Exploring cultural heritage tourism in rural Newfoundland through the lens of the evolutionary economic geographer

Abstract

In this article, we examine rural heritage tourism through the lens of the evolutionary economic geographer. We justify this perspective by arguing that cultural heritage tourism is a branching-innovating trajectory, and, as such, its evolution may be understood by analyzing the mechanisms (recombination, layering, and conversion) that drive path development. We demonstrate this in a study of Newfoundland, a resource-dependent region where heritage assets are being mobilized to facilitate economic diversification. Drawing on survey and interview data, we describe the entrepreneurial agents involved in path development; document the products emerging from their engagement; and assess their local employment impacts. Our analysis reveals that newcomer and returnee in-migrants, in particular, influence trajectory development; that their actions produce a variety of material goods and intangible experiences; and that their initiatives generate limited full-time employment opportunities, but provide sufficient hours to qualify workers for government assistance. We conceptualize these findings to illustrate how, in the presence of supportive institutional policy and innovative consumers, entrepreneurial actions influence heritage tourism path development, and local livelihoods, in transitioning resource-dependent regions.