepting Yukon's) offered some form of travel services such as accommodations, planning or directions on their websites. In furtherance of travel assistance all of the provinces, except Newfoundland and Saskatchewan provided search engines on their homepages. In the territories only the Northwest Territories had a search engine available to visitors.

While Morgan et al warn about information overload, each website visited had numerous hyperlinks allowing visitors to navigate through the homepages to other pages in the website and to other websites linked to the homepage. Ranging from eight hyperlinks on the Yukon's homepage to 122 on Nunavut's homepage, visitors have a wealth of information to select when considering their tourism options. Although the mean number of hyperlinks for each province and territory as a whole was 55 (53 discounting the extremes of the Yukon and Nunavut), many of the links are hidden in drop down menus thus reducing the potential for information overload--this was particularly true for Nunavut.

Another interesting point of observation in reviewing the website homepages related to the presence of a flag or map. Would provinces take a distinct provincial identity or a national Canadian identity? Also would provinces choose to illustrate their place in the world with a map? Only the provinces of Manitoba and Alberta provided an illustration of the Canadian flag on their websites. The territories displayed no flags; neither did New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Ontario or British Columbia. Nova Scotia displayed its flag on its ministerial website but not its "official tourism" website (that issue is addressed below). The remaining provinces of Newfoundland, Quebec and Saskatchewan displayed their separate flags on the tourism homepages. Several of the provinces, but none of the territories, provided provincial maps on their homepages. In Atlantic Canada only Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia provided a map on their homepages. Quebec and Saskatchewan were the only other provinces not to provide a map on the homepages. Ontario and British Columbia provided interactive maps breaking the provinces into tourism regions.

Finally the presence of multiple tourism sites for the provinces and territories was a point of potential frustration. Several of the provinces (Nova Scotia, Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan) and all three territories maintain websites for the provincial departments or ministries of travel and tourism. While all of the ministerial websites included a hyperlink to the designated "official" tourism website, their existence can be seen as a double-edged sword. Who will information seekers trust and consult first, the ministerial sites or the "official" tourist sites? Given that hyperlinks exist to send information-seekers from ministerial sites to "official" tourist sites, it seems obvious that government officials want potential tourists to visit designated sites where information they wish to keep separate from government interests can be monitored and maintained. There may additionally be privacy and security issues that provincial and territorial governments are concerned with as well. Also the presence of independently operated tourism websites could possibly produce an added source of frustration for tourism and marketing researchers. Business and trade associations may operate tourism websites for provinces that may contain information not present on government-sponsored websites. That begs the question: what sites are the most reliable? Nonetheless multiple sites can be a common source of confusion for tourists seeking information on travel destinations and researchers seeking to better understand Internet tourism marketing and promotion.

MARKETING AND WEB-DEVELOPMENT IMPLICATIONS

The development of an overarching, all-inclusive "brand Canada" sought by the CTC does not seem to have materialized through the creation and maintenance of individual provincial and territorial websites. It seems as if the provinces and territories are charting their own courses relating to their respective tourism industries and little attention is being given to the CTC's national objectives for Canada. The provinces while seeking tourists and tourism-related businesses also seem to be competing with one another over the larger share of the Canadian tourism market. An effort to streamline and develop a uniform approach to each province's tourism website that reflects the CTC's overall goals of defining (or rather repositioning) Canada could have a greater impact on the success of the campaign. For instance Saskatchewan's English-only website could potentially deter non-English speaking European or Japanese visitors. The CTC should emphasize a uniformity of basic format such as available languages, search engines and the presence of the Canadian flag on each provincial or territorial website to maintain a cohesive brand identity. The provinces could easily maintain their separate identities by providing a map or flag along with photos and appropriate multicultural and natural environment links. The development of templates available from the CTC for each province's or territory's website could be a good step in building the "brand Canada" tourism policymakers in Ottawa are seeking.

Tourism marketers and web developers can find a host of useful information from what the provinces have done or failed to do in relation to their greater role in promoting Canada as a premier travel destination. Web Designers must be able to provide enough appropriate information to target audiences in order to successfully create a resource that will be accepted as credible and legitimate and will be regularly utilized by the traveling public. The inclusion of an overwhelming number of hyperlinks could be potentially detrimental as information overload could possibly occur at high frequencies among individual information seekers. Website design has to function in such a way that visitors are able to receive appropriate information without exposure to material that may be deemed as irrelevant or wasteful. The inclusion of a search engine in each provincial or territorial website may solve some of the overload problems that information seekers could potentially face. The inclusion of a travel intentions survey could be an effective tool for gauging interest among potential tourists for visiting specific places or enjoying certain experiences in Canada. Newfoundland, Prince Edward Island, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and British Columbia have a device on-line that may help authorities anticipate travel trends to their provinces. The inclusion of similar surveys for the other provinces and territories may be helpful to planners.

