Urban Tourist Development in the Nineteenth Century Canadian City

The beginnings of modern urban tourism can be traced to sixteenth-century Europe's Grand Tour. It began in England and saw the major cities of Italy as its ultimate destination. Initially seen as an educational experience for the sons of English aristocrats, the motivation for undertaking the tour was eventually widened to include pleasure, art, and scenic appreciation (Towner 1985). In North America in place of the Grand Tour was the Fashionable or Northern Tour. It originated in the early nineteenth century as a means for elites to escape the oppressive summer heat of the southern states (Davison 1830). The tour began south of Charleston, South Carolina, and headed north to Richmond, Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, New York, Saratoga Springs, Buffalo, and Niagara Falls before touring New England via Montreal. At the beginning of the nineteenth century, Montreal and Quebec City were the principal urban centers in Lower Canada. By the end of the century, settlement had spread across the continent with the construction of the transcontinental railroad, and many new towns had been created. Despite Montreal's presence on the Fashionable tour, Canadian cities were not viewed as particularly desirable places to visit, mainly because many of the traditional attractions of European urban centers that had formed the basis for the Grand Tour, such as ancient cathedrals, museums, and historic public buildings, did not exist in newly formed cities. To be successful, a tourist destination has to provide visitors with pleasurable experiences which, by comparison with their everyday life, are out of the ordinary, which means developing unique attractions (Urry 1990). In the nineteenth century, Canadian urban tourism was in its infancy. City efforts to boost tourism consisted primarily of hosting fairs, while little consideration was given to developing attractions as a means of drawing visitors. At the national level, the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) sought to attract tourists as part of a strategy to increase ridership and reduce the debts incurred by constructing its transcontinental railroad. Its marketing efforts, however, largely ignored urban Canada and focused instead on spectacular mountain scenery. Indeed, contemporary accounts by foreign visitors to Canadian cities frequently contain descriptions of such unattractive qualities as their dirtiness and crowdedness (Dwight 1834, 184), the prevalence of fires (Thornton 1850, 61-62), and foul smells (Medley 1873, 130-31). Thus tourists were expected to avoid cities except as transportation links across the country. Rather, the principal attractions were Niagara Falls, the Saguenay, and the CPR route from Banff to Vancouver; these places were surrounded by the natural environment, which provided opportunities for the sportsman (Roberts 1892, Ingersoll 1892, Baedeker 1907). Even though Canadian cities were considered unattractive tourist destinations in the nineteenth century, the seeds of an urban tourist industry can be found in the establishment of a tourist infrastructure in the form of a national transportation system, hotels, and attractions. The purpose of this article is to trace the evolution of this urban tourism production system. Prior to undertaking this task, the processes associated with establishing a tourist industry need to be reviewed briefly. Establishing a Tourism Production System The tourist industry sells experiences, which are anticipated outcomes of gazing and the search for signs. In this manner, tourists become semioticians reading the landscape according to certain preconceived notions or signs derived from travel guides or some other means. Tourist attractions must possess characteristics that distinguish them from what persons normally encounter in everyday life. This division between the mundane and unusual is accomplished by seeing unique objects, such as Parliament in Ottawa, or particular signs such as a typical Roman Catholic church in Montreal. …