ABSTRACT
Heritage is also influenced by the context in which it is presented. From a northern European perspective, heritage is not heritage unless it involves a visit to urban places, often historical cores of old cities. In contrast, to North Americans heritage is strongly linked to visiting natural places, particularly national parks. While the natural component of places is important to the Australian and New Zealander, heritage is also linked to the uniqueness of the culture, people and their identity that coexist within such natural places. In sum, heritage and how it is understood is inextricably linked to the context in which it occurs as well as the scale on which it exists. In the light of the foregoing comments, heritage tourism here is approached from a holistic perspective and taken to include natural, cultural-and historic attractions such as national and provincial parks, nature reserves, museums, galleries, cultural festivals and special celebrations which highlight Canada's identity. In a latter section, various elements of this heritage attraction base are presented as case studies where the intention of the author is not to provide the reader with a definitive study of heritage tourism in Canada, but rather to offer some reflection on it by way of select examples.