Additionally the inclusion of the Canadian flag on all provincial tourism websites may not seem to be a significant point but, the fact is that it is an identifiable icon among millions worldwide. The simple act of including the Canadian flag at some position on a homepage will provide a greater sense of national (and hence brand) identity than currently exists on the majority of provincial and territorial tourism web pages. The advantage Canada has in this area is that a recognizable and readily identifiable symbol exists for the nation. Utilization of the red maple leaf from the Canadian flag would be a strong marketing device for any rebranding effort the CTC is going to undertake given the automatic association of the red maple leaf with Canada that is already held by so many people.

Another point of consideration for web designers is the issue of domain names and URL addresses. In this study there was no common domain extension that all websites used. A dot.ca, dot.com or dot.net was the URL extension used for the provinces' and territories' tourism websites. Given that Canada was the first nation to purchase a dot.travel domain, if the CTC were to allow or encourage provincial and territorial tourism authorities to make use of this domain in promoting their regions, it could lend much help in the creation of a uniform image essential for brand development and enhancement that critics claim is needed for Canadian tourism. Unwieldy domain names such as www.newfoundlandandlabradortourism.com and www.tourismnewbrunswick.ca may hinder the further development of a uniform national tourism identity needed to promote "brand Canada". The development of simpler domain names utilizing the same URL extension such as www.alberta.travel or www.quebec.travel would help to streamline tourism marketing and web development efforts.

Although design and layout of websites is a technical matter, it is the responsibility of the marketers to determine the actual content of the web pages. Marketers must have a clear understanding of what their brand communicates and the position the brand occupies in the mind of the consumer. The provincial tourism marketers seem to understand that the image of Canada as a nature destination is at the forefront of the brand's position in the mind of tourism consumers. The provincial tourism authorities and the CTC officials should try to find some common ground where both multicultural offerings and the natural environment are emphasized to visitors. The fact that nature links are included and emphasized on all but one website in this study shows that local tourism officials understand the importance of nature in their tourism promotions. An opportunity exists for provincial tourism officials and the CTC to mesh the cultural and nature aspects of the nation together. Tourism officials on Prince Edward Island are well-aware of the popularity of L.M. Montgomery's Anne of Green Gables in Japan and have taken advantage of that cultural aspect of PEI tourism by incorporating the saga into other aspects of the province including the promotion of nature activities that highlight the island locales featured in the series. Canada does have distinct cultural differences from the United States and Europe. The advantage for tourism marketers in Canada is that there is room to blend these two important aspects of the country to foreign visitors. Canadian nature settings can very well augment the cultural attention desired by the CTC.

A final point to consider regarding cultural promotion of "brand Canada" would be the regional aspects of the country. While the Canadian Territories, Atlantic Canada and Quebec have done a substantial job of creating and maintaining their distinct regional identities, there is room for Ontario, the Plains Provinces and Western Canada to follow suit. There is no reason why the regional identities could not be expanded and incorporated into the cultural strategy set forth at the national level. CTC officials could easily begin to promote regional aspects of the country to distinct target audiences while maintaining the enhanced "brand Canada" image. Quebec already sets itself apart from the rest of Canada through its culture, language and history. Other regions of Canada such as the Maritime Provinces of Atlantic Canada or the Yukon have many of the same cultural resources employed by those in Quebec. The Gold Rush days of the early 20th Century in Western Canada would provide much opportunity for tourism development as would the colonial heritage of Atlantic Canada or westward expansion across the Plains Provinces.

Morgan et al warn specifically that the failure to create a consistent online brand image in conjunction with inferior information quality and "inadequate design expertise" are major problems of tourism Web marketing. (2001, p. 112) Yet understanding when and where these problems exist online can be the first step in correcting deficiencies on web tourism marketing and Web development. It is up to the organizations seeking to promote tourism destinations to understand the deficiencies and to make appropriate adjustments and remedies.

CONCLUSION & IMPLICATIONS FOR FUTURE RESEARCH

This study was conceived to be a brief survey designed to characterize the tourism marketing tactics of Canadian provinces and territories. While noticeable differences exist regionally within Canada, are those differences translatable to the Internet? The cultural differences and highlights of Canada, as borne out in each province and territory, are translatable insofar as symbols allow them to be. Images and words are the symbols by which culture is translated over the medium known as the Internet. Sounds and moving pictures are also transmitted symbols of culture, yet none of the homepages examined included sound and very rarely did images change. Only through the use of photographs and words will the Canada's diverse culture be brought to the world via the Internet. The attempt to separate Canada from its natural environment will not work in the promotion of tourism. Canada's environment is invariably linked to the culture and character of the nation.

For the most part the provinces appear to be reflecting their own character rather than an overall Canadian character. This is most noticeably reflected in the fact that only two of Canada's 10 provinces and none of the three territories actually feature the national flag on their tourism homepages. The Maritime Provinces of Atlantic Canada seem to have a firm grasp of culture as transmitted in photographs and hyperlinks, as does the new territory of Nunavut.

A wealth of information exists in the provincial and territorial tourism websites. This particular topic could occupy a researcher for years. While study in this area would be suitable for a thesis or dissertation topic, the changing nature of the Internet and the technological advances accompanying that change would make any such long term research difficult at best. Beyond this preliminary investigation a content analysis of the tourism homepages could be conducted to examine items such as text length or recurring hyperlinks. Also an in-depth investigation of entire websites, beyond the homepages, may well be in order to determine the extent and offerings of information to website visitors. Researchers undertaking such studies should be prepared to investigate all homepage hyperlinks and subsequent hyperlinks found deeper within websites.

A cross-cultural research possibility exists in undertaking a comparison study between the French and English language versions of websites. It is possible that comparisons may also be made regarding the German language sites or the Asian language sites where these languages have been presented as a user-selected option by the provincial tourism authorities. Additionally studies regarding the evolution of the websites might be considered given the transformational changes taking place in travel, culture and trade worldwide. Given that online travel has impacted travel agents and agencies almost to the point of redundancy, how will the travel service options evolve online at the provincial and territorial levels?

One might also consider the possibility of exploring how the provinces are cooperating in their website development with the CTC's goals and campaign objectives. CTC's current theme of "Keep Exploring" was clearly observed on only one provincial website (Saskatchewan). How is provincial website development complementing or impeding CTC's goals of Canadian tourism at a national level? Will the provinces and territories carry the CTC banner or will they embark on their own campaigns to lure tourists to their specific areas of the country?

It is hoped by the researcher that this preliminary and cursory investigation will result in more extensive research in this area. Understanding how the provinces market themselves to tourists using the Internet may impact understanding in other disciplines including the social sciences, information and hospitality marketing. If "brand Canada" is to succeed in the global tourism market, clear definitions of culture and understanding of the target market (both topics for further investigation) must be obtained.

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Rendon, Paul-Mark. (2003). CTC ads push U.S. travellers north. Marketing Magazine. (June 9). 108:22, 3.

Sharma, Pramod, Dean Carson and Terry DeLacy (2000). National online tourism policy initiatives for Australia. Journal of Travel Research. 39:2, 157-162.

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Richard D. Parker, University of Arkansas at Little Rock

Table 1--Atlantic Canada Provincial Tourism Website Homepages

Province Newfoundland Nova Scotia

Languages English, French English, French,
 German

Photos 6 5
Intro Page Yes No
Survey Yes No
Travel Services Yes Yes
Hyperlinks 31 67
2nd Official Site No Yes
Cultural Info Yes Yes
Nature Info Yes Yes
Search Engine No Yes
Flag Provincial Provincial *
Map No Yes

Province New Brunswick Prince Edward Island

Languages English, French English, French,
 German, Japanese

Photos 13 5
Intro Page Yes No
Survey No Yes
Travel Services Yes Yes
Hyperlinks 35 46
2nd Official Site No No
Cultural Info Yes Yes
Nature Info Yes Yes
Search Engine Yes Yes
Flag None None
Map No Yes

* Nova Scotia's flag was found on its government website for the
tourism ministry rather than the "official tourist" website.

Table 2--Quebec & Ontario Provincial Tourism Website Homepages

Province Quebec Ontario

Languages English, French, English, French,
 Spanish, German, Chinese, Japanese
 Italian, Japanese

Photos 11 7
Intro Page No No
Survey No No
Travel Services Yes Yes
Hyperlinks 68 72
2nd Official Site No Yes
Cultural Info Yes Yes
Nature Info Yes Yes
Search Engine Yes Yes
Flag Provincial None
Map No Yes

Table 3--The Plains Provinces Tourism Website Homepages

Province Manitoba Saskatchewan

Languages English, French English

Photos 6 2
Intro Page Yes No
Survey Yes ** Yes ***
Travel Services Yes Yes
Hyperlinks 68 66
2nd Official Site Yes Yes
Cultural Info Yes Yes
Nature Info Yes Yes
Search Engine Yes No
Flag National Provincial
Map Yes No

** Manitoba's survey was discovered when the researcher selected the
hyperlink for accommodations. It was not a pop-up survey like those
found on other provincial websites.

*** Saskatchewan's survey was hyperlinked at the bottom of the
homepage.

Table 4--Western Canada Provincial Tourism Website Homepages

Province Alberta British Columbia

Languages English, French, Spanish, English, Chinese,
 German, Chinese, Korean, Korean, Japanese
 Japanese ****

Photos 3 7
Intro Page No No
Survey No Yes
Travel Services Yes Yes
Hyperlinks 48 42
2nd Official Site No No
Cultural Info Yes Yes
Nature Info Yes Yes
Search Engine Yes Yes
Flag National None
Map Yes Yes

**** Languages accessed by selecting the "change location" hyperlink

Table 5--Canadian Territories Tourism Website Homepages

Territory Yukon Northwest Nunavut
 Territories

Languages English, French, English English, French,
 German, Japanese German

Photos 4 4 5
Intro Page No No Yes
Survey No No No
Travel Services No Yes Yes
Hyperlinks 8 49 122
2nd Official Site Yes Yes Yes
Cultural Info No Yes Yes
Nature Info No Yes Yes
Search Engine No Yes No
Flag None None None
Map No No No